No it is broken down. They just didn't grow that well. They yielded quite abit less than the shallow cultivated ones and had much more BG in it.
Anyone regret moving to no-till?
- Thread starter ajd132
- Start date
Neither is no till,by the time you take all the extra costs involved with no till you might as well of done a cultivation pass.If bg is controllable there is still no better financial rotation on strong land than rape followed by 2 wheats
The savings do not balance the risk and as many have said OSR and 2nd cereals almost need to be removed to achieve some sort of certainty of establishment. Then the tail wags the dog if you drop a high margin crop just to make an establishment method work. i would also argue that getting spring crops drilled early in good nick is so important in getting the root systems strong enough to cope with stress and or drought. There is absolutely no doubt that delaying planting to wait for unmoved soil to dry is holding back yield (mostly on heavy land)
Mr Charisma
Member
- Location
- stratford on Avon
For me I have the perfect rape drill thanks ,,,,,,, the one thing I've learnt this year by watching neighbours is that on our red marl / red clay soils you need somewhere for the root to go ,,,,,, I know lots of folk on this thread will tell me I'm talking out my backside but it works for us ..... The one thing I always thought that was a shame was that we hit the ex rape ground with the trio when the soil always seemed to be in good condition for direct drilling ,,,, but after reading of some folks troubles with slugs maybe I ought to carry on as I am ,,,,,,,, what's that saying , "if it ain't broke ,,,',,,,,,,,
- Location
- West Suffolk
What is David Ford using for drilling?
Waiting until the middle of May on heavy land to drill is laughable. What's the latest you drill? We got done yesterday but would have been a week earlier if that rain hadn't come through.
We have dropped osr at the moment but that's to extend it in rotation as has been very tight like many.
Think a vaddy
SilliamWhale
Member
May is late i agree. Its still not april yet. Plenty of time for.spring crops yet. It would be an interesting trial though to see how later drilled cereals in no till lose yield sown later
I like to be done by April really but sometimes conditions push us later. i tend to drill in stages from January onwards as conditions allow and always use high seed rates, works for us anyway, not to everyones taste i know.
Last yr I think there was 0.5t-1t/ha drop in barley yield between that drilled on the 26/03 and 24/04. The later had no preem which helped in terms of margin.
Drilled my first 4ha with a weaving gd on demo yesterday. 260ha to go, but 5mm last night has put paid to that. Not too worried yet as I want to drill into warmer seedbeds to get away from the slugs.
That said everyone else locally seems to be drilled up!
shakerator
Member
- Location
- LINCS
if you mean RRR atlantis then 99%+ heavy land farms.
if you mean pre em stacking then i somewhat disagree
shakerator
Member
- Location
- LINCS
many not!
I knew I could rely on you!
what did you think of the GD?
shakerator
Member
- Location
- LINCS
why laughable ? pre conception ? I would have though on heavier land that can hold water the risk of late drilling is lower than light land that could dry and never see rain again until harvest
may is pushing it but April is the right month to drill most no-till spring crops IMo
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I'll take the Pepsi Challenge with a no till crop sown 3 weeks later than one into dried out clay clods despite 3 rounds with the power harrow following January ploughing up horses's heads and creating a nice pan 10" deep.
What is a high margin crop? 10 t/ha feed wheat at £140/t with a cost of production of £150/t from all the horsepower and blackgrass sprays thrown at it or 8 t/ha of wheat grown for £115/t from less overheads, a good healthy soil and a suitable rotation that reduces blackgrass pressure outside a crop? Of course to reduce the COP you'd need to sell the Quadtracs and tillage trains.
The seeding depth was a little erratic; caused mainly by soil sticking to the inside of the big disc, catching the seed, and flicking it out. This improved the slower we went. The beans were worse generally for this, being in the side of the slit, not the bottom, but it did get them in. Not sure if this is because of where the discs meet the beans actually have to come up to get out being a larger seed?
On the heavier land the slot closure wasn't brilliant, although a gentle press with my boot sealed it. I have rolled the barley but not the beans as the bean land was far more tender (better soil but wetter). Cambridge rolling it has shut the slots but will have damaged the surface of the soil. I didn't want to rake it for fear of opening the seed slot up and tearing chunks out. I felt the closing wheel could do with a rib on like some of the American packer wheels you see to exert more pressure near the slot.
The weight needed for penetration was surprisingly large. It gave the impression that it was always fighting itself to penetrate, but it did go in but to have the wheels off the floor at this time of year made me a little concerned for drier times.
You could hardly see where the drill had been which might help the bg situation.
It managed the chopped straw far better than in the autumn now it was more brittle. There was some straw drawn into the slot but no hairpining as such.
I couldn't have drilled into the bean field because of a large mustard cover crop which would have blocked the seedhawk in 5 yards. I will drill one pass of barley next to the gd plot with the seedhawk (without placed fert) and then the next one with the seedhawk with placed DAP to see the differences. Not scientific but it will give an impression.
Based on the different speeds we tried the 6m drill at I don't feel there would be any significant output advantage over the 8m seedhawk, bearing in mind I only drill at 7km/hr with the seedhawk. The larger seed hopper would favour the GD a bit.
To surmise, I like the concept and Weaving have been very generous in allowing me 2 demos, but I need to see the crop establishment to get more of a feel and it does seem a whole heap of money especially when I am debating what to do about my slugs!
Why would you plough heavy land in January? I think you know quite well enough that i am describing a well planned and executed operation!I'll take the Pepsi Challenge with a no till crop sown 3 weeks later than one into dried out clay clods despite 3 rounds with the power harrow following January ploughing up horses's heads and creating a nice pan 10" deep.
What is a high margin crop? 10 t/ha feed wheat at £140/t with a cost of production of £150/t from all the horsepower and blackgrass sprays thrown at it or 8 t/ha of wheat grown for £115/t from less overheads, a good healthy soil and a suitable rotation that reduces blackgrass pressure outside a crop? Of course to reduce the COP you'd need to sell the Quadtracs and tillage trains.
OSR & second wheat compared to pulses and linseed are high margin, sugar beet also plays a useful role even on boulder clay. Point is as i suspect you are very aware that high input establishment done very well will consistently year after year return a consistently higher return
Many are thinking differently at the moment but if it works for you fair enough