Drainage

[Colin]

Does anyone on here do their own drainage with a trenchless system?
We have some flattish areas needing done, our current contractor only uses excavators and there is not much fall, also even with the narrowest buckets we go through a lot more gravel than is absolutely necessary. However although we could get someone with a trenchless machine in there is maybe only 1000m to do just now so not a huge job. So has anyone used a tractor drawn plough for this type of job?
An excavator would be ok and would enable us to tie in existing drains but a lot of the fields are running sand and we always end up with huge trenches in order to get to the depth required, so if we used a trenchless machine we would travel up to the plough layer which should catch all the existing drains anyway.
Any thoughts?

 

[Magnificent Earwig]

didn't @Badshot make his own machine?

 

[Badshot]

Yes I did, very easy but it needs natural fall, if it's pretty flat it won't work.

 

[Magnificent Earwig]

thinking about it, i reckon @Knockie posted a photo of one he has/had to go behind his quadtrac.

 

[Steevo]

where are you @Colin?

 

[Colin]

Perthshire

 

[stuart]

Wasn't it @Zetor

 

[Magnificent Earwig]

Wasn't it @Zetor

i think @Zetor did have something too.

 

[Badshot]

knockie has one he has adapted.

 

[Knockie]

Hi Colin, aye I've been playing about with an old Barth machine for a while now and I'm very close to getting the machine in the ground. I've got lots of bits needing drained and like you don't want to pull in a contractor or use a digger, like you say the cost of gravel would be excessive with a wider trench.
It amazes me that more farmers aren't looking into doing more themselves as there the technology is already there on many farms RTK,high horsepower tractors etc.
If you look at the US lots of farmers are doing their own drainage and nearly all would say its giving them the highest return on investment of money spent on their farms.
I think the reason more farmers are doing it themselves is that RTK grade control is so simple, making the work of surveys, levels and design something the farmer can do himself.
I'm using a system called intellislope on my machine to control grade which can be used on many makes of machine and bought it direct from the US a couple of years back, since I bought it the company has been bought by AgLeader so I now have backup in the UK.
The company also build plows both mounted and trailed.
http://soilmax.com

 

[Colin]

What sort of puff would you need, or just loads of weight?

 

[Knockie]

Traction is the thing, quad is limited hp in 1st and 2nd I'm sure. You often see guys hooking up a second tractor when traction is a problem.
SD

 

[Knockie]

Forgot to say, A M Phillip are selling the AT mounted trenchers and were keen to try out the intellislope on one.
SD

 

[Colin]

Forgot to say, A M Phillip are selling the AT mounted trenchers and were keen to try out the intellislope on one.
SD

Thanks for that, I will maybe give them a call, even a trencher would be better than a bucket, then it could be done in crop in dry(er) conditions and we could afford to use more gravel and put in closer runs, only problem with all these machines would be if they hit big stones! The worry would be if there were old drains but if plenty gravel was used then I can't see it being a problem. I have one particular area that isn't under drained as it is very sandy, however it floods every year and it is a bowl so the water sits ther and kills the crop even when the river goes down, but it is a very fla run and I don't think the excavator could keep it to the right grade.

 

[Knockie]

Totally agree, it's all about getting rid of big volumes quickly after the 2" a day downpours, if you run closer might get away with 80mm pipe too.
I'm planning to pre rip with a single leg to reduce draft and find the big boulders which can then be removed pre pipe installation.
Give Simon Dodds at Phillips a call and give him a wind up from me too
SD

 

[KennyO]

D M Carnegie bought an ATF tractor mounted trencher last year. I'm sure they would travel down your way for a big job.
We have mostly used a contractor with a tracked mastenbrook for big jobs or our own digger for little bits. Trenches will dig out or move some fairly large stones.

 

[Colin]

Totally agree, it's all about getting rid of big volumes quickly after the 2" a day downpours, if you run closer might get away with 80mm pipe too.
I'm planning to pre rip with a single leg to reduce draft and find the big boulders which can then be removed pre pipe installation.
Give Simon Dodds at Phillips a call and give him a wind up from me too
SD

The bit that's a bowl is maybe only an acre but in the past 6 years we have lost any winter cereals that have been sown there and the potatoes ended up rotting in 2012 so it would add up.

 

[miniconnect]

How about, seeing it isn't a big area, why not a 6inch pipe to the river or wherever into the lowest point of the bowl and bring it up to the surface. we T'd into a 6inch leader for the same reason, inserted t-piece, 6inch twinwall to just above surface, placed a barrel with both ends cut out around that, filled that with 40mm Gravel, and a bit of mesh to cap the open pipe.
The pipe coming to surface was twinwall with the slits enlarged using a grinder.

That way you save a lot of gravel and a lot of metres of pipe, because surely the sand drains fast anyway, you just need to get the water off the surface fast?

Could get pic to explain if it helps?

 

[Steevo]

Forgot to say, A M Phillip are selling the AT mounted trenchers and were keen to try out the intellislope on one.
SD

What sort of money is intellislope to add to a machine please?

 

[Colin]

How about, seeing it isn't a big area, why not a 6inch pipe to the river or wherever into the lowest point of the bowl and bring it up to the surface. we T'd into a 6inch leader for the same reason, inserted t-piece, 6inch twinwall to just above surface, placed a barrel with both ends cut out around that, filled that with 40mm Gravel, and a bit of mesh to cap the open pipe.
The pipe coming to surface was twinwall with the slits enlarged using a grinder.

That way you save a lot of gravel and a lot of metres of pipe, because surely the sand drains fast anyway, you just need to get the water off the surface fast?

Could get pic to explain if it helps?

That's kind of what I was thinking of doing, the surface just seals over so it just needs to be drained off the surface quickly.