Yellow Machinery Found Its Place at the Slavík’s Farm

The Slavík’s family farm manages an area of about 900 hectares. Two years ago, they bought their first yellow machine by BEDNAR: the SWIFTERDISC XO_F disc cultivator. Now they own three BEDNAR machines. We talked to Vojtěch Slavík, the owner’s son, about the reasons for buying the machines.

The Slavíks started farming around 1990 and Vojtěch Slavík, the youngest family member, continues in this tradition

“We only focus on plant production and our seeding plan includes some minority crops, such as crimson clover, caraway or poppy. Apart from those crops, we grow wheat, sugar beet, winter rapeseed and corn. We supply soil with organic matter using stillage, liquid manure and crop residue,” says Vojtěch Slavík.

Looking for a Simple, Yet Quality Disc Cultivator

The BEDNAR technology won among competitive brands at the farm. “Initially, we were thinking about buying a new seedbed cultivator but in the end, we tried the SWIFTERDISC XO_F disc cultivator with a width of 6 meters during the harvest. Based on the excellent quality of work and the fact that the operating staff also liked the machine setting and control, we decided to buy the version with an eight-metre-long width. The machine is equipped with specifically shaped aggressive discs, with a diameter of 520×5 mm, and the extremely popular V-RING rear packer. I am more than satisfied with the work of the aggressive discs in our conditions, which perfectly penetrate even heavy soil,” the owner’s son evaluates work.

Front support wheels in combination with a double-row rear packer layout help maintain the set working depth

The SWIFTERDISC XO 8000F cultivator with a width of 7.5 m is aggregated with the CASE IH MAGNUM 335 tractor, the sufficient output provides excellent work quality

BEDNAR as a Synonym for Seedbed Cultivators

Aside from the disc cultivator, the Slavíks also own the SWIFTER SO_F seedbed cultivator. It is mostly used for preparing the field prior to seeding spring crops – sugar beet or poppy. “We were looking for a new seedbed cultivator, namely, to replace our old machine by another manufacturer which we owned from 2006. Since we also farm heavy soils, we were looking for an adequate machine for seedbed preparation using a seed drill with a disc cultivation section,” Vojtěch Slavík describes the cultivator selection.

The SWIFTER SO_F cultivator is mostly used for spring crop seedbed cultivation

SWIFTER SO_F is an ideal selection thanks to the combination of up to eight operations in one pass

They also decided for SWIFTER based on the excellent references as many other farming businesses in their neighbourhood own BEDNAR cultivators. In Drahoraz, they chose the front hydraulically controlled Crushbar leveller, two rows of 270 mm arrow shares, a rear crosskill roller and a finish roller.

Mechanical Elimination of Pests with Rotary Cutter

The farm in Drahoraz also owns the MULCHER MZ 6000 rotary cutter. They purchased the machine to eliminate and cut crop residue after harvesting the crimson clover. They also have a problem with excessive occurrence of Sclerotinia in the sugar beet vegetation and so they expect that mechanical elimination will prevent its spread.

MULCHER MZ 6000 is a popular model of the wide-span rotary cutter. Galvanization of the machine contributes to high resistance against aggressive plant juices

The model that the Slavíks own is equipped with the TRASH-FAN which creates a stream of air and directs it into points of exposure on the surface of the machine through wind straighteners. This device prevents impurities and plant mass from getting stuck to the machine surface.