Building the perfect direct drill

[Bumble Bee]

Can you see the seed on its way past the cab?

No but you can hear it.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Run a wavy disc in front ala Kuhn

I'm waiting for a Demo Erth Wavey Disc
My eyes are sore through looking at grass seed fails with a straight disc drill, not sown or anyway to do with me I might add

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

No but you can hear it.

And do you need extra fan speed because of the longer pipe?

 

[Bumble Bee]

And do you need extra fan speed because of the longer pipe?

No. The fan on the pottinger seems very efficient. There is very little delay between the seeder starting and seed reaching the coulters.

 

[clbarclay]

Has anyone been using the Metcalf tines for a while?

After reading the issues users have had with the rubber springs creeping on saber tines, I'm concerned that those style of springs aren't the best way to go for tines when direct drilling.

 

[Northdowns Martin]

Any one seen demo'd the Horsch Sprinter SL?

https://www.horsch.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/c/csm_sprinter_sl_header_0e44931a20.webp

 

[sjt01]

Has anyone been using the Metcalf tines for a while?

After reading the issues users have had with the rubber springs creeping on saber tines, I'm concerned that those style of springs aren't the best way to go for tines when direct drilling.

2 years so far, no issues at present

 

[Old apprentice]

Has anyone been using the Metcalf tines for a while?

After reading the issues users have had with the rubber springs creeping on saber tines, I'm concerned that those style of springs aren't the best way to go for tines when direct drilling.

That could be easily stoped if you welded stoped a at each side of the time assembly river mounting .
But what would be a better option I see weaving has made another spring system for his sabour tines it looks very similar to an Australian design. Ryan tine is the Australian one is very good way of a spring tine,

 

[Two Tone]

Come on you farm engineers if you were to build one from scratch
what features would be an absolute must.
Would you choose discs or more of a knife like coulter?
How would you go about designing a drill which would cope with a mixture of cropping
from Cereal,rotational grass ,into cover crops and permanent pasture.
Anyone had a go building one in the farm workshop?

It will absolutely depend on the soil type and light/heavy it is.
Also the acreage to be drilled and to a certain extent which crops.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother fecking around trying to build your own from scratch.
It might be best to have 2 types, neither of which would necessarily need to be brand new.

If it had to be just one drill, and it needed to be a disc type, then definitely the Weaving GD as with its 22 degree angle slanted discs following by a closing/depth control wheel. It really is the only way to get a closed slot on most soils, rather than one that risks opening that slot up again as the soil des out, killing the germinating seeds by thirst.

If allowed 2 drills, I’d buy a 2nd hand Horsch CO and fit Metcalfe Tines on it.
BUT, …….. see later.


Any DD drill will work on lighter soils. But the heavier it gets, the more problems you have, especially when it is wet.
The most important thing when DD’ing is timing. By which we mean the soil conditions. That means Early in the autumn, later in the Spring.
Secondly, not being afraid if you have to, to using some sort of Autumn Low Disturbance Subsoiling if necessary on heavier soils. But once your land has become used to being DD’d and its structure has changed due to less mechanical damage and the OM increases, that need for LD subsoiling diminishes.

………..I’d rather have a Low Disturbance Subsoiler and the one GD drill, than having that 2nd extra tine type Drill.

On the whole, the least amount of soil surface movement between the rows, the better.
If you don’t move the weeds, they stay asleep. Which IMO is where tine type drills on Blackgrass riddled land fail.

If you have heavy land, try to avoid Spring cropping.
But tine type drills will probably work better in the Spring, if you must.

 

[BuskhillFarm]

It will absolutely depend on the soil type and light/heavy it is.
Also the acreage to be drilled and to a certain extent which crops.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother fecking around trying to build your own from scratch.
It might be best to have 2 types, neither of which would necessarily need to be brand new.

