Sweden’s Vaderstad is adding to its Tempo line of high-speed planters with two new versions that are destined for dealer lots in Canada.
Mounted via a three-point-hitch, the new Tempo V planter is available in seven different models with working widths from 4.2 to 6.6 metres. The largest version is available as a 12-row, or as an eight-row with 30-inch row spacings. But with the Tempo V there is no need to be a stickler for standard row spacings, it can handle just about anything a buyer wants, which gives it flexibility for a broader range of crop types.
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“The machine’s frame is designed so that row units and fertilizer coulters can be moved to any position,” reads the company’s press release. “Odd row numbers (such as nine rows with 600-millimetre spacing) can also be handled on the same frame.”
The Tempo V will be available with an optional fertilizer hopper that mounts on the front of the tractor (see photo at top). “It’s designed to meter out 250 kilos per hectare at 15 kilometres per hour,” said Gustav Samuelson, Vaderstad’s sales support representative at the company’s Agritechnica display in Hanover, Germany in November.
The hopper’s wide lid allows filling with a front-end loader bucket. “It’s 2,200 litres (62 bushels), and we have an option to have an extension. Then it will be 2,700 litres (76 bushels),” said Samuelson.
Beginning with 2016 models, Tempo planters will use an aluminum-bodied meter that replaces the previous composite material construction. Plus, it gets a new hatch designed for easier cleanouts, and the new meter design is capable of handling an even broader range of seed sizes.
The company also used Agritechnica to debut its other new planter, the larger Tempo L model. Stretching the brand’s maximum working width to 12.2 metres, it’s aimed, in part, at attracting the attention of broad-acre farmers here in North America. But in typical European fashion, it offers a narrow road transport width, able to squeeze down to just three metres.
The Tempo L will be offered in 12- or 16-row versions with row spacings from 700 to 800 millimetres (27.5 to 31.5 inches). It can also be equipped with a 5,000-litre (141 bushel) fertilizer hopper mounted on the front of the frame. To make filling easier, it is just a relatively low two-metre reach to the top filler opening.
All Tempo models will use the brand’s maintenance-free “Powershoot” row units with adjustable coulter pressure.
Like the iCon system used on Vaderstad’s Seed Hawk brand air drills, these Tempo planters use an iPad for implement control. But the Tempo system is called E-Control, and it allows for electronic control of all the drill functions, including individual row unit shutdown.
Although the Tempo L made its public debut last November, don’t look to have one parked in your yard until the spring of 2017 when they will be available for general delivery to customers.
