Practical test: Väderstad TopDown 500 cultivator With cereal prices languishing at £60/t for many the prospect of spending £40000+ on a cultivator would seem to border on the profligate. Not at all say the likes of Väderstad Quivogne Simba and Gregoire Besson who are all reporting sustained interest in their flagship monster tillage trains. Andrew Faulkner tests the Swedes’ contribution
Even the name has an air of extravagence about it. TopDown. Jump in, roof back, shades on, CD cranked. There’s about 285 horses out front, hidden beneath a long, sleek and shiny red bonnet. Fire her up, and we’re off. Fun time.
But, wait, rein in those nags. Sadly we’re not talking about the unique joys of open-top motoring, those 300 ponies belonging to a muscle-bound Magnum rather than an equally redblooded roadster; both boast pulling power by the bucket-load, but of a somewhat different nature.
No, this is more serious stuff. Here we’re contemplating shelling out £30,000-£50,000 on a min-till, onepass cultivator, which quite clearly is a matter of some consequence and with significant ramifications for a farm’s capital spend. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that so many arable businesses are pondering or have already decided that the onepass is the way ahead for lower cost cultivations in the current climate.
Moreover, even Väderstad itself, the manufacturer featured, remains far from wholly convinced. It has, for example, many existing customers who chase their combines around their farms with high-speed 5-12m Carrier discs, and then put in a later and separate soil-loosening pass, where necessary, with something like a Shakaerator, Cousins V-Form or Spaldings Flatlift.
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