Ambitious goAls – CAnAdA 4

lemken live – tHe mAgAZine FoR PRoFessionAl ARAble FARming – issue 5 – novembeR 2015

seRviCe And PRoximity to CustomeRs 10

PRACtiCe-oRiented tRAining 22

Editorial Report France

Editorial 2

Report France 3

Report Canada 4 – 7

Report Idaho, USA 8 – 9

Focus on service and proximity to customers 10 – 13

Crop protection – Vega before its market launch 14

DeltaRow – our new single-seed row 15

Spare parts – “a part of us” 16 – 17

Sales – interview with K.-H. Reher 18 – 19

Glyphosate – an active ingredient under scrutiny 20 – 21

AgroFarm – practice-oriented training 22

Within LEMKEN – Haren 23

Practical tips – greater traction with cultivators 24 – 27

Published by: LEMKEN GmbH & Co. KG

Weseler Straße 5 • 46519 Alpen • Tel.: +49 2802 81-0 • Fax: +49 2802 81-262

Email: info@lemken.com • Web: www.lemken.com

Responsible for contents within the meaning of the German Press Act::

Anthony van der Ley, Managing Director

Idea, implementation and editing:

Schlasse GmbH Für Kommunikation and agro-kontakt GmbH

Printing: Görres-Druckerei

LEMKEN live is protected by copyright. Contributions may only be used

with the editor’s prior approval. While the contents of LEMKEN live are

produced with great journalistic care, no liability can be accepted.

Legal information

Dear readers,

We are very pleased to present to you the fifth issue of our LEMKEN live customer magazine.

The world of LEMKEN seems to be an inexhaustible source of interesting stories.

No matter which of our divisions we look at, LEMKEN continues to develop quickly and continuously.

We are additionally constantly engaged with the greater challenges that we will need to find solutions for in cooperation with our customers, the farmers.

What contribution can LEMKEN make towards securing the increasing need for food for the world’s ever growing population by delivering modern agricultural machinery? This urgent question is an important reason why we want to present solutions for more intensive forms of mechanisation in crop production in practical use, also outside Europe.

Or let’s think about the ongoing discussions around crop protection, where agricultural machinery suppliers need to actively develop alternative process technologies in order to ensure that future requirements can be met.

As a global company, we need to identify not just isolated trends, but many new developments that can sometimes diverge quite considerably. Farmers work differently in every country and on every continent. Farmers in the USA, for example, work in a very different environment than their European colleagues. For us, these wide-ranging environments of agricultural production are both an incentive and a challenge.

Yet we never lose sight of detail, despite our global scope of action. For LEMKEN, proximity to our customers is of prime importance. We want to provide practical support to our customers before as well as after sales, and our investment in the new AgroFarm training centre is clear evidence of this commitment. Together with our sales partners all over the world, we are able to offer our customers professional after-sales support based on a wide range of training programmes.

The development of new machines and improved details for existing solutions requires patience. Development periods can be very painstaking work, which is all the more reason to celebrate when LEMKEN launches innovations such as the new Azurit single-seed drill or the new Vega 12 trailed field sprayer on the market after extensive, successful trials. When technical highlights such as these enter the market, it means that our visions have become reality in the form of powerful machines. The considerable investments in our production sites additionally contribute to ever higher quality standards being implemented in our products, with the new production facility for our field sprayer programme being just one concrete example.

LEMKEN live reports about our wide range of activities. Blue means performance ... be inspired!

YoursKarl-Hubertus Reher, Head of Sales

Table of contents

Would you like to receive past and future issues of LEMKEN live?

Please let us know at live@lemken.com or complete our contact form at www.live.lemken.com, and we will gladly oblige.

2 3

The Samson farm is located right next to Luxembourg, in a region where iron ore was mined underground until the 1990s. The Samsons’ crop rotation includes rapeseed, soft wheat and summer and winter barley, with each crop be-ing allocated about the same amount of area. As the local soil has a clay content of 55% and winters come early in the region, field work – especially the sowing of autumn cereals – needs to be completed before the wet period starts. In these conditions, a plough is the farmer’s best friend. The Samsons plough 200 ha on their own farm and 150 ha as “neighbourhood assistance”. Two passes with a 6 m rotary harrow prepare for sowing, which starts be-tween 15 and 20 September. The Samsons’ only tractor is equipped with size 900 tyres to prevent the soil against damage during field preparation. Given the dilemma of wanting to work with wide tyres, Mr Samson approached his dealer, Ets Collet-Louis Davignon, when he wanted to buy a 6-furrow mounted plough.

His implement of choice turned out to be a LEMKEN Ju-wel 8 VT mounted reversible plough with non-stop over-load protection, variable cutting width adjustment and optional selection of onland or in-furrow ploughing. This ensures risk-free operation, as the tractor can be driven onland or in-furrow as required.

Nicolas, Mr Samson’s son, who will one day take over the farm, shared his impressions of his first season of onland ploughing with us:

„Firstly, it is much more comfortable to work with a tractor with wide tyres.

Secondly we don’t need to rely on GPS to plough ‘beauti-fully’ given our environment. The DuraMaxx mouldboards, which were developed for a considerably longer service life, assist us in that they turn the soil very well!

“Onland ploughing protects our tractor's tyres and gives us great versatility of use!”

At times, Mr Samson is worried about profitability, because things have not always been easy. However, Mr and Mrs Samson use a single tractor for all of the “major” works on their farm, including primary tillage, in order to optimise their use of machinery. Their business, SCEA de Lanevais manages 230 ha agricultural land in Bouligny in Lothringia (France).

The soil is not very rocky, but onland ploughing allows us to be gentle with the tyres without compacting the fur-row bases. The wide tyres additionally make for optimal contact pressure that also avoids compaction.”

Of course, the Samsons also work with no-till sowing, but their plough continues to be an indispensable joker up their sleeves as meadow foxtail (rye grasses) and brome grass become more and more resistant, especially in loamy soils. Ploughing can also be used in the cultivation of energy crops, which the Samsons have recently added, as they are involved in a biogas project.

Mr Samson and his son Nicolas next to their LEMKEN plough with optional switching between onland and in-furrow operation.

xxxxxxReport Canada

Ambitious goals with LEMKEN one-pass implements

When maize prices increased sharply in Canada eight years ago, livestock dealers Schaus Land & Cattle Co. decided to extend the cultivation of cereals on their farm in southern Ontario.

Schaus Land & Cattle Co. is a family business run by Ken Schaus (l) and his father Wally Schaus.

54

Previously, their farmland had always been stocked with grazing cattle, which would later be transferred for finishing in two fattening facilities holding 3,000 animals each in the towns of Alliston and Walkerton.

The family business owned by Ken Schaus and his father Wally employs 22 staff. The company has always placed great value on delivering high-quality produce that sell well on the market.

Quality as a motivatorAs soon as one steps into one of the barns on the Schaus family farm it is evident just how much value they place on quality. The barn is very clean, and the animals are a picture of health. All of the cattle come from western Canada, where there is a large supply of very high-quality stock; most of them are from the same breeders, with whom Schaus has worked for over 30 years.

