The new HORSCH Maestro was presented on the occasion of the Agritechnica 2011 and has been awarded with the prize Machine of the Year 2012. It excels due to its speed, presicion and versatility. The Maestro allows for sowing speeds up to 15 km/h while at the same time achieving extremely precise singling results. Thus, the farmer can make optimum use of sowing windows.

Since a few weeks the excavators have occupied the farm Sitzenhof again. As the next part of a longer-term investment process, the new research and development center is being built. The aim is twofold: on the one hand, to provide sufficient capacity for future HR investments, and on the other hand, to concentrate the engineering, test and prototype departments in one R&D complex.

The office space will be expanded from the current 40 workplaces to a hundred. Right next to the office building there will be a workshop factory for testing and prototype construction. In this way the unnecessary paths can be eliminated and the communication efficiency can be improved. Schwandorf, thus, remains to be the largest development site, next to Landau and our location in the U.S.

A more secluded place was deliberately chosen for the new building on the farm Sitzenhof. Thus, new products and adjustments to them can be designed, planned, built and tested without any interference.

The new workshop factory is scheduled to be finished in June, while the engineering department is likely to be able to move into the new offices in the late August. Due to the mild winter so far, the construction has not been interrupted, thus, we are optimistic about meeting these deadlines.

These employees represented the HORSCH Industrietechnik from Ronneburg, the HORSCH LEEB Application Systems, the HORSCH France Sarl, the HORSCH UK Ltd and the HORSCH Maschinen GmbH with its locations in Schwandorf and Ronneburg and the sales representatives from Poland, Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Romania.

Horsch will be using the popular LAMMA show to launch two new drill to UK customers. The Horsch MiniDrill and DuoDrill are design to extended the capabilities of Horsch’s existing cultivation equipment, making them suitable for both first time and existing customers.

The MiniDrill can be fitted to the Joker and Terrano, including the new Terrano MT launched at Agritechnica. Available in 3m to 6m working widths with a 200litre seed hopper, the MiniDrill is a compact unit consisting of hopper and electric  fan to blow the seed to the ground in front of the tyre packer to ensure good seed-to-soil contact.

Available for the Tiger or Pronto, the DuoDrill is a fully pneumatic seed drill with DrillManager ideal for sowing rape and catch crops. With a 300litre hopper and working widths between 3m and 7.5m, the DuoDrill also places the seed in front of each packer tyre for exact consolidation in a one-pass cultivation and sowing operation and is ideal for variable rate seeding from a prescription map.

In addition to the drills, Horsch will also have some of its recently launched products in the UK for the first time, including the Terrano MT design specifically for UK farmers.

The cultivation of maize gets more and more important, not only for silage use. The cultivation of grain maize is very interesting, especially for breaking-up the crop-orientated rotation on heavy soils. Strip tillage with a row spacing of 75 centimetres is a very interesting alternative for maize cultivation. The Focus CS is extremely suitable for light and medium soils. On heavy and very heavy soils this system comes to its limits. During the test years the yields on heavy soils have not been worse than those for the conventionally grown maize, but it was not possible to realise a yield increase. If you look at the regions where strip till for maize originates (35. latitude) and compare it to Central Europe, you will see that the most significant difference lies in the temperature during the vegetation period. The temperatures in the typical maize growing areas in the USA during the crucial months July / August / September are considerably higher than in Central Europe. These considerably higher temperatures also lead to considerably higher soil temperatures. High soil temperatures are necessary for the mineralisation of the nitrogen supplies so that the maize has enough nitrate nitrogen for the plant at its disposal in the crucial stages (tasseling out, graining). Maize does not need constantly high nitrogen quantities during the growing period, but rather real nitrogen explosions in July / August. This is the crux of classical strip till. With the strip cultivation method organic material is only removed from the loosened strip. The space between the rows, however, remains covered. This “mulch cover“ acts as an insulating layer for the soil and sees to it that the unloosened soil between the maize rows remains cooler – too cool for the Central European locations. The modification from nitrogen to nitrate, and thus the nitrate supply, is too slow. An additional disadvantage of this retarded nitrogen dynamics is that even when the ripening of the maize is finished nitrogen is still supplied and, thus, the ripening off of the plant is retarded. This fact limits strip tillage with the HORSCH Focus CS on light and medium soils.

