Service: Sulky Optiline MP/Maschio DMR combo RECO’s Kym Bannister shows Andrew Pearce the key pre-season service points around the firm’s Sulky/Maschio drill combo
Despite a proliferation of alternatives, the 3m power harrow/drill combo remains a favourite on plenty of farms. It might not be the fastest way to go drilling, but sometimes it’s the only way to get seed into the ground when conditions sideline bigger kit.
Huntingdon-based RECO has brokered marriage between power harrows and seed drills since the notion first surfaced, leading to the current Maschio and Sulky liaison. Representative of the range and a popular seller is the pairing featured here, which uses RECO-made brackets to put a Sulky Optiline MP air seeder over a heavy-duty Maschio DMR SCM2 power harrow; and whatever the politics of the situation, it’s nice to see the French on top for a change. While there has been detail evolution to both halves of the combo, from the service standpoint not much has changed.
Tractors from 120hp to 180hp can handle the outfit, which weighs in at 2.22t empty and whose standard 700-litre drill hopper can be stretched up to 1,100 litres with optional extensions.
Design of both units is conventional. The power harrow drives contra-rotating tine holders through gears, one powering the next, with an adjustable rear levelling board able to hold soil in the tine area. A crumbler or packer roll sets power harrow working depth. The drill’s peg wheels, driven by land wheel via a speed variator, dispense seed into a manifold. Here it’s picked up by air blast from a belt-driven or oil-powered fan and carried down to the drill’s coulters, which are either disc or Suffolk types.
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