News
Successful forage crops with Allen Custom Drills
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: Green to Gold 2024
Contractors and farmers establishing pasture and forage crops have to sow different types of seed in a diverse range of terrains. Quality-built Allen Custom Drills are specifically designed to deal with these challenges and they can play a critical role in successful forage and fodder crops.
Often forage and pasture crops have to be drilled in tight windows at particular times of the year to ensure they establish well and become a successful crop. Accuracy is critical to manage this.
Using a proven, accurate system to get the seed into the ground, is the best way to promote even germination of the crop. With their renowned Accord metering system Allen Custom Drills can play a pivotal role to achieve this.
Around the world agricultural businesses face tough competition to maintain their own footprint in the market. The same is true for agricultural machinery manufacturers and Allen Custom Drills has maintained its advantage by continuing to build their machines from the ground up in Ashburton, Mid Canterbury.
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Allen's New Triple Disc Drill Unveiled
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: August / September 2024
Ashburton-based Allen Custom Drills design and manufacture innovative air seeder drills that are at work in a range of conditions across New Zealand and Australia.
The company collaborates closely with their customers to develop and build air seeder drills that suit the needs of individual farmers and contractors based on their five base models. This is a unique and appealing factor of Allen Custom Drills.
Optional extras can be added to the tried and tested base models to improve efficiency even further.
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Years of Accurate, Low-Cost Drilling with Allen P-D Series
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: April / May 2024
Today’s farmers and contractors are driven to achieve efficiency, and Ashburton-based Allen Custom Drills says its seeds drills can help them achieve it.
The Allen range includes the P-D Series, known as their Packer Drill. P-D drills are minimum tillage arable drills with a full-width tyre packer.
P-D drills are very effective in cultivated ground and can be specified with optional opening discs for direct drilling as well. In either case, the tyre packer consolidates the ground and prepares a firm seedbed, which improves plant establishment.
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Triple Disc Drills Unlock High Seed Strike Rates
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: Groundbreaker 2024
Farmers and contractors want seed drills that deliver exceptional performance while keeping operational costs in check. By direct drilling with the latest high-quality triple disc drills they can achieve this with better seed strike rates while keeping costs to a minimum.
New Zealand seed drill manufacturer Allen Custom Drills says seed strike rate is a useful metric to gauge successful germination and emergence, which is the linchpin for agricultural success. The precision with which seeds are placed and the conditions in which they germinate directly influence crop yield.
Triple disc systems offer a number of advantages when it comes to achieving high strike rates:
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Minimal soil disturbance. This preserves soil structure, moisture, and beneficial microorganisms.
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Accurate seed depth placement. Seed is placed at the optimum depth for uniform germination and emergence.
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Time and cost efficiency. Direct drilling with triple disc systems reduces the need for multiple passes over the field, saving time and fuel costs.
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Performance. The capability to penetrate high residue trash effortlessly, ensuring seamless seed drill operation without blockages.
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Allen C-D Series Continuously Proving Themselves in Tough Conditions
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: August/September 2023
The top pick triple disc drill for contractors and large-scale farmers in the Allen Custom Drill range is the Contour Drill, commonly known as the C-D Series.
There are now nearly 200 C-D drills out there working in New Zealand and Australia. Their design is well tested and they have proven to be heavy, robust, and strong.
The 100th Contour Drill that Allen Custom Drills produced was a C-D 4000, built in 2017. When directors Craig and Deb Allen first started building these custom-made air seeder drills, customers could choose the paint colour of their drill.
By the time the 100th C-D was built, they had moved away from this option and had selected to paint all the drills blue, the colour that is still used to this day.
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Allen C-D Series Continuously Proving Themselves in Tough Conditions
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer Feb/Mar 2023
You have probably heard of the top-of-the-line air seeder manufacturer Allen Custom Drills, which designs and builds each of its machines from the ground up in their Ashburton workshops.
Craig and Deb Allen own and operate the business with a close-knit team atmosphere. They are proud of their history and the relationships they have built with their customers and suppliers, and they are always looking towards the future. “Our team at Allen Custom Drills and our customers give us purpose and focus. We believe strongly in our staff and in the work our customers do, and we feel this in turn feeds through into the successful result of our products in the paddock,” they say.
Over the years the Allen team has developed many air seeders variations with great success. Out of these variations, they have settled on five base models for the Allen drill range. All of these base models can be customised and built to suit the individual needs and demands of their customers.
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Allen Tyne Drill is Low Cost, Low Horsepower, High Performance
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: June/July 2022
Ashburton-based Allen Custom Drills manufactures a broad range of air seeders and are renowned across New Zealand for their solid triple disc drills. Not everyone is aware that they also produce the Allen Custom Tyne Drill, commonly referred to as their T-D Series.
Their entry level Tyne Drill is available in widths from 3m to 6m. Models above 4m are hydraulically folding to a transport width of 3m.
A major feature of the T-D series is their 25mm coil tines with tungsten-tipped T boots that can handle hard direct drilling ground through to cultivated ground.
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Allen Tyne Drill is Low Cost, Low Horsepower, High Performance
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer Feb/Mar 2022
From its base at Ashburton in the heart of the Canterbury agricultural district, Allen Custom Drills designs and manufactures top-of-the-line air seeders.
Built to handle New Zealand’s diverse terrain, Allen drills can take on many different ground conditions.