Especially on heavy, loamy sites maize growers are facing the challenge to find the optimal moment for seedbed preparation in spring. If they cultivate too early, the soils often are still too wet – the results are smeared layers and compaction. If cultivation is carried out too late, important vegetation days and thus yield potential are lost.

The challenge for heavy soil sites is the possibility to realise drying and soil warming without seedbed preparation in spring.

The simplest method to generate drying and soil warming is a large, cultivated soil surface. Maize cultivation on ridges provides these conditions. The ridges have to be formed on heavy sites in autumn and, due to the large surface, allow for an intensive frost mellowness. With heavy soils, the forming of ridges like for example for potatoes is not possible or only with a considerable input of energy, another solution for cultivation combined with ridge forming has been developed. The resulting machine, the HORSCH Tiger DT is a 4-bar cultivator with a tine spacing of 37.5 centimetres.

The tine geometry has been chosen in such a way that it is cultivating the soil ridges with a centre spacing of 75 centimetres. The first two tine rows loosen the area below the future maize row, the rear two tine rows loosen the area between the rows. Loosening is carried out at a depth of 20 to 35 centimetres depending on the site and the moisture content of the soil. The soil coming from the loosening between the rows is used for forming the ridges which consist of loose soil and larger clods. Due to the large surface of the ridges there is an intensive frost impact and settling of the ridges. Immediately after the cultivation the height of the ridges is between 20 and 40 centimetres depending on the type of soil. Come the spring they have settled to about 10 to 20 centimetres.

Experience shows: The rougher the ridge is left in the autumn, the more intensive is the frost mellowness.

For loosening with the Tiger DT two different point types are available. The MulchMix point, known from the Terrano and Tiger series, is 80 millimetres wide and is recommended for light and medium soils in order to get enough soil for a safe ridge forming. For the heavy and very heavy soils only a 40 millimetre wide chisel point is available. Due to the narrower design the horsepower requirement for this point version and the mixing effect are lower.

The TerraGrip tine with hydraulic trip system serves as an overload protection for the tines. Even when loosening deeply up to 35 centimetres this system with a release force of 800 kilogramme guarantees a safe control of the coulters in the soil. If it collides with a foreign object, each tine can trip to a height up to 30 centimetres.

The depth control of the Tiger DT is made via the central chassis which is integrated in the 4-bar frame. The advantage of this arrangement is that the wheels of the chassis do not roll over soil that has already been cultivated. Thus, they do not leave any tracks.

The currently developed machine has a working width of 6 meter and with its 17 tines prepares 8 maize rows with spacing of 75 centimetres.

For forming and sowing a ridge culture it is important to have exact straight ridges with an equal spacing also in the join area of two working widths. The ridges of the adjoining passes have to be in a tolerance range of plus/minus five centimetres, especially if machines with different working widths are used.

When cultivating, an exact joining pass in the lower centimetre range may cause problems, particularly with trailed cultivators and on hillsides. The Tiger DT is no exception to this rule and also is exposed to lateral forces. The most considerable deviations from the “optimum line“ are caused by tracks or compaction in the soil. However, to get neat, straight ridges, the Tiger DT has been equipped with two steering discs per side. This active machinery control (also called Implement Steer) is supplied by the hydraulic system of the tractor and is able to keep the cultivator in the tractor track by means of hydraulic cylinders. The disc control is made via a GPS-control system with a RTKcorrection signal (Real Time Kinematik). This device has an accuracy of plus/minus two centimetres. The control system used does not only allow for controlling the tractor, but also for simultaneously keeping the machine on a preset line. Both machines are operated centrally from a control unit on the tractor. In practice, this means that a GPS-receiver is mounted on both the tractor and the machine.

For the RTK-correction signal a stationary unit on the respective farm as well as a mobile reference unit on the field boundaries can be used.

The ridges and tracks that are made in autumn are recorded by this system and can be retrieved in spring when sowing.

For the foreign employees the whole event was translated into three languages (English, French and Russian).

On the occasion of the staff meeting the managing directors of the HORSCH company, Michael and Philipp Horsch along with Horst Keller, gave an outlook on the year 2011 and looked back on the past months. Horst Keller informed that the turnover turned out to be better than expected. The yield continues to be very good and investments like for example the new logistic centre at Sitzenhof (construction costs: 10 million Euro) can be handled without taking out a loan. Like in 2009 the turnover amounts to about 135 million Euro. For 2011 Keller expects a turnover increase in a two-digit percentage range. Philipp Horsch’s main topic was an outlook on the machinery innovations to come and which HORSCH wants to exhibit on various shows in 2011. Michael Horsch motivated all employees to do their best given the extremely busy times predicted for 2011 in order to make a further growth of the company possible and to be able to continue creating new jobs (23 new employees in 2010).

