CONTOUR DRILL (Product Page)

Morris has redefined the Independent Opener Drill market with the Contour Drill – a minimum-till precision placement seed drill. The Contour Drill gets your crops off to the best start possible, allows more efficient use of your land, requires less horsepower to pull and delivers overall fuel savings.

It all starts with the independent contour opener that features parallel linkage for ultra precise seed and fertilizer placement. This TRUE parallelogram linkage maintains a constant opener angle relative to the soil and constant opener depth in relation to the packer wheel throughout its range of travel. Each opener moves independently of the frame and of each other to closely follow the contours of the land. The Contour Drill delivers unsurpassed seed placement for quick, even germination and its simple, rugged design provides ease of operation and years of durability. The low draft requirement and single pass seeding and fertilizing contributes to significant time and fuel savings.

Parallel Linkage Opener

The true Parallelogram Linkage maintains a constant opener angle relative to the soil and constant opener depth in relation to the packer wheel throughout its range of travel. The opener can contour up 25.4 cm (10 inches) and down 17.8 cm (7 inches).

Benefit: Seed is placed at the same depth leading to more uniform germination and more uniform maturity at harvest which speeds harvest and could result in a better grade.

Benefit: Next evolution in seeding depth accuracy. Each opener is independent of each other and the frame to follow every contour of the land providing unsurpassed seed and fertilizer placement on rolling land.

Narrow Knife Single Shoot Opener

The narrow knife opener is a single shoot opener that places a narrow 1.25 cm (1/2") ribbon of seed in each seed row. This opener cuts a smooth narrow channel for seed to be placed, and has the lowest soil disturbance of the openers available on the Contour Drill. This opener has proven to be a popular choice with growers with sticky soils with a high clay content.

Benefit: Lowest draft option among the single shoot openers.

Benefit: Low soil disturbance.

Benefit: Smallest possibility of soil build-up on this type of opener.

Single Shank Design

The single shank design of the Contour Drill has lower draft requirements than most air hoe drills and disc drills.

Benefit: Lower horsepower requirements and fuel savings.

Benefit: More drill can be pulled with the same tractor.

Benefit: A single shank that places seed and fertilizer at the same time allows better trash clearance in direct seeding situations compared to two separate shanks.

Row Spacing

Opener spacing options are 25.4 cm (10 in) or 30.5 cm (12 in).

Benefit: Row spacing and opener choices allow growers an ideal fit to their cropping practices and residue management.

Paired Row Double Shoot Boot

The paired row double shoot boot opener is used to place seed in a paired row configuration. Seed is placed first – 5.4 cm (2 in) to each side and the fertilizer is placed 2 cm (3/4 in) below and between the rows. This unique design does not disturb or compromise the seedbed.

Benefit: Increased seedbed utilization provides superior crop canopy development for competition with weeds and nutrient uptake and water use efficiency.

Benefit: Leaves excellent stubble support for swathing.

Benefit: Ensures proper separation of fertilizer and seed for seedling safety.

Hydraulic Cylinders
A double acting hydraulic cylinder raises and lowers the opener from working to transport position. Pressure is maintained on the opener cylinders through a passive hydraulic system that uses a unique hydraulic accumulator system.

Benefit: By adding or subtracting oil from the accumulator circuit through a tractor remote, pressure in the accumulator system can be raised or lowered (this provides a corresponding increase or decrease in trip out force and packing pressure) to suit field conditions.

Benefit: Adjust pressure on-the-go to adapt to changing soil conditions.

Easy Adjust Seed Depth Setting

Depth setting is accomplished by a simple notched cam and pin system – simply rotate the cam by hand and insert the pin to lock in the desired seeding depth. Optimal seeding depth ranges from 1.27 cm (1/2 in) to 5.08 cm (2 in) in .64 cm (1/4 in) increments.

Benefit: Growers can fine tune their seeding depth for optimum results – for example openers in wheel tracks can be set deeper to compensate.