The cattle are fed on a maize basis, which is processed mainly in the company’s own flaking mill in Alliston. “That’s

expensive, but it quickly pays off, because feed perfor-mance, digestibility, weight gain and improved marbling of the meat all result in higher meat quality”, Schaus explains. The “Certified Angus Beef” and “Ontario Corn-Fed Beef” mar-keting programmes, which are known for their high-quality meats, ensure that producers are often able to secure pre-mium prices for their cattle.This philosophy with its strong focus on quality was the reason for extending the company’s foray into crop produc-tion. The Schaus' are now producing maize, soy beans and wheat on 750 ha, with most of their crop except soy beans being predominantly used as feed for their cattle.

Shallow soil cultivation“Initially we worked with a conventional approach, but then we saw the LEMKEN compact disc harrows in operation and started to appreciate the benefits of shallow cultivation”, Schaus says. “Since we switched over to cultivating only to a depth of 8 cm instead of 15 cm, we have had better ger-mination rates because the soil retains moisture at 15 cm depth and therefore does not dry out as much.”

Schaus was so impressed by the performance of LEMKEN soil cultivation implements that he ordered a 6 m Rubin as well as a 10 m Heliodor just two years later. He says he has never regretted his purchases. „“The Rubin does everything in just one pass that we would otherwise have needed a plough, harrow and cultivator for.”

Lower area costs with LEMKENBy using the Rubin, Schaus was easily able to lower his op-erating costs by a third, compared to conventional soil cul-tivation implements. “With the LEMKEN implements we get 40 ha done in four hours. These are high-quality, sophisti-cated machines – they are definitely worth the investment!”

According to Schaus, the Heliodor allows them to produce fine seedbed tilth in just one pass after soy beans. “Once we even used our Rubin to strip maize stubble to a depth of 8 cm at a speed of 13 km/h. There was essentially nothing left of the stubble. Then we did one pass with the Heliodor for clearing out root clumps, and there was our perfect seed-bed.”

A target of 125 quintals/ha The company is aiming at a maize yield of 125 quintals/ha. “We have talked to first-time users, successful farmers and our agricultural consultant for ideas about just how to achieve that.” This year, the company bought a new row fer-tiliser applicator with mounted pneumatic seed drill, which can also undersow between the rows of maize at the same time. “Come September, the dense growth in the spaces between the rows provides more support for combine harvesters, protects against erosion during fallow periods, promotes good soil hygiene and keeps the soil fertile.”

Schaus is convinced that he will be able to reach 125 quin-tals/ha. All he will need to do is to source the right hybrid varieties, maintain good soil tilth and look after his soils with undersows and LEMKEN soil cultivation implements to retain moisture. “When the maize is shoulder-high and I put my hand 8 cm into the soil, there are white maize roots everywhere. That’s just incredible!”

Follow Schaus Land & Cattle Co. on Twitter: @KenSchaus.

Report Canada

Wally Schaus (l), his wife Moreen Schaus (c) and Ken Schaus (r) achieve faster germination rates and better

crop growth thanks to shallow soil cultivation with LEMKEN implements.

Most of the maize the Schaus family grows is fed to their own 3,000 cattle.

The Rubin 9 with 6 m working width during shallow stubble cultivation.

6 7

Report Idaho, USA

Brian Huettig in front of his LEMKEN machinery, which forms the core of his soil

cultivation and seed drill technology.

Large fields – intensive culturesBrian Huettig has virtually everything one needs to be happy: a wife, three daughters and a farm that, with 1,400 ha, is quite large even for the US market. The only thing he is short of is water.

Since most of the annual precipitation comes in the form of snow, farmers are able to benefit from the Snake River melt water reser-voir year round. This natural resource keeps the cost of water within reasonable limits. “Our electric water pumps are expensive to run, though”, Brian adds. And there is another problem that causes local farmers considerable worry. “There is less and less snow from one year to the next”, Brian says. “By last autumn, we had used up almost the entire water reservoir, and the state of Idaho has stopped issu-ing permits for irrigating additional fields.” However, farmers current-ly only cultivate about one fifth of the state’s arable land, so there would be considerable room for expansion.

“At this stage, I’m still able to rely on the available irrigation scheme”, Brian explains. “The hot summers, combined with irrigation, allow me to achieve cereal yields of up to 100 quintals/ha.”

Economical use of resourcesThis environment creates very particular challenges for soil cultiva-tion. Ongoing irrigation results in soil compaction, for example, and wind erosion is a major problem in the expansive, flat landscape of Idaho. “That’s why we never plough”, Brian says. “Our entire soil culti-vation is based on no-till subsoil loosening with subsequent mulch seeding.”

Deep soil cultivation is a task that is reserved for autumn, and this is where Brian uses a LEMKEN Karat cultivator, among others. “Be-fore potato crops I like to work to a depth of 45 cm”, Brian explains. “That’s where the Karat meets its limits, and that’s why I use a differ-ent brand for these works.” But in spring he goes back to his trusted blue implements to work his extensive fields.

With an average field size of 164 ha, it is possible to achieve high acreage performances. Brian uses a Rubin 9 disc harrow for seedbed preparation for beans, maize and sugar beet, and a LEMKEN Karat cultivator to prepare the fields for his potato crops in spring. He sows his barley crop with a Compact-Solitair seed drill. “What I like most about LEMKEN soil cultivation and seeding technology is the high intensity of mixing and the excellent seedbed reconsolidation. But this technology has also allowed me to increase my acreage performance considerably compared to the implements I used be-fore”, he adds.

Land of the Shoshone

> Idaho has 1,466,465 inhabitants (2006 estimate). Before white settlement, the land was inhabited by the Shoshone Native Americans. Today more than three quarters of the population of Idaho are descended from Europeans, with people of German descent making up the largest group (21.8%). As the name Huettig suggests, Brian also has German ancestors

> Idaho is a mountainous state with pristine stretches of nature and rich mineral resources. The state’s agricultural produce includes beef, sugar beets, dairy, wheat, barley and potatoes, which are marketed under the brand name of Idaho Potatoes. Idaho pota-toes are renowned for their unique flavour, which is believed to be due to the local climate with its hot days and cold nights.

State of the artBrian Huettig likes to use innovative technology and crop cultiva-tion approaches wherever possible, including, for example, the use of GMO varieties of sugar beets and maize. He benefits from GPS-equipped implements when taking soil samples, irrigating and applying mineral fertiliser, and his smart farming approach is perfectly complemented by his tractors and full range of harvesting technology.

Brian would like to move towards variable seed rates in the future and is in the process of developing a GPS-based map for this pur-pose. The LEMKEN Compact-Solitair offers him the technical ability to work with variable seed rates.