If it had to be just one drill, and it needed to be a disc type, then definitely the Weaving GD as with its 22 degree angle slanted discs following by a closing/depth control wheel. It really is the only way to get a closed slot on most soils, rather than one that risks opening that slot up again as the soil des out, killing the germinating seeds by thirst.

If allowed 2 drills, I’d buy a 2nd hand Horsch CO and fit Metcalfe Tines on it.
BUT, …….. see later.


Any DD drill will work on lighter soils. But the heavier it gets, the more problems you have, especially when it is wet.
The most important thing when DD’ing is timing. By which we mean the soil conditions. That means Early in the autumn, later in the Spring.
Secondly, not being afraid if you have to, to using some sort of Autumn Low Disturbance Subsoiling if necessary on heavier soils. But once your land has become used to being DD’d and its structure has changed due to less mechanical damage and the OM increases, that need for LD subsoiling diminishes.

………..I’d rather have a Low Disturbance Subsoiler and the one GD drill, than having that 2nd extra tine type Drill.

On the whole, the least amount of soil surface movement between the rows, the better.
If you don’t move the weeds, they stay asleep. Which IMO is where tine type drills on Blackgrass riddled land fail.

If you have heavy land, try to avoid Spring cropping.
But tine type drills will probably work better in the Spring, if you must.

Funny you say that i was chatting to the man at Erth drills a while back and he was saying a lot of his customers LD subsoil and sow with the erth direct drill

 

[Adeptandy]

Think the press wheels would be a problem in wet going

 

[Old apprentice]

Which disc in front of a time in wet conditions wavey or streight?

 

[Alistair Nelson]

Which disc in front of a time in wet conditions wavey or streight?

Wavy turned so they flick some soil like this

rather than firm the soil like this

 

[Bumble Bee]

It will absolutely depend on the soil type and light/heavy it is.
Also the acreage to be drilled and to a certain extent which crops.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother fecking around trying to build your own from scratch.
It might be best to have 2 types, neither of which would necessarily need to be brand new.

If it had to be just one drill, and it needed to be a disc type, then definitely the Weaving GD as with its 22 degree angle slanted discs following by a closing/depth control wheel. It really is the only way to get a closed slot on most soils, rather than one that risks opening that slot up again as the soil des out, killing the germinating seeds by thirst.

If allowed 2 drills, I’d buy a 2nd hand Horsch CO and fit Metcalfe Tines on it.
BUT, …….. see later.


Any DD drill will work on lighter soils. But the heavier it gets, the more problems you have, especially when it is wet.
The most important thing when DD’ing is timing. By which we mean the soil conditions. That means Early in the autumn, later in the Spring.
Secondly, not being afraid if you have to, to using some sort of Autumn Low Disturbance Subsoiling if necessary on heavier soils. But once your land has become used to being DD’d and its structure has changed due to less mechanical damage and the OM increases, that need for LD subsoiling diminishes.

………..I’d rather have a Low Disturbance Subsoiler and the one GD drill, than having that 2nd extra tine type Drill.

On the whole, the least amount of soil surface movement between the rows, the better.
If you don’t move the weeds, they stay asleep. Which IMO is where tine type drills on Blackgrass riddled land fail.

If you have heavy land, try to avoid Spring cropping.
But tine type drills will probably work better in the Spring, if you must.

I'd echo all those thoughts but would add... do not be tempted to drill if there is going to be heavy and persistent rain for 4 or 5 days after drilling, no matter how tempting it is to 'beat the weather'.
So long as the seed has time to start sprouting before the soil gets saturated it will generally survive.

 

[FMF74]

Any one seen demo'd the Horsch Sprinter SL?

https://www.horsch.com/fileadmin/_processed_/1/c/csm_sprinter_sl_header_0e44931a20.webp

No but I know of a 12m trailed sprinter that looks like a 12m avatar from a distance it looks like the same legs

 

[BuskhillFarm]

This looked like a very good idea, wouldn’t be cheap but would cover a lot of bases