Novag Drills - Direct Driller demo tour 2019

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
We were recently invited to the very impressive Novag drills factory in France where we spent a couple of days touring their facilities, meeting the team behind the drills and visiting some of their customers so we could write a short article for the soon to be printed issue 7 of Direct Driller magazine



While there they said they would very much like to bring a demo machine to the UK this autumn and asked if we could help them organizes it, so .....................................

On October 10th, there will be a TFF demo at my farm where all are welcome to come and see the machine run. The machine will remain in the UK for the rest of that week leaving potential to do 3 or maybe 4 additional private demos on a range of soil types in various locations around the country. There will be a charge £20/ac charge to cover costs and really looking to demo 20ha ish sized areas at each site.

The demo drill (a high spec 4m / 4 product machine that was also used at Groundswell this year ) will be available for sale with a healthy discount from new if anyone is interested to save them dragging it back to France!

Anyone interested in a demo please PM me - it will be first come first served and I think 1 of the 3 or 4 slots may already be taken

Novag have recently won a lengthy legal battle with Cross Slot and now intend to focus on the UK market and build sale and service network here so I think will be a big name in UK Direct Drilling in years to come

If you are not yet familiar with Novag the video below is worth a watch and details of the range on their website http://novagsas.com/





833124
 
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Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
Tut, tut, British only drills post Brexit, please.

Ta.????????????

God help us if we have to apply that logic to our tractor and combine buying choices! although I agree with the sentiment we all have to buy whatever we think is the best tool for the job regardless of where it comes from

Plenty of good UK direct drills but not that many British zerotill drills - Dale and Weaving I guess? Most others are European build (Horsch, John Deere, Virkar, Kuhn, Sly, Sky etc )

But if you want an inverted T opener I think this is probably your only choice right now with Cross Slot losing their court case and apparently in serious financial trouble meaning I'm not sure the New Zeland coulter is any longer available.
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
God help us if we have to apply that logic to our tractor and combine buying choices! although I agree with the sentiment we all have to buy whatever we think is the best tool for the job regardless of where it comes from

Plenty of good UK direct drills but not that many British zerotill drills - Dale and Weaving I guess? Most others are European build (Horsch, John Deere, Virkar, Kuhn, Sly, Sky etc )

But if you want an inverted T opener I think this is probably your only choice right now with Cross Slot losing their court case and apparently in serious financial trouble meaning I'm not sure the New Zeland coulter is any longer available.
But surely Simtech are still using the inverted T coulter?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
But surely Simtech is still using the inverted T coulter?


true, I forgot them, not a disc drill though and are they UK or French-built? I'm not sure?

choice is good and I see the news of yet another option on this market from Novag as only a good thing, I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes here on our demo
 

Yale

Member
Livestock Farmer
true, I forgot them, not a disc drill though and are they UK or French-built? I'm not sure?

choice is good and I see the news of yet another option on this market from Novag as only a good thing, I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes here on our demo
As far as I can remember George said something like the seed boxes and the lighter Grassfarmer drills are made in the UK and the TSem made in France using the UK made seed box or fitted with the air hopper/meter system.

In theory if Simtech have access to the inverted t boot then a disc drill could be developed around it.......unless it then infringes a patent.:scratchhead:
 

E_B

Member
Location
Norfolk
There is a reduced tillage working demo at Harleston, Norfolk on the 8th October, promoted by Agrivice/Farmacy. Had a flyer in the post the other day. Would be an ideal event for Novag to demo at, if they are not booked already.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
There is a reduced tillage working demo at Harleston, Norfolk on the 8th October, promoted by Agrivice/Farmacy. Had a flyer in the post the other day. Would be an ideal event for Novag to demo at, if they are not booked already.

I’m not sure it will be in the UK then but will ask if it’s possible - thanks for letting me know
 

nick...

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
south norfolk
There is a reduced tillage working demo at Harleston, Norfolk on the 8th October, promoted by Agrivice/Farmacy. Had a flyer in the post the other day. Would be an ideal event for Novag to demo at, if they are not booked already.
Any more details.im keen to view some direct drills
Nick...
 

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
Does the demo machine come with a tractor? Not been charged £1000 for a machinery demo before!

yes - Fendt 724 tractor with RTK GPS and driver / Michelin 710's on a 4m / 4 hopper machine

£20/ac is cheap direct drilling (NACC contractor rate is £22 IIRC) and the charge is being made to avoid "tyre kickers" there is only 3 demo slots available in the week its here so trying to make sure they are serious potentially interested farmers rather than just a few who want a bit of free drilling doing. I belive Primewest always (quite rightly) demo'ed the Cross Slot as contractors at a commercial rate
 
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Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
@Clive is there a chance you could be considering one of these drills to compliment the avatar ?

Not really at the moment although I will be interested to see how it goes on our soils and compare and would never say never !! - We were just asked by them when we visited the factory to help organize a few UK demo's and I'm providing a tractor to stick on it


I think it will be very good on heavier soil types where slot closure is sometimes an issue and I really like the way it's built and configured in a very versatile way
 
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Not really at the moment although I will be interested to see how it goes on our soils and compare and would never say never !! - We were just asked by them when we visited the factory to help organize a few UK demo's and I'm providing a tractor to stick on it


I think it will be very good on heavier soil types where slot closure is sometimes an issue and I really like the way it's built and configured in a very versatile way

I like a bit of seed firming with the seed personally, rather than in a hollow in the wing and squashed down on top.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Moderator
Location
Lichfield
All demo slots are full now so can't accept any more as time in the UK is limited

Staffordshire - visitors welcome by appointment
Bedfordshire - visitors welcome by appointment
Bedfordshire -tba
North Lincs - visitors welcome by appointment
Northamptonshire - visitors welcome by appointment
Kent - visitors welcome by appointment


Anyone interested in coming to see it in action please let me know
 
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