James English farms 1,100ac between the Knockmealdowns and the Galtee Mountains. Previously running a 4m Vaderstad Spirit strip till drill, James moved to a 6m Kverneland u-drill back in 2017. This was actually the first u-drill to have entered the country.

After taking a demo of the drill, James explained: “At first I was a little sceptical about making the jump to a 6m drill. However, when I saw first hand the acreage I could cover and how easy it was to pull, I knew this was the way to go for me.” Four seasons later, James notes that the move has payed dividends.

With a modular design, the u-drill is designed to complete five tasks in one pass. It levels, compacts, places and presses the seeds in one single pass. The seeding depth and the coulter pressure can be controlled from the tractor cab. At 12.5cm, James’s drill features the narrower row spacing.

Previously running a 4m Vaderstad Spirit strip till drill, James moved to a 6m Kverneland u-drill back in 2017.

The u-drill comes with an automated headland management system. By pressing one button, the operator can initiate a headland sequence, automatically raising the wheels, discs and coulter bar in timed stages.

Technology

James uses Isobus through the split screen function on the 10.4-inch “Varioterminal”, with his drill functions on the top half and the GPS on the bottom. He runs RTX GPS which offers a theoretical accuracy down to 4cm.

The drill features half-width shut-off (two 3m sections). James noted that typically, he operates the drill at around 11km/h, allowing him to plant up to 12 acres/hr. The 6m u-drill has a hopper capacity of 4,350l. However, simply down to weight, James explains that he never loads any more than 1.5t of seed at a time.