Direct drill

[Philtolley]

Hi new farming forum.
I have a mixed farm with about 300acres of arable. I’m looking to buying a second hand direct drill for a 150hp tractor. I seen the old blue and yellow Claydons for sale. Are these worth looking at. Or what other drills are there for 150hp can pull.

 

[yellow belly]

what soil type and what area of the country

 

[Philtolley]

Worcestershire. My soil is quite a heavy clay loam soil, with some heavy clay pockets. Got a couple of lighter fields. There are some steep banks as wells mainly where the clay is.

 

[robs1]

Worcestershire. My soil is quite a heavy clay loam soil, with some heavy clay pockets. Got a couple of lighter fields. There are some steep banks as wells mainly where the clay is.

You will struggle with a claydon and 150 hp on banks, simtech would do you and 3mtr would only need 100hp to pull it but some weight on the front

 

[tr250]

Hi new farming forum.
I have a mixed farm with about 300acres of arable. I’m looking to buying a second hand direct drill for a 150hp tractor. I seen the old blue and yellow Claydons for sale. Are these worth looking at. Or what other drills are there for 150hp can pull.

What are you trying to achieve? Do you want to go strip till or full dd with a low disturbance disc drill. 150hp is plenty for most direct drills even a 3m Claydon it would manage.

 

[Zan]

Hi new farming forum.
I have a mixed farm with about 300acres of arable. I’m looking to buying a second hand direct drill for a 150hp tractor. I seen the old blue and yellow Claydons for sale. Are these worth looking at. Or what other drills are there for 150hp can pull.

I’ll have a 3m Claydon SR available early October if it’s any use to you. I run a WEAVING GD and a Claydon but have recently ordered a new bigger Claydon because as much as I love the GD where I’m on wet clay and make combine marks etc I need to run the Claydon through and not just the weaving disc.

 

[Philtolley]

I haven’t heard of simtech before. I’ll have a look at them.
my main goal is to control the black grass which I’m struggling to control it in a couple of fields.
I’m currently use a opico varidisc with legs and a Heva fanterra disc drill. Which seems to work on my farm. Other then black grass control. My neighbour brought a Clayton and it seems to do a good job.

 

[turbo]

I haven’t heard of simtech before. I’ll have a look at them.
my main goal is to control the black grass which I’m struggling to control it in a couple of fields.
I’m currently use a opico varidisc with legs and a Heva fanterra disc drill. Which seems to work on my farm. Other then black grass control. My neighbour brought a Clayton and it seems to do a good job.

Just changing your drill will not solve your bg problems!! For what it’s worth my advise would be to change rotation,drill ww later and use a decent stack of pre ems

 

[HarryB97]

I haven’t heard of simtech before. I’ll have a look at them.
my main goal is to control the black grass which I’m struggling to control it in a couple of fields.
I’m currently use a opico varidisc with legs and a Heva fanterra disc drill. Which seems to work on my farm. Other then black grass control. My neighbour brought a Clayton and it seems to do a good job.

The drill has little relevance to black grass control it’s all about rotation. If you get on top of black grass another weed will take its place! A 3 or 4 metre Horsch sprinter or co with Dutch openers or another coulter would work well

 

[APJ]

If your in Worcestershire surely a chat to weaving machinery would be an idea! A small new sabre tine would suit you perfectly, we run a 6m sabre tine drill since spring 2020 and very happy with our choice of drill.

 

[Philtolley]

I’ve got changed my rotation using spring crops, different break crops to allow a wider range chemicals and short grass lays. And it’s working on most of my farm apart from a couple of fields.
Drilling date is a issue for me as come the middle of October my farm gets too wet to work the ground
talking to other farmers. They said that I’m moving to much soil. And a low disturbance drill like dd drill would to help to reduce Weed germination.
I’ve never used a dd drill so all the advice will great.

