Disc or tine...?

Dan Powell

Member
Location
Shropshire
I'm thinking of selling my Kuhn SD3000 and replacing with a Simtech T-Sem. Am I mad?

Here's why:
  • I'm not convinced the Kuhn is versatile enough for the way I farm and will continue to farm in the short to medium term...
  • We will be baling cereal straw and replacing with FYM/compost.
  • We won't be able to do controlled traffic as lack the scale.
  • We will continue to till, albeit less, where we think necessary e.g. before and after beet.
  • A Simtech or similar versatile tine drill will allow us to direct drill where possible and put in cover crops at low cost as well as being an adequate min-till drill.
On the other hand all the interesting developments talked about on this forum and at the BASE meetings seem to revolve around ultra low disturbance drilling. I'm thinking companion cropping, sowing into massive cover crops etc. I don't think the Simtech can do this...?
Any helpful advice? Or sensible offers for a Kuhn SD3000P in very good condition? Keeping two drills not an option at the moment.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
There is no right answer ! sometimes a disc is best and sometimes a tine is best !

Keeping both is the ideal but you say that's not an option

If your going to use cover crops much I suspect you would miss the disc drill pretty soon
 

Dan Powell

Member
Location
Shropshire
Dan, I thought you had a comparative test against a Duncan on drilling stubble turnips into stubble last autumn? I thought the Kuhn did a better job in that particular case? I am therefore a little surprised to read your thoughts above.
Yes the Kuhn did a better job, but mainly due to the rain that followed. We went in very shallow whereas the Duncan possibly went too deep and the seed drowned in the slot. Both look pretty crap now. The downside to the Simtech and Duncan is that they can't follow contours so seed depth has to be a compromise.
 
Dan, I thought you had a comparative test against a Duncan on drilling stubble turnips into stubble last autumn? I thought the Kuhn did a better job in that particular case? I am therefore a little surprised to read your thoughts above.

Ploughman - A bloke from Aber Uni came to visit me today and they are doing some trial work with an Ecoseeder and wanted to speak to a chap with a Duncan. Can I get him to call you if he needs?
 

Dan Powell

Member
Location
Shropshire
No i don't think your mad, a kuhn triple disc is an unwieldy thing. I think in your situation a simtech is a good step. Possibly throw a cheap moore into the equation, its no JD750 but its ok when conditions are right.

fodder beet DD may come one day but its not quite right yet and so I know you don't want to give that up.
I have a cunning plan for fodder beet DD that may make it feasible. It involves fodder radish, GPS autosteer and a shallow home made strip till rig. Possibly. Still thinking on it. Works in my head, but reality is another matter:)
 

stroller

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Somerset UK
After meeting the JD rep last week, when he called in 'cold calling' as I'm not a customer, and mentioning I would like to go DD eventually, a quote for a new 750A arrived in the post today, £35000 for a 3m :wideyed:. ISO bus and weights extra, I'd better start saving!
 

Fuzzy

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
I'm thinking of selling my Kuhn SD3000 and replacing with a Simtech T-Sem. Am I mad?

Here's why:
  • I'm not convinced the Kuhn is versatile enough for the way I farm and will continue to farm in the short to medium term...
  • We will be baling cereal straw and replacing with FYM/compost.
  • We won't be able to do controlled traffic as lack the scale.
  • We will continue to till, albeit less, where we think necessary e.g. before and after beet.
  • A Simtech or similar versatile tine drill will allow us to direct drill where possible and put in cover crops at low cost as well as being an adequate min-till drill.
On the other hand all the interesting developments talked about on this forum and at the BASE meetings seem to revolve around ultra low disturbance drilling. I'm thinking companion cropping, sowing into massive cover crops etc. I don't think the Simtech can do this...?

Any helpful advice? Or sensible offers for a Kuhn SD3000P in very good condition? Keeping two drills not an option at the moment.
I would have thought the Kuhn is the ideal drill for drilling into cover crops.... what do you not like about the kuhn drill ??
 

Elmsted

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Bucharest
I will always remember Jim Bullocks picture of a disc drill working in standing mustard above the height of the tractor bonnet.
 
In NZ I'm dealing with trash more often. Since buying a disc drill we've done about 95% of our drilling with it. Only place we won't take it is really steep country.
Don't want to tip a $100 k drill versus a $50 k renovator. Don't think the hanger arms of the disc drill like huge side loading all the time so it will make it last longer too.
 

Dan Powell

Member
Location
Shropshire
I would have thought the Kuhn is the ideal drill for drilling into cover crops.... what do you not like about the kuhn drill ??

I like the drill. It works just fine when conditions are suitable for direct drilling and it should drill happily into standing cover crops. Just not sure if it's versatile enough for what I want to do. It's a very heavy drill, and as such won't work in a min till situation unless the seed bed is very well consolidated after cultivations. A light weight tine drill that can DD as well may suit me better. Haven't decided yet.

I'm inclined not to sell yet until I work out exactly what my system will be, but that means another drill and I'm not sure it can be justified.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,292
  • 1
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/
Top