Have any of the religious direct drillers been ploughing or tilling this time?
- Thread starter JCfarmer
- Start date
- Location
- East meath/dublin
God be with the days, when you set up the scribe markers on the 30 with a tape measure and then planted the front wheel on the mark . Never seen any misses and tramlines were always 12 metres. Provoided that the driver could actually drive of course!! Auto steer is fine but please dont say that it beats a good man in the seat !!As Brisel says, sharing views is what TFF is all about.
The thread took this direction in response to the statement "90% of new Agricultural Technology is sold to us to solve a problem that doesn't actually exist". My point was that most of the justification for spending money on autosteer is vastly exaggerated, as shown on posts above.
I do see the benefits of it, but I feel that many farmers have been misled by salesmen into investing more than they will ever get back.
Very wide kit doing big areas, high value crops, contract spraying, may see a viable return. Lexion 1000 above says 100 acres, I think it would be well over 1000.
Incorrect tramline widths ? the drill driver should have been doing their job properly.
Throw in the time lost to tractors hitting in field trees or telegraph poles because the driver was on social media instead of looking where they were going, or just awaiting repair ( a farmer I know could not steer a tractor manually when the autosteer packed up, loosing 4 days, awaiting repair ).
I'm not a denier, I just think that too many people are spending too much money solving a problem that is not as big as they are led to beleive.
But if they are the toys you choose, that's up to you.
Horses for courses
On a small scale, GPS isn’t worth spending £££ on. A good operator will also mean the savings from the tech will be less. Put an ordinary operator on thousands of acres and the return on the investment soon looks a lot better. As you say, horses for courses.
Rtk will always best a man in a seat. No one can drive at bang on 2cm accuracy for 14 hours a day, no one.
drivers now just have a different set of skills, rather than being great at driving in a straight line they can get the most out of a gps system and other technology on the machines. You can also put an inexperienced driver on a drill for the first time and you get dread straight lines also allowing them to concentrate on seed rates, blockages etc.
Times and needs change, being able to drive in a straight line is no longer a skill that is needed.
Just like scything, stooking or ploughing
Yes exactly. I happily admit I can’t drive in a straight line, but it’s not a skill I want or need to learn.
Never say never. Auto steer is brilliant mind and I dislike having to steer on one of our tractors.
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I’m sure I could manage to get by!
yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
Using gps
not having the cost of markers and tramline shut offs pays most of the capital cost
maintenance on markers is also costly
Working skip runs makes turns quicker and leaves the tractor back at the gate on smaller fields
on a sprayer and Fert spreader the ferliser and spray saving for auto shut off pays for the cost in the first year
spreading Fert on rig and furrow grass is miles more accurate just drive down the ridges and width is set by gps no driving one wheel on top other in furrow
overlaps Are avoided in gores that reduce double Fert laid patches
but the biggest benefit is running controlled traffic and only unloading trailers allowed on tramlines
when we ploughEd and multicultivated in the 80s the tech we have now would have been a 25% reducation in cultivation
not having the cost of markers and tramline shut offs pays most of the capital cost
maintenance on markers is also costly
Working skip runs makes turns quicker and leaves the tractor back at the gate on smaller fields
on a sprayer and Fert spreader the ferliser and spray saving for auto shut off pays for the cost in the first year
spreading Fert on rig and furrow grass is miles more accurate just drive down the ridges and width is set by gps no driving one wheel on top other in furrow
overlaps Are avoided in gores that reduce double Fert laid patches
but the biggest benefit is running controlled traffic and only unloading trailers allowed on tramlines
when we ploughEd and multicultivated in the 80s the tech we have now would have been a 25% reducation in cultivation
Agree especially on the controlled traffic. Our trailers only unload on the main 36m tramline 95% of the time. Long auger on the combine reaches. We only traffic 18% of the field, no compaction means no deep tillage.
If you doubt the justification for auto steer you have never used it. Second hand systems are very affordable these days. We auto steered an old tractor for £1500.
YELROM
Member
- Location
- North Yorkshire
What second hand system would you get for that sort of money?
It