To dream the impossible dream?

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
OK, now I need help & guidance from the collective wisdom of you DD/Strip till boyos (& girlos).

Is there a single pass drill that is capable of drilling grass seed, cereals and maize and make a proper job of it or does trying to do this compromise the whole operation & you fall between 2 stools all the time?

Soil types range from pure sand (as in beach style) to medium loams (brown earth, free draining). We would be drilling cereals in to burnt off IRG ley, maize in to old maize stalks or old grass (depending what we can rent) and grass in to cereal stubble

Have JD 6215r (circa up to 250hp). Drilling around 1100 acres/year
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
3m Novag, seed and fert with a maize singulator for the maize?


You could pull 4m with 250hp but your going to need a narrow row spacing for the grass so kind of rules out the Muzri which is the only other option I am aware of with the ability to do the maize
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
3m Novag, seed and fert with a maize singulator for the maize?


You could pull 4m with 250hp but your going to need a narrow row spacing for the grass so kind of rules out the Muzri which is the only other option I am aware of with the ability to do the maize

I worry about falling between two stools but the other option would be run something like a Rapid for the cereals/grass and perhaps a strip till /vaderstad tempo for the maize but my own ideal would be one machine
Output from a 3m might be an issue in a catchy spring? Actually probably doesn’t make a hill of difference because I assume you could travel faster with a 3m?
 

Oscar

Member
Livestock Farmer
From practical experience , where as the 3m Muzri can drill maize satisfactory with the singlulator [ two in my area] , the 4 m does not ! AD buisness I spray for had one last year and despite a Muzuri man coming half a dozen times and despite the firms effort , it was returned to Muzuri . Also it takes some pulling, had a 828 Fendt on the front but was underpowered bearing in mind its working into unworked soils or after a pass of digestate through a joker disc harrow .. Great idea and they wanted it to work but it did nt . THe two 3m machines do a nice job, one on a JD 6250R and one behind a 225 hp Case Puma .
 

BDBed

Member
Location
Melton Mowbray
A mate of mine has just placed and order a matter of a few days ago for a 3m mzuri for to do all of the above. He has other options for grass seed. But the rep had shown him a couple of pictures of grass drilled by it and said he liked what he has seen but room for improvement. He did explain to me what his idea was but I can’t recall the specifics. He was really impressed with both cereals and the maize. It will run along side a tempo to offer strip till as an option. Time will tell with this one but definitely worth a look from what he’s said.
 

lloyd

Member
Location
Herefordshire
Have some drilled with a Mzuri last few years ,found small seed
placement at irregular depths so planting OSR there was differences
at emerging stage which wasnt very helpful with flea beetle.
 

Case290

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Worcestershire
Maybe Could take the pipe off and fix a splash plate some how for grass seed be more metered broad cast / Harrowed than drilled. ( If it’s a wide spaced drill )
 
OK, now I need help & guidance from the collective wisdom of you DD/Strip till boyos (& girlos).

Is there a single pass drill that is capable of drilling grass seed, cereals and maize and make a proper job of it or does trying to do this compromise the whole operation & you fall between 2 stools all the time?

Soil types range from pure sand (as in beach style) to medium loams (brown earth, free draining). We would be drilling cereals in to burnt off IRG ley, maize in to old maize stalks or old grass (depending what we can rent) and grass in to cereal stubble

Have JD 6215r (circa up to 250hp). Drilling around 1100 acres/year

Is it worth the risk trying to plant maize with a jack of all trades? The more videos I watch of USA and Canadian planting ‘corn’ the more precision you see with regards to depth, inter-row seed spacing and speed ability. I know it’s corn not maize but the precision side of things is coming here and why the Tempo has taken off so well. They are doing some very in-depth trials even proving a 12 hour delay in emergence affects yield negatively.
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
Is it worth the risk trying to plant maize with a jack of all trades? The more videos I watch of USA and Canadian planting ‘corn’ the more precision you see with regards to depth, inter-row seed spacing and speed ability. I know it’s corn not maize but the precision side of things is coming here and why the Tempo has taken off so well. They are doing some very in-depth trials even proving a 12 hour delay in emergence affects yield negatively.

Yeah I think you're right.

Now I just need to find someone with long term experience of zero till maize using a tempo for a chat
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I worry about falling between two stools but the other option would be run something like a Rapid for the cereals/grass and perhaps a strip till /vaderstad tempo for the maize but my own ideal would be one machine
Output from a 3m might be an issue in a catchy spring? Actually probably doesn’t make a hill of difference because I assume you could travel faster with a 3m?

3m would breeze 1000 ac especially split autumn / spring - remember you have a lot more time when you not spending it cultivating !
 

E_B

Member
Location
Norfolk
Don't rule out a 3m Mzuri if you can work shifts to cover that acreage all at once. Along with a cheap tine drill for doing grass straight into stubble should have you covered without investing in a very specialist piece of kit like a strip till tool bar and precision planter, which although they look awesome, isn't going to do your grass!

A Mzuri and a KV EVO tine seeder is what we use to do cereals, grass and maize.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Guessing he’s the guy behind StripCat?

Any contact details?

was Sly drills now Horizon, he builds a disc zerotill drill and sells the strip cat system - certainly worth a chat with him re notill maize

 

Mzuri UK

Member
Hi Rick,

Have you checked out the Mzuri Pro-Til? I've got customers in Wales who very successfully use the Pro-Til to establish their cereals, maize and silage crops - sometimes both at the same time.
Here's a few links of Pro-Til silage crops across the UK:

Drilled with the 160mm standard double shoot coulter(Yielded 7.5t/ha of dry matter): Drilled with the new 180mm double shoot coulter:
And a couple of examples of Maize and grass drilled at the same time in one pass:

Grass & Maize alternating legs: Grass & Maize:
If you want any more information just give me a call on 07972 704367

Thanks,

Will
 

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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