Andrew Ward's Drill Demo Day

[Mark Hatton]

Then look no further. This ticks the boxes Probably the cheapest drill there (except Andrew's FreeFlow) and certainly gave a good account of itself View attachment 1028526View attachment 1028529View attachment 1028532View attachment 1028534

Wonder what sort of job that would do with tyre packers on?

 

[Chris F]

Then look no further. This ticks the boxes Probably the cheapest drill there (except Andrew's FreeFlow) and certainly gave a good account of itself View attachment 1028526View attachment 1028529View attachment 1028532View attachment 1028534

I was going to say the same. A really good account of itself. I think a Crosslot or a Novag would have also been interesting to see, but at a very different pricepoint. But the reality is the conditions weren't great for anyone.

I didn't like the flat statements that "cover's don't work on heavy land" - there are a lot of different cover crops and its true that some don't grow on certain types of land, but that's why you need to find the right one's. True, you may have to try a lot, but there will be something that works. Plus, he isn't really direct drilling into the covers with a low disturbance drill, its a min-till cover crop trial.

Short story it's tougher land, but I still think there is a good solution there for him and he has the idea drill to hold onto as a backup for when the conditions need it. Was a really good day and the invite from Andrew and Agrii was much appreciated. Think we will try and do an event with Agrii on Clive's farm to show a different type of soil.

 

[jh.]

@Chris F and @Mark Hatton both went - I think they will have some pictures/ video

from what i saw its ground well suited to a Novag / CS coulter but there wasn’t one there

rotation isn’t going to help successful dd with any drill, i believe its continuous spring barley ? i’ve never yet seen continuous cereals work without cultivation

Could you contact him and see if he could try a novag Clive? . I know it can't really be part of his demo day results now but would show case the novag in proper ground and it would also be interesting if he could split a field and drill half with a starter fert and half without with plant counts etc .

 

[Clive]

there isn’t a demo novag in the UK right now sadly just a few on farm

 

[Wombat]

Wonder what sort of job that would do with tyre packers on?

If its wet ball up like most tire packers do here.

 

[Mark Hatton]

If its wet ball up like most tire packers do here.

If it’s that wet shouldn’t really be drilling, I was looking back at some pics and footage from a similar Hutchinson event a few weeks before, much wetter, I’ll start a thread on it.

 

[Wombat]

If it’s that wet shouldn’t really be drilling, I was looking back at some pics and footage from a similar Hutchinson event a few weeks before, much wetter, I’ll start a thread on it.

Maybe but our old mf30 will stop its own drive wheels on just the moisture it brought up on the last pass in the first week of oct in some of my fields if it’s not drying behind you but it is mg index 8 and 9 I certainly cannot drill in the rain hence why I made my sabre tine with Clive’s old front hopper

 

[Case290]

I thought it was a great video drill demo conclusion from what I could see conditions not very nice . Claydon about the worst weaving about the best.

 

[Case290]

The Simba Freeflow did an amazing job compared to the horsch sprinter which looked horrendous on the follow up video.

 

[alomy75]

The Simba Freeflow did an amazing job compared to the horsch sprinter which looked horrendous on the follow up video.

I agree; there really was no benefit in that situation of the sprinter. But the freeflow is cultivation/packer/seed/packer whereas the sprinter only has the one (tyre) packer after the huge disturbance of dragging 5” coulters through solid land…may as well have pig-tailed it. Wrong choice of coulters imo. Andrew did say he couldn’t see the point of changing BUT…a quaddy is needed to pull that freeflow. With smaller coulters you could pull that sprinter with less than half the hp and do a better job.

 

[Case290]

yes sure if they went about swapping the coulters I agree would have been much better. But they couldn’t be arsed

 

[alomy75]

yes sure if they went about swapping the coulters I agree would have been much better. But they couldn’t be arsed

I feel like they push the avatar much more than the Sprinter…rarely see a sprinter in a Horsch advert. I imagine the avatar is cheaper to make with just rubber sausage rather than the multigrip legs(?)

 

[ajd132]

Sprinter works better direct on 2 inch Dutch points, the 5 inch points are too big really (from experience)

 

[BTT UK Ltd]

@ajd132 when you say that the 5 inch are too big what do you mean - Too much disturbance? Too much HP needed to pull?

Just interested.

 

[ajd132]

Que video in September of why the solo and free flow is better.
But to be fair to him it is good that someone is doing direct drill trials on stiff land.

So predictable

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1519738321638993921

 

[Daniel]

So predictable

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1519738321638993921

Was Sean Sparling there? I miss him since he blocked me.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Knowing when to drill is a big thing with no till.

I've got it wrong a few times before knowing when it's right

 

[ajd132]

Was Sean Sparling there? I miss him since he blocked me.

He blocked me too. I know someone he threatened to sue on twitter for disagreeing with him!

 

[average farmer]

Surely for a fair comparison crops would have needed to be drilled the same day

 

[Will 1594]

@ajd132 when you say that the 5 inch are too big what do you mean - Too much disturbance? Too much HP needed to pull?

Just interested.

Bourgalt ,
what would be a good opener to go on a vibroflex tine ,bought an old krm cultivator with 12 vibroflex tines in spaced at 250 mm .
so thinking a mushroom on top fed from front hopper to make a drill
any ideas ,will it work or not