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The weed harvester TOP CUT COLLECT is a tool for mechanical weed control in case of herbicide resistance and to make organic farming approaches possible. Grasses and other high-growing weeds are cut precisely just above your crop. Collecting and removing the weed seeds from your fields improves the field hygiene reliably.
Tractor attachment
Two booms
with 9 or 12 m
working width
Double-cutting
knife system
Helix-shaped
special reel
Cross conveyor
belt
Height control
Central conveyor
belt
Large bin
Narrow tyres
The ZÜRN TOP CUT collect cuts off the top of weed plants and collects the seeds in a bin.
The double-cut knife and special helical reel work gently to collect all seeds. Conveyor belts transport the weed seeds into a hopper with high-dump system. The boom can be folded hydraulically for road transport.
Field tests confirm a reliable reduction of the weed seed bank in the ground. Even resistant weeds can now be fought on the long-term.
The horizontal double-cut knives cut the weeds precisely and reliably just above the main crop.
The conveyor belts on both booms transfer the material to the centre. To avoid losses, all conveyor belts are sealed on the sides.
The weed harvester is available in 9 and 12 m working widths. The two booms are hydraulically folded in to a transport width below 2.5 m.
The cutting height is hydraulically adjustable from 30 cm to 160 cm above ground level. Both booms are guided by gauge wheels.
The central conveyor belt is moved to working position hydraulically and collects the material from both cross conveyor belts. To fill the bin perfectly, it can be adjusted in speed.
The collection bin with 7,000 litres has a hydraulic high-dumping system.
Romain Bouillé is the son of a farmer, inventor and an excellent mechanic from the central arable region of France. The time he spends on the sugarbeet harvester and combine is well used. Beside machine operation, Romain uses this time to come up with new ideas for a future-proof agriculture.
Right where the Champagne merges with the region of Brie-Beauce. The farm of Romain is located approximately 80 km south-east of Paris in the breadbasket of France. The farm cooperation works on 1,200 ha with cereals, rapeseed and sugar beets as main crops.
Agronomists in this intensive farming area are faced to high weed pressure and growing numbers of herbicide resistance. This difficulty was raising to a higher power over the last years.
Looking at the growth behaviour of weeds and crop plants, Romain got the idea of a machine to cut and remove the weed seeds just above the crop. With up to 18 m boom width and a precise height control, the weed tops are not only cut but also collected. Thanks to experience in cutting systems, conveyor belts and transportation, Zürn was the ideal partner to implement his ideas.
Different scientific studies show that up to 40% of the weed seeds are shedding before harvest. It’s therefore very effective to cut off and collect the top of these weeds before harvest. By doing this, the cycle of weeds getting into the seed bank is interrupted. This is also shown by the perennial field trials in France.
Before and after the TOP CUT COLLECT in herbicide resistant blackgrass. A clean cut for a clear difference.
Ryegrass is becoming increasingly important as a weed in summer and winter crops. Due to its height, ryegrass is particularly suitable for top cutting. This means that fewer seeds end up in the soil.
When used in late weeds, the competitiveness of the main crop is strengthened and the yield and quality of the harvest is ensured. By top cutting white goosefoot, the sugar beet crop regains light for further growth.
Species-rich donor areas are gently harvested for the production of autochthonous meadow seed. The hydraulically driven threshing brush feeds the threshed material to the conveyor system for collection.
Blackgrass can produce up to 2,000 seeds per plant. A high weed population significantly reduces the yield potential in cereals. By collecting the seed heads, fewer seeds can germinate the following year.
The cutting height can be set between 30 cm and 1.6 m for harvesting specialty crops. For example, toppings in hemp are possible.
The TOP CUT COLLECT can also save an entire harvest in cases of very heavy weed infestation. These vegetable peas were about to be completely lost and were able to be harvested after the weed cut.
The machine is controlled via an operating terminal with touchscreen. The working height and other main functions are operated by a multifunction lever.
Folding the machine from transport into work position is easy and simple by tapping the graphic user interface of the 10-inch touchscreen display. The cutting height is set by flicking a switch on the ergonomically designed multifunction lever.
Headland turns, too, are managed by pressing a button, which lifts and lowers the booms to the respective default position. Operators can also customise individual user profiles.
Especially intensive farming can lead to weeds developing resistances against herbicides. Common methods are no longer effective and many chemicals lost their acceptance in society.
With this background, Zürn Harvesting and french farmer and technician Romain Bouillé developed an entirely new approach for mechanical weed control.
The weed collector TOP CUT COLLECT is an intelligent combination of two tasks: Cutting the weed tops above the crops and collecting this material which contains the weed seeds. Hygiene in the field is improved sustainably by reducing the weed seed bank in the soil.
The TOP CUT collect weed harvester from Zürn Harvesting received the SIMA Innovation Award in the special ‘Agro-Ecological Transition’ category.
The prestigious prize awarded by the innovations committee of one of the leading international farm machinery shows, underlines the innovative and forward-thinking character of this innovation for an environmentally sound agriculture.
The machine is a joint project of the German manufacturer Zürn Harvesting and the French farmer and inventor Romain Bouillé.
