ollie989898
Member
When you see that, what possible complaint can you have with the Claydon other than you miss ploughing because it was fun?
Claydon
- Thread starter Case290
- Start date
When you see that, what possible complaint can you have with the Claydon other than you miss ploughing because it was fun?
Flintstone
Member
- Location
- Berkshire
The only reason most people wouldn’t buy a Claydon (or equivalent) is because they’re too scared to face up the fact that either Dad, son, or staff member will have to find a job outside of the business
Flintstone
Member
- Location
- Berkshire
Sorry Sir, but there’s so much naivety in that, that it’s just not even worth responding to.
warksfarmer
Member
T-Shirt got and all my points we faced. Every farm is different though.
- Location
- East Sussex
No problem with accurate seed depth with a Mzuri, it’s spot on. Not every system suits everyone, you need to be in to the idea or it’s doomed before you start. I’ve still got neighbours who say they are still “going to do it properly” which is drag as many things over the field as they can, with as many tractors as they’ve got, their yields are no better than mine but took a lot more getting there. But each to their own.
Probably. A contractor charging £20/ac+ vs your own time for free and written off kit doing it yourself. Getting it right is worth more IMO.
Our emergence is just fine with a Claydon very even .. I do thing a disc drill is the ultimate goal, for cereal production don't get me wrong but the Claydon is still an effective reduced tillage drill . . Oh and our weed burden is greatly reduced by a long rotation n trying to keep 2 Nd cereals to a minimum.
Did you use a Hybrid @warksfarmer ? I remember your posts on a V drill. Not saying it's a transformation but it's quite different.
Edit: I still find heavy land the hardest to get right - you've got some strong clay there. If you want to make it work, you will make it work for you. A strip till drill will not help a grass weed or slug problem.
Edit: I still find heavy land the hardest to get right - you've got some strong clay there. If you want to make it work, you will make it work for you. A strip till drill will not help a grass weed or slug problem.
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ollie989898
Member
Had customers who did exactly that. Had some of their own kit but if conditions were right got neighbour in to do it with the claydon. Did it several times after maize. Seed bed unspectacular but no slugs so you didn't need to worry a jot. Wheat came up and was away, looked perfect by March.
warksfarmer
Member
No we had the v drill which we all know has trash flow issues. Then we used an SR which was better due to the staggered row spacing however we found it restricted to 8km/hr because any faster and the rear row of tines threw soil over the front row causing uneven soil disturbance which subsequently buried seed deeper which wouldn’t then emerge sometimes.
That said the SR was a good bean drill without doubt as you couldn’t drill faster than 8km/hr anyway as it blocked the seed unit up if on higher seed rates like we were.
I know this is a claydon thread but I’m just saying that any kind of strip till is a bit pointless. If you want to DD do it properly and use a no till drill as that will reduce your weed burden. Strip till is still moving lots of soil and as we found out offered very or no savings over a min till system.
We were soloing then vaderstading. That was it. No rolling generally. 2 true passes which over substantial acres was costing iirc about £20/acre job done.
When strip tilling we were making a pre drill pass to distribute chopped straw for trash flow. Then strip till drilling. Then rolling, sometimes twice to get consolidation.
So 4 passes instead of 2. Then as said brome became an issue where it hadn’t been under min till.
I can only speak as we found. True no till disc drilling gets over most of those issues even in horrible clay soils that should really be grassed down. The soils change in the top 1/2 inch slowly over time meaning slot closing becomes easier.
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Time to lay the axe with Claydon to rest @warksfarmer, plenty of us make it work and believe me I’ve some heavy clay. Drill, rake, rolls and a low disturbance subsoiler and that’s it here. Yield up, three tractors down to two and some spare time to have a life.
Saved £21/acre (£50k) and 44 days. No less passes but the ones we do are cheaper and faster except the drilling itself. The soil looks (and smells) better & the only soil erosion I get is on tracks & tramlines now. 2 out of 5 tractors left the farm, along with a Topdown, Rapid & a 7 furrow plough. The subsoiler is rusting in the nettles & only used for pulling muck heap sites instead of ripping 2 foot deep tramline ruts. I'm only strip tilling as a gateway to no till. My grass weeds and slugs are no worse than before. The only main downside has been 2 late then dry springs which haven't suited a bigger area of spring crops. No regrets here.
Flintstone
Member
- Location
- Berkshire
Strip till is a funny thing.
