CTF and direct drilling

[Retraceh]

Just wondering what people’s thoughts on CTF and direct drilling are and whether it is beneficial. I could currently fit a 9m system in with current equipment
36m sprayer
18 m muck spreader
9m tine drill, combine and rolls.
This year I have been drilling at an angle to sprayer tramlines which also carry the muck spreader but just wondered whether the drill and combine should follow the tramlines or would this lead to 3 wheelings in between each tramline that would not establish?

 

[Adeptandy]

I've been pondering the same, but on a smaller scale. 6m drill and at the point of replacing combine and considering going from 6.6m to 6m to facilitate ctf

 

[Suffolk Serf]

Basically, @Clive used to say that it was a waste of time, but now it's the best thing since the JD750a or something.

 

[Clive]

Basically, @Clive used to say that it was a waste of time, but now it's the best thing since the JD750a or something.

nope, we always controlled traffic under zero-till and even min-till before then as much as possible running fixed tramlines and keeping grain carts to those tramlines ........... common sense really

then when we changed combine we bought one with a header that fitted in to that system ........ again why wouldn’t you when changing the machine anyway ?

drilling never concerned me though, lack of a availability until recently of a 12m zerotill disc drill made it impossible for us anyway !

It wasn’t a problem though as a relatively lightweight tractor on big modern low pressure tyres and undisturbed soil rarely caused damage unlike harvest operations can do

However a change in staffing structure that saved cost and recent availability of a 12m zero-till disc drill that had a low horsepower requirement bought opportunity for a change .......... so why wouldn’t you ?

So we can ....... so we do, every little helps but its not a “game changer”


basically you don’t NEED to control traffic but if you can do so (especially heavy harvest traffic). then why wouldn’t you ?

 

[ajd132]

Control harvest traffic is a must, our trailers do not leave permanent tramlines.
Usually drill on CTF too but I have no issues with doing at an angle sometimes if it’s needed and soil is dry.

 

[yellow belly]

On heavy land
9 m notill
10.5 m combine run at 9m 9.15 combine too tight to avoid misses at harvest
27 m sprayer
to do ctf you do need to have a 3 or 5 drill bouts to the tramline or it defeats the object on headlands

if we could I woul go to 10 10.5 and 30 m but would need another 1/3 more land and a longer combine spout

trailers never go off tramlines
for spring planted crops the preceding cereal straw will now always be chopped

 

[Retraceh]

Control harvest traffic is a must, our trailers do not leave permanent tramlines.
Usually drill on CTF too but I have no issues with doing at an angle sometimes if it’s needed and soil is dry.

do you tank off from the combine stationary or how do you keep to permanent tramlines?

 

[ajd132]

do you tank off from the combine stationary or how do you keep to permanent tramlines?

Extra long auger. 12m on 36m trams. So cut up tramline then cut either side of it and repeat. It’s no 100% but only rarely does a trailer have to go off a permanent tram in a long field.

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

On heavy land
9 m notill
10.5 m combine run at 9m 9.15 combine too tight to avoid misses at harvest
27 m sprayer
to do ctf you do need to have a 3 or 5 drill bouts to the tramline or it defeats the object on headlands

if we could I woul go to 10 10.5 and 30 m but would need another 1/3 more land and a longer combine spout

trailers never go off tramlines
for spring planted crops the preceding cereal straw will now always be chopped

Couldn't you go 10m 30m CTF using existing combine and simply changing sprayer boom width?

Drill not as important if low psi tyres on drilling tractor...and could run at an angle anyway

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

We are on 32m sprayer, 16m slurry tanker (2 passes each spring) but the combine doesn't fit. Drill is 8m but i'm DD drilling at an angle anyway to even the ground

The tanker is my achilles heel with basically a tramline inbetween the tramlines, but absolutely essential and saves me 100kg bagged N and no P&K ever applied

I'm considering either increase to 9m 36m by changing header width, run the tanker at 18m (simple to do) and extend sprayer booms to 36m (feasible). Drill can be simply widened to 9m if desired

Or run at 24m. Tanker is configured to do this already, drill is 8m, still swap to a wider header. Sprayer could run at 24m with outer sections folded in but i lose breakback protection

Option 2 would be tidier as all tanker wheelings are in the tramline but concerned about the sprayer and still costs money to reduce my tramline width.

If i could afford to i would change now to 10m 30m

12m header is too long to fit down one of the farm roads so 12m 36m impossible

 

[ajd132]

We are on 32m sprayer, 16m slurry tanker (2 passes each spring) but the combine doesn't fit. Drill is 8m but i'm DD drilling at an angle anyway to even the ground

The tanker is my achilles heel with basically a tramline inbetween the tramlines, but absolutely essential and saves me 100kg bagged N and no P&K ever applied

I'm considering either increase to 9m 36m by changing header width, run the tanker at 18m (simple to do) and extend sprayer booms to 36m (feasible). Drill can be simply widened to 9m if desired

Or run at 24m. Tanker is configured to do this already, drill is 8m, still swap to a wider header. Sprayer could run at 24m with outer sections folded in but i lose breakback protection

Option 2 would be tidier as all tanker wheelings are in the tramline but concerned about the sprayer and still costs money to reduce my tramline width.

If i could afford to i would change now to 10m 30m

12m header is too long to fit down one of the farm roads so 12m 36m impossible

I think drilling is less of a worry for the CTF as we are now going at an angle sometimes. However it does work well drilling invetween last years crop rows.

 

[yellow belly]

Couldn't you go 10m 30m CTF using existing combine and simply changing sprayer boom width?

Drill not as important if low psi tyres on drilling tractor...and could run at an angle anyway

The cost per acre would go up without increasing the area
current drill and sprayer match combine at 9 m gps cut out every Other run at 10.5 on short fields then unload on tramlines long fields cutout tram line then unload going back

to go to 10 m would need a spout extension new sprayer and a wider drill and an extra 1000 acres

drilling at an angle adds serious inefficiency in most rectangular fields

the next addition would be wheel spacers on the drill tractor to match the combine tracks exactly and a wider spray wheel settings