A number of new machines for tillage farmers and contractors will be officially launched by the Kverneland Group, that parents Vicon, at the big Agritechnica machinery show in November. Chris McCullough reports from Norway of what we can expect in the UK:

Depending on the market country location, the new machines will sport either of the brand colours or indeed the orange livery of the Kubota Corporation which now owns both brands.

Celebrating 140 years in business, Kverneland is well known worldwide for its reputation of building strong equipment and has come a long way since the company was founded in 1879 by Ole Gabriel Kverneland.

Its current factory, in Klepp, is only a few metres away from where it all began when Ole started making sickles and scissors. Today, the latest engineering techniques are used to produce strong ploughs with Isobus technology all adhering to Kverneland’s goal of producing the strongest yet lightest ploughs in the world.

New ploughs

Thanks to its solid reputation in plough manufacture, the Norwegian company have a number of new ploughs coming to the market including some very ‘intelligent’ ones.

Among the newbies are the Kverneland 2300S, 3300S and 3400S mounted reversible ploughs that integrate innovations designed for the Kverneland 2500 i-plough, but also have a new transport solution to maximise safety during transport and higher legs to optimise ploughing in any conditions.

The new plough also behaves much like a trailer when in transport and has its tractor/plough pivot point located in the middle.

Plus, to optimise ploughing in any conditions, the aero-profile design of the legs and the 80cm under beam clearance improve the soil flow in high residues conditions.

These robust legs are pre-shaped to limit welding that could weaken plough parts. As with any Kverneland auto-reset legs, these remain hollow to optimise the plough weight, pulling forces and reduce fuel consumption.

The leaf springs of the auto-reset legs are specially designed to withstand the toughest conditions. They are also easy to add or remove in order to adapt to specific necessary release forces.

The three new models feature the Variomat system for easy ploughing working width changes from the tractor cabin which not only increases output but also saves time, fuel and money.

Variomat allows easy adjustments to the preferred working widths which can easily be done either mechanically or hydraulically. Depending on models, it can be adjusted from 30 to 55cm. The auto-line system guarantees the correct pulling line at any time. When changing the working width, both front furrow width and pulling line adjust accordingly, automatically.

The Kverneland 2300 three to five-furrow ploughs are recommended for tractors up to 240hp and the 3300 model three to six furrows are recommended up to 330hp. All new models can be ordered from fourth quarter 2019 for delivery second quarter 2020.

Kverneland is also in the midst of developing a new generation of its 6300 S Variomat semi-mounted reversible ploughs.

Powered tillage

Kverneland’s new range of heavy-duty S series power harrows are designed for use on tractors up to 250hp and come with Kverneland’s proven heavy-duty trough design and Quick-Fit tines.

A standard gearbox is fitted with replaceable gears to control rotor speed, while the outer parallelogram-guided side defectors have overload protection to allow smooth operation and a ridge free soil surface.

The S series has Quick-Fit tines as standard, secured by a special pin and clip mounted in the tine holder, making replacement easy and without the need for tools.

The S series models have four rotors per metre working width and there’s a new headstock for the range which will be available in 3m, 3.5m, 4m and 4.5m working widths.

A step-less adjustable levelling bar levels the ground and includes a spring loaded overload protection. Various packer rollers enable adaptation to the different soil types.

All are designed to be used in combination with Kverneland seed drills but can be coupled or uncoupled quickly, to allow the power harrow to be used solo.

Latest drills

Kverneland’s most popular machines next to the ploughs is its power harrow mounted seed drills which have been extended by the Kverneland e-drill Maxi Plus, a combined grain and fertiliser version.

This aims to balance shorter growing phases by allowing fertiliser application to support germination and development of the plants more efficiently. In trials of spring-sown crops, yields have shown increases up to 25% compared to crops where the fertiliser has been applied by other methods. It can also be used to sow two different kinds of seeds at the same time.

The e-drill maxi plus is offered with a hopper capacity of up to 2100 litres, which is divided into an adjustable hopper ratio of 60:40, 70:30 or 100:0 with two independently working metering devices either side.

Various alternatives are possible: sowing two types of seeds; one type of seed and one type of fertiliser; one type of seed combined with eg slug pellets; or seed only. Two electronic low-level sensors, adjustable from the outside, for instance monitor small quantities of rape, as well as larger quantities of beans. The full hopper volume can be used when sowing one sort of seed only.

As with all of e-drill models, application rates for seeds and fertiliser are controlled by two units of the well-proven metering device, Eldos. Both are ISOBUS compatible and electric driven, which allows fertiliser and seed rates to be adjusted independently.

Via remote control, drivers can carry out the calibration process at the metering device and no gears have to be adjusted.

Operators simply enter the desired values into the terminal and press one button on the metering device to start and then the calibration is done automatically.