Exclusive Test Drive with Horsch's Cultro TC

On one of the first days of winter, with mild temperatures and some clouds, the Revista Cultivar Máquinas team went to an agricultural area, in the municipality of Ipiranga (PR), to test the Cultro TC knife roll, from Horsch. This city, which is close to Ponta Grossa, is located in an eminently agricultural region with a tradition in developing the first steps of direct planting in Brazil.

The equipment we tested arrived in Brazil last year, began evaluation stages and demonstrations for customers and is fully commercialized. Manufactured in Germany, where it is widely accepted, the Cultro TC arrives in the country as a market alternative to replace traditional knife rolls, offering the advantage of being a simpler, lighter piece of equipment that is easy to transport and operate, especially for the agility offered in maneuvers. The knife roller is a very useful piece of equipment for those farmers who maintain a covering of plant residues on the surface of the soil, but who, at the same time, want them not to hinder the entry of the seeders, avoiding bushing by cutting the straw. While competitors base the cutting operation solely on the weight on the knives, the Cultro TC offers the advantage of being light and the cutting is done by the technology of positioning the knives on the roller, the concentration of weight in the really important place and the speed employed in the operation. There is no need for water ballast or auxiliary equipment to assemble the rolls.

The main objective of this type of equipment when inserted into a complex plant residue management system is the formation of mulching, by processing (laying and chopping) the straw from cover crops. For many producers who use direct planting on straw, these operations are fundamental and very important, as they define the quality of the sowing and, therefore, the formation of the plant stand, the control of invaders, the drastic reduction of erosion and the elevation productivity of the areas.

Once the equipment is assembled, the operation is carried out simply by adjusting the three-point hydraulic system, on smaller models, and the remote control valves (VCRs) on larger models. Currently, the manufacturer is bringing to the country six TC models, which include working widths ranging from 2,90 meters to equipment larger than 18,20 meters. In the Cultro 3 TC models with a working width of 2,90 meters up to the 9 TC, with a working width of 8,90 meters, the coupling to the tractor is via the three-point hydraulic system. The two larger models, 12 TC and 18 TC, measuring 12,20 and 18,20 meters wide, respectively, are coupled to the drawbar and controlled by remote control valves.

In Germany, where the use of this equipment originated and spread, it is customary to use two implements on the same tractor, with the coupling of one of the smaller Cultro 3, 5 and 6 TC models in the tractor's front hydraulic system and other equipment in the rear part. rear, like the Joker RT, for example, cutting the straw and conditioning the surface layer of soil in the same operation, allowing the seeder to enter. In the front coupling versions, the manufacturer added a hood to protect against stones being thrown at the tractor.

The chassis has stops for coupling complementary sections, such as the conditioning roller, and a flexible tooth structure. These complements are mainly used for those situations where, after chopping, the straw must be accommodated into a narrow layer and laid on the ground.

General constitution

In all models, the equipment will always have a transport width of less than three meters, which allows autonomous movement, without the need for the use of special trucks and difficulties in accommodating it in the body, as occurs with traditional knife roll models. . Some of these models on the market require the use of winches and field assembly of the modules, as well as filling and emptying the rolls, before and after work.

The equipment we tested, nine meters wide, has a central structure where the hitch support to the tractor is attached, at the front, the support for the accessories at the back and at the bottom the support for the rollers. An inverted V-shaped structure is attached to this last support, where the rollers are coupled, one in front of the other, hence the name tandem knife roller. In the connection between the chassis and the inverted V support, the manufacturer designed and incorporated some rubber damping bearings, so that the connection is not rigid and can absorb impacts in dynamic conditions. It is possible, using engagement adjustment, to give more pressure to the front or rear rollers. On the front of the chassis there is a specific place to place weights for ballast. In the model we tested there were ten weights on each side.

All six Cultro TC models are formed by adding rolls of the same size, that is, three meters. Thus, the first model has only one roll and the largest has six rolls, ranging from a width of three to 18 meters. In the model we tested, the central roller is attached directly to the chassis and the two lateral ones are attached to the wings that are retracted for transport.

Each roller has a diameter of 300 mm, with six knives attached to the roller by four screws. The knives are placed diagonally from the edge of the roll, providing greater cutting pressure each time the weight impacts the blade as it comes into contact with the straw. For those who read and followed the test drive we did with Horsch's Joker RT, for issue 236 in May this year, the knife roller system is the same on both devices.

For articulation during transport, two hydraulic cylinders were placed transversely, which, controlled by the VCRs, cause, in the case of the Cultro 9 TC, the two sections to close on the middle one, placing them in a vertical position, reaching this width transport at 2,98 meters.

Operation and adjustments

Working in the conditions offered by the farm and with this equipment was one of the best experiences in these many years of test drives for Revista Cultivar Máquinas. We saw the equipment working in a very suitable condition, with a very homogeneous plant mass and we were able to vary the displacement speeds to visualize the effect.

We attached the equipment to a Case brand tractor, model 340, which has a six-cylinder engine and 8.700 cm3 of displacement, providing nominal power of 340 hp and maximum torque of 1.671 Nm at 1.400 rpm. The tractor was configured with double wheels on both the front and rear axles. Its full powershift transmission with 18 forward and four reverse gears allowed us to carry out the test with varying travel speeds from 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 km/h.

As this is equipment that performs best at high speeds, we scaled it, and on each journey we varied 2 km/h to find the best situation. The operation involved laying down and chopping a green cover of black oat approximately 70 to 80 cm high.

Initially, we marked the A-B baseline and with the help of the tractor's autopilot, we made long routes of approximately 800 meters, in a back and forth system, each with increasing variation in operating speed.

