36m tramlines in spuds

puma power

Member
Mixed Farmer
Could someone explain to me in simple terms how this is done? What specialist kit? I presume planter??? Can you then plant all headland without headland track? Saw a thread on Twitter running a few days ago saying a lot of ground is then un-planted but I did think if track was planted maybe not so much lost ground???
 

Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
Nearly everybody round here don't plant the inside rows against the row ends. Mainly for the irigator to stand on ,,headlands are wide so I think they are on 36m for spraying
 
We used to leave unplanted "roadways" for the sprayer to run on, great in a wet year, not always easy to justify in a dry year.

Some setups leave half a bed unplanted and plant the inside of the tramline narrower.

You can also up the seedrates of these bordering beds because there is more light and moisture available
 

Highashgrange

Member
Arable Farmer
Could someone explain to me in simple terms how this is done? What specialist kit? I presume planter??? Can you then plant all headland without headland track? Saw a thread on Twitter running a few days ago saying a lot of ground is then un-planted but I did think if track was planted maybe not so much lost ground???

We rent to a grower who’s sprayer is 36m. He uses a two row planter and 4 row harvester. Headland tramline is bang on 18m because I’ve measured it for him as we’ve a 6m margin in most fields which he ploughs out for us so we can reestablish with a cover. It doesn’t look any different to a 24m system and he’s running very old de-stoners which haven’t been adapted.
 

Pingu

Member
Could someone explain to me in simple terms how this is done? What specialist kit? I presume planter??? Can you then plant all headland without headland track? Saw a thread on Twitter running a few days ago saying a lot of ground is then un-planted but I did think if track was planted maybe not so much lost ground???
No special kit just guidance. Headlands are 9 beds or 18 rows then a 4m track for sprayer so no turning over beds etc lost ground yes but in a wet year you can level it and smooth it out. For field work to tram line there is a standard 18 beds (36rows) between tram lines, then we jump our triple bed baseliers over 3.06m which leaves a wide wheeling then run a single bed down the middle to have 2 rows between what will be a wheeling each side of just over 0.6m for a sprayer wheels leaving a ‘tramline‘ I think the photo’s show what results. So kit is all standard nothing special. So in 36m got 19 beds at 1.83m equals 34.77m so 1.23m lost ground for a wheeling no different to wheat etc really
 

Attachments

  • C29EB5A2-050B-4391-A62D-5655D5883733.jpeg
    C29EB5A2-050B-4391-A62D-5655D5883733.jpeg
    456.8 KB · Views: 0
  • 0672D771-1A95-43E6-B340-E504B077E3E6.jpeg
    0672D771-1A95-43E6-B340-E504B077E3E6.jpeg
    318.4 KB · Views: 0

Norfolk Olly

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
norfolk
No special kit just guidance. Headlands are 9 beds or 18 rows then a 4m track for sprayer so no turning over beds etc lost ground yes but in a wet year you can level it and smooth it out. For field work to tram line there is a standard 18 beds (36rows) between tram lines, then we jump our triple bed baseliers over 3.06m which leaves a wide wheeling then run a single bed down the middle to have 2 rows between what will be a wheeling each side of just over 0.6m for a sprayer wheels leaving a ‘tramline‘ I think the photo’s show what results. So kit is all standard nothing special. So in 36m got 19 beds at 1.83m equals 34.77m so 1.23m lost ground for a wheeling no different to wheat etc really
Used to do this at previous place, meant we could run the sprayer on wide tyres all year, also good for putting the trailer down when opening up
 
No special kit just guidance. Headlands are 9 beds or 18 rows then a 4m track for sprayer so no turning over beds etc lost ground yes but in a wet year you can level it and smooth it out. For field work to tram line there is a standard 18 beds (36rows) between tram lines, then we jump our triple bed baseliers over 3.06m which leaves a wide wheeling then run a single bed down the middle to have 2 rows between what will be a wheeling each side of just over 0.6m for a sprayer wheels leaving a ‘tramline‘ I think the photo’s show what results. So kit is all standard nothing special. So in 36m got 19 beds at 1.83m equals 34.77m so 1.23m lost ground for a wheeling no different to wheat etc really
Oh I like that idea, most of our ground is light so don't want to waste 3m on a track sk that would be a better option.
 
No special kit just guidance. Headlands are 9 beds or 18 rows then a 4m track for sprayer so no turning over beds etc lost ground yes but in a wet year you can level it and smooth it out. For field work to tram line there is a standard 18 beds (36rows) between tram lines, then we jump our triple bed baseliers over 3.06m which leaves a wide wheeling then run a single bed down the middle to have 2 rows between what will be a wheeling each side of just over 0.6m for a sprayer wheels leaving a ‘tramline‘ I think the photo’s show what results. So kit is all standard nothing special. So in 36m got 19 beds at 1.83m equals 34.77m so 1.23m lost ground for a wheeling no different to wheat etc really
A question on this though.
You ridge 18 beds, so 6 runs x 3 beds, then leave 3.06m then ridge another 12 runs of 3 then do the same again, so you leave 3.06m for the gap but the gap has 1 x 1.83m bed it it so you leave space either side. Do you run back down with a single ridger to make the wider bed or does the separator do it from the stuff thrown up from the outside bodies?
 

