DD swedes & Fodder crops

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Yep I think the Duncan is a peg wheel, Kev will likely enlighten us. The sponge idea doesnā€™t appeal to me after I heard the mice like eating them in the winteršŸ˜¤.
The main problem with NZ drills ( or anything from that country ) is the sheer bloody cost of spares. I know this from experience (the cost of Prattley and Te Pari parts ),they are at another level so I will always buy European if possible.
No problem with the mice so far over 2 years. ;)

The Aitchison comes with a simple mouse blocking plate.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
The aitchison drill we looked at had sponge rollers and had a metal shut off slide to stop mice getting into the rollers in winter which I thought was a good idea. So as long as the lid fits square and you remember to push the slide it should be fine.
Then got to remember to open it the next year before you start drilling. Not sure if Simtech had same idea.
Having drilled an acre or so with no seed coming down, I now have a flag on mine as a reminder to pull out the slide!!
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
They woukld indeed, overnight in one instance here yonks ago.
from what ive read on here the box drill metering is not particular;y good if it needs wetting for some seeds to grip and vibrations from the drill working dont help either with small seeds,not going sh!t or bust so to speak so they say.:unsure:
Theres no contractor around here with a Duncan so cant try atm. I cant justify buying one nor do i have enough money either :D:oops::(:cry::)


Got a plough or 2 to choose from tho :sneaky:
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
from what ive read on here the box drill metering is not particular;y good if it needs wetting for some seeds to grip and vibrations from the drill working dont help either with small seeds,not going sh!t or bust so to speak so they say.:unsure:
Theres no contractor around here with a Duncan so cant try atm. I cant justify buying one nor do i have enough money either :D:oops::(:cry::)


Got a plough or 2 to choose from tho :sneaky:
Not had any issues with any seeds going through the drill so far... Certainly never needed to wet anything! :oops:

On "vibration", I would say that I experienced a very slight increase in seed rate ouput when drilling, as opposed to calibration, with super small seeds when I have a full hopper. Easily allowed for.

The machine has it's limitation, it is not perfect in all conditions. But what is? ;) Penetration in hard ground in the Spring can be a problem, but extra weights are helping here now. Or as @neilo had suggested, a light tickle with discs or similiar, where surface compaction has occured will allow a better job.




PS, my only plough is due to vist the scrapyard once price creep up, BUT, I do use a good local Contractor when needed to turn the sod!
 
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neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Yep I think the Duncan is a peg wheel, Kev will likely enlighten us. The sponge idea doesnā€™t appeal to me after I heard the mice like eating them in the winteršŸ˜¤.
The main problem with NZ drills ( or anything from that country ) is the sheer bloody cost of spares. I know this from experience (the cost of Prattley and Te Pari parts ),they are at another level so I will always buy European if possible.

I've never had a sponge eaten by mice, but I am careful not to leave seed/food in the drill for any length of time. My first Simtech was secondhand, and the sponges were worn so I replaced them with new as I wasn't sure if they were metering consistently enough. The sponges were a fiver each, so Ā£100 for the whole set (plus a bit of petrol to dissolve the glue on the old ones and time to glue the new ones onto the plastic discs).
Had the new drill for 5 years and sponges are still like new.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Depends on what tine used on them Arthur atkinson drills but theres accounts on this forum that they used to break tines in hard going as well ,and are not cheap to keep replacing.

My first Simtech drill had small points on the bottom of the tines, which had a habit of snapping if you hit a stone. I always kept a bucket of half worn points handy so I could replace a broken one with another that matched the rest of the set.

The current model has much improved (& bigger) points on, and I haven't broken one in it's 5 years. They also have more Tungsten on, so wear much more slowly than the old ones. I'm told they've gone up in price recently, and are about Ā£43 each to replace now (Ā£860 a set). At the current wearing rate that will still work out at substantially less than Ā£1 an acre in wearing parts, which is about what the old one cost.