Each drill is built from the ground up in the Ashburton workshop, which now produces upwards of 35 drills per year. The NZ-made advantage and quality customer support at arms’ reach, makes Allen drills a popular option for farmers and contractors nationwide.
Allen Custom Drills has the vision to be the leaders in design and manufacturing of air seeder drills that exceed their customers’ expectations.
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Allen Custom Drills Forge Ahead
Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer: June/July 2021
Tough, custom-made air seeder drills from Allen Custom Drills are operating from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island, and are now distributed by a number of dealers around the country.
Allen drills are also exported to Australia through dealers in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.
Although no two Allen drills are exactly the same, after years of development and successful production, there are now five base models. They can be modified to suit the different needs and demands of farmers and contractors.
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Central Rural Life Newspaper - 28th April 2021
Known to manufacture reliable, practical and accurate Air Seeder machines, Allen Custom Drills have been proudly operating in Ashburton for over 18 years.
With a unique design, not all are one in the same, and after years of variations, five base models have been developed to suit the different needs and demands of customers.
The Contour Drill, commonly referred to as the C-D Series, is designed for contractors and larger scale farmers who require more hectarage per year. The design of this model is heavy, robust and strong, providing a low maintenance, low input cost drilling platform, with running costs as little as $6 per hectare.
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Rural Contractor & Large Scale Farmer Feb/Mar 2021
Innovative Allen Custom Drills are custom-built based on a unique design. With frames to handle tough New Zealand terrains, these air seeder drills can work in virtually any ground conditions.
Over the last 16 years, Allen Custom Drills have been built in Ashburton. While the company now has a much larger manufacturing workshop than when it began, the majority of each drill is still built in the workshop from the ground up as it always has been.
Company directors Craig and Deb Allen encourage visitors to tour the workshop at 32 Robinson Street. You are welcome to meet the team and see how the drills are built.
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High-Quality and High Performance
Taranaki & Manawatu Lifestyles (Integrity Community Media) June 2020
Allen Custom Drills is a proudly family-owned and operated company and has been for over 16 years. Since day one the company has been based in Ashburton, Mid Canterbury, NZ, though now in a much larger workshop than when it started. Priding itself in manufacturing high quality, high performing Air Seeder Drills, the machine incorporates an innovative and unique design. These drills are in high demand being distributed around New Zealand and Australia and are commonly known to be practical, accurate and reliable machines.
Driven by continuous growth and development in its design, business and people, as a team, Allen Custom Drills continuously works towards the science of today, while learning from the ‘old’ and creating new solutions for the future of Air Seeder Drills.
Through years of variations, Allen Custom Drills have developed 5 base model drills, all easily modifiable and affordable to customise for each individual requirement. All models are designed to be simple and accurate, easy to maintain and of course, cost-effective.
Craig and Deb Allen explain, “Our passion each day is to learn, collaborate and create the best Drills there are. We are proud of our history, our relationships and are always looking forward to the future. Our team at Allen Custom Drills and our customers give us purpose and focus. The belief we have in our staff and in the work our customers do, we feel then feeds through into the successful result of our products and into the paddock”.
High Quality, High Performing
Farm Trader: Front Cover Test July 2019
With contractors around the country tackling such a diverse range of terrain, quality NZ-built machinery specifically designed to deal with this challenge, like that from Allen Custom Drills, is crucial.
Like all ag machinery businesses, Allen Custom Drills faces stiff competition from around the globe. The home ground advantage, however, means these machines are designed to handle New Zealand’s challenging terrain, which also means they can handle conditions almost anywhere in the world.
Read the full story:
https://www.farmtrader.co.nz/reviews/1907/allen-custom-drills-e-d-3000-test
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Maximise the Growth on Your Land
Wairarapa Rural Extra: June 2019
Craig and Deb Allen have been running Allen Custom Drills together since 2010. With Craig’s passion lying in all things crops, farm machinery and design, and Deb’s passion being clearly in business development, it’s no wonder they make a great team.
Craig designs all of the drills himself with a state-of-the-art computer aided design (CAD) program. Each drill is designed with extremely low future maintenance costs in mind; word has been given from many customers that these are the easiest, most reliable, and cost-effective machines they have run. The majority of each machine is manufactured in the Ashburton workshop, where Allen Custom Drills welcomes all visitors to tour, meet the people within the company and see the creation of drills from the ‘ground up’.
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A Drill for all Seasons
Farm Trader: Front Cover Test June 2018
When it comes to seed drills, the choice between tines and discs comes down to how and where the drill is going to be used.
The great thing about New Zealand company Allen Custom Drills is that they can customise and build a drill to suit individual requirements, with an impressive range of both disc drills and tine drills.
While we have featured several Allen Custom Drills over the years, a recent trip south offered the opportunity to see what the company’s T-D 5000 tine drill has to offer. To see it working, I headed to the Taieri plains (south of Dunedin) to catch up with Justin Flett, the owner of Flett Contracting Limited.
Offering a full range of contracting services across the Taieri plains and the surrounding areas, when it came to purchasing a new drill tine, openers were chosen over discs to keep running costs lower and for the ability to handle slightly damper conditions.
Read the full story:
https://www.farmtrader.co.nz/reviews/1806/allen-custom-drills-t-d-5000-review
Watch the test video:
https://www.farmtrader.co.nz/videos/1806/video-allen-custom-drills-td5000