Lemken introduced a number of new or improved machines, including ploughs, cultivators, power-harrows, seed drills and sprayers, at its recent field days in Kassel, Germany.

Founded in 1780, the company is still 100% owned by the Lemken family.

Nicola Lemken is the seventh generation Lemken family member to be involved in the business. Anthony van der Ley has been managing director since in 2012.

Lemken has 1,200 full-time employees but this rises annually by several hundred short-term contract workers to cope with peak manufacturing demands.

Lemken headquarters is in Alpen in the very west of Germany, close to the border with the Netherlands. Lemken has two other factories, acquired in 2005.

Outside of Germany, the company has a factory in India and assembly plants in Russia, with another opening in China before the summer.

In 2013, Lemken’s turnover was €363m, according to van der Ley, up 6% on the previous year. Business grew last year by 11% in Lemken’s home market of Germany, 10% in France and a huge 45% in the UK to €18m, which also incorporates Ireland.

In the same year, Ireland accounted for about 15% of the UK’s combined turnover, according to Mark Ormond, general manager of Lemken UK. He said that this represented a 40% increase in turnover.

Gemini front tank option

Lemken has expanded its Lemken Sirius sprayer range, with the addition of its Gemini front tank and Megaspray ISOBUS control of its mounted sprayers.

Lemken produces mounted sprayers and trailed sprayers in working widths from 12m to 24m and with capacities from 900 litres to 1,900 litres. There are various boom options, including the firms SE-Section Extend boom, which folds up behind and not beside the sprayer.

The new Lemken Gemini front-mounted sprayer tank has a capacity of 1,100 litres and is designed to match the Sirius mounted field sprayer. This brings the tractor to within range of self-propelled sprayer capacity with up to 3,000 litres volume.

The 1,100-litre Gemini also features an integrated 120-litre clear water tank and is available in two variants.

The basic model allows the full volume to be used for fresh water or liquid fertilizer. The sprayer has a hydraulically driven agitator and internal cleaning system.

According to the company, the Gemini is operated via two selection valves for switching between suction, clear water or spraying liquid, agitation and cleaning.

There is just one liquid pipe connecting the front and rear units. While spraying, the combination can be configured so that when reaching the headlands, the front tank replenishes the rear tank while the jets are off on the Megaspray ISOBUS control terminal.

Sirius Megaspray control

The Megaspray control system is the new addition on Lemken’s Sirius 10 mounted sprayers.

This allows the sprayer to be operated from any ISOBUS Universal terminal, such as the tractor terminal or CCI 200, using a standard ISOBUS interface.

The display and function layout of the different operating elements can be configured to suit the operator.

Sectional control of the boom at headlands or finish bouts can now be refined to individual nozzles when combined with Lemken’s Eltec Pro electric single-nozzle control.

This means that the single-nozzle valves of the SEH booms can be operated individually or in up to 13 user-defined nozzle groups.

Other parameters on the Megaspray control system which can be controlled include application rates and hydraulic functions, which can all be controlled from the screen.

Also the sprayer’s electric four-way valve on the suction side can be changed between spraying, suction from an external tank, suction from the front tank and clean water as easily as pressing a button without leaving the tractor.

Lemken’s new automatic boom control, which is also available with the Megaspray system, claims to keep both boom sides independently parallel to the ground at the set height.

In addition, the Megaspray computer reads the data from the Tankpilot electronic fill level indicator and displays it on the machine or tractor terminal.

A wide range of auxiliary equipment compatible with the ISOBUS Aux-N standard can also be used, for example width section or joystick boxes on the CCI or tractor joysticks. The various functions can again be configured to suit the operator’s preferences.

Zircon 12

Replacing the Lemken Zirkon 10 power harrow range is the new Zircon 12 series with many improvements over the previous series, according to Lemken.

The Zircon 12 series is available in working widths from 3m to 6m with the larger machines folding hydraulically.

In common with the Zircon 10 series, the new Zircon 12 series features four tine rotors per metre.

The Zirkon 12 is now available with two central gearbox options, both providing tine rotor speeds of 330rpm and 440rpm, while being driven at tractor pto speed of 1,000rpm.

To change tine speeds on the entry-level gearbox requires two gears to be changed manually. The revised Dual-Shift gearbox provides gear selection via a lever, as on the Zircon-10 series.

The revised Dual-Shift gearbox can now handle up to 408hp, up from 320hp on the older series.

The three-point linkage on the new series has also been re-designed to accommodate the trend towards larger tractors and respective linkage/pto geometry.

It is now also possible to specify bolted tines or quick-change tines. The bolted tines are fixed directly to the rotor and come as standard equipment.

Quick-change tine holders are bolted to the rotors which house the tines. This feature is an option and the power harrow can be upgraded at any time, according to the company.

The side plate adjustment has also been improved and the harrow’s three-point linkage frame can now handle implements (drills, for example) up to 3,000kg.

Optionally available for the first time is hydraulic power-harrow depth adjustment via heavy-duty packer roller. This roller is also 50mm larger in diameter than previous 500mm diameter rollers. How the packer roller scrapers are adjusted has also changed on the new series.

Production of the new Zircon 12 power harrows series is expected to start in two months for folding versions and November for fixed models.

Rubin 12

Lemken’s Rubin 12 is a compact disc harrow and heavy-duty variant of the Rubin 9, suitable both for stubble cultivation and for primary soil tillage.

According to the firm, the Rubin 12 series can cultivate up to a depth of 200mm.

Lemken claims that a lot of work has gone into the design and positioning of the discs for the best results.

It is available as a mounted rigid version with working widths of 3m to 4m, and as a hydraulic folding implement in semi-mounted versions with 4m to 6m working widths.

Two rows of serrated concave discs with a diameter of 736mm let the Rubin 12 work just as deep as a tined cultivator, according to Lemken. It mixes and crumbles the soil more intensively in the process.

Lemken has arranged the discs in its design so that there is no lateral pull as is often associated with disc harrows.

The company has done this by dividing each row in half with discs working from the inside out or outside in. The centre disc is displaced rearwards to even out the central section.

Lemken has designed the Rubin 12 with the angle of the discs of 20° to the soil and in the inclined position to the direction of travel by 16°. This, the company says, provides the optimum ground penetration and enables cultivation over the whole width of the machine from a working depth of 70mm down to 200mm.

The legs are specially curved to ensure maximum clearance between the discs, preventing clogging, also aided by the slight offset of the middle discs.

An impact harrow, positioned behind the first row of discs, claims to provide intensive mixing and crumbling.

A levelling harrow behind the second row is designed to give optimal soil distribution and levelling, according to Lemken.

Both harrows have a central depth adjustment with a new self-locking mechanism, so that no locking device is required.

In the mounted version, the Rubin 12 can be equipped with a depth and transport wheel. This loads the front tractor axle when the implement is lifted. It takes some of the weight off the machine, making it stable during road transport and easier to manoeuvre at the headlands.