Following several winters relying on one high-capacity trailed 6m drill meant Tom Porter was fighting hard to get his crops established due to challenging early autumnal weather and soggier conclusions to the year.
This came to a head in 2023, when the trailed drill was laid up due to the wet conditions with all the winter beans still to drill. This predicament prompted Tom to research mounted tine drills that winter, with a view to having one in the shed next autumn for greater flexibility when the weather inevitably turns.
He settled on a Kuhn Megant 602 R and there’s no doubt the purchase wasn’t replacing his favoured trailed 6m drill. In a strange way, he’d be rather pleased if his new toy was barely used, but Tom knew, as the drilling season wears on, having options in the shed to get crops established was more important than being wedded to a certain machine, as he explains.
“In a good weather year, the Megant won’t drill any cereals, but the reality is, we don’t get these years very often. I needed an all-weather drill that was simple to set up, well built, and could sow a decent crop in conditions that prevented other drills from running. I also wanted a second hopper for drilling small seeds either alongside main crops or on their own.”
The Megant arrived in 2024, and Tom says, rather unsurprisingly, it ended up drilling 160ha of wheat and beans during its first season. Tom operates a min-till system after moving away from the plough and power harrow combination some years ago. The farm has a mix of soils, including heavy clay, which means establishment timing is critical before it becomes too wet.
“In its first season it more than justified my reasoning for buying it,” says Tom. “We established crops when our main drill was stopped due to the weather. It also achieved a pleasing 7.5t/ha yield, which is lower than we’d typically expect, but given the conditions it offered a return on our investment while maintaining the rotation when normally we’d resort to spring cropping.”
Design advantages
Tom runs New Farm, located in South Warnborough, near Hook in Hampshire. He is third generation and still farms alongside his father Richard. Alongside 340ha of owned ground, the full arable area extends to 1050ha with various contract farming agreements in the area. The farm grows a traditional rotation of cereal crops alongside oilseed rape and winter beans. When deciding on which drill to buy, the design of the Megant offered obvious benefits.
“I like the four depth wheels on the front of the drill. This made a lot of sense to me rather than having them mounted in the centre with the tines. Positioning them at the front means the moved soil is behind them, reducing the likelihood of them becoming blocked, which is essential when drilling in less-than-ideal conditions.”
Although a set of press wheels on the rear would be ideal for firmer seed to soil contact, the benefits of Kuhn’s two-row following harrow allows soil to be levelled off neatly with minimal chances of it blocking. The Megant has even been used alongside the trailed drill when parts of the field are particularly bad, with the higher output trailed drill covering the land work, and the lighter Megant completing the headlands.
Tom also praised the build quality of the drill. “I know Kuhn is a premium brand as we already run an Optimer and Axis fertiliser spreader. I feel that the premium I pay is justified in what I receive, which is a thoroughly designed and tested product that performs as it should.”
Tom’s local dealer is Farol, who is very supportive, alongside Kuhn’s area sales manager, Tim Holliday, who is a phone call away for support should there be any issues.
Second hopper
When sizing up the options, one addition Tom required was a small seed hopper, something his trailed drill wasn’t specced with at the time of purchase, but a feature that now plays an important part of the season.
The farm has moved to covering soils with catch or cover crops after harvest to benefit overwintering stubbles. The small SH 1120 hopper supplies the metered seed into the same distribution feed as the main hopper – this combination has been used to sow 50kg/ha of oats from the main hopper, alongside 4kg/ha of phacelia from the SH 1120.
Further advantages include establishing summer and winter catch crops in line with Sustainable Farming Incentive options around the farm. Using the additional hopper means the small or lighter seeds are sown at the target rate, rather than risk different seed sizes separating when grouped together in a single hopper.
Operator’s view
Tom Snow has been the main operator of the Megant since it arrived in 2024 and has praised its simple setup and use, along with build quality. Daily outputs can reach 50ha at a comfortable operating speed of 12kph.
“The build quality is great; we’ve been drilling in some challenging conditions, and it’s surprised us with what it can cope with. There’s additional plastic protection on the points where the seed tubes could rub on the drill’s frame, and the marker arms have extra weight to ensure they leave a visible scratch.”
It runs on a Valtra T254 and can be controlled through ISOBUS or via the CCI screen which links with the GPS. There are also several options to select seed metering from the tractor’s wheel speed, through to radar and GPS. One essential feature is Kuhn’s Vistaflow seed monitoring system.
Tom explains: “Blockage monitoring is crucial when drilling in the wet. The Vistaflow system has individual lights on each distribution tube, which alerts me as soon as there’s a reduced flow. The usual green light is then red on the problem tube so it’s quick to identify and clear.”
Calibrating the drill is also very simple and accurate after just one run through with a new seed. Handily, calibrating the smaller SH unit is the same. Tom concludes: “I only need to weigh the seed once and input that figure into the drill for it to be accurate. It’s so quick to change varieties, which is ideal, especially if we are against the weather.”