Brian Huettig lives and works in Ha-zelton, Idaho, one of the north-west-ern states of the USA. He grows potatoes, sugar beet, malting barley, maize and string beans for seed propagation on the loamy, clayey soils of his farm – with a mere 306 mm of precipitation per year.

However, the main constraints for his crop rotation are not only the lack of water, but also extreme temperatures. While the cold winters with temper-atures down to -18 degrees limit the cultivation of winter crops, the hot summers, during which the mercury rises above 30 degrees, make every drop of water as precious as gold. “We need to irrigate all of our land under cultivation”, Brian Huettig explains. “Our cereal crops are irrigated with 460 mm water, for example, and for potatoes we even need 760 mm.”

The Compact-Solitair 9 KH with 6 m working width on

the field.

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About sowing and harvestingThe concept of proximity to customers is now more topical than ever: everybody is talking about it, and everybody is claiming to provide it. But LEMKEN’s example shows what proximity to customers really means. After all, close engagement with farmers has always been at the core of our cor-porate culture.

Focus on service and proximity to customers

10 1110 11

Focus on service and proximity to customers

Machines for any needsFrom this basis, LEMKEN produces high-efficiency agricultural ma-chinery that impresses through an astounding variety of models. Regardless of what type of soil is to be cultivated, which markets are to be developed and what needs are to be met: LEMKEN has the matching machines! The plough product range alone comprises 2,000 models in about 1,500 different versions.

Giving one’s best throughoutHowever, good service does not end when products are delivered. That is, of course, LEMKEN’s motto. LEMKEN area sales managers, service technicians and specialist dealers continue to support their customers even after a sale has been made – in all respects, start-ing from consultancy and continuing through to maintenance and repair and a comprehensive spare parts service. LEMKEN means ex-cellent service throughout. It’s easy to gain a first-hand insight into how we achieve this: feel free to organise a visit to the Alpen factory and see for yourself how our agricultural machinery is produced.

Responsibility and trustClose engagement with customers starts inside our own company, as only employees who feel proximity to their employer are able to offer proximity to customers! Where employees work in a culture that is shaped by tolerance, openness and respect, there is a positive effect on customer relationships. That is something LEMKEN realised a long time ago, and it is something that is reflected throughout our corporate culture, which is built on responsibility and trust. The suc-cess of this approach is tangible, as LEMKEN employees are satisfied and motivated. They know how to engage with our customers in exactly the way our customers want. This helps establish a produc-tive relationship between employees and customers that delivers tangible benefits for both!

Farmers as co-constructorsProximity to customers therefore means close cooperation with customers in every respect, 100% adaptation to customer needs, perceiving them as equal partners, listening closely to their needs and taking their ideas as impetus for innovation. LEMKEN lives and breathes this approach. To give just one example, about 80% of the LEMKEN engineers either have a background in agriculture or are part-time farmers themselves. LEMKEN, the AgroVision company, additionally pursues the vision of farmers all over the world operat-ing profitably. This vision is one of shared success that is based on an active exchange between farmers, dealers and manufacturers with the long-term goal of securing the global food supply now and in the future. That’s why LEMKEN machines are not only manufactured with agricultural practice in mind, but also conceived from a basis in practical experience. They are made in close cooperation with the people who use them on a daily basis. It is precisely this lived experi-ence that helps produce agricultural machinery for any conceivable needs our customers may have.

Christoph Bulich,

Hommelsheim Estate,

Nörvenich-Eschweiler

near Düren

Norbert Müller, Zimmermann Agricultural Machinery, Euskirchen

Heinrich Schneider, area sales manager, LEMKEN

Live: Mr Bulich, Mr Müller, how would you describe your personal interactions with LEMKEN? And what would you say is their defining feature?

N. Müller: It doesn’t matter whether I call the Alpen headquarters or deal with customer service on site: any interactions with LEMKEN staff are always characterised by trust. One could even say it’s like being among friends. Problems are always solved quickly. We’re happy! C. Bulich: Working with LEMKEN is like being among an extended family. The employees in Alpen, the sales team and the dealers are always well prepared and happy to help. If a problem occurs, it is discussed professionally and resolved quickly.

Live: Mr Schneider, how is LEMKEN different in dealing with its customers compared to other manufacturers you know?

H. Schneider: Our particular strength is our after-sales service. I don’t know of any other company that provides anything near the level of service that LEMKEN offers. We have 18 branches all over Germany, each staffed with area sales managers and service technicians. This ensures that we can support our customers flexibly at any time.

Live: And what’s the secret of acquiring farmers as LEMKEN customers?

H. Schneider: Intensive contact with our cooperation dealers and their experts is particularly important, as they are the link between us and our customers and advertise our products among farmers. We also make contact with new prospects at exhibitions, Open Days, Field days and presentations.

Live: Is there any personal LEMKEN success story that you would like to share with us?

N. Müller: Only 15 years ago we had no LEMKEN seed drill technology in our product range, which now accounts for a large part of our sales. We’re very proud of that!

C. Bulich: We made the switch to LEMKEN machines in 2010 and have been dedicated customers since. Seed drill technology above all has paid off for our business, as our Zirkon 10 and Saphir 7 have produced significant improve-ments in our germination rates!

Live: What’s particularly important to you? Do you have any specific goals that you would like to achieve with LEMKEN?

N. Müller: Of course we would like our customers to remain happy with LEMKEN products, above all. In the future we also want to dedicate greater effort to acquiring customers around the peripheries of our sales areas.

C. Bulich: Our goal has been to exploit the potential of LEMKEN machines fully and to improve the results of our work. We have done that, and I hope that we will be able to continue on this successful trajectory for a long time!

12 13

On the pulseWhat does it mean to work right at the LEMKEN coalface? A LEMKEN area sales manager, a LEMKEN dealer and a LEMKEN customer share their experiences.

At a glance:

> All valves in the suction and pressurised sections are electrically switched and therefore no longer tied to the operating centre position.

> The valve seats are selected to minimise the required hose lengths. The circula-tion pipes inside the booms ensure that spraying liquid is immediately available at the nozzles as soon as the sprayer is switched on. Residue in the pipes is minimised, facilitating easy, thorough pipe cleaning without residue.

> Electrical single-nozzle valves provide for highly precise application of crop pro-tection products across the full working width.

> Electrical switching and operation from a monitor for greater user comfort.

LEMKEN will launch the pilot series of the Vega 12, which was originally presented as a design study at the Agritechnica 2011, in Hannover this year. The market launch of the implement in versions with 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 litre tanks and boom widths of 15 to initially 24 metres is planned for 2016. The Vega 12 is a great success for the young, talented team around Philipp Kamps, LEMKEN’s (also still young) product mana-ger for crop protection, and Carsten Suborg, the head of our design team.

“The development phase requires particular care”, Kamps explains. “Of course we are al-ways keen to establish new developments quickly on the market, but the pace must be set by quality considerations. We initially started the pre-production series in north-ern Germany three years ago”, he adds, “and then quickly commissioned more of the im-

plements in southern and eastern Germany, including on some large farms. The imple-ment that has travelled farthest so far is a Vega 12/4000 with an SEH 24 boom, which is being trialled under the harsh conditions of a 200 ha potato farm in Scotland.”