After the staff meeting the HORSCH management board honoured eight long-time employees. Reinhold Schindler (production department) has already been employed in the company for 25 years, so virtually right from the start. The present for the Gran Canaria fan was a gift voucher for his next trip there. Margit Drexler (management assistant), Jürgen Blaschke (welding department), Lutz Böhnisch (after-sales service), Philippe Channaux (HORSCH France), Romaric Chevrier (HORSCH France), Karel Falta (sales consultant Czech Republic) and Niels Maßmann (sales Schleswig-Holstein) were honoured for 10 years of outstanding commitment within the HORSCH company.

As always, the end-of-year celebration included a show and entertainment programme. Everyone was fascinated by the power acrobatic performance of LaMetta, artists from Berlin, and got carried away by the rhythmic sounds of the samba percussion group Sarara from Regensburg.

For the first time there was a tombola. The proceeds from the sale of 1,000 tickets were doubled by the HORSCH Foundation. Thus, a donation of more than 2,000 Eur could be given to MEDA.

Gantry cranes lift large machinery parts through the air, a completed Maistro is linked to a tractor and taken outside through a roller door. Only the view from the first floor where the office of production manager Roland Schönleber is situated reveals the whole picture: The production hall that measures 2,160 square metres is subdivided into four assembly areas. In each area certain types of machines are produced independently.

“Contrary to our plant in Ronneburg, production at Sitzenhof is not aimed at mass-production, but at flexibility for larger working widths and due to the close proximity to our design department, also for special machines, like for example prototypes“, says Schönleber. Reinhold Schindler is the leader of a team that, at the moment, is assembling Maistros. Each team is specialised on certain types of machines – often on several types. Schindler is a veteran in the company, he has been working for HORSCH for 25 years. Beside his task as a team leader, Reinhold Schindler also is one of four ombudsmen at the site in Schwandorf. They act as a link between staff and management and liaise if there are any problems.

One assembly team consists of approx. eight employees, in the high season up to six temporary employees join the team. If necessary, they are working two shifts. Reinhold Schindler is just preparing a machine for the final inspection that he will carry out together with his assistant. To do this, the Maistro is attached to a tractor and the electronic and hydraulic systems are connected with a test module. “Now we are checking the proper functioning of the machine“, Schindler explains. “more importantly, we do an optical check to see if everything has been duly assembled.“ On his tour around the Maistro he notices scrub marks on the 25-kilometre sign. Even this will be repaired with black paint. Schindler continues: “When we release the machine we cover parts of it with a plastic film that serves as a transport protection. Then the machine is taken to the open storage area and after that to the customer.“

Roland Schönleber does not see any risk in the fact that the employees who produce the machine also carry out the final control themselves. He continued,  “as at this stage we still have the possibility to make repairs and the team members that are responsible for the control strictly stick to a given checklist which can be adapted if necessary. It would be no use to camouflage anything as upon delivery the direct feedback from either the dealer or the farmer would be brought into our weekly quality meeting by our aftersales service. As the teams already bear great responsibility when assembling the machine, it is only consistent to have them carry out the final control.“

Each team has a worklist and works it off independently. The data processing system provides the parts lists and drawings and all involved parties are linked to each other via SAP. Schwandorf, however, is a mere assembly plant. Among the suppliers are local medium sized companies as well as HORSCH Industrietechnik in Ronneburg. No matter where the parts come from, they have to pass through the incoming goods inspection. Periodically even destructive tests are carried out.

The employees of the HORSCH assembly teams have had different job trainings. Mostly, they come from metalworking professions, e.g. industrial or motor mechanic or even mechanic for agricultural machinery. Many of them have an agricultural background. At the moment there are eight apprentices at Sitzenhof who are training to become a production mechanic. The objective is on the one hand to support them at the best to finish their apprenticeship successfully. On the other hand HORSCH might want to take them on in a permanent employment and, thus, would be able to fill an unfilled or additional vacancy with its own qualified personnel.