DRIVING IMPRESSION: When it comes to building seed drills Köckerling has resolutely stuck with tines — Ultima, Jockey etc. Now, though, the firm has added a disc drill to its seeder family. A ‘me too’ product, or is there something special about the Vitu?
Think Köckerling, and tine drills are probably the machine that springs to mind. Then at Agritechnica 2013 the German firm decided to break from tradition by unveiling its Vitu double disc coulter seeder. In reality this U-turn has been prompted by the market as its dealers stomped their feet to gain access to a more comprehensive range of drilling gear, including a disc coulter. Having tested the machine on its domestic market over the past two seasons, the Vitu is now heading over to the UK for the 2016 campaign.
While the Ultima tine drill (see profi 12/2013 for a practical test report) still takes pride of place, the Köckerling design team has nonetheless incorporated some neat ideas into the Vitu, which is based on the proven cultivating disc, packer and coulter set-up. Starting at the nose end, the drill is coupled to the lower links (Cat III or IV) and levelled up on the tractor’s linkage. A piece of chain hanging off the drawbar shows when the rig is running level — simple and it works. The drawbar telescopes so the operator can adjust the drill to suit the tractor’s wheel equipment. This, combined with the hitch pivot, allows almost right-angle tight turns.
Down on the ground there are optional track eradicators (£1,350) that are clamped onto the main frame. Loosening light and occasionally stony soils, these slim pigtail tines did a proper job during our short drive. Following on behind are scalloped discs that are already employed on the firm’s Rebell Classic short disc harrow and mounted on pigtail tines. Key difference here is that the 460mm discs are slightly smaller but also pitched at a steeper angle to the direction of travel; after all, their job is to till already cultivated soil and knock up a suitable seedbed. And this is exactly what they did during our driving impression. The parallelogram mounted, spring-loaded side boards are simple to adjust using a pin and hole set-up.
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