has the DD forum lost its "bite"?

[franklin]

Problem is, I'd love to go DD, or min till, but can't afford the failures that I saw on land that had to be redrilled around here. At least my plough based, combi drill system, on my limited acreage and with a range of crops , often ploughing in muck, works year on year.
I have bought a shallow stubble cultivator to play around with on some fields this year.
I sometimes detect a bit of smugness with the non ploughing brigade about how well their crops look, forgetting to mention that last year a lot are on their second go, so to speak.

Looking at DD and conventional tillage failures around and including my own, I have come to the conclusion that any £££ of kit does not drive itself, and the failures were more often than not due to the idiot owners cracking on when they ought not to have. So combi-drilling wheat on the 8th March into some frost-mould over clart = stupid. Claydon drilling wheat into chocolate pudding when you could see inches of rain on the short-term forecast = stupid. Trying to plough a field on the frost which had had 20" of rain the the 4 month previous and still had the drains pouring = stupid.

Buying some mustard, spinning it on, getting something in the spring and leaving the wheat seed and kit in the shed after checking the cashflow = less stupid that redrilling for a third time in a season.

I love the DD forum. And I will do some more when the times are right.

 

[Feldspar]

I'm not sure I want to promote it ! Quite happy watching busy fools spend their money and maintaining a competitive advantage

So you're going to hide your success by growing poor and highly inconsistent crops then?!

 

[Clive]

So you're going to hide your success by growing poor and highly inconsistent crops then?!

I'm sure all I need is just that one field in a couple of thousand ac of crops to be sure everyone declares notill doesn't work !

 

[Chae1]

Their is no reason for farmers to promote it. Why should they? Machinery manufacturers will promote it.

 

[ianw]

Their is no reason for farmers to promote it. Why should they? Machinery manufacturers will promote it.

But why would they?let's take jd,go and buy a 150hp and a 750a longer lifespan due to less hours,apart from service/wearing parts where are they making money from?machinery makers need farmers to be on the high hp hamster wheel to keep selling you bigger and better tractors to pull kit and wearing parts,its not in there interest's to sell you a small drill and tractor as I have said elsewhere if jd,agco etc invented the perfect direct drill its akin to the razor which never blunts is it not?

 

[Chae1]

That's a good point. Never thought of that.

 

[Clive]

That's a good point. Never thought of that.

when JD started selling 750a in south america they saw massive drops in tractor sales - why else do you think its not promoted in the UK when its such a successful product ? they are not stupid and have been here before and learnt the lessons !

mintil and plough sells more tractors (more hrs) and at least 1 cultivator / plough for every drill sold - you are not going to see any manufacturers tell you to buy less


it goes deeper still - the input industry isn't keen on promotion of a technique that uses less of their products so they are not going to promote it either

you need to look to independent organisations like BASE-UK if you want an unbiased view of it all and forums like this where people are happy to share information

 

[Feldspar]

But why would they?let's take jd,go and buy a 150hp and a 750a longer lifespan due to less hours,apart from service/wearing parts where are they making money from?machinery makers need farmers to be on the high hp hamster wheel to keep selling you bigger and better tractors to pull kit and wearing parts,its not in there interest's to sell you a small drill and tractor as I have said elsewhere if jd,agco etc invented the perfect direct drill its akin to the razor which never blunts is it not?

Interestingly our local JD dealer now has a 750a out on demo as of this year and TAG are now doing a long term trial not far from me with a 750a whose results will obviously reach quite a wide audience. It may be that manufacturers have no choice but to go follow the tide.

 

[Clive]

Interestingly our local JD dealer now has a 750a out on demo as of this year and TAG are now doing a long term trial not far from me with a 750a whose results will obviously reach quite a wide audience. It may be that manufacturers have no choice but to go follow the tide.

Thats why the 750a still exists - they know from other countries that it's coming so want to be well placed when it does. However they want to delay that day as long as is possible and sell lots of HP in the mean time

 

[Bill Turtle]

This may also be the reason that JD have not made great efforts to improve their drill but leave it instead to aftermarket suppliers.

 

[doorknob]

I've learned that discussing dd/no-till vs. conventional till, falls in the same boat as discussing religion and politics anymore. That's too bad.

Clive, keep up the great work. When you have a separate dd page, at least it indicates that the majority of conversation should be about dd. In a general farming page, more arguments will start.

In my area, harvest is full throttle right now. Been thinking a lot about what I need to change on my planting rig for fall planting in a one pass method. May have to make it two passes in some of the fields. But I am sure looking forward to planting.

 

[Baling Hay]

I've learned that discussing dd/no-till vs. conventional till, falls in the same boat as discussing religion and politics anymore. That's too bad.

Clive, keep up the great work. When you have a separate dd page, at least it indicates that the majority of conversation should be about dd. In a general farming page, more arguments will start.

In my area, harvest is full throttle right now. Been thinking a lot about what I need to change on my planting rig for fall planting in a one pass method. May have to make it two passes in some of the fields. But I am sure looking forward to planting.

true.

 

[dontknowanything]

DD or the plough?

Was just repeating the kind of comment I've heard from people looking at their neighbours' systems

 

[Badshot]

Was just repeating the kind of comment I've heard from people looking at their neighbours' systems

Well I have been guilty of that in the past I guess, but my eyes are being opened by my own experiences now.

 

[Andrew K]

Interestingly our local John Deere dealer now has a 750a out on demo as of this year and TAG are now doing a long term trial not far from me with a 750a whose results will obviously reach quite a wide audience. It may be that manufacturers have no choice but to go follow the tide.

Which dealers that feldspar?

 

[Andrew K]

Clive,

The DD forum here is way more busy than BFF , this is THE place for DD discussion now, certainly in the UK anyway, so dont let anyone decry your efforts, they havent been wasted!

 

[Feldspar]

Which dealers that feldspar?

Ben Burgess.

 

[moretimeforgolf]

John Deere must be inundated with European orders for 750a drills. I ordered a 4m machine from my local Kent dealer at the start of April ...was told 3 months delivery ...now told that it won't be until sometime in September! Those neighbours across the Channel are now on holiday for a month, probably been on strike for the last two! I can't believe John Deere don't know long it takes to build a drill.