A 3.0m x 3.0m sheet of heavy-duty PVC with lifting loops in each corner and a flexible discharge chute in the middle is said to make emptying a seed drill or fertiliser spreader hopper a whole lot easier.
Called the Agricontract SeedSock, when laid out and the drill positioned overhead, the hopper is emptied, the machine moved out of the way, and the sheet gathered up and lifted using pallet or other forks, or a hook attachment on a loader.
The 1.4m long outlet ‘sock’ at the centre is tied off for filling and then released to give controlled discharge of the contents into a sack or bulk bag. Arable farmer Olly Harrison, who came up with the idea, suggests the most obvious time to use it is when drilling and changing from one crop or variety to another.
“A lot of drills are awkward to empty and mostly involve dumping seed on to a concrete floor then sweeping and shovelling it into a sack,” he comments. “The SeedSock makes this job a whole lot quicker and easier by discharging on to sheet that turns into a temporary container when lifted off the ground.”
Other uses include emptying a fertiliser spreader hopper after a mechanical break-down, for example, and preparing a cover crop seed mixture on the floor – like mixing concrete with a shovel – and then loading it from the SeedSock into a drill.
“It’s a big sheet, so apart from using it to empty hoppers you can also use it to cover bags on a trailer as weather protection. And there’s no set colour because that depends on what material is available when another batch is made – we’ve had them in green, grey and pink with yellow seams!”
While acknowledging that others have made something similar before, it was a chance conversation with his bouncy castle manufacturing neighbour that led to the product being made. “Bouncy castle structures are quite complex to cut and stitch, and they obviously have to be tough enough to take a fair bit of punishment,” adds Mr Harrison. “So, I didn’t invent the idea, I just happened to find the right man with the expertise to make it in the right way and at the right price.”
Available in the UK and Ireland through Spaldings, the SeedSock is fully tested for CE/UKCA approval with a maximum load rating of 400kg SWL. It costs £257 (€309).