I never managed to break a tine on the old one, or on the new one (which has bigger tines), despite hitting some big stones a couple of times.

It's a cheap, simple drill to run, just not to buy these days.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Being trailed or at least semi mounted would be what im after as well, having a larger tractor (perhaps which isnt on the farm anyway) just for counter balance reasons isnt good for compaction reasons unless on very dry thin ground even then a good floating action would give better penetration surely, that's another reason for the Duncan being a better choice ?

If didn't have some many breakdowns of tractors to repair and the current costs with them i would get more into it ,good opportunity now there's few arable crops here i reckon.

I mean like , Diesal costs alone now need a fair bit of head scratching
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
āœ“
Location
Ceredigion
Being trailed or at least semi mounted would be what im after as well, having a larger tractor (perhaps which isnt on the farm anyway) just for counter balance reasons isnt good for compaction reasons unless on very dry thin ground even then a good floating action would give better penetration surely, that's another reason for the Duncan being a better choice ?

If didn't have some many breakdowns of tractors to repair and the current costs with them i would get more into it ,good opportunity now there's few arable crops here i reckon.

I mean like , Diesal costs alone now need a fair bit of head scratching
If I had time to do it all myself I would not bother with a direct drill , just a sprayer , rotor spike or rotavator and a simple seeder to broadcast it on and a good heavy roller , I've done a fair bit of this and in a lot of cases works better than a direct drill
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
If I had time to do it all myself I would not bother with a direct drill , just a sprayer , rotor spike or rotavator and a simple seeder to broadcast it on and a good heavy roller , I've done a fair bit of this and in a lot of cases works better than a direct drill
ive used a ph straight in no plough before but its a bit hard on them, rather than in softer ploughed ground , ok if you buy a new ph every now and then but on my older kit it would wear out the bearings etc and write them off if i were to do too much of it.
Roatavator is abit cuse really, spoils the structure in its own unique way :D heavy on diesal as well.they ahve their place though sometimes.

and im always looking to save time on doing stuff. :rolleyes:

I bet there isnt a Duncan drill in all of Devonshire :unsure:

but wants a British made tine small seed drill to come about , with cheaper /easier supply of wearing parts i guess,
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
āœ“
Location
Ceredigion
ive used a ph straight in no plough before but its a bit hard on them, rather than in softer ploughed ground , ok if you buy a new ph every now and then but on my older kit it would wear out the bearings etc and write them off if i were to do too much of it.
Roatavator is abit cuse really, spoils the structure in its own unique way :D heavy on diesal as well.they ahve their place though sometimes.

and im always looking to save time on doing stuff. :rolleyes:

I bet there isnt a Duncan drill in all of Devonshire :unsure:

but wants a British made tine small seed drill to come about , with cheaper /easier supply of wearing parts i guess,
Rotor spike don't use much power at all and I only go down a few inches ,I can't see one of those doing much damage , I can't use a tine drill here far ti much stone , it's OK saving time but providing the best possible seedbed is just as important
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
āœ“
Location
Ceredigion
Direct drilled with an Erth after one pass with a Rotospike last September, very old matty ley
received_563612618121676.jpeg
 
Penetration in hard ground in the Spring can be a problem, but extra weights are helping here now. Or as @neilo had suggested, a light tickle with discs or similiar, where surface compaction has occured will allow a better job.
An old lad in North Wales who knows the job inside out with his aitchison told me how he heated his tines and bent them forwards to sort the penetration issues. I wasnt that brave and got myself some wedges made to fit between the tine and the frame. Its a simple job and you wont have any issues with penetrating hard ground again - without needing to add any weight. An additional benefit is that the accuracy of drilling at shallow depth is greatly improved.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Yes lifes too short to be too religiously stuck /restricted to seeing the job from just one angle,
'course the broader the remit the more different types of machine possibly required , :cautious:

and 'course answer to that conumdrum in part , is Contractor doing some of a particular type for you......... which is ok if you have the right contractor not too far away. ........................
 

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