Drilling Spring Barley with a Claydon SR

[JCfarmer]

I have just bought one off a forum member and looking to direct drill some but not all the spring barley with it. We farm some reasonably fertile sandy land away from the farm, it was winter wheat last year and has had some cattle running on the stubble over winter. Going to spray it off and hopefully drill straight into it. How deep should I run the leading leg bearing in mind cattle have been on the stubble, what drill share would you recommend and should I use the press wheels or not bother with them just roll?
And when to start drilling, not too early with the claydon?
Thanks in advance, advice and experiences welcome.

 

[Devon James]

I have just bought one off a forum member and looking to direct drill some but not all the spring barley with it. We farm some reasonably fertile sandy land away from the farm, it was winter wheat last year and has had some cattle running on the stubble over winter. Going to spray it off and hopefully drill straight into it. How deep should I run the leading leg bearing in mind cattle have been on the stubble, what drill share would you recommend and should I use the press wheels or not bother with them just roll?
And when to start drilling, not too early with the claydon?
Thanks in advance, advice and experiences welcome.

You will be limited by how much soil is moved by the front tine to how deep you can set it. Don't be tempted to run it too deep. It's a drill not a subsoiler. If compaction is at depth it will be better to sort that with a separate subsoilers pass. If the cattle have poached the ground a little I would go in front of the drill with a shallow cultivation pass to level.

I would use 5 inch A shares. Less chance of soil throw over the rear set of coulters than with 7 inch, easier to set up

We used the SR with press wheels in place. Found it made the drill 'sit up' and easier to control the depth.

A good result in SB from memory was planting very shallow and then knocking the ridges over the seed with a spring tine the next day. Gave lovely tilth and warm soil before rolling

Biggest c*** up was planting SB too early, probably in 2008 the first spring with the drill. What I learnt from that was the advantage of DD is not loosing moisture through excessive cultivation so can wait for perfect conditions.

FWIW

 

[Brisel]

The use of a spade will tell you how deep you need to go. I'd avoid the press wheels unless you're kicking up dust and the forecast is dry too. Let it rest for 48 hours after drilling then roll. You can't force drilling too early - I did this last year out of frustration & it cost me 0.5 t/ha for the sake of waiting 2 days. When it's too wet the paddles will bung up anyway.

 

[JCfarmer]

This land I am on about drilling with sp barley is far enough from the farm so it is not kept a close eye on as some. I have a concern over pigeons, not so much at drilling but when the crop is nearly ripe and pigeons fly in to knock it down. Is this going to be worse in wider rows compared to 150mm row widths, brackling with sp barley also a concern?

 

[Rob.89]

I drilled some spring barley with my SR yesterday and rolled in today, as far as set up I put the front tine in between 4-5 inches and just buried the seed into filth and levelled over using the rear paddles.

It went into a oat / vetch cover, it didn’t look the tidiest as I was drilling it but made all the difference after a rolling.

I will endeavour to attach photos of what it went in like pre rolling from the drill.