Auto Steer justification

[Lowland1]

We are having a demo of a Trimble/RTK guidance system of our main tractor. My Son and I are very impressed however my Wife says it’s very expensive and our tractor driver can drive straight anyway. How do I justify it to her.

 

[jh.]

You can't. Unless she wants a horse or something equally luxurious that none of us really need

 

[Phil P]

We are having a demo of a Trimble/RTK guidance system of our main tractor. My Son and I are very impressed however my Wife says it’s very expensive and our tractor driver can drive straight anyway. How do I justify it to her.

Just get her to do a day driving the tractor with it then get her try without and see if she changes her mind.
It hard to justify the initial cost but then are savings be made, even the best driver can’t drive to an exact width on every pass! Savings on seed fert and chem do add up but the biggest benefit is the reduction in driver fatigue.

 

[Sharpy]

We are having a demo of a Trimble/RTK guidance system of our main tractor. My Son and I are very impressed however my Wife says it’s very expensive and our tractor driver can drive straight anyway. How do I justify it to her.

Reduction in driver fatigue.
Increased efficiency as no overlaps or missed bits when sowing, spraying and spreading fert.
The ability to miss every second bout to save tight turns and come back across the field filling in to finish where you started.
The ability to always drive down the steep bits and up the easier bits without comprising accuracy.
The ability to go back exactly to where the spreader or sprayer finished.
Edit. The ability to spread cut etc accurately in the dark,fog etc.

 

[radar]

Reduction in driver fatigue.
Increased efficiency as no overlaps or missed bits when sowing, spraying and spreading fert.
The ability to miss every second bout to save tight turns and come back across the field filling in to finish where you started.
The ability to always drive down the steep bits and up the easier bits without comprising accuracy.
The ability to go back exactly to where the spreader or sprayer finished.
Edit. The ability to spread cut etc accurately in the dark,fog etc.

And dust if we ever see that again!

 

[Steevo]

It’s hard to financially justify it initially......but once you have used it you wouldn’t be without it.

Makes jobs so much quicker and easier. The ability to spray accurately faster for pre-em has paid for itself enormously this year. Same for being able to drill in the dark at the end of a long day. There times when you just wouldn’t be without it and at those times it becomes worth it’s weight in gold.

 

[Spud]

We justified RTK autosteer in 2009 for ridging potato land, and adjusted things a bit so that we drill with the same tractor.
It's brilliant for ridging, because it's generally harder to see the mark, and the consequences of inaccuracies are greater.
It's much harder to quantify for drilling, particularly if your current drill operator is good. If you're currently averaging 5% overlap, that's £1.50/acre - field shapes and headlands mean that overlap always happens somewhere, so you need a lot of acres at pence per acre to pay for autosteer.
Fert is similar - essentially it depends how bad you currently are - the possible 'savings' don't add up to a lot, unless you're stomping over thousands of acres.
It's an operator aid, mostly. You can start drilling in the middle of the field if you wish, and know that the tramlines are in the correct place. Trying to spot the mark among dry clods with the sun in your face is no longer a problem.
Autosection on the sprayer is more beneficial, ime. Light bar guidance sufficient, you know wether you've missed anything or not, it'll tell you area single and double dosed (so you'll see how far out the drill man is) and you remove repetitive operator guesswork switching the sprayer on & off.
It's one of those things you buy in a good year.

 

[Case290]

Go with it’s Not really neeeded like a dish washer. It just makes things easier & abit quicker

 

[Tealo]

I don't know that you can financial justify it £5,000ish is a lot of money that could probably be better invested elsewhere. It does however make life easier so you can spend more time on social media or watching YouTube.

 

[Slick]

I don't know that you can financial justify it £5,000ish is a lot of money that could probably be better invested elsewhere. It does however make life easier so you can spend more time on social media or watching YouTube.

It'll be a lot more than £5,000ish for an RTK set up.

 

[Spud]

It'll be a lot more than £5,000ish for an RTK set up.

About 9k on an autosteer ready tractor when i priced one up earlier this year

 

[Jimbo]

I put it on my last new tractor and what a joy it is . Defiantly makes the job a lot more relaxing and easier while drilling . More time to look around to see what neighbours are up to no regrets !

 

[PSQ]

It’s one of those investments that *is* hard to justify on paper, along with adding a bit of occasional building work and concrete in the yard, adding a few lights to dark buildings, improving machinery, drainage, tools etc.
But view the sum of all of these ‘irrational’ investments after you have benefited from them for 10 years, and you’ll realise your life and work has been far more productive and enjoyable, than the miserable scrotes who have ‘saved’ every penny but are still farming like it’s the 1970’s.
JFDI.

 

[An Gof]

We are having a demo of a Trimble/RTK guidance system of our main tractor. My Son and I are very impressed however my Wife says it’s very expensive and our tractor driver can drive straight anyway. How do I justify it to her.

Just tell her that she can’t justify her make up on a financial basis but it’s nice to have it and makes her feel better ........... and then run ...... very fast

 

[Lowland1]

Just tell her that she can’t justify her make up on a financial basis but it’s nice to have it and makes her feel better ........... and then run ...... very fast

My wife is a Vet and as such any insult or argument could leave me waking up in the morning missing essential body parts.

 

[Steevo]

My wife is a Vet and as such any insult or argument could leave me waking up in the morning missing essential body parts.

Can you justify keeping them..?!

 

[An Gof]

Can you justify keeping them..?!

Think the clue is in the word “essential”

 

[An Gof]

My wife is a Vet and as such any insult or argument could leave me waking up in the morning missing essential body parts.

I’d forget the auto steer and buy her a handbag ......... safer that way

 

[Lowland1]

I’d forget the auto steer and buy her a handbag ......... safer that way

I actually bought her a handbag for Christmas however she still hasn’t forgiven me for buying her a Mercedes ( something she’d always wanted) however it seemed an MB trac wasn’t good enough for her.

 

[Longneck]

Do you actually need RTK? RTX is a lot cheaper and depending on what your doing with it can be plenty accurate enough. We drill, spray and cultivate on Rangepoint and find it ok. Just a thought.