As a result, we evaluate the size and percentage of the chopped. We saw that the action of the roller is to lay down the crop and then, through the action of the blades (knives), make the cut at an average size of 14 cm, which is geometrically the distance between the knives projected onto the ground plane. We found that, as the speed increased, the quality of the chop increased, until good conditions were found at around 20 km/h. From this speed onwards, performance stabilized and perhaps the user's decision should be to establish a balance between the advantage of a high operational capacity (hectares/hour) and fuel consumption (liters/hectare), considering, of course, the relief conditions of the area.

Before starting work, the equipment must have its central part resting on the ground, with the pistons, the two wings must be leveled and the hydraulic system placed on float. Small corrections can be made by viewing the results. We saw that, due to the way the equipment works, the weight of the structure and the additional metal ballast affect the rollers, establishing the cutting pressure, however the speed effect is fundamental to improving the equipment's action.

As a general rule, based on the evaluation we carried out, we concluded that it is very important to leave the equipment floating in the hydraulic system, so that the rollers reproduce the microrelief of the terrain, copying it and, consequently, constantly maintaining the pressure resulting from the weight of the equipment. . As a result, the nitrogen-filled air chambers will absorb pressure peaks resulting from sudden movements, preventing shocks due to hydraulic pressurization.

During the tests, the producer informed us that he had already used this equipment on corn stubble, and the impression left by him and the farm team was that the Cultro TC is a simple and robust machine, and that the fact that it Having been used in other regions of Brazil without problems gives the customer confidence.

Test location

The location of our test was Fazenda Suruvi, belonging to the K2–Agro Group of the Kossatz Family, with the doctor Celso Macedo Kossatz, a well-known person in the region, as its patriarch. Of German descent, the family began its career in agriculture when Mr. Celso's father decided to acquire land in the region as an investment.

Although the Group's administrative headquarters are in the city of Ponta Grossa, the rural areas used for production are distributed across 12 farms, with four main modules in Ponta Grossa, Tibagi, Ipiranga and recently in the state of Roraima. Our assessment was on one of the farms in the municipality of Ipiranga, with approximately 1.400 hectares. The soils in the region are predominantly medium to clayey in texture. The family is a reference in the use of technology, intensively using the concepts and resources of precision agriculture, localized management, composting, organic fertilizer, among other processes.

In the summer, soybeans (70%) and corn (30%) are produced, and in the off-season, beans, after the corn crop, and wheat, after the corn harvest. Soybean planting, which is the main crop, is done post-wheat (40%) and post-oats (60%).

To learn about the work carried out on the farm and carry out tests with the machine, we were received by agronomist Cássio de Oliveira Kossatz. Graduated from the State University of Ponta Grossa, he took the opportunity to travel and live in the United States and learn about North American agriculture, bringing new knowledge. Currently serving as director of agriculture for the group's farms, he told us about the complexity of carrying out high-productivity agriculture with the current difficulties. Therefore, he relies on management processes, including hiring an agronomic consultant who provides support with decisions. Being young, he told us that he has already established direct planting in the region and taken advantage of experiences from other producers and research and technical assistance bodies.

In the group's areas, no system is used other than direct planting, which, by conviction, is always done with seeding machines with double disc furrowers, avoiding fixed furrowers, such as machetes and rods. In some specific cases, scarification is carried out when necessary, mainly for localized physical corrections. But for him, operating machines with adequate soil moisture is the best recipe. Furthermore, management with a lot of mass and vigorous root production is the most important thing for the success of the main operation, which is sowing.

Currently, the company is opening a new production area in the Bonfim region, in Roraima, close to Guyana, just over 100 km from the capital Boa Vista. They told us about the difficulties in facing a new reality, with adapting the planting area, difficulties in drainage and very short planting windows due to the region's rainfall regime.

The family is a Horsch customer, having recently purchased a precision seeder, the 18-row Maestro Kompass model. On the property, they have a roll of knives from another brand and told us about the difficulties with the model they use, especially when filling the drums with water and the problems involved in transporting and maneuvering this equipment.

Some Horsch employees were with us throughout the Cultro TC evaluation procedures, including Mr. Edir Nisczak, from Horsch marketing, and Itamar Ferreira, who is the brand's after-sales technical consultant. Also in the field, supporting the evaluation, was Roberto Simionato, who is the regional sales manager for the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo, working mainly with the regional concessionaire, which is the company Bouwman Livestock & Agriculture and which has stores in the state of Paraná, in Castro and Guarapuava.

We had support on the farm from coordinator Rodolfo Rodrigues Ferreira and Luís Carlos de Almeida, who is one of the company's machine operators.

General impressions

At the end of the test, we drew some conclusions about the equipment's work, under the conditions in which we were able to test it. According to the customer's own considerations, the Cultro TC is a simple machine, but very useful for those who use cover crops, and need to chop up the remains for subsequent entry into the seeding machine. The evaluation is quite positive, especially if we consider the producer's experience with conventional knife rolls, made up of heavy drums filled with water.

Furthermore, we were able to conclude that travel speed is a key factor in cutting vegetation. The way the rollers work and the arrangement of the blades around them leads to high-speed work, which ends up favoring an increase in operational capacity, with many hectares completed at the end of the working day.

It is also important to consider that the knife roll itself is fundamental for the management of straw, for example oats and corn, and for the establishment of autumn cover, which favors high productivity, fuel savings and conservation of the surface layer of the soil against erosion.

The innovative nature of the equipment, with reduced weight and consequent ease of transport and operation, must be highlighted as an innovation in terms of straw management implement and support for sowing work.