Nick and his team have upgraded to an eight-furrow Kverneland 6300 S Variomat semi-mounted reversible plough, replacing a six-furrow fully mounted plough to match the increase in tractor power at the family-run farm.
The key driver is gas supply to the national grid, thanks to an on-farm 3.2MW AD plant, which is currently undergoing expansion.
“Our focus is to boost the AD plant by 50%, so we’ve had to gear up tractors and equipment, to enable us to continue to get over the expanding workload in a timely fashion,” explains Nick. “Adding two more furrows and a lot more horsepower was a logical step forward.”
Up to 1,000 acres per year are ploughed for maize and sunflower production, with min-till techniques used on fields designated for growing cereals for whole crop forage.
Field sizes vary from two to 40 acres, and with narrow lanes to navigate as well, the farm determined that the largest Kverneland plough, the 6300 S Variomat model - an eight-furrow build - would be an ideal solution instead of a larger on-land version.
“We have plenty of power, thanks to a pair of new powerful tractors that are now our main machines,” he says. “But we felt that going for an even larger plough would be a compromise with smaller fields.”
Operator Graham Glasper, pictured, agrees, and with a 6m power harrow following for moisture preservation, the two front-line tractors can comfortably run together, getting maize ground prepared for the drill.
“I’ve been operating the plough at its full 55cm furrow width at 23cm deep with a forward speed of around 10kph,” he says. “The tractor runs at around 1200-1400rpm most of the time, so fuel efficiency and output are impressive when you consider I’m turning over 4.4m in one pass.”
Having had a Kverneland plough on demonstration from a local dealer equipped with both No28 full bodies and No40 slatted bodies, it was an easy decision to choose the slatted mouldboard option for the new plough.
“The quality of finish was superb, and on our varied soils, there was less dirt hanging on the boards,” says Graham. “And slats also made the plough even easier to pull.”
Running in-furrow doesn’t provide any issues with matching up, despite their tractor’s VF 750/70 R44 tyres.
“This is a terrific combination,” says Graham. “And with full control over steering the rear wheel if needed, this is a very manoeuvrable combination despite its length. I can also keep the headland tight thanks to individual raising and lowering of both ends of the plough, and the Vari-Width makes it easy to sort any headland variation.”
Graham has high praise for the single adjustment point for pairs of skimmers and the revised headstock design of the Kverneland 6300 S Variomat, too, which he says enables tight headland turns to be made.
“We’re not setting records, but when we need to get a few smaller field ready to suit the different maize varieties we grow, we want the best quality finish we can get,” he says.
“Ploughing must be level, clean, and properly matched up. And the Kverneland 6300 S Variomat does it with ease, effortlessly burying all the trash we’ve encountered.”
