Amazone has the world at its feet

The biennial Amatechnica field day took place recently at Amazone headquarters, near Osnabruck, Germany. Hosted by the Dreyer family who own Amazone, the event is held at the start of summer the year after Agritechnica.

It is held for a number of reasons; it gives Amazone an opportunity to demonstrate all of its latest products in the field including new launches and it also gives the gathered audience a chance to see the products in a “drive-by” manner.

The family-friendly event is open to the public and everybody attending receives a headset through which the various attributes of the machine are broadcast in numerous languages to the international audience.

The machines vary in size from self-propelled ride-on lawnmowers right up to large 12m seed-drills and cultivators designed to be pulled by equally massive tractors.

Self-propelled and trailed sprayers designed for sunflower fields in Spain and potato fields in north Co Dublin are also a large part of the Amazone business with the nearby factory in Leeden manufacturing up to 12 per day.

The range, size and variation in options for the numerous products for the worldwide market is endless. The event, which has been running for a number of years, draws huge crowds from across Germany and all over the world.

Combi-disc 3000 and Centaya 3000 Super

Amazone is known for its 3m one-pass drill combinations. A new product launched by the company moves in a slightly different direction from the proven power harrow-drill combination to a non-powered mounted disc-cultivator unit.

Val McAuley, sales support manager with Irish Amazone importer Farmhand Ltd, said: “Amazone listened to its customers and responded. This machine is for those customers who want to retain the 3m working width but don’t necessarily need a power harrow for all their sowing. Cover-crops, cereals, grass seed and most other small seed crops are easily established using this new product”.

The cultivating element, the CombiDisc 3000 comes with two rows of discs whose depth is hydraulically adjustable followed by a rubber wedge-ring roller. Mounted above this is the Centaya 3000 Super pneumatic drill which uses double-disc coulters for planting. Seed is fed to the coulters from a plastic hopper.

Power harrow

Val said: “If a farmer wants, he or she can demount the drill and use the CombiDisc separately – like he or she would a power harrow and drill combination. Also, if there is a power harrow on the farm, they then have the choice to mount the drill to this also.”

Amatron 4 uses a combination of coloured screen, touchscreen operation and soft key use. The terminal is a significant update for the company compared with what is currently offered.

Amatron 4

Another new product officially launched was the Amatron 4 – a new control terminal. The combination of coloured screen, touchscreen operation and soft key use is a significant update for the company compared with what is currently offered. The terminal integrates implement operation, GPS control and reversing camera in one place. Information can also be saved to a USB memory stick from the terminal is required.

Active Centre

Apart from new machinery, the Active Center was where both Amazone staff and external companies displayed software solutions and add-ons for Amazone equipment.

These included drone companies offering aerial imaging services for crops and a range of Lechler sprayer nozzles for sprayers. N-sensors from both Claas and Fritzmeier were also on display.

AmaSelect individual sprayer nozzles allow the sprayer’s nozzles to turn on and off automatically to avoid overlap based on a GPS signal. Amaspot is designed to “spot-spray” weeds in crops, greatly reducing the amount of herbicide used.

YARA N sensors were also displayed, which can be integrated into Amazone sprayers for more specific application of liquid nitrogen.

One of the more interesting and relevant pieces of equipment we saw was for fertiliser spreader accuracy.

Mobile test rig

The EasyCheck mobile test rig is designed to replace test trays by using a number of rubber mats which can be stored on the spreader.

This is in addition to a mobile app which, through clever software, photographs the granules on the mat and calculates how accurate your Amazone spreader is performing.

The mats are coloured purple so they highlight all colours of fertiliser. According to Amazone, they developed the concept as farmers wanted a less cumbersome instant solution to testing their spreader in the field.

An Amazone UX3200 special trailer sprayer with 21m booms sold for €33,750. All items auctioned were subject to 10% commission.

Amazone auction

Part of the day-long event was the auction of shop-soiled and ex-demo Amazone equipment. Some of these items were available to view on the day. This drew hundreds of people into the large marquee with auctioneers Ritchie Bros taking bids from bidders both in the marquee and online as far away as Canada.

The exuberant auctioneers had some keen bidding on smaller units with larger items such as trailed cultivators taking longer to knock down. A 2017 3m Amazone Catros disc cultivator with GreenDrill 200 seeder, rubber wedge-ring roller and chassis weights made €3,750. An unused 2015 ADP special 3m harrow-drill combination with rubber wedge ring-roller and rubber covering wheels instead of tines made €28,000. A similar unit with wheel track eradicators, pre-emergence markers and finishing harrow made €28,500. All machines were presented in immaculate condition with very little sign of work or wear.

There was also a choice of sprayers auctioned including a 2016 UG3000 with 27m booms. This item made €28,000 while a 2013 UX3200 with 21m booms, air-brakes, 520/85R38 wheels made €33,750. A smaller 2015 UF 1201 21m mounted sprayer with seven-section booms and LED lights made €20,500. All items sold were subject to 10% commission.

Sprayer factory tour

Amazone has a number of factories across Germany including its spreader factory at Gaste and sprayer factory at Leeden. Trailed and self-propelled sprayers are built in Leeden whereas mounted sprayers are manufactured in Gaste. Sprayers from Leeden range in size from 3,200l to the huge tandem axle 11,200l UX. Designed for the largest fields, the sprayer comes with steering rear axle and boom widths up to 40m.