Inventions Comp 2021: Entries that will make you smile
Farmers Weekly’s Inventions Competition wouldn’t be the same without a batch of wacky entries – some of which save time or money and others built just for fun. This year’s crop includes a hot tub made from a skip, a horsebox-cum-bar and a screw-tank ATV.
Colin Furze’s Screw Tank
Unsatisfied with conventional modes of off-road transport, off-the-wall inventor Colin Furze came up with the Screw Tank.
This bizarre contraption propels itself around the countryside, both over land and water, thanks to two spinning cylindrical tanks mounted on either side of the machine. Together, these have sufficient buoyancy to keep the machine and operator afloat and a set of auger flights welded around the outside provide the propulsion.
Inventions Comp 2021: Mowers, rolls and harrows for grassland
Andrew Carbis’ roller seeder
A modification to his set of 6.3m He-Va Cambridge rolls means Cornish dairy and beef farmer Andrew Carbis can now sow grass and roll in one pass.
The roller-seeder also opens up the option of min-tilling stubbles without dragging trash across the field – a problem he was finding with his Accord DL seeders – and means he can evenly distribute grass without leaving rows and bout marks.
Mr Carbis says his version of the concept was put together for £2,720, including the cost of the air seeder – significantly cheaper than the £9,000 that Opico wanted for the kit.
Inventions Comp 2021: Feeding and bedding tools
Declan Parke’s feed trailer
Irishman Declan Parke, senior mechanics manager at Almarai Dairy Farms in Saudi Arabia, developed a feed trailer to reduce the burden of feeding 10,000 calves a mixed ration manually – a job that took four people eight hours each day.
Mr Parke’s feed trailer construction started with the main frame and axles, which were paired with wheels from a diet feeder. On this base, he formed two bins with the capacity to carry up to 1,200kg of each ration component – calf starter and a hay mix.
Each hopper has its own 2.4m-long, 130mm-diameter hydraulically driven auger, which is engaged to move a portion of the feed into a front trough. Here, a lateral front auger mixes it up before discharging.