Pilot series machines are trialled under re-al-life operating conditions until they meet the requirements of the developers. The trials include fit-for-purpose tests with a range of crops, including on a horticultural farm in Rhineland-Palatinate, for example. Field sprayers are additionally subjected to ongoing long-term tests on LEMKEN’s test benches. “That was the main stage for developing improvements, during which we kept optimising the sprayer function”, Kamps explains.

The results were evaluated in December 2014 in cooperation with those involved in the practical trials, and additional detail improvements were implemented in the first half of 2015. “By the summer of 2015 we were finally satisfied enough for us to launch the pilot series in October”, Kamps continues. “The pilot series will be show-cased at the Agritechnica 2015.” This series, which comprises ten machines, currently tours Germany, France, the Benelux coun-tries, the United Kingdom, Austria and

Switzerland for demonstration and training purposes. These are the markets in which LEMKEN intends to launch the product next year. Meanwhile, all of the required techni-cal tests for the focus markets are also com-pleted. “The way the Vega looks now is how it will come off the production line at our new manufacturing facility in Haren. There will be no more external modifications.”

Philipp Kamps and his team have paid particular attention to the standard equip-ment provided with the Vega. “This sprayer offers a lot of innovation compared to other competitors on the market, especially with regard to operator safety and environmental protection. These days, it is more important than ever that crop protection is done in harmony with nature. That’s a considerable challenge. But the implement also offers excellent stability when it is driven on roads and fields. We are currently working on op-timising the BoomCommand automatic boom guidance. We are making excellent progress, and I am confident that we will launch working widths of 27, 28 and 30 me-tres on the market next year. With the new Vega we have developed an implement that optimally complements the Sirius 8 and 10 mounted field sprayers and the Primus and Albatros trailed field sprayers, all of which are already on the market”, Kamps says.

Crop protection – in harmony with natureThere is no room for error in crop protection. There are good reasons why long development periods and comprehensive tests are required before a new crop protection implement can be launched on the market. For the new Vega 12 trailed field sprayer, most of this complex process has already been successfully completed.

15

DeltaRow – our new single-seed rowCrop protection – Vega before its market launch

Vega 12 trailed field sprayer

More space for maizeLEMKEN is currently making great progress in completing a study on the company’s new single-seed drill. The implement is to be launched on the market in 2017 under the name of Azurit.

Compact-Solitair Z10 with Azurit 9-4.75 D

DeltaRow with zig-zag pattern 70% more surface area for plants than with single rows

access the deposited fertiliser symmet-rically and therefore results in all plants utilising the available nutrients evenly and optimally. With a view to the new Fertiliser Ordinance, this is particularly relevant because it reduces the risk of nitrate leaching.” The distributed plant growth and resulting improvement in the utilisation of available space by about 70% make the approach par-ticularly interesting for fields that are prone to erosion. “Finally, this overall concept gives our customers a great opportunity to increase their yields, as the plants are optimally spaced and can therefore utilise the available nutrients, water and light better than with conventional single-row seeding.”

Of course, the Azurit can be com-bined with all LEMKEN soil cultivation implements. The system also works well with subsequent crop protec-tion measures and is suited for har-vesting with harvester headers that require a certain row spacing. “Azurit single-seed technology is suitable for sowing maize, soy beans, sunflowers and rapeseed”, Bergerfurth says, “but in Germany the focus will most likely lie on maize.”

Field trials of the first four-row proto-types of the new Azurit single-seed drill have been running since 2014, and this year they were extended to include a new eight-row version. LEMKEN launched a study on its sin-gle-seed drill at the Agritechnica 2013, and Dennis Bergerfurth has been part of the Azurit development right from the start. “Our early evaluations have left us with a very positive impression”, he says, adding that he definitely ex-pects the product to be launched on the market in two years’ time.

The development of this innova-tive implement centres around the novel DeltaRow principle. “With a DeltaRow, seeds are not simply placed in a single row, but instead deposited in a kind of ‘extended sin-gle row’, where they are staggered 12.5  cm apart by two double disc coulters per seeding unit”, Berger-furth explains. He believes that this zig-zag or delta pattern is currently unique on the market and offers nu-merous benefits. “What’s important is that the distance between the seeding units is still 75 cm, which

means that there are no integration problems with conventional culti-vation and harvesting technology.” What sets this approach apart is that “sowing in an ‘extended row’ provides greater distance between every two plants, which gives them up to 70% more space.”

The DeltaRow approach also improves fertiliser placement. “We achieved that by having the leading fertiliser unit deposit the fertiliser precisely in the centre of the DeltaRow seed row, 5 cm below it. This ensures that plants can

Spare parts for soil cultivation are subject to particularly high wear and need to be replaced sooner or later. It is worthwhile to keep in mind that the higher the quality of spare parts, the longer their service life will be. An investment in high-quality genuine LEMKEN spare parts is therefore economically sensible and produces genuine added value to both farmers and contract farmers.

Spare parts – “a part of us”

A PARTOF US

DuraMaxx plough bodies

> DuraMaxx components are manufactured from much harder steel than conventional plough bodies. This has been possible by avoid-ing any weakening of the material arising from drilled or punched holes.

> DuraMaxx plough bodies are designed to allow mouldboards, slats and mouldboard edges to be changed quickly and without requiring tools.

> Share points are additionally attached with only a single screw, which allows them to be changed much more quickly than with conventional systems.

For more information on LEMKEN’s spare parts service, please visit http://lemken.com/ersatzteile-service/. Spare parts can be ordered online via our logistics partner agroparts (https://www.agroparts.com/agroparts/).

“Our spare parts business is a significant driver of LEMKEN’s sales”, comments Boris Bröcheler, head of Sales Service Spare Parts. “It ac-counts for 20% of our total sales, and the trend is rising. More than 80% of these sales are generated from spares and wear parts for soil cultivation implements.”

That is why LEMKEN is very committed to its spare parts business, starting from the manufacture of parts. After all, hardening steel is one of our core competencies. Individual parts are heated to 900 degrees in our furnaces, formed and then cooled down to 100 de-grees and hardened within just a minute. The temperatures and cooling intervals used determine the hardened structure of the ma-terial. This process makes materials highly resistant to wear. “The trend is towards genuine spares”The procurement of spare parts means unavoidable, ongoing costs for farmers, which they are forced to incur regardless of the imple-ment brand and system used. “Genuine spare parts are often more expensive, but not too expensive, as this would be short-sighted”, Bröcheler explains. “After all, the costs of genuine parts are offset by their benefits, which are the decisive factor from a business man-agement perspective.”

Genuine spare parts are a guarantee of consistent quality in each part at any time. Generic parts, in contrast, often suffer from a whole range of disadvantages, including poorer quality materials. LEMKEN guarantees that only superior special steels are used and that parts undergo extensive testing before they leave our factory. Experience has shown that generic parts often lack the precision of fit offered

by genuine spares, resulting in longer set-up times when installing and replacing parts. This can soon add substantially to the cost of a perceived bargain.

