Great Plains continues to invest in technology and rollout new products for farmers with the unveiling of two new offerings: a PL5200 planter and the Terra-Max hybrid tillage solution.
“Bringing value to the marketplace is always important regardless of the year,” says ag division president, Joe Michaels of Great Plains. “Today we’ve found that technology is the best way to bring that value to the farm.”
Adjustable Hybrid Tillage Tool
Great Plains is rolling out help for farmers looking to get the seedbed fit with the help of a new hybrid tillage tool named Terra-Max.
“We feel that this is a solution for today’s problems,” Michaels says.
In today’s environment, Michaels says farmers have to deal with a wide variety of issues field-to-field and that includes resistant weeds, heavy crop residue and ruts or compaction left behind after poor weather.
“Now we need more than just vertical tillage in some areas and this tool allows farmers to go into the field, evaluate the situation and adjust the machine to the environment,” says Michaels.
Great Plains defines hybrid tillage as a tillage system that uses a blend of vertical and conventional tillage methods or tools that allow for an aggressive field pass at faster operating speeds. The company expects Terra-Max to have enough versatility it can be used either in the fall or spring.
Offered in 20ˈ to 40ˈ models, the Terra-Max is designed to perform variable-intensity tillage with adjustable front and rear coulter gangs. The front gangs adjust from 0 to 8 degrees, while the rear coulter gangs adjust proportionally from 0 to 6 degrees for adaptability in ever-changing soil conditions.
“With front gangs that angle from 0 to 8 degrees, new rear attachments that are some of the most aggressive on the market, and the new Implement Command system, we think the combination of features we have put together will be really beneficial for producers,” says Rodney Hake, engineering manager at Great Plains.
The unit has a lengthened frame, opposing left-hand and right-hand rolling spike harrows, and is available with a double-basket rear attachment combined with active hydraulic down-pressure, all work together to provide a seedbed-ready, high-quality finish.
It also comes with TurboSpeed blades that achieves its soil penetration and breakout capabilities from the TurboBlade and operates at faster speeds because of the SpeedBlade’s low-concavity profile that drives the blade through the soil.
The Terra-Max is also available with an optional Implement Command system, allowing producers to set, adjust, and monitor the unit from the tractor cab.
“The Implement Command system allows you to see where you’re at, adjust the machine on the fly, optimize your tillage and just keep running,” says Michaels.
Quick Change Row Units
The newest addition to the PL-Series is the PL5200, a 40' mounted stack-fold planter.
“This planter is really focused on growers in the Mississippi Delta who are working on beds and really want that compact, stack fold configuration,” Michaels says.
To help producers efficiently cover more acres in a day, the planter can be configured with either a large-capacity bulk-fill hopper or individual row hoppers.
“There was really a market need to carry more onboard capacity, run longer in one day and have ease of filling,” says Rye DeGarmo, VP of Engineering for Great Plains.
The PL5200 can accommodate a wide variety of crops in single- and twin-row planting with features that enable operators to quickly switch between row spacing’s.
“Within an hour in the field, with normal hand tools, this planter can be converted from a twin row soybean planter centered on the bed,” explains Michaels. “A farmer can lift up one row unit, move the whole machine over 4” and go to a single row corn planter very quickly,”
Producers can choose from a traditional 3-section mechanical ground drive, a 3-section variable rate-ready hydraulic drive, or electric individual row control (IRC) drive.
“It has individual row control and that gives you the ability to shut off one at a time or all at the same time based on your coverage map,” DeGarmo says.
Great Plains says the PL5200 is now available for purchase and comes with the company’s standard 2-year warranty.
For more information about both of these new products go to www.GreatPlainsAg.com.
