- Location
- Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Pretty happy with that, field in foreground is 1st wheat after OSR and not had a single pellet
What variety and seedrate? Look like some nice full rows!View attachment 745898
Pretty happy with that, field in foreground is 1st wheat after OSR and not had a single pellet
Thank you for being so open with your experiences, very interesting reading. The fuel bill looks great, assume that doesn’t include harvesting?I was paying £140,000 per annum for a full stubble to stubble service beforehand, and now my fixed costs (depreciation, fuel, metal, repairs, insurance etc) are £78k less. Ok, you could argue that the saving isn't directly attributable to the drill, but in a way I see that it is. The drill allows me to operate with zero staffing, only one medium size tractor, no cultivations and the subsequent annual fuel and metal savings too. My total fuel bill (excluding grain drying gas) on 1,100 acres last year was £4,620.
Spring crop yields were great in the first year, but as you said, we have had two pretty tough Springs since then, and I'd say that has robbed around 15% of yield for everyone, but this cannot be blame on the establishment system. If anything, I think the "not beating the moisture out of the soil" benefit of the system has actually helped the crops get up and away with seedbed moisture, rather than sitting in dust for three weeks awaiting for some rain.
Regarding the 4.8 metre kit........
Well, I took on some contract drilling this autumn and I decided that a extra 15% to drill would be made easier by an extra 20% width. At £3k it seemed to make sense. However, the drill just wasn't the same after it was fitted. The outside leading legs and coulter legs were at a completely different depth to the rest of the drill, and I had 700 acres of autumn drilled cereals that looked something like this. I was not a happy bunny.
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The depth difference was around 3 inches compared to the other 12 seeding legs, and there was nothing that could be done about it. After about three weeks, about 40% of the super-deep seed on the outside legs did emerge from about 5 inches, but it was weak, with thinner/sparce rows, and has been visible ever since, even though the rows all now show.
My trouble is that I'm a perfectionist, and with something like Spring barley that needs to be at exactly the right depth, I'm just not happy about leaving it on for March/April drilling.
This is the only problem I have had with the drill and I can't wait to get it back to 4 metres, as it does such a superb job. As I said, Claydon are a brilliant firm to deal with, a bunch of friendly and helpful people, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.
Wow - Very impressive crops!!! Do you or @Brisel have a view on trailed vs. Mounted for quality or work / finish, esp. in establishing OSR? What precedes the drill if anything? How do you manage wheat straw and harvest traffic? Thanks!I’m in year four with my Claydon, and it’s revolutionised my farming and I do 1,100 acres with it.
No staff at all.
No cultivation equipment at all. (Not even in the hedge!).
One tractor on 1,100 acres.
I saved £80,000 per annum overnight on fixed costs.
Yields are up (genuinely) by 7% on wheat, and unchanged on rape compared to min till before. I don’t know how much of this uplift is varietal/seasonal though.
Drilling opportunities with soil/weather are better so I find I always drill in better conditions.
Downsides:
I made the mistake of extending my 4 metre Hybrid with the 0.8 metre extension kit back in the summer and it ruined the drill, so that’s coming off and going back this winter.
When I was buying, I looked at Mzuri but it needed too much hp per metre and I wanted a medium sized tractor on the front of my sprayer. The owner seemed rather too pleased with himself too which put me off.
I looked at DTS, and ordered one, but bottled out due to too many stories about poor trash flow, and new SUMO owners being terrible with back-up.
I honestly don’t know why more people don’t look in to Claydon. Their product support and parts service is fantastic and they’re a good bunch of people too.
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I maybe able to help, we converted our 3m mounded hybrid into a trailed version, and it's night and day different.Wow - Very impressive crops!!! Do you or @Brisel have a view on trailed vs. Mounted for quality or work / finish, esp. in establishing OSR? What precedes the drill if anything? How do you manage wheat straw and harvest traffic? Thanks!
Excellent - thank you very much indeed - that’s all sounds totallly sensible and very interesting - a big help!!I maybe able to help, we converted our 3m mounded hybrid into a trailed version, and it's night and day different.
First thing, with it being trailed, i can loose the front weights and drop tyre pressures, also it's easier pulling so less fuel used and improved workrate.
Setting the seeding depth is much easier too wih just adding/removing shims rather than adjusting/measuring a turnbuckle.
We also have the option of using either leading discs or press wheels in front of leading tines, normally I'd use the press wheels as this help stabilise the drill and help with seeding depth.
Any pics of OSR?View attachment 745898
Pretty happy with that, field in foreground is 1st wheat after OSR and not had a single pellet
I think the Claydon is the drill to beat personally, I wonder what the ultimate roll/tool for finishing the job off is and if it could be done by the drill itself, maybe towing a roller behind it or something.
I think the Claydon is the drill to beat personally, I wonder what the ultimate roll/tool for finishing the job off is and if it could be done by the drill itself, maybe towing a roller behind it or something.
Wow - Very impressive crops!!! Do you or @Brisel have a view on trailed vs. Mounted for quality or work / finish, esp. in establishing OSR? What precedes the drill if anything? How do you manage wheat straw and harvest traffic? Thanks!
certainly is the strip drill to beat.. be nice if there was a conversion available to make it ULD when planting, would certainly be a good move for claydon if they could do this.
They do. Twin disc followed by the twin tines. They sell a stronger S tine. Ask Spencer Claydon - I did at LAMMA.
With our mounted four metre Hybrid which is for sale [emoji41]Any pics of OSR?
I think the Claydon is the drill to beat personally, I wonder what the ultimate roll/tool for finishing the job off is and if it could be done by the drill itself, maybe towing a roller behind it or something.
All these strip till drills are not the answer long term. They are just the latest fad, like ‘min till’ was in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
If your happy to disturb the soil via strip till then you might as well cultivate and drill because of the need for straw harrows etc there is very little difference in costs.
Also strip till can see brome become a major problem.
If you want to direct drill then do it properly with a no till drill.
I am not a soil saving acolyte, I just like drills that reliably put seed into the ground in one pass. I have no doubt a no till drill can do it a bit cheaper but down here it is too wet for them- disc drills in particular can create slug runways and smear like fudge. Don't get me wrong, they are invariably better in all respects if the going is good, I just think the Claydon has a wider operating window and as a system can stick more abuse from the farmer.
How much ground the drill cultivates or disturbs or doesn't etc is not a factor for me- I'm not a no-till fanatic.
Brome is an issue that has to be addressed by rotation in my view.
Accurate seed depth doesn’t come from a spring tine.
You either need a proper tine such as the horsch or just bite the bullet and go to a proper disc drill.