Also, each and every genuine LEMKEN spare part represents a piece of technical innovation. The DuraMaxx plough body system is a good example: the service life of these parts has been improved

even further through the use of special manufacturing technolo-gy. Currently the service life of this system is 150% longer than with conventional mouldboards. This applies similarly to the hard-faced share points of our cultivators, which feature carbide plates for dramatically improved durability. Since genuine spare parts always provide a perfect fit, they result in shorter set-up times, which is an important factor that saves considerable time and therefore money.

Finally, genuine spare parts produce better quality of work. The quick-change systems for the Karat and Kristall cultivator shares, for example, allow farmers to adapt shares to individual soil conditions and working depths and to avoid excessive wear and tear.

We dispatch qualitySome of our high-quality spare parts are dispatched in specially de-signed, visually appealing boxes that signal to recipients that “there’s quality inside”. LEMKEN’s marketing department has developed the “A Part of Us” campaign to emphasise the benefits that genuine spare parts bring.

Bröcheler puts it succinctly: “We know that our genuine spare parts offer very high quality and thus deliver genuinely added value to our customers”. LEMKEN has therefore set itself a high standard, which the company meets through long-lasting product quality and a specially trained team of spare parts experts.

This makes genuine spare parts more expensive, of course, but the decision is ultimately an easy calculation with a clearly positive re-sult. Contract farmers and managers of large farms have long rec-ognised the benefits of genuine spare parts. They need to calculate their costs particularly carefully, as their implements are operated under very high loads. For most of them, the decision for genuine spares is clear-cut. “There’s a good reason why the trend is towards genuine spares”, Bröcheler concludes, and “that’s why we will never compromise on our spare parts.”

High-quality production processes

and intensive quality control are

guarantees for long service life.

Hardness tests and microscopic analyses allow conclusions to be drawn regarding optimised treatments for materials.

each genuine lemken spare part bears its unique identifier,

and even worn parts can therefore be clearly identified.

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Live: What priority does sales have within LEMKEN’s corporate culture?

K.-H. Reher: Sales is one of the core areas of our company’s operations, together with development and production. One of our main goals, apart from acquiring customers through our partners in distribution, is to ensure lasting customer satisfaction. This year, we made some adjustments within our organisation in order to optimise our sales processes further in keeping with this goal. Our spare parts management and product service departments will be merged into After Sales Service. Sales are not merely about selling new implements, but more and more about providing spare parts and services, including professional consultancy, to meet customer needs. This takes us yet another step closer to our goal of promoting the long-term loyalty of satisfied customers.

Live: Which markets are particularly important for LEMKEN?

K.-H. Reher: Europe continues to be our most important region, and within Europe Germany and France have formed the backbone of our successful operations in this part of the world for many years. However, Central European countries are becoming more and more

LEMKEN’s range of implements can be found in over 50 countries worldwide. About 70% of our sales come from our export business, but the number of units sold is not the sole measure for whether a sales department is optimally organised. LEMKEN live interviewed Karl-Huber-tus Reher, who has been LEMKEN’s new Head of Sales since the beginning of this year.

Karl-Hubertus Reher has been LEMKEN’s Head of Sales since 1 January 2015.

Karl-Hubertus Reher values ongoing dialogue with “his” sales team.

He can be seen here getting first-hand information about new developments in seed drill technology.

Sales is more than selling

Sales – interview with K.-H. Reher

significant. I will only mention Poland and Romania as examples, which rank 3rd and 4th among the European countries with the most extensive available agricultural land and therefore offer great potential, of course. Outside Europe there are a number of significant growth markets for LEMKEN, including China, for example, where we have been supporting our growth very active-ly through our own company for a relatively short time. Canada has been another market where we have enjoyed very rapid growth over the past ten years, as we identified the trend towards and demand for more intensive process engineering in crop production early on. Canadian farmers have begun to use LEMKEN’s professional technology more extensively to produce greater yields. The broad acceptance of our Rubin and Heliodor compact disc harrows is clear evidence of this development.

Live: Where do you see the focus of LEMKEN’s business activities, now and in the future?

K.-H. Reher: We perceive ourselves as specialists in professional crop production, that is we support farmers “from harvest to harvest”. Our soil cultivation implements, including ploughs, have formed the core of our business activity for many decades and continue to account for about 60% of our total sales. At the same time, our other product groups are becoming more and more significant, as we are experiencing particularly strong growth in these segments. LEMKEN seed drill technology offers a wide range of intelligent solutions to our customers. In the future, we will launch additional innovative approaches on the market, such as the Delta Row concept for single-seed drilling. However, it is crop protection, the most recent addition to our product groups, that offers the greatest potential for growth. The construction of our new factory in Haren and the associated concentration of our expertise at this new facility form the basis from which we will provide new impulses to this product and market segment in the coming years.

Live: Agriculture has been a sensitive issue in recent social debates. Where do you think the future will take us?

K.-H. Reher: Conventional agriculture is currently under intense scrutiny all over Europe, and particularly in Germany. It is to be expected that regulation and associated documentation obligations in agriculture will

only increase continuously. At the same time there is a necessity for continuing to increase yields on the limited agricultural land available in Europe. That’s why the trend is towards more intensive approaches to cultivation, which in turn requires innovation and ongoing improvement. Further digitalisation will play a major role in all aspects of agriculture under the heading of “smart farming”. However, we can also usefully apply our many years of experience in other parts of the world, where the development of crop production is decades behind where we currently stand in Europe. LEMKEN is well prepared for both of these segments. The challenge is to implement these divergent requirements at the same time in keeping with different local needs all within a single organisation.

Live: How do you assess LEMKEN’s market position compared to the company’s international competitors?

K.-H. Reher: As a family business, we are very well placed in these exciting times, as we are able to define our deci-sion-making parameters freely in line with our corporate goals, without being subject to external influences. LEMKEN is more than competitive now and will remain so in the future. Our great advantage is that we and our excellent team are solidly grounded in the agricultural soil for which we ultimately develop and build our products, and we intend to keep it that way.

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Plough vs. chemicalsThe extension of the authorisation for glyphosate has reached a critical stage. In view of the large amount of available data, which have been the focus of intense debate, the decision in the regular re-evaluation process has recently been postponed by six months and will now not be taken by 31 December 2015 as previously expected. Yes or No to glyphosate – the ans-wer to this question will have a decisive effect on future approaches to soil cultivation.

Source: DLG Info Sheet 391: Glyphosate – responsible use of an active ingredient (in German)

The use of glyphosate is especially important for successful mulch seeding.

Glyphosate – an active ingredient under scrutiny

Ploughing is a good alternative to using glyphosate.

