Machinery stands at last week’s Cereals Event were awash with new implements for shallow to medium depth soil structure remediation as growers increasingly turn to direct drilling, often part of a ‘conservation’ or ‘regenerative’ farming approach.

Despite this hardly being a new technique, there were novel features to be found on the latest contenders for the work.

At Agri Weld, for example, the Mantis offers a front-mounted shallow soil loosening option that enables growers to exploit available tractor power by carrying it out at the same time as another operation.

Combinations could include working the Mantis with a disc implement or power harrow for stubble cultivation, or with a rear-mounted seed drill.

Stout castor wheel assemblies are mounted up front, folding in for a more compact transport configuration, followed by serrated flat discs to cut through surface trash.

Agri Weld’s tine and winged point assembly are held in a carrier with 5 degrees of pivoting movement to allow slight steering inputs along headlands and the like.

“We step down the leg mounting assembly to use a shorter tine that’s less likely to bend in heavily compacted soils,” notes Dean Foster of Agri Weld.

The Mantis is built in 3m rigid and 4m and 6m folding configurations and like the rear-mounted Min-Dis arable and grass models, and the Assist rear toolbar, the tines can have hydraulic or the novel Snap Bar break-back protection.

The Snap Bar is a flat steel plate with four laser-cut holes and slots calculated to the device predictable ‘snapping’ characteristics.

“Shear bolts need tools to replace them and the broken slug can jam the leg after it has pivoted backwards,” said Mr Foster. “You also get the bolt and the hole wearing, which eventually means the leg holder assembly needs replacing.”

Shear bars can also be problematic, he adds; sometimes the clip holding them in place bends, for example.

The Snap Bar avoids all these issues as the device is held in place by linch pins on two lugs – one on the frame, one on the pivoting leg holder; a slip-on steel collar on each lug is easily replaced when worn.

When the bottom portion of the device is snapped away by the tine encountering a large stone or other obstruction, the three-hit device is simply repositioned.

Ryetec’s new Restorer range of subsoilers includes the ‘push me, pull you’ ALD model that can be front- or rear-mounted.

“That gives you the flexibility to locate the implement whereever it suits on the day,” said Ryetec’s Mark Harrison.

The hefty implement comes in 3m fixed and 4m folding sizes, the latter also able to work at 3m when conditions are especially tough or when insufficient tractor power is available.

Leading depth wheels are installed and the serrated discs and tine carrier assemblies can pivot to help clear sub-surface obstacles and to allow the implement to be ‘steered’ when pushed in work.

Shear bar or hydraulic protection is available for the legs, which can be Ryetec’s standard fitment or the buyer’s preferred design

A rear tow bar or linkage is available to work in tandem with another implement when the Restorer ALD is used on the back of a tractor.

At Tillso, a redesign of the company’s 4m Advantage mounted soil loosener has been necessary to accommodate leading discs – not because designer Chris Lane believes the implement needs them but to meet the subsoiler specification laid down to qualify for a soil improvement grant.

“We offer surface cleaning tine wheels to clear trash from the path of our Sabre tines, which are designed specifically to encourage soil to pass either side rather than boiling up to the surface, so we don’t need a disc,” he maintains.

“But that’s what customers have asked for because that’s what is specified for the grant.”

One consequence of having to increase the length of the implement is that Tillso no longer offers its parallel linkage-mounted openers.

“But we can fit them to the trailed Advantage, which itself has been redesigned, largely to refine the manufacturing and assembly processes with a view to reducing costs to help offset the rapidly increasing cost of steel,” said Mr Lane.

Instead of a single large beam forming the backbone chassis, the latest version has two smaller structures diverging from front to back, with folding frames for the leading discs, the Sabre tines and packer.

A subframe bolts on to the rear-mounted transport axle to carry the opener assemblies if required and at the front, a regular drawbar is now available for use behind very high horsepower tractors in place of the standard lower linkage arm attachment.

Spring-loaded pivoting discs designed to maintain a consistent working depth over surface irregularities feature on the low disturbance subsoiler from Izona – a new name from the same business that builds Mzuri drills and Razorback vegetation control equipment.

The mounted implement is available in 4m and 6m folding configurations, with 750mm of stagger to ensure decent trash flow between the tines, which are protected by shear bars.

At the foot, a choice of three wing widths determine the depth at which the implement works effectively, depending upon the soil type and conditions on the day.