A high-output Grass Harrow and seeder, designed for large-scale farmers and contractors. The Grass Master consists of a heavy-duty harrow complete with levelling board, purpose-built to carry an Air 16E Pro Seeder.
The unit enables light cultivation and levelling to be carried out for complete re-seeds or over-seeding, with higher seed rates and faster working speeds than have been available up to now. The seeder has 16 outlets with hydraulic fan and 400-litre seed hopper. Other features are full in-cab electronic control plus variable seed rate on the move and radar.
Revitalise Leys
The productivity of old or patchy leys can be rejuvenated and the life of the ley extended, simply by overseeding. This is especially useful where poor drainage or flooding has killed off grass in certain areas of a field, or where livestock have poached ground near gateways and troughs. In addition, the field does not have to come out of use.
With few effective clover-safe herbicides around, many farmers have adopted the approach of ridding the leys of perennial weeds like docks and thistles first, and only stitching-in clover once a clean grass ley has been established. Using the OPICO Grass Master, bare ground is exposed onto which the broadcast clover seed can land and establish.
Reseeding
Typically a first-year reseed is expected to give 25% more yield than an old ley, although improvements of 40% have been known. Furthermore, the modern grass varieties in seed mixtures have been bred to utilise nitrogen better, and have higher yields and digestibility than older grasses.
In soil conditions where it is difficult to establish new leys, aggressively cultivating the surface and heavily overseeding with an OPICO seeder in consecutive seasons can give a reliable alternative.
After the usual ground cultivations, always roll the field at least once to obtain a good firm seedbed before harrowing and seeding and then roll again after to ensure good soil to seed contact.
For leys to reach their full potential for yield and quality, an integrated approach to grassland management is essential.
As well as harrowing, this includes: maintaining good drainage, avoiding soil compaction, reseeding with grass and clover mixtures appropriate to livestock and purpose, timely weed and pest control and tailoring fertiliser applications to compensate for soil nutrient shortfalls.
Grass is a very valuable crop and treating it as such can dramatically reduce seed costs.
FEATURES & BENEFITS
Ultimate contour following ability for uneven ground
- Even pressure is applied across every inch of the working width.
- The frame adapts to the ground contours with additional pressure being supplied from the accumulator to even the harrowing pressure across the working width.
- Active harrow bed suspension on the implement frame.
- A flexible harrow bed adapts to ground undulations.
Flexible bed
The flexible design of the tine beds allow them to follow the contours of the land ensuring effective coverage and even tine pressure. Each 1.5m bed has 48 tines spaced at 30mm centres apart and as well as ensuring good tine pressure onto the ground, this design allows it to self-clean as it moves through the sward.
Spring tines
The Grass Master's spring tines are able to penetrate even the hardest of ground, ripping out dead thatch and opening up the soil surface allowing air in to the root zone to stimulate and encourage growth. The oil hardened spring wire has three times the service life of a normal sprung steel wire. Channel mounting of tine coil prevents damage to the growing tip and leaf of the grass.
Adjustable tine angle
Quick and simple tine angle and pressure adjustment, ground conditions will determine how aggressive tine pressure needs to be for effective harrowing. On the OPICO Grass Master there are 10 tine angle settings so pressure can be altered, ensuring the vibrating action of the triple coil spring tine can be maximised.
Hydraulic Folding system
When in the transport position, the Grass Master folds up to 2.8m. This allows easy transportation on the road and through narrow gateways.
Hydraulic cylinder with accumulator and hydraulic shut-off valve can be locked for safe road transport.
Pneumatic Seed Delivery
Hydraulic drive units include a fan speed sensor and alarm to warn the operator if the fan is not turned on when seeding or if there is a malfunction.
Precise Seed Metering
Unlike most other types of seeders, the OPICO Air 16E Pro seeder uses individual metering seed rollers for each seed outlet enabling extremely accurate seed metering and guaranteeing the same amount of seed is fed to each outlet.
This is crucially important when using low seed rates and small seeds
Four types of metering rollers are available. Two of these quickly interchangeable seed rollers are supplied as standard - a coarse (green) seed roller and a fine (blue) seed roller. The third or fourth can be purchased as an extra.
Forward speed related metering
All OPICO Grass Master's come as standard with radar to give constant forward speed related seed metering. It doesn’t matter if you slow down or increase your speed you will always get the correct seed rate.
The 6m Grass Master comes in 2 variations - offered with either the option of 7mm or 8mm spring tines. Both variations include the below features.
- Heavy duty frame - built to stand high usage and last
- Levelling board - levels and cultivates seedbeds whilst seeding
- In-cab control box - allows on the move seed rate adjustment
- Hydraulic fan drive - handles high seed rates without blockage
- Step and loading platform - easy and comfortable loading
- Coarse (green) and fine (blue) seed rollers
Approximate maximum seed rates: 80kg per hectare on 6m working width.
| Model No. | Working Width | Seedbox Volume | Seed Outlets | Transport Width | HP | Weight |
| 1734042GAV-7mm | 6m | 400L | 16 | 2.8m | 100hp | 860kg |
| 1734042GAV-8mm | 6m | 400L | 16 | 2.8m | 100hp | 875kg |
Complete with electric in-cab control, variable seed-rate, low level hopper sensor, calibration control and hectare meter + fan alarm.