Pingu

Member
A question on this though.
You ridge 18 beds, so 6 runs x 3 beds, then leave 3.06m then ridge another 12 runs of 3 then do the same again, so you leave 3.06m for the gap but the gap has 1 x 1.83m bed it it so you leave space either side. Do you run back down with a single ridger to make the wider bed or does the separator do it from the stuff thrown up from the outside bodies?
We jump the three over 3.06m and then run a single bed machine down that 3m track so in effect you are left with 2 gaps of 0.6m either side of a single bed for a wheeling not a track I’m not a fan of dead beds or tracks in field due to wasted land and on irrigated land they often turn to wet mess due to nothing using the water. We don’t run a ridger or any separators due to no stone. Clod and making/ridging the beds is dealt with by the baselier (hook tine) used to run rotavators but they use too much metal and too slow. So for 36m trams off straight edge 3 runs of 3 beds then the gap to be filled in with single bed baselier so creating first tram line at 18m then from then on 6 runs of 3 between each gap if that makes sense. I hope so :ROFLMAO:

You can do middle bed with the triple bed machine but have to do all tramline beds first in the field then fill in. But you can over work the wheelings or on heavy land due to soil being moved once into a bed you can struggle to bring enough soil back into a bed with one/two passes but is doable.
 
Last edited:

Pingu

Member
Also, do you run an implement down to level the wheel track and then push the track width out a wee bit, maybe to 2m?
We did adapt a cultivator to level the wheel track but in the end we used the sprayer at times due to timeliness. Used to adjust front and rear track differently as we still hafe rowcrops due to onions. So run front axle at 72inch to hug middle bed then pushed rear axle out wider to help level ridge this stopped sprayer moving about on first pass. Rest season sprayer ran on 2.25m center ish. Could at end of season when onion work was done fit a 710 down just on those wheelings at right center
 

Pingu

Member
Why bother leave tramlines, don't see any with local grower on 36m?
so your sprayer wheel isn’t always squashing side beds etc if no tram lines we found in wet years the bed under sprayer is 40-50% down each bed to side is 15-20% down so a lot of lost yield especially on smaller boom widths and let’s not mention the grief on harvester lifting and then an hour plus on a grader just to deal with one trailer. In last 5 years we’ve had 3 wet years now! Perhaps acreage is reason for no 36m sprayers? I would never wanna be smaller personally to slow for me. Plus less wheelings in all crops etc. Across 4k acres with over a 1000 in roots the savings are massive
 

Pingu

Member
We need to stone separate so not sure how it would work for us, there would be stones from the beds which would stand a chance of being pulled in by the planter. I shall have to have a think, maybe a trial ks required.
If could aim separator discharge in right place it could be placed in wheeling leaving a hard base possibly, so help even more? Bit of thought like u say but always happy to bounce ideas or if got questions at any point as I’m sure many other growers here are that do similar
 

KennyO

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Angus
We need to stone separate so not sure how it would work for us, there would be stones from the beds which would stand a chance of being pulled in by the planter. I shall have to have a think, maybe a trial ks required.
If you ran down the middle of your 3m wide tramline making a shallow ridge for separator to run in. Possibly with some sort of leveling board to level out the half ridges. Separators lay stone where the sprayer wheels will run not in bottom of holes.

Guess the plan would be to run sprayer at a wider wheel track.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
32 m sprayer here so 8 beds on end rig and a 3 m unplanted break. Tramlines planted as normal, all land ridged and separated.
Need to leave at least 3m so the topper can turn, even then I need to to use the side brakes.
Nice and smooth for spraying especially with most fields getting 10+ passes with the sprayer.
View attachment 1022490
Pretty sure where I did a lot of spud work 5 years ago it was 9 beds of 1.8 (2 rows) but it could have been 8. If a straight hedge it was planted with no wheel track on 1 side but that was rare down here. Couldn’t see any gain with using tramlines and I did sink a few times to the belly on moorland type ground which had been destoned and going in on blight within a few hours of irrigators coming out. Never had greens from the wheelings with running 380’s, can’t remember what wheels the other sprayer was on 🤷🏻‍♂️
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 104 40.6%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 93 36.3%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 39 15.2%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 5 2.0%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.2%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 12 4.7%

May Event: The most profitable farm diversification strategy 2024 - Mobile Data Centres

  • 1,522
  • 28
With just a internet connection and a plug socket you too can join over 70 farms currently earning up to £1.27 ppkw ~ 201% ROI

Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-mo...2024-mobile-data-centres-tickets-871045770347

Tuesday, May 21 · 10am - 2pm GMT+1

Location: Village Hotel Bury, Rochdale Road, Bury, BL9 7BQ

The Farming Forum has teamed up with the award winning hardware manufacturer Easy Compute to bring you an educational talk about how AI and blockchain technology is helping farmers to diversify their land.

Over the past 7 years, Easy Compute have been working with farmers, agricultural businesses, and renewable energy farms all across the UK to help turn leftover space into mini data centres. With...
Top