New South Wales zero-tillage technology specialist Tobin No-Till had its unique Tornado planter on display at the Henty Machinery Field Days last week, much to the interest of visitors at the show.
The machine, which was entered into the 2015 Henty Machine of the Year award, was claimed to be the only parallelogram unit capable of depth adjustment from the tractor cab.
Its secret, according to Tobin No-Till engineer Steve Murphy, is its advanced structure which comprises of a second parallelogram sitting on top of the main parallelogram that allows depth adjustment from the cab whilst following the contours of the ground.
According to Murphy, the main benefit of being able to adjust the planter’s depth from the cab is sheer convenience.
“With most machines you have to take out a toolbox to change the depth, say if you’re planting canola today and wheat the next day; but with the Tornado you only need to flick the lever in the cab and you’re pretty much set to go,” Murphy says.
“You don’t need to be spending hours changing everything. Some farmers won’t even bother.”
Murphy adds the company has kept most of the features from Tobin No-Till’s earlier model, the Bullet disc planter on the Tornado including the disc openers, manganese steel discs, pneumatic gauge wheel, solid rubber press wheel and tungsten scrapers.
Murphy says the Tornado has received a fair bit of interest at the field days.
“We have had farmers who’ve seen it online and want to look at it in the flesh and we’re very happy with the response so far,” he says.
“Being able to show them that depth adjustment feature gets them thinking, so they are very interested.”
Watch the video above where Murphy explains the machine in detail and how it can benefit farmers.
Find tillage and seeding equipment for sale
Video: Carene Chong