Practical test: Väderstad Rapid 300S Super XL drill Mention the name Väderstad Rapid, and most UK farmers immediately think of the firm’s big 400, 600 and 800 air seeders rather than the less glamorous Super XL box drills. This month, however, it’s the smaller sib’s turn to take centre stage, with a practical test on the 3m 300S Super XL model.
Farming is all about fashion. Some may deny the fact, yet we would argue that it is irrefutably true. Here’s one example. Not so many years ago, just consider what breed of tackle tramped across the ‘typical’ 1,000ha UK arable farm: Lexion combine, Challenger crawler, Simba Solo, Bateman sprayer, John Deere wheeled tractors, Amazone spreader, Bailey trailers – and, wait for it, yes a Väderstad air seeder. Granted it may not be quite so true today, but back a few seasons there were countless farms where this sort of fleet would have been in full machinery shed residence. This was the fashion of the time.
Then again, for every fad and trend there are those farmers who like to do things differently. And they are certainly not wrong for that. With reference to the red Väderstad drill, for example, there are plenty of farming businesses that have decided against the Swedish firm’s air models, and gone for a box drill instead.
Clearly, this buying decision is largely about cash: A 3m box drill – the 4m box doesn’t fold, so sells in very low numbers in the UK – comes in at £10,000-£12,000 less than the smallest 4m air seeder, so going for a box drill gives the purchaser access to Väderstad seeding technology but at a significantly lower cost. It’s not all about money, though. There are those who make a conscious decision to go for the ‘box’ when they could, maybe, justify an investment in ‘air’.
Why? Perhaps this review of our 2004-vintage 3m wide Super XL test machine will shed further spending light. Throughout the article, we say where spec has changed on the current drill.
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