HORSCH Maestro Row Unit

In the two previous blog articles we already talked about the functioning and the design of our new metering unit generation AirVac and AirSpeed. This article will focus on our new Row Unit which can be equipped with both metering systems and will be used in all Maestro lines.

The most important yield factor in single grain sowing is a precise depth placement as well as the regular embedding of the grains to achieve a homogeneous emergence of the plant. Several components of the row unit influence the running performance of the unit and the precise depth control. The parallel connection of the seed units is a standard for single grain seed drills. Due to the parallelogram with a pendulum radius of 40 cm the HORSCH Maestro units can adapt to the soil and possible unevennesses in an optimum way. Moreover, the connection to the Maestros is very heavy and massive to guarantee stability even in most difficult conditions. With 35 cm the parallelogram of the HORSCH seed units is one of the widest on the market. And the wear points, that is the sleeves, too, are located very far at the outside. This is essential to absorb especially lateral or torsion forces at the unit in a better way and to keep the wear at the parallelogram and the unit connection as low as possible. Due to this durable, stable and maintenance-free design every Maestro can sow several thousand hectares.

In addition to the basic connection of the units at the frame the depth control of the seed discs, too, is essential for a precise depth placement of the grains. It is carried out by two depth control wheels which are controlled via the axle arms. The seed discs that are responsible for creating the seed furrow are attached right between the two depth control wheels. The seed depth is limited by the stop of the depth control plate. It can easily be adjusted via a pin. This design is maintenance-free. Large wear points at the connection of the depth control wheels guarantee high durability. Moreover, the depth control wheels as well as the seed discs are equipped with large and solid bearings so you do not have to compromise with regard to the depth placement in very difficult and hard conditions after a long service performance of the machine.

In addition to the connection of the unit and the design of the depth control the coulter pressure is essential for the precise embedding of the grain. As a standard, the Maestro row units are equipped with hydraulic cylinders that transfer pressure to the coulters. Thus, the driver can adjust the coulter pressure from 150 kg to a maximum of 350 kg per row – quite comfortable in the cabin. But usually the HORSCH Maestro is equipped with the AutoForce. AutoForce is a system that automatically adapts the coulter pressure to the prevailing soil conditions while driving in the field. In case of changing soil conditions, the system chooses the coulter pressure that guarantees the safe penetration of the seed coulters into the soil. Thus, the adjusted seed depth is always maintained. There is no risk that the seed unit moves too shallowly or even above the soil because the coulter pressure is too low. The system also prevents unnecessary soil compaction in the area of the seed slot which can be caused if the coulter pressure is too high. These compactions can have a negative effect on the root growth and the youth development especially in wet sowing conditions.

To adapt the seed units individually it is possible to mount various closing wheel systems according to the prevailing soil conditions. You can either go for 50 mm wide press wheels with a smooth or profiled surface or for 25 mm narrow rubber press wheels. Moreover, HORSCH developed two special press wheels made of cast iron. These finger and spike press wheels are always mounted in combination with a normal rubber press wheel which carries out the depth control. The special press wheels break open the seed slot wall and guarantee a slight soil compaction that is created when the seed slot is opened by the two seed discs. The wheels also improve the closing of the seed furrow and especially in very heavy clay soils prevent it from opening again in dry conditions. Moreover, the targeted loosening of the soil by the special press wheels encourages the root growth and thus the youth development of the plants. The finger resp. spike press wheel always runs at the side of the seed furrow where the underground fertilisation band is located. Thus, the roots of the plants can grow faster and freely towards the fertiliser depot. The finger press wheel is the more aggressive of the two press wheels and is used in hard conditions on heavy and medium soils. The spike press wheel is less aggressive and is ideal for medium soils as well as for light conditions.

Since construction year 2020 the HORSCH row units have been equipped with a standardised flange plate where different front tools can be attached. Clod scrapers, for example, that are floatingly suspended and control themselves by means of integrated depth control wheels prepare the seed area. Stones, coarse material and organic matter are moved aside to leave a fine-crumbly seedbed. It becomes more and more popular to use the clod scrapers for removing the mostly dried-up topsoil layer. The grains can then be sown in a wet seedbed, the dry earth is pushed between the rows. Moreover, a double disc fertiliser coulter for placing underground fertiliser can be mounted at the flange plate. Other front tools like a cutting disc or a loosening chisel are also available. In addition to the most common front tools that can be purchased directly at HORSCH, due to the standardised size of the attachment plate it will be possible in the future to mount more special third-party front tools at the row bodies.

The new Maestro single grain seed drills have been designed for durability and stability. You can choose between the two metering systems and from various equipment options, thus the single grain seed drill HORSCH Maestro can be adapted to the conditions of the site, the farm-specific requirements and the individual range of application in an optimum way. HORSCH always focusses on the optimum embedding of the grains, the establishment of homogeneous populations and the encouragement of the youth development.

