For Ukrainian farmers, it is a hot season now, as the first wave of harvest is coming to an end, and at the same time, the sowing campaign of winter rapeseed is already underway. All future processes and results in the field depend on the quality of soil treatment. Harrowing stubble is the first and extremely important stage in soil preparation immediately after harvesting. The quality of subsequent agrotechnical operations, moisture preservation, and weed and volunteer control depend on it. BEDNAR was one of the first companies to offer farmers a universal solution – the SWIFTERDISC range of disc harrows, which combine high working speed, excellent stubble harrowing and wrapping, and even pre-sowing soil preparation, setting high standards in the soil cultivation equipment segment.
Читай нас також у Viber та Telegram.
The BEDNAR SWIFTERDISC series is available with working widths from 1.75 m to 18.4 m for surface soil treatment after harvest to a depth of 2 cm to 14 cm and can be equipped with 520 mm or 560 mm diameter discs.
A common feature for all SWIFTERDISC models is the TWIN-DISC mounting system, which ensures high throughput of crop residues through the unit. The protection of the arms with rubber segments that absorb shocks occurring during soil treatment guarantees uninterrupted operation of the unit.
This unit has become a true innovator in the market thanks to its unique integrated transport axle located in front of the rear wheels. This design ensures even weight distribution, high stability even at high speeds, and comfortable transportation in field and road conditions. Thanks to this, the unit combines productivity, reliability, and versatility appreciated by modern farmers.
With the SWIFTERDISC disc harrow, they save time and resources on field work and are eager to share their experience of using the unit.
“We used to use two disc harrows, and now their functions are covered by the SWIFTERDISC disc harrow,” – Oleksiy Hlynskyi, Deputy Director of DP “Druzhba” (Kirovohrad region).
We purchased the BEDNAR SWIFTERDISC XO 6000 F disc harrow from In Force Group last year and have already processed about 1.5 thousand hectares with it. We chose it based on the “price-quality” principle, and this unit best met this criterion. We saw it in action, read many reviews, evaluated the construction quality and metal strength – and purchased it without hesitation. In particular, I liked that it is equipped with rubber dampers. We have the same ones on the seeder, and they perform the damping function excellently.
We worked with it on fields after harvesting wheat and sunflower. Thanks to the aggressive discs, it chops up crop residues very well, and the unit’s construction ensures even weight distribution and high stability at different depths of tillage. We worked at a depth of 10-12 cm to chop up and mix crop residues with the soil, and at a depth of 5 cm to stimulate the germination of weeds and volunteers. SWIFTERDISC forms the optimal soil structure for this purpose.
Since we farm in the Kirovohrad region, in an area with insufficient moisture, we mostly have to work on dry soil (we have chernozem). The unit leaves no clods behind and forms an optimal soil structure even for further sowing. SWIFTERDISC is a versatile unit, and if necessary, it can be used directly for pre-sowing soil preparation. We, for example, prepared the soil for pea sowing with it, and it coped well with the task – the field is even, and the soil has an optimal structure for seed germination.
We combine the disc harrow with a 240 hp Deutz-Fahr X 720 tractor, which is quite sufficient for a six-meter unit. Productivity depends on the field configuration and the duration of the working shift. In a maximum 12-hour shift, we processed 94 hectares, including moving from field to field. On average, it is 60-70 hectares per shift. The maximum working speed we operated at was 14 km/h.
“We used to use two disc harrows, and now their functions are covered by the SWIFTERDISC disc harrow. It chops up crop residues much better, and if we often had to repair the disc harrows before, for example, to replace bearings, we haven’t had such problems with the disc harrow so far. After processing 1,000 hectares, we only replaced the “fingers” on the rear wheels once under warranty,” – Yuriy Palamarchuk, Deputy Head of Crop Production at FG “Ukraine” (Vinnytsia region).
We purchased the BEDNAR SWIFTERDISC XO 8000 F disc harrow a month ago from In Force Group because we concluded that we needed to change our soil cultivation technology. We do not plow, and our main tillage is mostly deep loosening, with some areas using no-till. In areas where zero technology is not applicable, we are gradually transitioning to minimum tillage, hence the need to purchase a harrow. When choosing it, we considered units from many manufacturers, but we stopped at BEDNAR because it has the most optimal price-quality ratio.
In a month of using the SWIFTERDISC disc harrow, we have already processed over 1,000 hectares with it – from the day of purchase, it has been working almost around the clock for us, and so far, no problems have arisen. We performed regular stubble harrowing after harvesting rapeseed and wheat for future spring crops. We will pass through once more with another unit just before sowing.
For pre-sowing preparation for winter rapeseed after wheat, we used the disc harrow in two passes. Rapeseed has small seeds and is therefore very demanding in terms of pre-sowing preparation quality. But SWIFTERDISC handled the task excellently.
We chose the configuration with aggressive discs, which ensures quality stubble harrowing and mixing of crop residues, forming an optimal fine-grained soil structure.
We chose the unit’s working width (8 m) to best suit our Case IH Magnum 355 tractor with 350 hp. The average working speed is 10-12 km/h. We work with the disc harrow around the clock, so we process approximately 120-130 hectares per day. The quality of work and productivity of SWIFTERDISC does not decrease at night, as our tractors are equipped with navigation systems.
SWIFTERDISC worked for us on different soil types (sandy and chernozem soils) and at different soil moisture levels, and this did not affect the quality of work. However, it is necessary to adjust the tillage depth on each field, but this is very simple to do. The maximum depth we worked at was 10 cm, but currently, we are not working deeper than 5 cm to compact the soil and stimulate the germination of weeds and volunteers. After processing over 1,000 hectares, the working parts have not worn out and do not require replacement.