Encouraging the use of clover in swards and the establishment of cover crops has led to various companies bringing dedicated machines to the market, Duvelsdorf of Germany being the latest to enter the fray.
The range is distributed in the UK and Ireland by Lynx Engineering Ireland which already imports Stoll loaders, which are also produced in Germany.
Four generations of family ownership
Duvelsdorf Handelsgesellschaft mbH was established over 90 years ago in Ottersberg, northern Germany, and is still run as a family firm.
It currently offers a variety of silage, tillage and seeding products in addition to sweeping machines, transport boxes, front loader implements and snow clearing equipment.
The company believes that farmers in Ireland appreciate machinery that is well designed, solidly built, reliable and competitively priced, and these are the virtues it claims to offer in its products.
Duvelsdorf serves farm and forest
Out of the extensive range, it is most likely to be the air seeders and grass rakes that will establish the brand in Ireland, and it is these items which the company is introducing first to get the ball rolling.
Seeders for small seeds are emerging from the shadows and are now becoming sophisticated implements in their own right.
Duvelsdorf appears to be in the vanguard of this trend by taking the features found on standard drills and bringing them to these smaller units.
The seeders can all be controlled wirelessly from the tractor cab; this not only includes switching them on or off, but also altering the application rate in real time and undertaking a test calibration.
They may also be controlled remotely via mobile phone or tablet and, if connected to a tractor’s ISOBUS, the seed rate can be matched to the forward speed, a feature which brings the humble implement bang up to date.
These seeders may be attached to the company’s own implements as well as those of other manufacturers and are available in spread widths of up to 9m.
Rakes for grass and reseeds
Grass rakes are another area where Duvelsdorf has applied its engineering expertise to raise them above many of the other products out there.
The ability to follow ground contours is a major priority of the design, and to this end, the tine sections are 1.5m in width and the rake is mounted to the tractor via a parallelogram linkage to ensure it remains in contact with undulating ground.
The decision to bring in this range is is a recent one so, as yet, there are few examples in the country.
However, Lynx Engineering intends to have examples in Ireland in time for next season when they will be available through its existing dealership network.
