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A Titan in Sibiria



A report of the first Russian Titan

The large farm Solyanoje in the south west of Sibiria is situated approx. 110 kilometers south of Omsk, the capital of the region. One year ago the first HORSCH auger waggon sold in Russia was put into use at this farm.

“Last year in August  our HORSCH dealer Omsk-Diesel invited us to the HORSCH Field Day that took place in Chaplygin in Central Russia. He told us that something completely new would be shown there“, tells Nikolaj Koctscherga, the managing engineer of the farm.  “For us in Siberia 4,000 kilometers is no distance at all, so I spontaneously decided to fly there. I was very impressed by the event itself, especially by the extensive machinery demonstrations. As, at that time, harvest was due to start any day, I was particularly interested in the auger waggon HORSCH Titan 34 UW. Even I as a technician with a university degree have not been able to find any weak spot on this machine: the design of the auger wagon is stable and simple at the same time with few moving, but very reliable large components. Because of the large distances in our country that would have to be covered in case of spare part deliveries, the reliablity of the Titan 34 UW was an extremely important purchase criteria.“

At the moment, Solyanoje farms a total area of 12,000 hectares. „Despite the common cliché that exists in Europe that Siberia is more or less a wilderness, we are a modern agricultural company“, Nikolaj points out. “We are equipped with state-of-the-art Western technology. Especially machines and equipment from Germany are still very highly appreciated. For harvest technology we completely rely on Claas. The quartet consisting of four Tucano 430 combines work perfectly. Now they get additional support from the HORSCH auger waggon which is drawn by a CLAAS Axion 850. Thus, the effective threshing times of the combines can be increased“, he adds. “They work non-stop and discharge while driving.“

To transport the crop, the farm uses the Kamaz tipping trailers with additional trailers which are very common in Russia. The admissible total weight of these trucks is 25 tons. „Due to its capacity of 34 cubic metres the Titan can take the grain hopper contents of all four Tucanos. An unloading speed of  18 t/min allows for filling the Kamaz including the trailer within a few minutes – with exactly 25 tons“, the engineer says. The trailer could take a little bit more, but the meticulous expert does not allow it for a good reason. “Otherwise the Kamaz would be overloaded! That will not work out in the long run“, Nikolaj explains.

A scale which is clearly visible from the tractor cab shows the opening angle of the hydraulic slide in the auger waggon. The driver, thus, can control the crop flow and interrupt the unloading process in time.

The trucks are always loaded at the field boundaries. “Since we have bought the auger waggon I do no longer allow for the heavy Kamazes driving on the field. Despite the dry climate in our region the weather at the time of harvest often is rather unsettled. The deep tyre tracks of a fully loaded truck can leave the soil structure seriously damaged. As we almost exclusively farm our fields with direct sowing, we had to put up with these damages in the past“, Nikolaj points out. „The large tyres of the Titan’s telescopic axle run in an offset pattern outside the tractor tracks. This preserves the soil and adds to the low horsepower requirement of the auger waggon“. „The simple  hopper design of the Titan with its funnel shape and with only one powerful auger conveyor makes cleaning very easy“, Nikolaj adds.

In Solyanoje spring wheat (yields approx. 2.5 t/ha), spring barley (3.2 t/ha), spring rape (1.8 t/ha), oats (1.6 t/ha), sunflowers (2.0 t/ha) and lucerne are grown. The indicated yields are achieved without using any fertiliser. The reason for this is not an agronimic one, but a mere technical one: previously the farm had no seed drill that could also apply fertiliser. The drilling of one crop normally starts right after the harvest of the other.

Finally we wanted to know if the engineer has any proposals for the improvement or modification of the machine for the HORSCH designing engineers. “Not a single one“, Nikolaj answers, “rather a wish: I wish that every large farm will be able to benefit from the advantages of this unique machine to the same extent as we do“.

In the meantime, Solyanoje also bought a HORSCH Sprinter 15 NT with the possibility of underground fertilisation as an option. It is to be used in spring with a Claas Xerion 3300 (305 hp).