Unverferth Manufacturing used the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Kentucky, in February as the venue to introduce its new mounted One-Pass Cover Crop Seeder attachment. It can be fitted the brand’s new Rolling Harrow 1245 and 1245D models that have working widths up to 37 feet.
The attachment allows for one-pass planting of cover crops, an agronomic practice that has seen a significant increase in interest from producers in recent years, especially in organic production.
Cover crops can aid in preventing soil erosion and some plants are able to fix soil nitrogen. Cover crops can even be used as late–season grazing options on mixed farms. But getting them planted in a timely manner in the fall means adding another field pass in an already busy season for growers. That’s why Unverferth thinks its seeder option will interest producers. It allows for fall tillage to be combined with cover crop seeding.
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The One-Pass Cover Crop Seeder uses hydraulically-powered air delivery of seed. The meter uses chevron-shaped rollers meter for a continuous flow compatible with a wide range of cover crop seed types. Operations can be monitored with unit-mounted lights indicating air pressure, seed level and seed flow. Seed delivery pauses when the Rolling Harrow soil conditioner is raised, or with a cab-mounted foot switch.
The seeder uses a 40.5 cubic-foot hopper designed with side-mounted windows for content monitoring, a ladder and platform for easy access for filling and weather-tight roll tarp with ground-level operation. It is available in producer’s choice of implement-matching red or green colours.
