DD / Strip till

willyorkshire · Sep 1, 2022

I remain baffled as to why more farmers aren't adopting less power consuming options for establishment of their crops. If output can be maintained then why not? It really does slash fuel, machinery and labour costs and, in our case, not had any impact on yield. Having said that, we considered that DD wouldn't work well on our very stony land, hence opting for strip till. Our only fly in the ointment now is having to plough for potatoes and vining peas. Seriously think about dropping these. Having said all that, I've never done so much autumn and winter crop walking as I did in the first season!

Drillman · Sep 1, 2022

Cost of purchasing suitable kit is a stumbling block. Especially on smaller areas.
We’re in that situation and still require the existing “max till” kit for various reasons so no part exchange value to help set the wheels turning

willyorkshire · Sep 1, 2022

Drillman said:
Cost of purchasing suitable kit is a stumbling block. Especially on smaller areas.
We’re in that situation and still require the existing “max till” kit for various reasons so no part exchange value to help set the wheels turning

Get some demos, throw your worst at it, see how it works (or not!) I can see it's important not to run different sets of kit as this just adds to cost which you would probably not recover. Horses for courses but I see many farms that don't need that extra kit soldiering on!

teslacoils · Sep 1, 2022

If your worst land can grow potatoes or vining peas, let's face it it isn't exactly tough stuff.

Wombat · Sep 1, 2022

teslacoils said:
If your worst land can grow potatoes or vining peas, let's face it it isn't exactly tough stuff.

or maize, or carrots, or half the other stuff people call heavy land crops on here

rob h · Sep 1, 2022

teslacoils said:
If your worst land can grow potatoes or vining peas, let's face it it isn't exactly tough stuff.

Just what I was thinking. Some farmers are lucky to have land that can be direct drilled .not all of us can

willyorkshire · Sep 1, 2022

teslacoils said:
If your worst land can grow potatoes or vining peas, let's face it it isn't exactly tough stuff.

Agreed, it's not.

willyorkshire · Sep 1, 2022

rob h said:
Just what I was thinking. Some farmers are lucky to have land that can be direct drilled .not all of us can

Agreed.

rob h · Sep 1, 2022

Have to say though we are considering drilling rape with one this year .nephew has a Claydon so we are going to see it working on his land before we decide

Drillman · Sep 1, 2022

willyorkshire said:
Get some demos, throw your worst at it, see how it works (or not!) I can see it's important not to run different sets of kit as this just adds to cost which you would probably not recover. Horses for courses but I see many farms that don't need that extra kit soldiering on!

Demos are all well and good if you can get the machine when you want, then there’s the question of what the tractors we have can pull and lift, I want 4m (again for various boring reasons that I shan’t bother going into) existing tractor can lift 4m combi but could it handle say a 4m claydon? Probably not is what I’m told…..

Another thing is demos aren’t free, And these drills aren’t cheap new. the companies suppling these machines have considerable costs to cover, Its a bit of a prat’s trick to go out and get demos knowing full well you have no intention of buying a new one. And a new one is not where we would be going on our area.

There is solutions I know, for a farm our size it tends to involve a lot of looking over the hedge at what others are doing then adapting a used machine to do a similar job at a cost that’s affordable.

puma power · Sep 1, 2022

Why are you ploughing for spuds?

robs1 · Sep 1, 2022

rob h said:
Just what I was thinking. Some farmers are lucky to have land that can be direct drilled .not all of us can

One of the longest dd farmers in the country is @Simon C, his ground is very heavy and low lying, the only ground I think that might struggle is sand that compacts very tightly

rob h · Sep 1, 2022

robs1 said:
One of the longest dd farmers in the country is @Simon C, his ground is very heavy and low lying, the only ground I think that might struggle is sand that compacts very tightly

Went to have a look this afternoon. He was doing a run with no seed to check .it was bringing big chunks up and no tilth at all.even he was thinking what else to do

robs1 · Sep 1, 2022

rob h said:
Went to have a look this afternoon. He was doing a run with no seed to check .it was bringing big chunks up and no tilth at all.even he was thinking what else to do

Patience will be key this year and knowing when to give up on autumn drilling, we have grass seed to drill but pointless unless we get some rain

teslacoils · Sep 1, 2022

robs1 said:
Patience will be key this year and knowing when to give up on autumn drilling, we have grass seed to drill but pointless unless we get some rain

That may be all well and good, but the year we waited patiently for the soil to dry to drill spring oats, we ended up drilling in mid May. Maybe over time and with covers it would have come good but I cant afford that sort of disaster. Whats needed is a flexible system.

robs1 · Sep 1, 2022

teslacoils said:
That may be all well and good, but the year we waited patiently for the soil to dry to drill spring oats, we ended up drilling in mid May. Maybe over time and with covers it would have come good but I cant afford that sort of disaster. Whats needed is a flexible system.

I've seen a few fields cultivated that have enormous lumps going to lucky to get a decent seeded. I've a nasty feeling autumn drilling could be difficult this year and with input prices not worth doing unless good conditions, feeling it's going to be a wet winter

teslacoils · Sep 1, 2022

Cultivations here on heavy land are going really well. And we havent had 6" of rain since Jan 1st. Now, land coming out of grass is another matter. Will sit on hands with the plough waiting to go.

tr250 · Sep 1, 2022

rob h said:
Just what I was thinking. Some farmers are lucky to have land that can be direct drilled .not all of us can

I’m not so sure about that statement I think heavier soils can actually be better No-tilled and the fuel savings obviously bigger but granted heavier ground has probably been cultivated more over the years which will make it take longer to recover. Bad drainage on the other hand will always be an issue and cultivation helps mask this

ajd132 · Sep 2, 2022

Autumn no till works really well on our clay soils. Yields are better.
spring no till is much more difficult and it simply does not work that well unless everything aligns perfectly. As much as I wanted it to work it’s just too inconsistent.
I have bought a 4m topwdown to do a shallow cultivation and broadcast a cover crop at the same time infront of the spring crops. At current prices, the savings in overhead do not cover the reduced output of spring crops by any stretch.

idle git · Sep 2, 2022

willyorkshire said:
Get some demos, throw your worst at it, see how it works (or not!) I can see it's important not to run different sets of kit as this just adds to cost which you would probably not recover. Horses for courses but I see many farms that don't need that extra kit soldiering on!

Tried some DDing in 2011/12 with some fair result , but have tried several times since and had no success at all with a huge difference in yield, no doubt I could of DD some of my bean stubble this time but I need to be able to do every acre and with confidence.

DD / Strip till

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