SeedSock, a product that makes emptying a seed drill or fertiliser spreader hopper “easier”, has hit the Irish and UK market.
The 3×3 sheet collects seed and fertiliser from hoppers and facilitates re-bagging for later use.
Olly Harrison came up with the idea, and a neighbour, who manufactures bouncy castles, enabled him to turn this into a practical product.
SeedSock
The result was a sheet of heavy-duty PVC with lifting loops in each corner and a flexible discharge chute in the middle.
“A lot of drills are awkward to empty and mostly involve dumping seed onto a concrete floor then sweeping and shovelling it into a sack,” explained Harrison.
“The Agricontract SeedSock makes this job a whole lot quicker and easier by discharging on to sheet that turns into a temporary container when lifted off the ground.”
He suggests the most obvious time to use it is when drilling and changing from one crop or variety to another.
With the SeedSock laid out and the drill positioned overhead, the hopper is emptied, the drill moved out of the way, and the sheet gathered up and lifted using pallet or other forks or a hook attachment on a loader.
The contents can then be held in temporary storage or transferred to a sack or bulk bag using the tied-off flexible discharge chute.
Harrison pointed out: “It’s a great time-saver because if you need to change varieties or crops during the day, you can do so out in the field using the SeedSock instead of running back to the yard.”
He acknowledged that others had made something similar to the seed collector sheet before.
Uses
However, a “chance” conversation with his bouncy castle manufacturing neighbour led to producing a “strong and durable” Agricontract.
“Bouncy castle structures are quite complex to cut and stitch. They have to be tough enough to take a fair bit of punishment.”
“So, I did not invent the idea. I just happened to find the right man with the expertise to make the SeedSock in the right way and at the right price.”
Early buyers have found other uses for their SeedSock.
- Emptying a fertiliser spreader hopper after a mechanical break-down, for example;
- Preparing a cover crop seed mixture on the floor – like mixing concrete with a shovel – and then loading it from the SeedSock into a drill.
Features, colour options and price
According to the farmer, it has a maximum load rating of 400kg SWL. It comprises a 3m x 3m sheet of cross-webbed PVC with strong lifting hoops stitched in from corner to corner.
The 1.4m long outlet ‘sock’ at the centre is tied off for filling and released to give controlled discharge into a sack or other container.
“It’s a big sheet, 4m from corner to corner, so apart from using it to empty the seed hopper, you can use it to cover bags on a trailer as weather protection,” Harrison said.”
“And there’s no set colour because that depends on what material is available when another batch is made. We have had them in green, grey and pink with yellow seams,” he concluded.
Available for £257 / €309 from Spaldings, the product is “fully tested” for CE/UKCA approval.
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