Direct tine drill build

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
So finished harvest last night.

So the main question is did the drill do what i wanted. Yes absolutely, however have learnt a few things.

Firstly Spring 2021 was drier than 2020 for March and April to mid May, which i wasn;t expecting but we had much better crop stands with less rain.

On medium land its pretty bomb proof.

On heavy land I went a bit early with one field of barley and should have let it dry a bit longer and gone later in April, it also takes a bit more managing.

On heavy land in spring it can go a bit deep with seed as you get very little tilth behind the leg as the soil hasn't dried much yet so it blows to the bottom of the slot so i would go shallower than planned.

Slugs can still be a pain in the butt, they got into the spring wheat and hollowed a bit and also had a go at some spring barley where it was very dry. So need to keep a bit closer eye on this.

It is much more moisture sensitive/compaction senstive where we have water issues, I was hoping getting a crop into heavy land and leaving it would get it sorted but i have had to use the above metcalf legs to give it some assistance. Not really a drill issue but a function of having to very wet years and not a real good soil cracking dry at the right time of year. I am also adding a few bits of extra drains into areas at risk.

Will be using it for all winter crops this year, including beans and some vetch and black oat cover crops ahead of spring barley.

Will probably post a few pics in here but hopefuly this years journey has given a few people ideas and things to watch out for, and how to have a go at direct drilling for a relatively small budget.
 
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Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
Just to add, i think any rain in April would have masked these issues so although it probably cost us a bit this season hopefully we are better prepared the next time
 

KennyO

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Angus
How have things gone with your drilling autum 2021 and this spring @Wombat .

I keep looking at an old chisel plough that we have inherited and wondered about doing something similar.

Do you think the tine holders could be adapted for fitting 100mm diamond box frame?
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
Spot on, now done 2 full autumns and spring. Here are some from autumn 2021


winter crops

727E0816-6F71-4586-8311-B50FADD4341F.jpeg


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These are roughly chronological to a few weeks ago for both winter wheat and beans . Was going to get some upto date winter crops this week.

spring wheat taken yesterday


7FD1CD54-DE2C-4437-B3B9-6A6424C6975B.jpeg


spring barley is a bit more off piste :) one into stubble turnips, one into a vetch/wheat/Bg/oats cover, both coming fine hrougb

67BDB46C-DB22-4CD9-9C2E-7FEFCE33B5DB.jpeg

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CEC4EFE9-569B-4D7B-8FA4-772B552EE4D1.jpeg
 

bobk

Member
Location
stafford
Spot on, now done 2 full autumns and spring. Here are some from autumn 2021


winter crops

View attachment 1028795

View attachment 1028797
View attachment 1028798

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View attachment 1028800

View attachment 1028801
These are roughly chronological to a few weeks ago for both winter wheat and beans . Was going to get some upto date winter crops this week.

spring wheat taken yesterday


View attachment 1028803

spring barley is a bit more off piste :) one into stubble turnips, one into a vetch/wheat/Bg/oats cover, both coming fine hrougb

View attachment 1028804
View attachment 1028806
View attachment 1028807

View attachment 1028808
Lads land
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
1298A0DF-67E7-4732-9F6E-17E10BE42F50.jpeg

This is a lighter bit than the wheat and beans pics taken 13th Oct 2017. It balls up in the end tow and stops the wheel just on the moisture of what was previously drilled if not drying behind you
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
How have things gone with your drilling autum 2021 and this spring @Wombat .

I keep looking at an old chisel plough that we have inherited and wondered about doing something similar.

Do you think the tine holders could be adapted for fitting 100mm diamond box frame?

I think it would be a lot of work as they are designed for the rubber tubes, i know it sounds a bit odd but i think converting would be nearly as much work as my build time. If you get someone to laser profile it really isn;t that bad. For me on heavy land i wouldn't want to go anywider tine as even the 12mm can slot here at the wrong time
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
I think the funniest thing is dad, he thinks its great but does shake his head a lot when i go into fields like the turnips and drop it in and off you go. As he says its quite an odd thing when for 60yrs you have been given ideas how it should be done then this flips it on its head.

The other part for us this last year was swapping our 3 legged flatlift to metcalf NG legs, Some of ours did need a loosen after the wet of the previous 2 years, we stalled 165hp with 3 legs multiple times last autumn but i think it really helped get water away.

I will try and get some more photos this week inculding the amount of fibre there is in some bits of topsoil now.
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
What’s your rotation?
To be honest its a bit all over the place, we only have 12acres of light land and a load of permenant grass we cannot move so the light stuff often has some roots then spring barley. The rest is wheat and beans with some continuous cereals.

The spring barley into the vetch/oats/bg/wheat has too much BG in it so it will go something like SB,SB, Winter beans, wheat
 

Wombat

Member
BASIS
Location
East yorks
This gleam looks a bit scruffy as there is some spring wheat come in it hence the different heights, no issue as it all goes in the feed heap

9BB64608-B885-45A9-BBEF-2BEFD9137987.jpeg
 
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