Pros of no-till farming (with glyphosate)

> Lower production costs due to lower fuel consumption

> Decreased water and wind erosion

> Less nitrate leaching

> Decreased CO2 emissions

Cons of no-till farming

> Dependence on herbicides such as glyphosate

> Risk of mycotoxin formation

> Novel no-till seeding technology

> Lack of expertise

Weed and weed grass pressure is increasing, particularly in short cereal crop rotations.

Glyphosate is generally an important crop protection product for arable farming. Currently 69 crop protection products con-taining glyphosate are approved for use in arable farming, and glyphosate has become the most widely used herbicide worldwide. Its applications range from treating individ-ual plants to combating volunteer cereals, controlling weeds and weed grasses and finally to desiccating lodging cereals and rapeseed. However, according to regula-tions issued by the German Federal Institute for Agriculture and Food (BLE), glyphosate may only be used for pre-harvest applica-tions (i.e. desiccation) in exceptional cases.

The German Agricultural Society (DLG) has collected statistics on the use of glyphosate, which it has published in its current info sheet No. 391. It found that farmers apply this herbicide to a total of 39% of their ara-ble fields; about 80% of winter oilseed rape

fields and 70% of grain legume fields are treated with glyphosate. As winter oilseed rape, winter barley and winter wheat are the most commonly grown crops, they also represent the largest areas treated.

After harvesting – before sowingGlyphosate is generally used to control diffi-cult weeds post-harvest and/or pre-sowing. Post-harvest application is mainly used in combination with reduced tillage, but farm-ers are using this herbicide more and more in tilled winter oilseed rape and legume ro-tations. Pre-sowing applications of glypho-sate for weed and weed grass control are mainly found in mulch/no-till sowing of

sugar beets or maize after catch crops. The role of glyphosate in resistance manage-ment deserves particular attention, as it is virtually irreplaceable in the treatment of resistant weeds.

The timing and frequency of glyphosate application have a decisive effect on soil cultivation processes. The application of glyphosate often serves to replace an entire soil cultivation pass, for example when used

on stubble. However, good agricultural practice limits this type of use. Many farm-ers are reverting to a more intensive form of soil cultivation in order to minimise their use of chemical substances, not least based on the realisation that deep cultivation has other positive effects on soil conditions that should not be underestimated. These effects include, among others, the break-ing of capillary action, the incorporation of straw and/or the control of slugs and

rodents. These aspects need to be included in the overall assessment from a business perspective.

Yes – No – or bothNo-till approaches, in contrast, are associat-ed with lower fuel consumption, reduced CO2 emissions and improved protection against erosion. On ploughed fields, ero-sion caused by wind and rain is about six times that of erosion on no-till fields. Research conducted by Justus-Liebig Uni-versity, Gießen, suggests that soil erosion may amount to as much as 15 t/ha annu-ally, which results in the topsoil cover being reduced by about 12 mm every year. In certain circumstances, it is useful to com-bine soil cultivation and the application of glyphosate, especially when late-emerging weeds are to be effectively controlled.

Despite the benefits of no-till soil cultiva-tion, farmers are already preparing for the possibility that they may no longer be able to use glyphosate. This is at least what an interesting survey conducted among con-tract farmers suggests, the results of which were published in the LU Trend Report for 2015. Based on their current level and type of jobs, contract farmers believe that the future will lie in conventional ploughing for all soil types. For fields with light to medium soils, both approaches are increasingly used in combination, as the focus shifts more and more towards mechanical weed control.

Arable farming alternatives to glyphosate use

> Pre-sowing weed control for seedbed preparation Alternative: Spring ploughing

> Post-harvest control of root and/or difficult-to-control weeds Alternative: Tillage cultivation

> Pre-harvest desiccation or weed grass/weed control Alternative: Optimum crop management, in exceptional cases treatment of partial areas

> Application to winter wheat affected by resistant black-grass, pre-sowing application Alternative: Change of crop rotation

> Post-harvest application for field hygiene Alternative: Additional soil cultivation pass; possibly ploughing

> Post-harvest control of root or difficult-to-control weeds Alternative: Reduction of wheat portion in rotation and/or ploughing

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xxxxxx

The foundation of the AgroTraining department in 2008 already established the basis for the further expansion of the company's training segment. Since then, both internal service and sales staff and technicians and salespeople from LEMKEN's specialist dealers have been regularly provided with important information about im-plement technology and our spare parts busi-ness in the fields of soil cultivation, sowing and crop protection.

Since 2010, LEMKEN has conducted annual Train-ing Camps on specific topics, in which LEMKEN technology is put to the test in comparison with our main competitors. This year, Peter Baumgärt-ner, head of AgroTraining, and his team provided training on state-of-the-art seed drill technology.

Close link to farming practiceThe AgroFarm, which is currently under con-struction, will allow LEMKEN to optimise its ap-

LEMKEN firmly believes that further training is a matter of top priority, and the official ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the LEMKEN AgroFarm in June 2015 marked a new era in the company's approach to training.

LEMKEN once again breaking a lot of ground

proach to training even more. The AgroFarm training centre, which is located only about 4 km from the LEMKEN headquarters in Alpen, is expected to open in May 2016. The existing farm house is being carefully restored to its original glory and will serve as foyer and for catering in a genuinely rural atmosphere.

The site, which has a size of 11,000 sqm in total, will also house a 1,400 sqm hall with sections dedicated to ploughing, stubble cultivation, sowing and crop protection, and there will be modern training rooms and offices.

"Having agricultural fields right next door gives us optimal conditions for practical implement training", says Peter Baumgärtner. "Plus we are able to use surrounding arable land, as we have agreed on a cooperation with the local farmer. The AgroFarm forms an important component of LEMKEN's overall sales and ser-vice approach. Our highly trained field repre-sentatives and qualified specialists among our sales partners allow us to provide a reliable, comprehensive support network that extends from Alpen to farmers all over the world." It is envisaged that about 5,000 specialist agricul-tural machinery dealers and service and sales staff will be trained annually at the AgroFarm.

AgroFarm – practice-oriented training

Top performanceHaren in the Emsland district is in fact best known as a shipping centre. More than 20 shipping companies have their base here, from which they dispatch over 250 coaster and sea-going vessels.

Within LEMKEN – Haren

But Haren will soon be home to a very different kind of fleet. As of this autumn, LEMKEN has brought together its entire field sprayer production in Haren.

The construction of the new LEMKEN field sprayer factory in Haren was launched just in time for spring with a symbolic ground-break-ing ceremony. By autumn, offices, training rooms with an integrat-ed, 525 m² exhibition area, and a production hall of almost 10,000 m² had been constructed on the site, which is more than 3 ha in size. "We are proud that we were able to reach this ambitious goal within this short period", said Anthony van der Ley, LEMKEN's Man-aging Director. "This is an investment in a forward-looking landmark project and as such sends an important message. Crop protection has become one of our core competencies." LEMKEN has enjoyed substantial growth in recent years, and it is expected that the mech-anisation process will continue to gather pace in agriculture. "This is the only way in which we will be able to feed the nine billion people who will soon inhabit our planet."

