Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
Self propelled to Trailed
- Thread starter Banana Bar
- Start date
What is shape of field ,in your pics could you drill with poles ,yes you will have some scooots ,but section control will tidy that upThanks for your constructive PM. That's the way to give advice.
Feldspar
Member
- Location
- Essex, Cambs and Suffolk
I thought about this. Gives an awful amount of short work up the other end of that field so as to obviate the advantages. As now set up I thread almost perfectly through the poles. A few 0.3m nudges on the guidance as come up to them coupled with steering axle on the sprayer means you can spray very accurately around them to the point that you don't need a knapsack to clear up if I hit the buttons right. What this season has taught me is something another local estate have done which is to negotiate with the DNO to move some of the worst poles. There are a few less than 36m in from the headland which are a real pain.
- Location
- Berkshire
@Feldspar if you've selected the most efficient shiny machinery and plotted the best approach on the ground and a pragmatic approach to logistics, then the physical aspects of your business, the travelling between sites, the infield obstacles are what are causing the lack of output, there's not much more you can do is there??
I have a ring fenced farm with a 18.5ha average field size and only a third of those with any infield obstructions, a third of those have been mitigated by stewardship or orientation
The rest is getting out of bed, and making sure Chem's on site and the cropping's planned efficiently and the machines maintained
If you are still not happy then you have to accept that's one of the constraints of your business, then maybe not shouldering that responsibility alone is what needs addressing, another backup driver or bowser support is what needs considering, travelling between farms is a huge killer of output.
I used to work myself silly, fert at night and early morning, spray during the day on 1250ha of spraying and fert through a RB35 on a high input system, I now have a grossly over capacity 6GS which I'll keep for a long time and I'll spend more time with my family and only spray in good conditions, but I still plan with the same attitude to output, it's natural but I don't have the pressure on myself now and that's ultimately what a sustainable business is about in my opinion.
PS, I don't care if my sprayer choice nets my owner an extra Porsche ( they wouldn't care about such materialistic belongings )
They do care about a sustainable profitable business with happy employees though, they also don't care about how many hectares I spray in a day, that pressure is entirely mine...
I have a ring fenced farm with a 18.5ha average field size and only a third of those with any infield obstructions, a third of those have been mitigated by stewardship or orientation
The rest is getting out of bed, and making sure Chem's on site and the cropping's planned efficiently and the machines maintained
If you are still not happy then you have to accept that's one of the constraints of your business, then maybe not shouldering that responsibility alone is what needs addressing, another backup driver or bowser support is what needs considering, travelling between farms is a huge killer of output.
I used to work myself silly, fert at night and early morning, spray during the day on 1250ha of spraying and fert through a RB35 on a high input system, I now have a grossly over capacity 6GS which I'll keep for a long time and I'll spend more time with my family and only spray in good conditions, but I still plan with the same attitude to output, it's natural but I don't have the pressure on myself now and that's ultimately what a sustainable business is about in my opinion.
PS, I don't care if my sprayer choice nets my owner an extra Porsche ( they wouldn't care about such materialistic belongings )
They do care about a sustainable profitable business with happy employees though, they also don't care about how many hectares I spray in a day, that pressure is entirely mine...
Big mixture of field sizes here. Have done 1000 acres before. Every gateway cut to 12m so only quick fold the Bateman. To be fair I do I get a lot out of the machine but I don’t stop for lunch or coffee, I wee out the door. I wouldn’t expect and employee to do it the way I do. It’s just what I’ve learnt from father, he sprints across the yard with sack barrows of chemical!
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds
Superb! I couldn’t begin to understand that spreadsheet but get completely how it works in practise. Well done and thanks for the honest replies.
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
I am an owner driver and this is how I do it, and yes it makes a huge difference to output
I appear to have upset you, please feel free to substitute the word ‘pathetic’ for ‘disappointing’. I actually had in mind a large farm that ran 3x 36m 5000 litre Batemans with a man in the yard at the time. I was discussing sprayer output with a friend with an interest in that business when they said what an impressive day they had spraying. The figure was large but when you worked it out per metre of sprayer it was.....’disappointing’
I would expect to atleast do 700 acres in a 12 hour day this time of year without bowser support
ollie989898
Member
The operator being the lynchpin is why I consistently think that with most machinery issues the best option is the one the operator prefers.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
If I ever decide to buy a spray rig instead of using my very good contractors, it is far more likely to be 3 or 4 of these, than one 36m machine.
Mounted with “weed it” camera units.
12 m boom at about 12km / hr
Robots, “swarm” technology, small autonomous drones - they are the way of the future
Mounted with “weed it” camera units.
12 m boom at about 12km / hr
Robots, “swarm” technology, small autonomous drones - they are the way of the future
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Fragonard
Member
Brilliant set up. Spotless machines. Great that you can tweak the spray, as you monitor your crops. Some people let the agronomist instruct the driver of what to spray, with neither of them knowing, or caring what the prices of the inputs are.
Hereward
Member
- Location
- Peterborough
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
No wonder you want to cut down chemical use. If you don't even have time to stop for a pee.
Doesn't sound like much of a life.
Hereward
Member
- Location
- Peterborough
It things are so tight you cannot stop for a toilet break and you have to run across the yard with chemical cans, apart from raising an initial smile, it's a bit sad. I'd sooner be greeted with the sight of a cup of tea being brought out into the yard than someone running with an armful of chemical cans!
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Sound like typical contract farming heroes.
Undercut everyone to get the job. Then don't have time to stop for a p!$$
Agree but not if you don’t get enough done and@Feldspar better to do 300 acres a day at the optimum timing than a 1000 at the wrong time, wouldn't get to caught up in outputs.
Looks a great setup you have, just enjoy it
the weather breaks
Nearly
Member
- Location
- North of York
If you've to run across the yard with chems I'd be moving the chem store or the water tanks.