Some classify it as direct drilling, but whilst it’s drillling directly into the stubble, it’s actually ‘single pass’ drilling. This means (IMHO) that the soil is getting worked a split second in front of the coulter, rather than using a Top Down 6 weeks in front of the coulter. That’s what makes it different from zero till. We do ‘till’, but it’s milliseconds in front of the seeder boot.
Why?
Well, we can do away with HUGE costs in our system. My paid labour cost on 1100 acres is zero, my repairs were £1800 last year, and my diesel bill was £4900. Metal costs were £1300
Yields are better than when I min-tilled (which I did for 21 years), and I haven’t used a plough for 23 years, and nothing has been cultivated for 5 years. I don’t own any cultivation kit at all. Nothing.
I get frustrated when people say ‘it’s ok if you’re on the right soil’. That’s simply wrong. If your soil can be drilled via min till, it can be drilled via zero till. It’s just a matter of WANTING it to work and MAKING it happen.
Sitting down and accepting that a staff/family member will have to go is a big thing. But it comes down to whether you want profit, or local reputation, or (more likely in many farmer’s cases) whether you can bear the shame of not having lots and lots of big shiny tractors to impress the neighbours with...
With what’s around the corner in the next 20 months, I would strongly urge farmers with slack to be taken up, to take it up, very fast, and to seriously look at kit that can save them £50 per acre and improve their yields.
To summarise, beraters of strip till only berate it because they have fallen for the theoretical concept of ‘its not zero till so it can’t be good’ theory.
That’s another naive theory of which farming seems to be full of these days...
Some classify it as direct drilling, but whilst it’s drillling directly into the stubble, it’s actually ‘single pass’ drilling. This means (IMHO) that the soil is getting worked a split second in front of the coulter, rather than using a Top Down 6 weeks in front of the coulter. That’s what makes it different from zero till. We do ‘till’, but it’s milliseconds in front of the seeder boot.
Why?
Well, we can do away with HUGE costs in our system. My paid labour cost on 1100 acres is zero, my repairs were £1800 last year, and my diesel bill was £4900. Metal costs were £1300
Yields are better than when I min-tilled (which I did for 21 years), and I haven’t used a plough for 23 years, and nothing has been cultivated for 5 years. I don’t own any cultivation kit at all. Nothing.
I get frustrated when people say ‘it’s ok if you’re on the right soil’. That’s simply wrong. If your soil can be drilled via min till, it can be drilled via zero till. It’s just a matter of WANTING it to work and MAKING it happen.
Sitting down and accepting that a staff/family member will have to go is a big thing. But it comes down to whether you want profit, or local reputation, or (more likely in many farmer’s cases) whether you can bear the shame of not having lots and lots of big shiny tractors to impress the neighbours with...
With what’s around the corner in the next 20 months, I would strongly urge farmers with slack to be taken up, to take it up, very fast, and to seriously look at kit that can save them £50 per acre and improve their yields.
To summarise, beraters of strip till only berate it because they have fallen for the theoretical concept of ‘its not zero till so it can’t be good’ theory.
That’s another naive theory of which farming seems to be full of these days...
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- Location
- Bedfordshire
Spot on
Flintstone
Member
- Location
- Berkshire
Thank you Sir.
Mr Charisma
Member
- Location
- stratford on Avon
I get what you are saying Flintstones and yes the majority of soils are very adaptable to Strip till / DD. ,
I've had 4 tries at DD , I really want it to work but my keiper marl keeps on letting it down , drilled a acreage last season which should of done well under a DD drill , a grass lay and a bean stubble , the yield after the ley was nothing short of shocking whilst the yield after beans was disappointing to say the least , 1.8 ton / ha less than my min till average.
I would really love strip till to work as my father is retiring and it's the ideal time to make it work for me but with rent to pay I need full grain stores
I've had 4 tries at DD , I really want it to work but my keiper marl keeps on letting it down , drilled a acreage last season which should of done well under a DD drill , a grass lay and a bean stubble , the yield after the ley was nothing short of shocking whilst the yield after beans was disappointing to say the least , 1.8 ton / ha less than my min till average.
I would really love strip till to work as my father is retiring and it's the ideal time to make it work for me but with rent to pay I need full grain stores
Flintstone
Member
- Location
- Berkshire
What’s your system now? Ploughing or reduced till?
Agree, when I was min tilling, one pass for weed chit and any soil loosing then drill. Little or no disturbance at drilling ment less weed burden, much better than strip tilling Imv
Mr Charisma
Member
- Location
- stratford on Avon
Trio , cultipress , rapid drill