Combination drill

Farmer mk1

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sheffield
Evening folks.
Looking at upgrading our drill as ours is good enough for the job any more so looking to upgrade. Would like the heavy duty power Harrow under it but unsure which drill to get. Looking at a Kuhn 3004 or Amazone kg series as had maschio and they all seem to leak from the rotors. What drills are good for reliability and cost of running?
Are discs the way to go or do you need the press rollers at the back of the discs or just plain Suffolk coulters to do the job.
Thanks
Mark
 

mf7480

Member
Mixed Farmer
Andrew guest with 3 row coulter. We had one 2 years ago and have been very pleased. The drill is a much higher standard than I was expecting, it’s literally like new, you’d never know it’s a refurb.
 

Phil P

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
North West
Suffolk counters are the work of the devil unless your on boy’s ground! I’d get discs with press/depth control wheels every time.

With discs and press wheels you get better ground penetration, consistent seed depth on changing soil types, better seed to soil contact, higher forward speed, the list goes on. Only downside i can see is the additional weight!
 

mf7480

Member
Mixed Farmer
Suffolk counters are the work of the devil unless your on boy’s ground! I’d get discs with press/depth control wheels every time.

With discs and press wheels you get better ground penetration, consistent seed depth on changing soil types, better seed to soil contact, higher forward speed, the list goes on. Only downside i can see is the additional weight!

But on boys ground, they are ideal
 

thorpe

Member
we have a lely double disc drill who then went to tulip feck know who does them now but bloody brill get you out of trouble drill! dont want to use it unless we have to!
 

Farmer mk1

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sheffield
I’ve seen an lc3000 3004 on a 2011 but it’s 13k and the hectare count has been deleted. Do the discs wear and how do you measure it? I looked a guest drill but unsure as the gears and shafts have all done the work of an old power Harrow even though they are refurbed I wonder if they will be good for a long time after. I don’t want to buy it again for a long time so just want to get it right and be good for 5-10 years of work.
 

jg123

Member
Mixed Farmer
I’ve seen an lc3000 3004 on a 2011 but it’s 13k and the hectare count has been deleted. Do the discs wear and how do you measure it? I looked a guest drill but unsure as the gears and shafts have all done the work of an old power Harrow even though they are refurbed I wonder if they will be good for a long time after. I don’t want to buy it again for a long time so just want to get it right and be good for 5-10 years of work.
They do wear and are not cheap. Find the measurement of the new disc to compare. Cant tell you for the 3000 but got a 302 and theres not much difference in size between new and completely worn out. They will do big acreage on a set tho. Set for the 302 was over a grand. Tine holders wear too and about £125? I think for a kit from andy guest. Job with drills that you can reset clock, a 2011 could have done 2000acres or 20,000. Markers are bit of a weak point if you have stones, check for cracks around pivot point
 

Farmer mk1

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sheffield
Yeah this is what my concern is. He said it’s been on a 400 acre farm from new and grown various crops so might of only done 2000 acres max but I don’t understand why the hectare count has gone unless to hide what it’s done. We have a decent amount of stone in our land. 100 acre with no stone and 100 acre with stone. Will Andy guest be ok with the older Harrow or would a new 3004 and a guest drill be a good shout for the extra money?
 

jg123

Member
Mixed Farmer
Yeah this is what my concern is. He said it’s been on a 400 acre farm from new and grown various crops so might of only done 2000 acres max but I don’t understand why the hectare count has gone unless to hide what it’s done. We have a decent amount of stone in our land. 100 acre with no stone and 100 acre with stone. Will Andy guest be ok with the older Harrow or would a new 3004 and a guest drill be a good shout for the extra money?
You might have the newer computer but you can delete the area on mine easy. Its just a day counter and year counter type of thing its not designed to be total life. My 3003 is 2004 and we have fields like quarrys in places so i wouldnt worry about the ph unless your unlucky really and tines holders and crumbler are not worn out. Andy usually refurbs older ph for obvious reasons and not sure the gearboxes on the older heavy duty ones are 250hp like the newer heavy duty ones. He does a good job tho and checks everything, new tine holders and new crumblers with warranty so if your happy with his drill then id go for a ph from him. He has nice light drills and the kuhn is completely different to be honest, would have better coulter pressure and depth control with a 3000 but need a fair tractor to handle the weight of it. Its also pretty long if your worried about reversing the ph into corners etc.
 

KB6930

Member
Location
Borders
I’ve seen an lc3000 3004 on a 2011 but it’s 13k and the hectare count has been deleted. Do the discs wear and how do you measure it? I looked a guest drill but unsure as the gears and shafts have all done the work of an old power Harrow even though they are refurbed I wonder if they will be good for a long time after. I don’t want to buy it again for a long time so just want to get it right and be good for 5-10 years of work.
Which discs tho ?

Seedflex double disc or the lighter version on the end of a standard coulter arm?

Our seedflex discs on a 3m would be good for 5000 acre anyway just guessing tho on ours there's maybe 1.5-2cm wear over 2500 acre I'll hat a better measurements tomorrow as we've a new disc in the workshop

I personally wouldn't go down the refurbished route unless on a small acreage the coulters used to be lighter made than original and I know someone who had one and was into the power harrow a few times they didn't go back for another.

I thought there was a grand total of the hectare count that couldn't be deleted
 

Farmer mk1

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Sheffield
I also thought there was a grand total. The unit In question is a seed flex coulter. It’s a 2011 power Harrow and 2011 drill. If I could get a measurement of a new disc I’d probably go and look at the combi and measure the discs so I’d got a good idea o what it had done previous. The packer roller looks in good condition and not worn a lot but no hectare count just puts me off as you wouldn’t buy a old car with no mileage counter etc. Is the seed flex good for wearing or is it a bush replace job? We have a 720 fendt to put on it with a plough furrow press conversion on the front so it should handle a Kuhn ok.
 

KB6930

Member
Location
Borders
I also thought there was a grand total. The unit In question is a seed flex coulter. It’s a 2011 power Harrow and 2011 drill. If I could get a measurement of a new disc I’d probably go and look at the combi and measure the discs so I’d got a good idea o what it had done previous. The packer roller looks in good condition and not worn a lot but no hectare count just puts me off as you wouldn’t buy a old car with no mileage counter etc. Is the seed flex good for wearing or is it a bush replace job? We have a 720 fendt to put on it with a plough furrow press conversion on the front so it should handle a Kuhn ok.
I'll get you a measurement this morning.

I wouldn't say they're bad for wearing bushes etc I know of folk that have replaced them but found little benefit

The lc was too light made in my opinion to take the seedflex bar we had 1 and it was easier to lift than the nc we had before and it got a bit slack in the linkage that the coulter bar is attached with nothing serious tho we also broke the A frame that attaches it to the power harrow but we were putting in 800 acre a year with it in some bloody stoney stuff so our combination gets a hard life our current 4m I think we've broken 8 time holders in 1000 acres between spring and autumn drilling this has been a bad year for stones with us tho

The lc is a good year it's just a bit of a pig to set seed depth till you get your head round the adjusters a neighbour got 1 last year and I was in his yard the other day and how he was getting seed into the ground is beyond me but after I spent 10 mins with he it was sorted and he says it's far better now when he was out drilling again
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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