Name	Purpose	Lifetime	Type	Provider
CookieConsent	Saves your consent to using cookies.	1 year	HTML	Website
PHPSessID	Retains user states on all page requests	3 months	HTTP	php
fe_typo_user	This cookie is set by TYPO3 to uniquely identify a user. It offers the user better user guidance.	1 session	HTTP	TYPO3
be_typo_user	be_typo_user Is used to identify a backend session when a backend user logs into the TYPO3 backend or frontend.	1 session	HTTP	TYPO3
mtm_cookie_consent	Saves your consent to use matomo tracking.	1 session	HTTP	TYPO3
mtm_consent_removed	Saves your opt-out from tracking with Matomo.	1 month	HTTP	Matomo

Name	Purpose	Lifetime	Type	Provider
personalization_id	Marketing Used to determine the number of visitors who access our website via Twitter advertising content and can be used for targeted advertising.	2 years	HTTP	Google Tag Manager / Twitter
ANID	Marketing Used to play out advertisements.	10 years		Google
_fbc	Marketing / Tracking Used by Facebook to deliver a range of advertising products, such as real-time bidding from third parties.	3 months		Google Tag Manager / Facebook
datr	Marketing / Tracking Used to identify the web browser that connects to Facebook, irrespective of the logged-in user. This cookie plays a key role in Facebook’s security and integrity functions.	2 years		Google Tag Manager / Facebook
fr	Marketing / Tracking Provides information to Facebook for linking the functionality of the social plugin. It sends information to Facebook irrespective of whether you have a Facebook account or are logged in to the social network.	3 months	HTML	Google Tag Manager / Facebook
sb	Marketing / Tracking Provides information to Facebook for linking the functionality of the social plugin. It sends information to Facebook irrespective of whether you have a Facebook account or are logged in to the social network.	3 months	HTML	Google Tag Manager / Facebook
_fbp	Marketing / Tracking Used by Facebook to display a range of advertising products, such as real-time bids from third-party advertisers.	7 days	Pixel	Google Tag Manager / Facebook
_gcl_au	Marketing / Tracking Used by Google AdSense to learn about the effectiveness of advertising on websites that use their services.	1 day	HTML	Google Tag Manager / Google Ad
RUL	Marketing / Tracking Used by DoubleClick to determine whether website ads are displayed correctly.	1 year		Google DoubleClick
IDE	Marketing / Tracking Contains a randomly generated user ID. Google uses this ID to identify users across different web sites and domains and display personalised advertising.	1 year		Google DoubleClick
__adroll_fpc	Marketing / Tracking Used to identify visitors on repeat visits and across different devices. Allows the website to present relevant ads to the visitor.	1 session	HTTP	Adroll
NID	Marketing / Tracking Google’s cookies store information about user settings and information for Google services.	6 months		Google Ads Optimazation
__Secure-3PAPISID	Marketing / Functional Used for targeting to create a profile of the interests of website visitors and to display relevant, personalised Google advertising.	2 years		Google
__Secure-3PSID	Marketing / Functional Used by Google for targeting to create a profile of the interests of website visitors and to display relevant, personalised Google advertising.	2 years		Google
__Secure-3PSIDCC	Marketing / Functional Used by YouTube / Google for targeting to create a profile of the interests of website visitors and to display relevant, personalised Google advertising.	1 year		YouTube / Google
CONSENT	Marketing / Functional Save CONSENT cookie settings.	10 years		Google / YouTube
_ar_v4	Optimises ad delivery based on the combination of the user’s online behaviour and bids from advertisers to display user ads.	1 year	HTTP	Google DoubleClick
MYSAPSSO2	Used for targeting to create a profile of the interests of website visitors and to display relevant, personalised Google advertising.	1 session		SAP

Name	Purpose	Lifetime	Type	Provider
_ga	Statistics Used to distinguish unique users by assigning a randomly generated number as a client identifier.	2 years	HTML	Google Analytics
_ga_XXXXXXXXXX	Statistics Contains a unique identifier used by Google Analytics 4 to determine whether two different hits across browsing sessions belong to the same user.	2 years	HTML	Google Analytics
_gid	Statistics Provides functionality for counting and tracking page views.	1 day	HTML	Google Analytics
1P_JAR	Statistics Used by Google to display personalised advertising on Google websites based on current search queries and previous interactions.	1 month		Google
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress	Statistics Used to detect the first page-view session of a user. It has a true/false value.	30 minutes		Hotjar
_hjFirstSeen	Statistics This cookie is set to identify a new user’s first session. It has a true/false value that specifies whether Hotjar has seen this user for the first time. It is used by recording filters to identify new user sessions.	1 session		Hotjar
_hjTLDTest	Statistics When the Hotjar script is executed, we try to determine the most generic cookie path to use in place of the hostname of the device hosting the page. This is done to allow cookies to be shared across subdomains (if applicable). To determine the most generic path, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed.	1 session		Hotjar
_hjid	Statistics Hotjar cookie that is set the first time a customer lands on a page running the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar user ID, which is unique for this page, in the browser. This ensures that the behaviour on subsequent visits to the same page is assigned to the same user ID.	365 days		Hotjar
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample	Statistics This cookie is set to tell Hotjar whether this user is included in the data sample defined by the site’s page-view limit.	30 minutes		Hotjar
_hjIncludedInSessionSample	Statistics This cookie is set to tell Hotjar whether this user is included in the data sample defined by the website’s daily session limit.	30 minutes		Hotjar
_pk_id	Statistics Saves a few user details such as the unique user ID.	13 months		Matomo
_pk_ses	Statistics Temporary cookie that temporarily stores data about a visit.	90 minutes		Matomo

Detalizēti

HORSCH Maestro Row Unit