For the last couple of months our 6m demonstration Sky EasyDrill has been kept very busy sowing cover crops and more mainstream crops on farms across our area.

Essentially a no-till drill, the EasyDrill is capable of sowing direct into stubbles, into min-till conditions or ploughed, cultivated ground.

This versatility is made possible by the design of the coulter. Weight distribution is very easily adjusted to shift the bias from the front depth wheel to the rear press wheel. That factor alone means the Sky EasyDrill is more capable than most drills of working in less than ideal conditions, giving it a wider working window and making delayed drilling possible where blackgrass is an issue.

The particularly narrow working angle of the coulter-discs (just 3 deg) also means surface disturbance is kept to an absolute minimum – critical in limiting in-crop germination of grass weeds.

Sky has established a strong reputation, its drills having been in use across Europe for the last 30-40 years. The range includes 3m box drills plus 4m and 6m pneumatic units – wider machines are currently in testing and evaluation. Power requirement is particularly low – a 6m version typically requires just 180hp up front.

Various different options are available – our demo machine has twin hoppers for seed and fertiliser plus an extra ProHopper small seed metering unit for granules, slug-pellets, etc… For cover crop drilling this is very useful allowing three different varieties to be sown at once. All three metering units are controlled by one RDS Artemis box which is GPS-compatible to enable variable seed and fertiliser rates to be used.

Right now our 6m EasyDrill is undertaking five to six demonstrations a week, helping to establish both over-winter cover crops and mainstream cereals. If you would like to arrange a demonstration please contact your T H WHITE Agricultural branch.