- Location
- Perthshire (It's a big place!)
Bear with me here,
At the moment we run a plough/press then power harrow drill system (6m with a front tank for the seed on the biggest tractor which is 270hp). For cover crops if its just a cereal we spin it on and then cultivate it in with a Lemken Karat. For more expensive stuff such as radish etc we cultivate with the Karat or a subsoiler, and then drill it. The cultivation would ideally be 12" deep to loosen compaction and let the cover crops get their roots down as far as possible. So I'm thinking I could get a 3m power harrow and one of those grange machinery toolbars, blow the seed from the front and then we'd be in business. This is in a rotation that has carrots and potatoes with cereals so the ground gets a hard time but I want to try and mitigate that as much as possible. All the straw is baled but is used on the place for the carrots.
My reasoning is;
1) a 3m should be pretty cheap and could be pulled at a reasonable lick behind 270hp even with a deep cultivation toolbar in between.
2) 1 pass with a 3m machine would still be quicker than a 3 or 4 metre cultivator and a 6m drill, the forward speed of the drill is limited by HP.
Any comments?
At the moment we run a plough/press then power harrow drill system (6m with a front tank for the seed on the biggest tractor which is 270hp). For cover crops if its just a cereal we spin it on and then cultivate it in with a Lemken Karat. For more expensive stuff such as radish etc we cultivate with the Karat or a subsoiler, and then drill it. The cultivation would ideally be 12" deep to loosen compaction and let the cover crops get their roots down as far as possible. So I'm thinking I could get a 3m power harrow and one of those grange machinery toolbars, blow the seed from the front and then we'd be in business. This is in a rotation that has carrots and potatoes with cereals so the ground gets a hard time but I want to try and mitigate that as much as possible. All the straw is baled but is used on the place for the carrots.
My reasoning is;
1) a 3m should be pretty cheap and could be pulled at a reasonable lick behind 270hp even with a deep cultivation toolbar in between.
2) 1 pass with a 3m machine would still be quicker than a 3 or 4 metre cultivator and a 6m drill, the forward speed of the drill is limited by HP.
Any comments?