 

[Philtolley]

APJ what is soil cultivation method in preparation for the tine drill

 

[tr250]

as people above have said a new drill won’t solve your bg issues but in my opinion a low disturbance drill will allow you to open your options to change your system. Wether you want to go full no-till or not is up to you but in my opinion buy something that is low disturbance at the point of drilling a Claydon is too high disturbance in my opinion especially on heavy clay. I’ve got a weaving gd and what has been working is drilling direct into grass leys and spring crops into either over winter fallow or cover crop

 

[HarryB97]

I’ve got changed my rotation using spring crops, different break crops to allow a wider range chemicals and short grass lays. And it’s working on most of my farm apart from a couple of fields.
Drilling date is a issue for me as come the middle of October my farm gets too wet to work the ground
talking to other farmers. They said that I’m moving to much soil. And a low disturbance drill like dd drill would to help to reduce Weed germination.
I’ve never used a dd drill so all the advice will great.

We are the same as you with 3/4 year grass leys for silage and nearly half the farm spring cropped following grazed cover crops. I bought a 4 metre Horsch sprinter and put 1 inch Dutch openers on it. Very pleased with the results and the drill is equally as happy drilling direct or into cultivated land. It doesn’t have brilliant depth control but that isn’t an issue.

 

[tr250]

We are the same as you with 3/4 year grass leys for silage and nearly half the farm spring cropped following grazed cover crops. I bought a 4 metre Horsch sprinter and put 1 inch Dutch openers on it. Very pleased with the results and the drill is equally as happy drilling direct or into cultivated land. It doesn’t have brilliant depth control but that isn’t an issue.

Can you drill directly into grass leys with that?

 

[YELROM]

Can you drill directly into grass leys with that?

I think you could with the 12mm Metcalfe point.

 

[APJ]

APJ what is soil cultivation method in preparation for the tine drill

Mostly direct straight in to stubble, but can cope with conventional seed beds just as easy, it’s a very versatile drill. Very little disturbance when used dd.

 

[Philtolley]

Thank you everyone. You have certainly given a lot to think about. From what you all said. DD drill might not be the way solve the problem. I might have a look a cropping again before buying a drill which might not work.

another quick question. What the opinion on stubble rakes. The idea seems sound but the ones I’ve seen working leave a of trash on the headlands. Is a problem with them or these I’ve seen not quite set up right.

 

[Spud]

I had a similar conundrum a few years back.
Does your Fantera drill have cultivation discs in front? If so, remove them.

On your worst bg fields, cultivate them after harvest to remove any compaction and create a stale seedbed. Sow a thin cheap cover crop and leave it alone til early Feb. Spray off. Sow spring barley (or oats) with Fanterra with as little disturbance as possible in mid March when it warms up. Chuck all the fert on, roll & pre em.

Two consecutive spring crops will make more of a dent in BG populations than one. Resist the urge to stir it up too much afterwards.

A Claydon would be a big load on heavy land slopes with 150hp, and would move too much soil imo. They need speed to work well.

What's your crop rotation currently?

 

[David.]

Can't you get a neighbour to dd some for you as a trial?
My impression is that it might be a useful tool in certain circumstances, but certainly not suitable for all conditions. Seems to me that some of fields I see around seem to take three attempts to get a viable crop away, this being with Claydon, Misery, JD750, ie; the pick of the kit available.
A 3m Weaving GD will be £30k+ so you don't want to buy the wrong tool on a smallish acreage.
What occurs to me is that of you have BG problems, perfect ploughing in rotation, and then no disturbance drilling following a weed flush and Glyphosate haircut might be a way forward.
I am currently looking at a fairly clean plant of spring beans, in a field filthy with BG, drilled into a sprayed off overwinter stale seedbed, with a neighbour's 750.
If it remains relatively clean, I am minded to see if they will plant the following wheat. Seems mad to plough up another big slug of BG seed when there should be enough of a tilth behind the beans without any further undue disturbance.