With its self-propelled beet harvesters, HOLMER upgraded an agricultural process from 1974 onwards. Numerous patents and inventions from Eggmühl – such as the EasyLift automatic single-row depth control – have left their mark on sugar beet harvesting.
Now HOLMER is presenting its latest sugar beet harvester, the Terra Dos 5.
The vehicle is available as a two and three-axle version, as Terra Dos 5-30 and Terra Dos 5-40. Several proven components from the predecessor model Terra Dos T4 have been adopted or improved. The MTU engine with 652 hp / 480 kW complies with the Stage V exhaust emission standard.
The Terra Dos 5 offers a solution to the five biggest challenges of the future: driver shortage, rising costs, difficult harvesting conditions, sustainability and digitalisation.
HOLMER addresses the problem of driver shortage by consistently placing the driver at the centre of developments, especially in the design of the cab.
The lighting with LED strips has a total of 22,785 lm and was developed specifically for beet harvesting. The special optics with asymmetrical radiation angles enable homogeneous illumination in the near and far range. During night shifts, the driver is less blinded, which guarantees fatigue-free and relaxed work.
Scientific studies into different driver proportions, seating and operating positions determine the design of the workplace. The cab has been extended by 18 cm, the controls reduced to the essentials and ergonomically arranged. This creates a feeling of personal freedom on the beet harvester and additional driver comfort.
The focus of the new development is the user interface on the main display as the driver’s control centre. Here, the information has been deliberately reduced in order to provide the driver with the most important machine parameters quickly and easily. The display is based on familiar formats from the automotive and smartphone sectors in order to create a quick recognition effect and intuitive operability. In addition, machine settings are interpreted by colour-coded information bars. In this way, the driver immediately recognises whether everything is “in the green zone” and operational controls are permanently learned from instinct. New drivers can be trained more quickly with this functional assistance. The layout also means it is easier to get back on the machine at the beginning of the harvesting season and experienced drivers gain time to monitor harvesting quality. For experienced drivers, the familiar fine adjustment options are of course still available.
Underfloor heating for cold working days, an integrated hoover and a redesigned cab platform with a new ladder for more space create a pleasant and futuristic working environment. The operator is offered a comfortable workplace where the machine provides him with optimum support and he can concentrate fully on the harvesting quality.
As costs for beet growers have risen sharply, the harvesting process is also being critically examined for potential savings. HOLMER is making its contribution to this by further optimising the service life of various components, similar to the introduction of the more durable HOLMER DuraShare in 2019.
This reduces the costs for wear parts during harvesting and makes the machine even more operationally reliable.
The cleaning has forged turbine tines that can be replaced individually, which reduces spare parts costs in this area by 15 %. The elevator drive wheels have been fitted with low-wear Hardox® fingers. The scraper floor plates and the wear plates in the chain track of the bunker are now also made of Hardox®.
Throughout the vehicle, components have also been reinforced for even greater durability, such as the chain strand, which has a breaking load of 125 kN, an increase of 25 %. Other components have been constructively modified, for example, the support rollers in the elevator channel have been replaced by sliding strips.
In addition to reducing wear, this ensures smoother running of the elevator and prevents the belt from being subjected to maximum stress at certain points, especially in high yield situations.
Also contributing to the goal of reduced maintenance costs is the filter change according to load condition and the increase of the maintenance interval of the diesel engine from 500 h to 750 h.
The Terra Dos 5 is more durable and robust, reducing wear and maintenance work. In conjunction with the HOLMER maintenance contracts, the harvesting costs can thus be reliably calculated.
Changing climatic conditions mean that increasingly extreme harvesting conditions, from drought to wetness, from dry leaves to heavily weeded fields, are becoming the norm. The Terra Dos 5 is optimally equipped for these exceptional situations and provides maximum flexibility to the operator.
The new, weight-optimised HS topper has a modified bonnet geometry to produce better suction in dry leaves. The HR lifting unit has a longitudinally adjustable forced intake to improve beet flow in high weeded conditions and a parallel adjustable roller table, which allows optimal adjustment especially in difficult harvesting conditions.
The larger 850 mm feeler wheels guarantee better depth control in wet conditions. The cleaning area of the turbines has been increased by 7.5% to accommodate higher capacities, allow a wider range of cleaning settings and improve beet flow. This is also ensured by the optimised transfer points and improved tine geometry.
Pressure and speed-controlled adaptive cleaning ensures smooth running and prevents clogging even at very low speeds, helping to protect the beet while easing the strain on the driver. For higher yields, difficult harvesting conditions and the use of eight, nine and twelve-row harvesting units, the hydraulic performance in the Terra Dos 5 has also been optimised.
Many of these innovations also have a direct impact on the sustainability of the Terra Dos 5. For example, sensor-based maintenance of the hydraulic filters according to load condition reduces oil consumption and unnecessarily frequent replacement of filter elements.
The Terra Dos 5 is the first beet harvester that can be filled with PANOLIN® bio-hydraulic oil. The use was successfully tested in 2021 and 2022.
Fewer oil changes, faster biodegradability to protect the environment and the reduction of the CO2 footprint by 8,100 kg CO2e in 10,000 engine hours are within the successful findings. HOLMER is positioning itself strongly for the future in this area and has therefore, among other things, applied for membership of the Fraunhofer Institute’s To-Syn-Fuel advisory board.
Here, work is being done in Sulzbach-Rosenberg (Germany) on generating fuel from waste water and sewage sludge. In Terra Dos 5, sustainable fuels for reducing CO2 emissions could be tested in the field under real operating conditions.
The Terra Dos 5 is digitally connected to the myHOLMER online platform. Here, machine owners can keep track of all information about their machine – from operating manuals, spare parts orders, live data on machine parameters, statistical data on individual days and a navigation function directly to the machine’s location.
The platform also has remote maintenance access for customer service, allowing faster, remote and more targeted service. All data is stored on a cloud in Germany and is secured from third-party access. Via the data hub agrirouter, the live telemetry data collected can be passed on to various farm management systems and processed there. Through this networked digitalisation, the Terra Dos 5 makes it easier for operators to manage their machinery.
The Terra Dos 5 thus offers solutions for the five biggest challenges of the future:
The feel-good workplace wins drivers, longer maintenance intervals and less wear and tear reduce maintenance costs, adaptation to extreme harvesting conditions secures the harvest, green ideas ensure sustainability and digital networking facilitates daily work.
In 2021, a pre-series of the Terra Dos 5 was built and field-tested. In 2022, a small series of two and three-axle models was built. The Terra Dos 5 can be ordered as of now for the 2023 harvesting season.
Terra – Latin for earth, known by the Terra tyre – stands for the protection of the arable soil. Dos – Spanish for two – stands for the second lane made possible by driving in crab steering. 5 stands as a consecutive number for the Terra Dos generation, which has been shaping the sugar beet harvest since 1996. Terra Dos 5 thus stands for soil protection and a consistent focus on the future.
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