Designers of the Equalizer seeder are confident it will perform in Australia because of the similarity in conditions with its home country, South Africa’s Western Cape.
With tough seeding conditions including often stony, undulating ground, the South African machine is built for durability but with a relatively simple design.
Equalizer director, Gideon Schreuder said the machine’s seeding unit had easy adjustment to allow sowing in all conditions.
“The seeding unit allows quick depth adjustment via a simple press plate.
“This gives you the option to reset the seeding depth easily in the same day if you are sowing different crops or looking for soil moisture.”
A parallelogram seed placement unit is combined with a press wheel to regulate the seed depth and close the seeding slot on the tyne machine.
The hydraulically controlled tynes are referred to as semi-independent.
“They can move four inches (100 millimetres) before it hits a backstop and the tyne unit will trip over rocks to clear without damage,” Mr Schreuder said.
“The tyne tripping doesn't disturb the seeding and also limits wear on the more delicate seeding unit and ensures more consistent seed placement.”
The tyne is designed to rip to depth without massive top soil disturbance to create an oxygen rich environment for the seed to flourish in.
The tyne unit features 4mm Domex 700 mpa spring steel mounting plates and the press wheel is designed with some oscillation from its rubber mounting allowing it to follow the seeding trench.
The demonstration model was fitted with a hopper on the frame, but tow between, or behind models are available.
The hopper tanks are suitable for liquid or granular fertilisers.
“We’ve got a unique metering roller with self-cleaning capability because from a consistency point of view in fertiliser, it is important the roller remains clean,” Mr Schreuder said.
The meter unit handles all seed and fertiliser types without having to change rollers.
Row spacings of 28, 30.5 or 38 centimetres are available and there is a range of shear boots in straight, long or an aerator type to break open the deep soil vertically.
It is designed to get the shank through without smearing or compacting soils into the side walls.
An optional manual lift spring loaded or hydraulic lift, front mounted coulters are an option and good for trash or hogweed.
“Coulters are not a golden ticket to your trash flow problems - they do have their limitations,” Mr Schreuder said.
“When you are dry sowing they help give a better surface finish by cutting through the crust for the knife point causing less clodding and that can be good in heavier clay country that’s been grazed.”