A decade of developmentTen years ago, LEMKEN expanded its product range by crop protec-tion implements. Since then, the family-operated business has of-fered not only its core soil cultivation and seeding implements, but also a broad range of implements for professional crop production.

In 2005, LEMKEN additionally acquired the renowned company RTS Pflanzenbautechnik with its experienced staff and facilities in Meppen as a first step. However, it soon became apparent that the Meppen factory would not be able to meet the requirements of fast, seamless field sprayer production, but there was no possibility of extending the facility. That's why LEMKEN decided to build a com-pletely new factory at the site in Haren, which is ideally located close by to the old site and offers an easy connection to the A 31 motor-way. LEMKEN invested about EUR12 million in this forward-looking facility. Since October 2015, 30 employees have worked there to produce field sprayers for a growing market.

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Design of the new LEMKEN AgroFarm in Alpen

Tips for your farming practice

We trialled step by step how to improve traction when working with cultivators. Even under ideal conditions, we managed to increase acreage performance by up to 14%, with stable fuel consumption.

While it is impossible to avoid slip, that is the unproductive slipping of tyres, entire-ly when pulling implements, it should be minimised as far as possible. With trailed implements it is especially challenging to transfer tractor power to the soil with minimal loss.The main measures for increasing tractor grip include adjusting tyre dimensions, tyre pressure, ballast and the transfer of implement weight to the tractor. We wanted to compare systems to find out just how much of a benefit these various approaches can bring, and we took a Claas Axion 850 Cmatic with continuous-ly variable transmission and a LEMKEN Karat 9/500 KUA with 5 m working width to the field for a practical cultivator trial. We were able to use a relatively homoge-neous field on Brockhof Estate in Erwitte in eastern Westphalia and trialled a range

of alternatives with consistent working depth and fixed speed control setting. The Axion with high tyre pressure and no ballast formed the starting point or “zero alternative”. Our subsequent efforts to op-timise traction focused on the following questions: > What benefits does reduced tyre pressure

bring? > What effects do different tyre sizes have?> What benefits does front ballast bring,

and how heavy should it be?> What effects do rim/wheel weights have

and how long do they take to be installed?> Can traction enhancement on the cultiva-

tor replace wheel weights?> How much greater acreage performance

(in %) can be achieved between the least and most effective alternatives? Or how much diesel could be saved with consist-ent acreage performance?

Dry soil: The local black soil had dried off well after the potato harvest, which was technically optimal for soil cultivation, but perhaps not so great for simulating strong slip. That’s why we were even more excited to find out how strong an effect the various measures would have. We knew that any beneficial effects obtained under optimum conditions would be even more marked under critical conditions.For our tests, we equipped our cultivator and tractor with a range of measuring equipment in cooperation with LEMKEN and Claas. We attached appropriately calibrated adhesive strain gauges to the lower link coupling shaft and upper link to allow us to monitor the constant traction required by our cultivator. Short, freely suspended chains at the front of the cul-tivator frame additionally permitted the driver to monitor whether the cultivator

kept to a consistent depth. The working depth, which we also checked separately for each pass, was consistently about 17 cm. We additionally chose to drive the tractor at a diagonal angle to the conven-tional direction of cultivation and exclud-ed tramlines and headlands during our trial passes. Each trial pass was repeated three times.As our tractor did not have radar, the actual speed of travel on the field was delivered by a TeeJet Matrix GPS. We then calculated slip from the difference to the speedometer readings (transmission speed).

Higher acreage performance: The same driver operated the tractor in all passes. The main goal was to achieve the greatest pos-sible acreage performance with consistent working depth, which reflects what is usu-ally required in practice. We set the tractor’s speed control to the relatively high speed of 18 km/h for all passes, which the tractor was not able to reach with the given work-ing width and depth, despite its high 264 HP maximum power rating. However, this setting, combined with the continuously variable drive, resulted in each % less slip having a direct effect on the speed of work, without the driver needing to intervene. On average, the actual speed reached was be-tween 8 and just under 10 km/h according to the GPS readings.Apart from slip, we were, of course, also interested in fuel consumption per ha. We obtained the relevant values from the trac-tor’s Cebis system, which allowed a good comparison of the various alternatives and additionally permitted yet another compar-ison to be made: we also trialled the mini-mum slip alternative at the same effective speed as the zero alternative to be able to calculate the potential fuel savings per ha at a constant acreage performance.We separated our test series into two parts by the two tyre sizes used: We initially put relatively “small” tyres on the tractor, namely Michelin AxioBibs IF 650/85 R 38 at the rear and 540/65 R 34 at the front, and trialled all alternatives. For the second alternative, the tractor was fitted with wider Goodyear 800/70 R 38 at the rear and 600/70 R 30 at the front. We again completed all of the passes, with minor adjustments. The fol-

lowing eight points summarise the effects achieved by our various measures for the two tyre sizes. The various alternatives are labelled according to the respective tyre manufacturer for reasons of clarity, but the fundamental tendencies can, of course, also be transferred to other brands with the same dimensions.

1. Zero alternative: The narrower Miche-lin tyres were uniformly inflated to 1.4 bar. The Axion carried no additional ballast and weighed 10.5 t at the time of testing. Slip: 19%; consumption: 10.4 l/ha The wider Goodyear tyres were also inflated to 1.4 bar for the first trial. As the attach-ments for the wheel weights were already on the rims and both tyres and rims were somewhat larger, the Axion weighed 10.7 t in this constellation. Slip: 22%; consumption: 10.3 l/ha Despite the larger tyre size, there was less engagement with the soil than with the Michelins if the tyre pressure was high. As a result, slip was even 3% greater than with

the “smaller” tyres, so tyre size alone is not decisive. 2. Reduced pressure: As is often done in practice, we then reduced the pressure in all tyres to 0.8 bar before the next series. Slip: 17%; consumption: 10.1 l/ha With ideal soil conditions, reduced tyre pressure only resulted in about 2% less slip with the Michelin tyres. As the tractor did not carry ballast, the reduced pressure was not very obvious on the sidewalls, and the tyres did not develop a good, long footprint during work. Based on this experience from the first test run, we decided to do without this “half-hearted” alternative for the larger tyres.

3. Even lower tyre pressure: We then re-duced the pressure in the rear AxioBibs to 0.6 bar according to the tyre pressure table (loads with traction). Slip: 14%; consumption: 10.1 l/ha At this lower pressure, the tyre developed a clearly longer footprint, and slip was 5%

Tractionenhancement

Alternative Wheel weightalternative

Tyre pressure1,4 0,8 0,6 bar

Front weight0,9/1,5 t

1917141210108

1234567

22–15108108

–+2 /–+5 /+7+7/+12+9/+14+9 /+12+11/+14

Slip % Di�. %Tyres A Tyres B Acreage perform.

The diagram shows the effect the various measures had. Each 1% less slip results in 1% greater acreage performance.

