‘Hands-off’ seeding with unique Morris system

You're on the seeder in a dry-sowing dust bowl, and/or in the middle of the night, pulling a tow-between bin and 21-metre bar “road train’’ heading towards a completed headland run.

You take your hands off the wheel, automatically seeding stops and tines lift up over the headland and the rig does a teardrop turn. The tines go back down after completing the turn, and seeding recommences for the next run at the correct location and perfect working angle, relieving the stress on you and machine.

During the turn, you can check all critical seeding functions, free of any monitor alarms, as well as the track, tank levels and, if necessary, make the call for another fill-up.

It means a less skilled operator can now jump in the “hot seat’’ with less stress and concentration, and perhaps do a couple more hours on the shift.

With its latest developments, Morris is now the only manufacturer offering this complete end-to-end system, with exclusive technologies to deliver optimum performance at each level.

Auto-Lift, ICT (Input Control Technology), double pivot geometry, blockage monitors, upright product delivery and Auto-Pack are the five features that Morris has developed for greater seeding results.

Duncan Murdoch, from national Morris distributor, McIntosh Distribution, said some growers would recall completing an A/B seeding run with the tines out of the ground and not realise it at the time. Now Morris Auto-Lift can prevent this from happening.

“Their screen would have still shown that it had been sown and they may be seeding in another paddock or on another farm before realising,’’ Duncan said.

“Nearly all mistakes at seeding are made at headlands. But with Auto-Lift, it automatically does the digging and it links with ICT for the seeding.’’

“With Auto-Lift, it knows exactly where you are, automatically lowering tines into the ground as you approach unseeded ground.

Duncan said the Morris electric over hydraulic drive air carts with ICT had shown to be the most accurate and reliable for section control over the past six years.

“There is a mechanically-driven metering wheel for every primary run on the bar.’’

“Other section control systems not only have to vary product or cut it off, but they then have to deal with airflow, which is difficult.

“With Morris ICT, if you have eight sections, air is flowing through the eight sections constantly. It’s not just split on the bar or with the primary head. The default condition of the Morris system is on, but it has a cog that mechanically just clicks-in and clicks-out at the appropriate time to shut off product.’’

Granular product can also now be delivered through Australian-designed and manufactured, stainless steel, upright air kits on the Morris Quantum air drill and C3 Contour drill machines. These kits have been designed specifically to work with the Morris ICT system.

Integrated Morris blockage monitoring with the latest air carts is also now “section aware’’, eliminating nuisance alarms when used with ICT.

“The system is aware when sections are turned-off for overlap so it doesn’t give false alarms –the blockage kits can be used with single and dual shoot air kits,’’ Duncan said.

He said the Topcon X35 controller used for the sowing operation was a powerful system compared with alternatives. “It ties all these five features together and makes them possible.”

“With tow-between air carts, the X35, using double pivot geometry, recognises the two drawbar pins on the front and rear of the air cart and correctly tracks bars around corners, allowing for accurate ICT coverage.’’

“Other systems cannot do this and so you can lose a lot of functionality when in tow-between configuration.’’

Duncan said growers who use the Topcon X35 for their auto-steer could also take advantage of the dealer-installed option for automatic end-of-row turning, which was particularly effective in angular paddocks.

Alternatively, the X35 can work in conjunction with John Deere or Trimble guidance screens, as well as with their end-of-row turning.

“The X35 system knows where it has to start seeding the next row and the teardrop turn relieves the stress on the operator and the equipment. Tines don’t go in the ground until the front row on the bar is perfectly perpendicular to the A/B line. Then when they do, the tractor doesn’t flinch. It takes the pressure off the Quantum’s drawbar, articulation points on tractors, tines and tine bushings, as well as axles and rims on tow-between bins.’’

“Without this, in dusty conditions or at night it can be difficult to see anything and when approaching an A/B line, auto-steer can lock-on aggressively. If you are halfway through a turn and at 45 degrees and your bar drops in the ground, you have got an anchor on one end and you might have 600-horsepower on the other. This can drag a tow-between cart sideways putting significant pressure on the drawbar – and it gets exponentially worse with wider bars.’’

The introduction of Morris Auto-Pack results in correctly closed and packed furrows, reducing the risk of any available moisture from evaporating, vital in the swing to dry sowings, and thereby creating the most ideal seed germination environment possible. Correctly packed furrows maximise any subsoil moisture via capillary action and further improve depth control.

Duncan said growers who are taking advantage of these unique Morris features and end-of-row system were enjoying the benefits.

Duncan said they recently quoted a seeding rig to a customer and it came back completely different because, upon learning of the full systems capability, they decided it was a “no-brainer’ to combine all five features on their seeding rig next year.

For further information on the complete Morris end-to-end system and exclusive technologies, growers can contact their nearest Morris McIntosh & Son Dealership.