The last 12 months at Primewest have been interesting to say the least. We’ve seen Brexit come and go, new equipment, contracts and business partners and significant changes within the partnership with Cross Slot. We have a team of 3 permanent staff which is bolstered by additional support in engineering design and experienced farm labour as and when needed.
We have made the bold decision to buy a new Fendt 724 to replace a John Deere 6170 ensuring that we have the horsepower to continue to support our direct drill, the PW 4-19 using Cross Slot ® technology for the openers. Our Primewest direct drill continues to be a popular choice for contracting work having drilled around 1,500 acres as well as our own contract farming business, some of which has led to drill sales as well as the movement of second-hand machines. In the past 12 months, we have drilled a demonstration site for the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, hosted a visit from the Innovative Farmers Field Labs looking at cover crop destruction and living mulch and supporting Thames Water for soil sampling looking at how water flow and infiltration can be improved using a direct drilling system in the Glyme catchment area.
As well as new drill sales we have also helped several farms enter the no tillage world with second hand drills between 3m to 6m, all have been appraised and serviced by our experienced engineers, some have also been updated to use the latest Topcon technology after being in the country for 16 years and not needing any other work being done. We have worked closely with Cross Slot to bring down the prices in nearly every aspect of the drill and will continue to do so to provide a competitively priced product.
To go with the Cross Slot drill manufacturing and contract farming, we are also suppliers of CombeCut and Kvivk Finn. CombCuts unique technology you are able to fight weeds by combing in the lower part of the crop, selectively cutting the weed and letting the crop grow further Kvivk Finn the best cultivator in mechanical weed control, in an organic or minimal tillage situation. The cultivator is a combination of a cultivator and a pickup rotor. The special goose foot cuts off the roots, cultivates the soil and lifts he roots closer to the surface. The rotors specially des.igned spring pins grip the roots, shaking off the soil while the roots are thrown high into the air far behind the machine. The roots land on the field surface, far from the soil. On the field surface the weeds roots are exposed to the suns ultraviolet rays and wind, they dry up and lose their vitality. Come and see a demo machine working this spring.
The latest offering from our own design and engineering team are the PrimeFlo and the PrimeFill. PrimeFlo is a 1000 ltr liquid fertiliser system that can be either rear (sandwich tank) or front mounted and used on nearly every type of drill. Hydraulic pump and Topcon control system, variable speed and variable rate in the future. This can also be fitted with a granular tank and used on a drill or a cultivator to apply seed bed fertiliser or cover crop mix. PrimeFill. A 2000 ltr hopper that can be filled with a grain bucket and weigh the contents, using heavy duty 3000 kg load cells. With its 6 bag hooks underneath and easy slide door (hydraulic option) filling bags has never been so easy, or just carry it too the drill on the forklift and put it straight into your drill, knowing exactly how much you’ve put in and how much is left. Also optional static filling stand for filling bags in the yard and a close fitted cover to keep it all clean and dry.
As we are always looking at what’s new and different all over the world, and with this in mind, we are working to bring the Tractor Bumper from the Netherlands to the UK market. New tractors are getting bigger and can go faster. Speeds of 60-60 kph are not now unusual. Tractors are equipped with two headlights in the middle and there are 2 side lights linked to the width of the cab. The cab is smaller than the width of the tractor, so these lights don’t show the total width of the tractor or help with oncoming traffic. With TractorBumper it helps other road users to more easily see the maximum width of the tractor. In a frontal collision between a tractor and another road user, there is the risk that the vehicle goes underneath the tractor wheels because they are not shielded. The TractorBumper helps to protect this area, in front of the wheels and between them. When setting up the bumper 40cm from the ground it is the same bumper height as most cars.
We contract farm both conventionally and organically and have recently introduced sheep to the organic acreage in order to make better use of our clover leys and cover crops which is already allowing us to move away from the plough as the sheep can graze the fields to almost nothing. One of the challenges for this year is to try to reduce the amount of cultivations we undertake on the organic farm with our eye always on crop health and weed burden. We invite anyone interested to contact us to see our farming systems and the positive results that 16 years of no tillage can provide.