A Novice and his Aitchison Grassfarmer.

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
.....First sign of madness so they say, talking to oneself :ROFLMAO:


I think Only thing for me to do is make one in true Blue Peter tradition :unsure:

Disappear into the depths of me workshop for days on end ..:love:

I can picture it now, Will have a big lever to swing over for adjustment to suit conditions, concretodrydusty on one setting and squidgynayshoit on the other .]:sneaky:.would be on the later setting atm:rolleyes:
 

Wigeon

Member
Arable Farmer
First run out today. Didn't go entirely to plan...

Stuck it in some barley stubble, but it struggled to cope with damp dead hedge mustard in the tramlines. Not disastrous, but not brilliant. Got a bit done, but quite slow.

Then a load of tines came loose, so back to the yard for a tweak up, then like an idiot I went and did this:
20200821_170112.jpg
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
The early ones had 16mm times IIRC mine has 22 mm ones and not busted one yet although I fo lift it up slightly when going over gateways
Duncan tines / design are les breakable i think someone said..:unsure:
the tine / t slot is the best bit, something that a disc on its own as a n opener is no comparison too in the respect of creating seed to soil contact in alot of varying conditions

its just being able to get hold of some that rent ridiculously expensive ....the time will come o course when spurious/pattern replacement part makers will be able to counter that ,like with plough and cultivator wearing parts
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
First run out today. Didn't go entirely to plan...

Stuck it in some barley stubble, but it struggled to cope with damp dead hedge mustard in the tramlines. Not disastrous, but not brilliant. Got a bit done, but quite slow.

Then a load of tines came loose, so back to the yard for a tweak up, then like an idiot I went and did this:
View attachment 902550

Ouch!!! Depressing!!

From my limited experience, trashy tramlines need to be drilled at a X angle. However, as we all know in the real world, it ain't happening. I now just carry the the drill a bit on the trashy bits. I think if I was drilling cash crops, I will lightly disc such areas in the future, as the block of IRG/Rape where I needed to disc at 25-30mm, has gone in well on the laid crop areas
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Sorry if it's been covered (I've read through some pages, but not all)

How much soil do these machines need to work? Can they handle a lot of stone?
its written somewhere else that they will break tines
and bring up stones, discs are a different matter in that respect, trouble is they will need pure weight to penetrate if its hard
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
its written somewhere else that they will break tines
and bring up stones, discs are a different matter in that respect, trouble is they will need pure weight to penetrate if its hard

Better with a Moore then?..

I've a lot of high pp grazing needs some fresh grass on it. I should can work stitching it in with the grazing, but I'd struggle to get by if I had to 'lose' the field and do a full reseed
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
its written somewhere else that they will break tines
and bring up stones, discs are a different matter in that respect, trouble is they will need pure weight to penetrate if its hard

The Aitchison is a very much lighter, weaker drill than the Simtech. I’ve run a Simtech for 6 years and I've never had a broken tine. I did break one foot (bolts on bottom of time and T boot mounted to it) once, but only as I hit a submerged wall from an old garden. The tips on the original coulters would wear and the odd one might break on big stones, so always kept a bucket of removed ‘part worn’ ones to replace with matching points.

My new Simtech has thicker tines still and a redesigned T boot, which is very much more hard wearing (still showing next to no wear after 2 seasons) and don’t appear to break on stones.

There’s a reason the NZ Aitchison can be bought cheaper, the same reason that Simtech have developed their drills somewhat since them, whilst still keeping the same principles.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
I'm not sure what to make of those :ROFLMAO:

I don't want to burn off. Just graze down then stitch in new grass

As I was warned.... drilling into green grass can be problematic! I failed to eat off the regrowth after stitching into a heavily mown aftermath, and It was of limited use, mind, the drought wasn't helping...

I want to try a 5ac block after mowing (when it dries up) as hopefully, the take should be better now.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
its written somewhere else that they will break tines
and bring up stones, discs are a different matter in that respect, trouble is they will need pure weight to penetrate if its hard

Well, the Aitchison I have, does not do "hard, dry ground", they just don't have enough weight on the tines. I have accumulated 4-500kg of tractor weights, and I am wondering if teh chassis will take a weight frame mounted on it...

I suspect the additional weight of the Simtech will be of big advantage in tough going. No problems with stones here.... as yet.
 
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Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
The Aitchison is a very much lighter, weaker drill than the Simtech. I’ve run a Simtech for 6 years and I've never had a broken tine. I did break one foot (bolts on bottom of time and T boot mounted to it) once, but only as I hit a submerged wall from an old garden. The tips on the original coulters would wear and the odd one might break on big stones, so always kept a bucket of removed ‘part worn’ ones to replace with matching points.

My new Simtech has thicker tines still and a redesigned T boot, which is very much more hard wearing (still showing next to no wear after mentioned
yes ,sorry i was forgetting the on e like yours...being different .
 
I have a 3.5m Aitchison and a 3.5m Duncan planter. The Duncan is miles ahead of the Aitchison. What I do when the grass you want to oversow is to thick is to cross drill with the aitchison/duncan. It gives a better strike rate and puts the existing grass just back a bit more so the new seedlings have a better chance before first grazing.
 

Nithsdale

Member
Livestock Farmer
As I was warned.... drilling into green grass can be problematic! I failed to eat off the regrowth after stitching into a heavily mown aftermath, and It was of limited use, mind, the drought wasn't helping...

I want to try a 5ac block after mowing (when it dries up) as hopefully, the take should be better now.


As far as I'm aware, very heavy grazing is the way to go - then manage the established grass after 10-14 days to keep it from smothering the seed.
Also best to do it in the autumn.

But at the moment it's all theory.

If you need to burn it off, you'd be as well tearing it up with heavy discs
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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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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