New No-Till Drill Has Vacuum Metering System

New No-Till Drill Has Vacuum Metering System DRILLS Drills (42C) 20-5-29 "It's more accurate than any other drill on the market. It can even be used to plant corn," says Dave Benson, Krause Corp., about the company's new 5500 series "Pro-Air" grain drills equipped with individual vacuum metering cups on each row. Seed gravity flows from the hopper into the vacuum metering units, where vacuum pressure holds individual seeds firmly in place inside holes on a disc until the disc approaches the seed tube. Different size discs are available for soybeans, corn, grain sorghum, and small grains. The drill is available in 7 1/2 or 10-in. row spacing. Wider rows can be set up by blocking off openers. "It's the only grain drill on the market that can singulate seeds," says Benson. "Our vacuum metering system is similar to ones used on planters except that ours are smaller. All the vacuum metering cups are connected to a common driveshaft with no need for a separate electric drive system which keeps the cost down. "One advantage is that when you plant soybeans you don't have to change seed cups whenever you switch from small to large seed. It takes about a half hour to change seed discs on a 15-ft. drill." Benson notes that although the unit is designed to handle corn, seed must drop twice as far so there's more seed bounce, which results in somewhat less exact spacing in the row. However, he says it plants accurately enough that farmers who don't plant a lot of corn don't need a separate planter. "It costs only about $2,000 more than our standard 5250 no-till grain drill equipped with fluted seed cups. A 15-ft. model on 7 1/2-in. row spacings sells for $27,849 compared to $25,933 for the 5250 model." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Krause Corp., 305 South Monroe, Box 2707, Hutchinson, Kan. 67504 (ph 316 663-6161).

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