Bourgault or Dutch Openers for Horsch Co drill

Fred

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Mid Northants
We have run the Dutch openers on a Horsch Sprinter for 1year , we have 1",. 2" paired and 5" open , we sowed all OSR with 2" paired with liquid fert , all beans with 1" and all cereals with 5" ,

The OSR was all direct drilled this was a better solution than the Duett esp in heavy land , however the issue has been combine wheelings , where the land was soft at combining, depth was too shallow and the seed grew but died later.

The winter beans were all into ploughed land or sumo, they look well ,the drill took less pulling however with big beans or a little rubbish from poor cleaning they can block in the opening , we did put a tube on the back but soon removed it.
Spring beans into over wintered oats cover crop sticky mess, slot was covered better than with standard solo point however wheelings might be an issue , ground was soft and wet as snot underneath.

The wheat & winter barley was all into Sumo trio /Horsch TerranoMT , followed by joker , drilled, looks really well, establishment was easy this year, wide band is fine, used to it with duett.

Spring crops not drilled , too wet ,

A couple of trial direct drilling blocks , 1" sowed direct drilled wheat , looks a picture , travels really well,
1" direct drilled S beans , into reclaimed land , cant cultivate deeper than 2" anyway due to stones beans all chitting .

Overall they take less HP than the Horsch points , they are not quick to change as you might imagine , you will need new roll pins each time you change , invest in some proper punches .
 
Which punches do you recommend Fred?
As above we have just changed from duetts to 2”Dutch this time & v impressed with them for spring bean drilling, was planning to use them for spring wheat then osr & change to 4 or 5” for cereals .
When I was looking the bourgalt system looks good but they only do a 4” boot whereas the Dutch is anything from 1-5”?
 

Goggles

Member
Location
Hertfordshire
We used bourgalt last year and we’re fairly happy with them. My only issue with them was the fertiliser opening occasionally blocked with soil, but with an opening facing straight down, I guess this will happen.
A couple of times the seed tubes blocked, but I think this was end coulters and turning too tight on the headland with a wide machine and the end legs actually going backwards.
We’ve managed a bit of spring drilling and has gone fairly well, mainly due to the bourgalt feet moving less soil than other coulters, therefore stirring up less pudding, which we laughingly call soil round here.
Minimal soil disturbance also means easier pulling. We have a neighbour on duets and he’s on his knees trying to get up some hills.
We also found seed placement was excellent.
 

ChrisStep

Member
BASE UK Member
I've just switched from a 5 inch Bourgault to a 1 inch Dutch. Fantastic improvement in establishment. Better penetration, better soil seed coverage, less blockages, less disturbance. Have done about 160 ha on 1 set of points on a CO4 so far, and reckon I'll probably get 300 ha out of them. I was getting about 50 ha from the Bourgault set. £1.70/ha v £7.50. Light sand and stone land.

I've got really sloppy packer wheels on the back of the CO4 to the extent that the tyres are rubbing against the frame and each other. Will new polythene packers fix that? Has anyone changed these on their CO? I've had a socket and 5ft bar on the bolt that holds the first wheel rocker but haven't shifted it yet. Any tips?
 

T Hectares

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Berkshire
I’ve had the Borgault vos on for over a year now, really like them.
They have drilled nearly 1000 ha on abrasive flint downland soils, one wheelmark Coulter has been replaced and two have snapped off on Sarsen stones, the duett point would also snap off on some of our soils...

Mine is drilling mainly into shallow cultivated soils and some direct drilled fields, but does some contract work onto ploughed land, over the last year they have drilled wheat, barley, OSR, Beans, maize, css mixes, hemp and cover crops.

Definitely easier to pull, i now have 80hp less on a 6m Sprinter, and seed placement and soil disturbance is massively better than the old points.

Mine are seed and fert as that was what was available at the time, but now I think they do a shorter seed only one which I may change to in the future.

They have been a godsend this spring, most of the SB has a Kockerling allrounder pass to dry the soil sat under chopped straw and then the drill has placed seed very well into moisture without bringing up wet soil like they used too.
 

Jack Russell

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Holderness
I’ve had the Borgault vos on for over a year now, really like them.
They have drilled nearly 1000 ha on abrasive flint downland soils, one wheelmark Coulter has been replaced and two have snapped off on Sarsen stones, the duett point would also snap off on some of our soils...

Mine is drilling mainly into shallow cultivated soils and some direct drilled fields, but does some contract work onto ploughed land, over the last year they have drilled wheat, barley, OSR, Beans, maize, css mixes, hemp and cover crops.

Definitely easier to pull, i now have 80hp less on a 6m Sprinter, and seed placement and soil disturbance is massively better than the old points.

Mine are seed and fert as that was what was available at the time, but now I think they do a shorter seed only one which I may change to in the future.

They have been a godsend this spring, most of the SB has a Kockerling allrounder pass to dry the soil sat under chopped straw and then the drill has placed seed very well into moisture without bringing up wet soil like they used too.
Do you run a different point/tine behind the wheeling?
 
Last edited:

Kingcj

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
north lincs
I've just switched from a 5 inch Bourgault to a 1 inch Dutch. Fantastic improvement in establishment. Better penetration, better soil seed coverage, less blockages, less disturbance. Have done about 160 ha on 1 set of points on a CO4 so far, and reckon I'll probably get 300 ha out of them. I was getting about 50 ha from the Bourgault set. £1.70/ha v £7.50. Light sand and stone land.

I've got really sloppy packer wheels on the back of the CO4 to the extent that the tyres are rubbing against the frame and each other. Will new polythene packers fix that? Has anyone changed these on their CO? I've had a socket and 5ft bar on the bolt that holds the first wheel rocker but haven't shifted it yet. Any tips?

New plastics should cure the slop, you can get away with just tightening the bolt up a lot of the time. Horsch do some special spanners which are shaped to fit round the wheels that make the job massively easier.
 

spikeislander

Member
Location
bedfordshire
I’m considering a 8 m sprinter and in time will change the points as probably original horsch ones first . On a 8m I believe the row spacing are fairly wide which concerns me ?
With the band sowing I hope it will spread it wide enough but if I change to the other makes and the points are narrower do people feel the row is too wide?
Crop competition being a part of bg control I don’t want to take a step back at all?
Thanks
 

Jack Russell

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Holderness
I’m considering a 8 m sprinter and in time will change the points as probably original horsch ones first . On a 8m I believe the row spacing are fairly wide which concerns me ?
With the band sowing I hope it will spread it wide enough but if I change to the other makes and the points are narrower do people feel the row is too wide?
Crop competition being a part of bg control I don’t want to take a step back at all?
Thanks
If your buying new then you can spec it with Dutch from the dealer.

We are currently running a Vaderstad for our late drilling. High seed rates and close spacing gives the competition. We bought an old CO6 and am trying to decide what coulters to put on it. I’ve nearly convinced myself what works for the Vaderstad doesn’t apply to the CO. So am thinking 75mm Coulter on 250mm centres will give less disturbance and then hopefully the row will close in to smother the bg out. Maybe totally wrong, I should know by spring.
 

Longneck

Member
Mixed Farmer
I’m considering a 8 m sprinter and in time will change the points as probably original horsch ones first . On a 8m I believe the row spacing are fairly wide which concerns me ?
With the band sowing I hope it will spread it wide enough but if I change to the other makes and the points are narrower do people feel the row is too wide?
Crop competition being a part of bg control I don’t want to take a step back at all?
Thanks

I think Bedfordia run their 8m sprinter on 5 inch Dutch if you wanted to see what it looks like.
 

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