Benefit: Growers can quickly change over the entire machine for different crops – no leveling is required.

Benefit: Easy to adjust - No tools required.

Side Band Double Shoot Boot

The side band double shoot opener first places a distinct seed row 5 cm (2") to the side of the knife followed by a fertilizer band which is placed directly behind the knife and 2 cm (3/4") below the seedbed. This patented design results in outstanding fertilizer - seed separation and improved seedbed consistency by minimizing soil fracturing.

Benefit: Lowest draft among the double shoot openers.

Benefit: Reduced soil disturbance compared to other double shoot openers.

Benefit: Ensures proper separation of fertilizer and seed for seedling safety.

NH3 Adapter

An NH3 adapter allows single pass application of seed and NH3 (anhydrous ammonia) fertilizer for minimum-till or no-till farmers. NOTE: The Paired Row Opener with the NH3 adapter is intended to allow the operator the flexibility to switch between granular fertilizer and NH3 without having to change openers. The opener is not intended to apply granular fertilizer and NH3 in the same operation. Excessive gassing off of the NH3 will occur in such an operation.

Benefit: Growers now have the flexibility to choose the nitrogen source that suits their needs – granular, liquid or gas.

Hydraulic Accumulator System

Acts as a hydraulic cushion for the trips. Trip out force can be adjusted from 45.3 kg (100 lbs) to 272 kg (600 lbs), the packing force increases proportionally from 31.7 kg (70 lbs) to a maximum of 77.1 kg (170 lbs). Once set, pressure can be adjusted from the tractor cab. A convenient easy-to-read digital display is provided in the cab.

Benefit: Being a passive system, it greatly reduces demand on the tractor hydraulics compared to the continuous flow required by similar drills.

Benefit: Requires lower hydraulic flow (save up to 8 gal/min of flow) which translates into less horsepower and less wear and tear on the tractor’s hydraulic pump.

Benefit: Less heat is created within the tractor’s hydraulic system.

Spread Tip Single Shoot Boot

The spread tip single shoot opener places a 7.6 cm (3") wide ribbon of seed in each seed row. This opener cuts a smooth level seedbed resulting in very consistent seed placement and has been designed to minimize soil disturbance. The spread tip opener, with its high seed bed utilization is an excellent choice for farmers who apply low to moderate fertilizer rates wtih the seed.

Benefit: Farmer is able to apply higher rate of fertilizer with the seed because the seed is spread across a wider band.

Benefit: Low soil disturbance design.

Benefit: Wider seed row works well with wider shank spacing resulting in improved crop residue clearance, competitiveness against weeds, nutrient uptake and water use efficiency.

Heavy-Duty Packer Wheels

Packer wheels feature 1000 lb rated greaseable hubs (only grease point on the opener) with twine guard and triple lip seal bearings. Packer wheel options: 4.80 x 16 SP semi-pneumatic and pneumatic and a 5.50 x 16 SP semi-pneumatic tire.

Benefit: On-row packing provides excellent seed to soil contact. Rubber packer wheels are effective in preventing soil build-up. Sticky soils benefit from infinitely flexible pneumatics, semi-pneumatics good low maintenance option.

Benefit: Choose the furrow profile you need (ie 4.8” pneumatic good for winter wheat, 5.5” best for smooth field finish).

3 & 5 Frame Configurations

The Morris Contour Drill is available in a three-frame configuration from 12.5 m (41 ft) to 14.3 m (47 ft) and a five-frame configuration from 18.6 m (61 ft) to 21.6 m (71 ft). A Narrow Transport 9.45 m (31 ft) Contour drill is also available for smaller acreage farms.

Benefit: Growers can match the Contour Drill to the size of their operation.

Contour Drill Operator's Manual-04 [2371.08 Kb]
Contour Drill Parts Manual-03 [15035.13 Kb]
Openers & Accessories Parts Manual-08 [3672.86 Kb]
Contour Drill Brochure [706.38 Kb]
Contour Drill Brochure (Russian) [715.80 Kb]