Anyone moved away from CTF?

[snarling bee]

The problem with CT in the UK is that the combine wheel widths do not match the tractors, so you end up running on 12% of the field (800 & 710 tyres on an 8/24m system) I would argue that the potential yield gain in the non trafficked area is offset by the yield loss in the concrete-like tramlines. How do you do headlands, poles, straw baling, mole draining etc with CT?
My policy is to keep grain trailers to tramlines as much as possible, and use wide tyres or tracks for all cultivation.

 

[ajd132]

I really don't think you are right there. The more you loosen the soil the more likely subsequent traffic will cause compaction.

I can see you're point

 

[yellow belly]

over the years I have always noticed that wheelings are a problem after a wet july august on our heavy land
if it is dry when combining then there is no great problem unless you cultivate drill when it is too wet (which is not ever a good thing to do )

if ctf with min till and only needing to take out the wheelings then the savings would be considerable the problem with this zoned cultivation is getting a drill that can be set of notilled areas and tilled areas

with a plough based system the non wheeled areas will plough much easier and break much better the wheeling often do not plough very well if it is wet which means extra passes

the big advantage I have with autocasting rape is that now with only 2 inter tramline wheelings which are 24 inches some people grow rape on wide rows any way
when we autocast with a 24 ft combine they never matched the 24 m tramlines
with no till beans I find that wheeling do not show up especially where I mole drain after drilling using a twin le mole that takes out the wheelings

 

[Goldilocks]

If you're cultivating more than an inch or two CTF is a waste of time anyway

With CTF you can turn this statement around : " If you are doing CTF cultivating more than an inch or two is a waste of time "
This is the crux of CTF, if no vehicle has been on the soil there is no compaction to remove and cultivations can be wide and shallow, leading to substantial savings in fuel and time through not having to drag deep cultivators over the whole field.
In my experience you have to take a flexible view with wheelways. We have a wheelway conditioner ( basically a pimped shakerator ) which is often used on the two infill wheelways ( we are on a 10/30 system ) but rarely on the 30m tramlines so that they remain firm for spraying and ferting.

 

[ajd132]

With CTF you can turn this statement around : " If you are doing CTF cultivating more than an inch or two is a waste of time "
This is the crux of CTF, if no vehicle has been on the soil there is no compaction to remove and cultivations can be wide and shallow, leading to substantial savings in fuel and time through not having to drag deep cultivators over the whole field.
In my experience you have to take a flexible view with wheelways. We have a wheelway conditioner ( basically a pimped shakerator ) which is often used on the two infill wheelways ( we are on a 10/30 system ) but rarely on the 30m tramlines so that they remain firm for spraying and ferting.

This is what I mean, we are on. 36m system and it seems sensible to me.
Like I've said it before it's just one part of a much larger system going forward. anything to make a transition to no-till easier on clay has got to be worth a go imo

 

[Brisel]

With CTF you can turn this statement around : " If you are doing CTF cultivating more than an inch or two is a waste of time "
This is the crux of CTF, if no vehicle has been on the soil there is no compaction to remove and cultivations can be wide and shallow, leading to substantial savings in fuel and time through not having to drag deep cultivators over the whole field.
In my experience you have to take a flexible view with wheelways. We have a wheelway conditioner ( basically a pimped shakerator ) which is often used on the two infill wheelways ( we are on a 10/30 system ) but rarely on the 30m tramlines so that they remain firm for spraying and ferting.

Have you adjusted wheel width settings so your tractors match your combine?

 

[Goldilocks]

Have you adjusted wheel width settings so your tractors match your combine?

Not quite. Combine is quite narrow ( lexion 760 on tracks ) and have moved tractor wheel centres from 1.8m to 2m ( anything more is too wide to get about properly with widish tyres on
We therefore have a composite wheeling which is approx. 1m wide ( x2 per machine gives 2m of the soil trafficked in every 10m = 20 % of the field trafficked in a 10 m system ) ( were previously trafficking about 80% of the field in our random wheeling system )
A lot of people seem to get hung up thinking that all the wheel centres need to be the same but this only gives marginal extra benefits over and above just matching implement widths and in my opinion is not worth stressing over.