Dia

gram

: M. H

öner

Less slip for greater acreage performance

More grip, more acreage, same consumptionWe gradually improved

tractor traction in our practical cultivator trial.

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lower than with the zero alternative. This effect would be even more pronounced under difficult conditions. Same test with 0.6 bar Goodyear tyres:Slip: 15%; consumption: 9.8 l/ha In this scenario, the very low pressure result-ed in a clear improvement compared to the baseline: 7% less slip and thus 7% higher acreage performance! However, the larger tyres were still no better than the smaller ones. There still seemed to be weight lack-ing for optimum engagement, that is for the stronger, large tyre to develop a good, long footprint.

4. With 900 kg front ballast: Rear tyre pressure was maintained at 0.6 bar, but the front Michelins were inflated to 1.0 bar ac-cording to the tyre pressure table. Slip: 12%; consumption: 10.2 l/ha Acreage performance increased by 7% com pared to the baseline. This arrange-ment additionally resulted in greater stabil-ity, with virtually no tractor hopping even with heavy-duty traction work. Goodyear tyres with 0.6 bar pressure all around and 900 kg front ballast: Slip: 10%; consumption: 9.8 l/ha The front ballast reduced slip by a further 5%. As a result, a total improvement of 12% was achieved compared to the baseline without any major effort, and the larger tyre overtook the smaller tyre, as its potential was better utilised. According to the tyre pressure table, there is still room to increase pressure from 0.6 bar with the Goodyears with front ballast. That’s why the tractor was driven with 1.5 t front ballast for the next pass. Slip decreased

merely by another per cent to 9% (9.7/ha). The effect of the heavy front ballast was lim-ited under our test conditions, at least with the given wheelbase of the Axion.

5. Enhancement from the cultivator: The LEMKEN cultivator was equipped with a traction enhancement feature where a cylinder pre-tensioned to 190 bar pulls on the upper link to transfer weight from the cultivator to the tractor’s rear axle (similar systems are also available from other culti-vator manufacturers). This system should, however, only be used with front ballast, as too much weight would otherwise be taken off the tractor’s front axle. Traction enhancement comes as standard with our cultivator; otherwise it is available for an extra EUR1,671 (excluding VAT). With this alternative, tyre pressure and 900 kg front ballast remained unchanged. Slip: 10%; consumption: 10.0 l/ha Traction enhancement resulted in im-proved rear axle grip and reduced the slip by another 2% with the Michelin tyres as a result. Compared to the zero alternative, we

had therefore improved our acreage per-formance by a total of 9%, using relatively basic measures. With Goodyear tyres at 0.6 bar and a 1.5 t front ballast, slip dropped to just under 8%. As the tractor delivered its power to the ground with very little slip to start with, giv-en the low tyre pressure and heavy front bal-last, the effect of traction enhancement was relatively limited, but would be considerably higher under more challenging conditions. However, we achieved a 14% greater acre-age performance compared to the baseline by combining various approaches.

6. With wheel weights: For this scenario, we mounted wheel weights to the rims. Both rims needed to be removed because with the Michelin tyres the supports are first mounted to the inside and outside of the rims. However, the supports, which weigh 35 kg each, can then remain on the rims. The actual wheel weights weighed 267 kg each. They are best installed by 2 people using a forklift with side lift. There is a con-siderable risk of fingers getting jammed,

In brief> We wanted to find out how strong an effect various measures have on tractor grip.

> With tyres, appropriate pressure is more important than size.

> Front ballast increased grip and resulted in steadier tractor traction. The step up from 0.9 to 1.5 t weight did not have a significant effect.

> Traction enhancement fully replaced unwieldy wheel weights.

> Even under ideal conditions, we achieved up to 14% greater acreage performance at consistent diesel consumption, or 10% lower consumption at the same acreage performance.

and assembly took ½ to 1 hour, depending on how familiar people were with the pro-cess. In practice, the wheel weights always remain on throughout the season once in-stalled, including during road travel. Togeth-er with the supports, this measure resulted in about 600 kg more weight resting on the rear axle. The list price for the wheel weights is EUR1,955 (excluding VAT). We retained all parameters of alternative 5 for the Michelin test run, but switched off traction enhancement. Slip: 10%; consumption: 10.0 l/ha, i.e. the

same result as we achieved with the trac-tion enhancement. The result was somewhat different with the Goodyear tyres, though, where we again measured 10% slip when using the wheel weights, that is 2% more than with the trac-tion enhancement. Apparently the cylinder transfers more weight to the rear axle and uses the tyre potential better. Our conclu-sion: traction enhancement in a cultivator can more than replace wheel weights, which are cost- and labour-intensive, at least under our test conditions.

7. Full range of measures: To conclude this test series, we threw everything at the system we had: front ballast, traction en-hancement and wheel weights, and we even pushed tyre pressure to the limit with 0.6 bar in the rear tyres. Slip: 8%; consumption: 9.9 l/ha This showed that results could be improved even further: acreage performance with this alternative was a full 11% greater compared to the baseline, even under ideal conditions and with slightly reduced fuel consump-tion. However, this maximum effort did not result in any further improvement to the Good-year alternative: slip remained at just under 8%, and it seems that reducing slip further is hardly possible from a physical perspective.

8. Saving diesel: We repeated the trials with the least slip for both tyre constella-tions at the same GPS speed as the zero alternatives. The results were similar for both tyres: under the given conditions, we were able to save 10% diesel per hectare with identical acre-age performance. Guido Höner

Tips for your farming practice

BLUE MEANS FREEDOM THE KARAT CULTIVATOR – THE IDEAL CHOICE FOR MAXIMUM VERSATILITY

� Working depths from 5–30 cm � 10 share versions for different uses � Automatic concave disc adjustment to working depths � Elimination of lateral pull through optimised tine arrangement

The Karat intensive cultivator is the all-rounder among cultivators. Its interchange-able shares make it the perfect choice for shallow and medium-depth stubble cultivation and topsoil loosening for mulch seeding:

BLUE MEANS FREEDOM THE KARAT CULTIVATOR – THE IDEAL CHOICE FOR MAXIMUM VERSATILITY

The optional quick-change tine

system allows the Karat to be adapted

to a very wide range of operating

conditions without any need for tools.

lemken.com

Phot

os: H

öner

We used two different tyre sizes in our test. Danger of fingers jamming: installation of the

unwieldy wheel weights.

Traction enhancement pulls on

the upper link and transfers

weight to the rear axle.We used two front ballasts of 0.9 and 1.5 t

respectively.

We went to the limits of the tyre pressure

table, following several passes with high tyre pressure.

26

lemken.com

Hello there, how can we help you? You r̀e pleased we asked? Not at all, it’s all part of the service. At LEMKEN farmers get special treatment. We are interested in your opinion and welcome your suggestions and wishes. That is precisely why our agricultural engi-neering is what it is today: efficient, diverse and high quality. Try it out for yourself. And experience what many farmers have known for a long time – Blue means!

EXPERIENCE FOR YOURSELF NOW:BLUE MEANS!