Vesco Agricultural Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of Clean Seed Capital Group, a Company that is at the forefront of an ecological movement that strives to balance productivity with sustainability.

 

Clean Seed is uniquely positioned to contribute to and benefit from a rapidly emerging market opportunity in the sustainable agricultural sector.

 

Opener Assembly

The All-Cast Opener Assembly and its unique patented parallelogram system, mounts directly onto our steel machine frames. The independently actuated All-Cast Opener Assembly's hold our hydraulic systems, coulter disks, opener blade mounts, depth control mechanism and closing wheels. The parrallelogram system assures that the entire assembly maintains a horizontal plane during the seeding process.

 

Hydraulic Mechanism - Consistent depth control is a requirement for accurate seed and fertilizer placement, thereby ensuring stronger germination and even emergence, a prerequisite for superior crop yield.  The hydraulic system of the Terra Glide opener assembly, along with the closing wheels, provides precise depth control.

 

 

 

 

The hydraulic mechanism, included in the Mark VII Opener Assembly systems serves several purposes:

 

•To provide constant horizontal positioning of the opener blade for accurate depth control;

•To provide constant down pressure, independently to each opener, for accurate depth control. The pressure is regulated to ensure only the required down force is exerted;

 

•To provide automatic “kick-out” of openers when they strike a rock or other immovable object and allow for the openers to automatically return to operating position;

 

•To lift the front wheels of the machine, whilst turning at the end of each row, converting the four-wheeled machine into a two-wheel machine, thereby minimizing scuffing and maximizing seeding area.

 

 

Depth Control Mechanism - An important component of the All-Cast Opener Assembly is the Depth Control Mechanism.  This mechanism offers precise subsurface depth control of seed and fertilizer placement. The engineering behind this mechanism creates a balance between sophistication and simplicity.

 

 

 

 

Closing Wheels - The Closer Wheels are positioned in such a manner to seal the narrow slit made by the opener.  Complete ‘closing’ of the slit leaves no topsoil exposed to the elements thereby locking-in moisture and eliminating its’ drying out and blowing or washing away, and is the key to enhanced carbon sequestration.

 

 

 

 

 

OPENER ASSEMBLY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

 

 

SLOT CLOSURE

 

What other functions are unique to the Vesco openers?

Several, another important function is controlling closure of the slot and also seeding depth. The Vesco openers both of these functions are undertaken simultaneously by the press wheel. It is located close to the seeding zone so they ensure the openers rise and fall (up to 45 cm or 18 inches if necessary) in harmony with changes in the soil surface.  But it also folds the soil flaps back over the seed so as to retain the integrity of a truly horizontal (inverted “T” shaped) slot with all of its advantages discussed.

 

 

SEEDING DEPTH CONTROL

 

Do the Vesco openers do anything special as far as depth of seeding is concerned?

Yes! A further unique function of the Vesco openers is that the down force is controlled very carefully. In this regard the designers of the openers realized at an early stage that when springs are used to push openers into the ground the down forces alter as the springs lengthen and shorten. There is no way of completely overcoming this mechanical shortcoming.

The problem is exacerbated because no-till openers are required to travel up and down much more than openers used in tilled soils because tillage smoothes the soil prior to drilling.  The openers are therefore pushed into the ground with individual hydraulic cylinders that act against one another and are cushioned by a common source of compressed nitrogen. The main advantage is that the down forces remain the same regardless of the position of the opener. So engineers were able to design in an extraordinary amount of vertical travel (45 cm or 18 inches) for each opener, which no other known no-till opener achieves.

Hydraulic rams on each opener sound very complicated and expensive.

They are neither. The hydraulic rams are also used to lift the openers off the ground for transportation, which eliminates the complication and expense of designing lifting mechanisms into drills and creates more space flexibility within a drill and facilitates close row spacing. Each opener is, in fact a self-contained modular unit requiring only to be connected to hydraulic, seed and fertilizer supply hose.

 

 

ENGINEERING DESIGN

 

It is one thing to have good biological design but what about engineering design?

The Vesco Family of machines have an estimated 10,000-hour design life, which is similar to tractors. The designers reasoned that if a farmer ends up owning only a tractor, sprayer and no-till drill  it makes sense for the drill to last as long as the tractor and the sprayer, both of which are likely to be designed with 10,000-hour lives. The economics of owning an expensive no till drill make much more sense if the replacement period is 10 years rather than 3 years.

No-till machines have much larger stresses applied to them than conventional drills and planters because the soil has not been pre-loosened. Even some machines from reputable manufacturers are lasting less than three years (and some less than that) because they have been designed more as enlarged versions of conventional machines than as specialist no-tillage machines.