Kiwi creation cuts maize costs

INVENTION: Tractor driver Luke Brooks (left) and Graeme Tulloch with the Tulloch strip-till.PHOTOS/ LYNDA FERINGA

A little bit of Kiwi ingenuity from a Wairarapa team has sown the seeds for a new farming machine which is cutting the cost of planting maize.

The new machine combines a Swiss strip-till machine, a maize planter and fertiliser systems to create a machine that can sub soil, rotor till, fertilise and plant in one pass.

One of the founders of Tulloch Farm Machines, Graeme Tulloch said his nephew, contractor Andrew Tulloch, was inspired when he saw the strip-till machine on a trip to Switzerland.

"He looked at that machine and he could see a different application for it so we brought one in and then attached a maize planter."

The resulting creation was something he liked to call the "Tulloch wedding ring".

The new machine could do in one pass what would normally take up to five or six passes to accomplish, he said.

"With this machine we are doing it all in one operation."

"It's cheaper - it's one operation so it's in total faster. It puts all the fertiliser in one application and because it's mixed in, it's slow release - and because of the thatched piece in the middle it's got better moisture control."

Trials had shown the machine reduced costs by 30 per cent and resulted in a slightly increased yield compared to full cultivation, Tulloch said.

In Switzerland the strip-tiller was used to help conserve the soil on hillsides but the addition of the maize planter was believed to be a world-first, Tulloch said.

"It's never been here or anywhere else in the world. We've taken bits of ideas and merged them together."

The system meant the soil between the rows was not tilled and remained "thatched" with grass.

The machine could carry one tonne of fertiliser, which was blown through pipes specially designed by the Tulloch team.

It also dispenses slug bait.

A team of about five people had been involved in designing the machine, he said, and had been working to "perfect" it for about three years.

"Andrew was the real driver, plus John [Tulloch], they are the brains behind it."

About six of the machines, worth about $200,000 depending on equipment, have been sold.