Cheapest way into strip tillage
- Thread starter mo!
- Start date
Softly softly catchy monkee really.
Rotationally driven more than anything.
Kockerling drilled beans continue to do ok, though it's been too wet last two years for winter beans. We've direct drilled a bit of wheat (spring barley 2020) after beans to reasonable effect - the hard bit is keeping the field level - the Kockerling is max disturbance, which makes it a bit tender for the combine. Our Moore doesn't cope well with the wheelings, though it's ok with the tine bar on the front. This winter we've removed the floating rings from it's guttler, in an attempt to reduce it balling up in sticky conditions.
The Moore's main task has been cover crops, mostly pre root crops. But with late harvests and 300ac to drill with a 3m with a half ton tank, it's a slow job, and has eaten into time where we ought to be drilling wheat, so I've found an 8m Tive tine drill to take that task on. 3.5t tank. That ought to speed things up a bit!
Another recent aquisition is an old 6m ring/tyre press with spring tines in front. Primarily to chit barley in front of covers, but also help reduce soil movement. Quick & cheap.
Moore drilled oats after a mucked winter cover after second wheat works very well - the cc mulch suppresses the weeds nicely until the oats get competitive.
Soil isn't really good enough yet to dd the ww after oats, but it's improving slowly.
Contemplating a light land rotation shuffle to be able to dd more of it. Spring barley after wheat instead of winter barley (to allow time to control wheat volunteers) wb as a third cereal after the spring barley. Not perfect, (sb vols in wb?) Means less wb and more sb, so harvest more bunched up and less straw.
Looking at strip and min til beet this time. New cultivation strategy for spuds working well.
Longer term I'd like to swap the Moore, Kockerling and Amazone for a better direct drill to sow everything from stubble turnips to winter beans. Keep Pottinger combi, because for wheat after spuds there's nowt to touch it. Assuming the Tive does what I hope it will, it'll stay. Can't do much til 2023 due to CPSG rules.
We traded some of it, bought back better stuff when it didn't work for us. A costly exercise but I won't spend the rest of my career wondering "what if".