Horsch or combi drill ?

[Davylad]

Having bought a Horsch pronto this season, it hasn’t been the year for it in my opinion ! We sowed the end of October and emergence on headlands has been patchy in some more than others! We didn’t Mick any of it in but maybe the answer is in the 3” of rain the following 7 days !!... But having always drilled with a combi /powerharrow I miss not having it anymore.... Any opinions welcome..

 

[Goffer]

don't think having a combi would make much difference to the headlands. turning around is a cultivation in itself sadly the more you play with soil the wetter itll become with or without a ph. after 12-14 inches of rain in 8 weeks nothing is much happy . we have measured 29 inch of rain so far in 2019, a lot of it after june this yr

 

[Brisel]

Some Rapid users swear by sowing the headlands last but I don't think it makes much difference, though I haven't seen their yield maps. My best establishing crops have always had a few days after drilling to haze off before rain. I think it improves soil moisture and air capacity but ere's not much you can do when the weather just doesn't play ball.

I'd put much of it down to the wet conditions and the fact that you're dragging a lot of metal over the headland turns, squeezing the life and soul out of the soil as you do so. Much less of a problem in dry soils that carry traffic much better.

 

[D14]

Having bought a Horsch pronto this season, it hasn’t been the year for it in my opinion ! We sowed the end of October and emergence on headlands has been patchy in some more than others! We didn’t Mick any of it in but maybe the answer is in the 3” of rain the following 7 days !!... But having always drilled with a combi /powerharrow I miss not having it anymore.... Any opinions welcome..

It’s a difficult one because combi drills ruin soil structure and generally are expensive to run in terms of labour, fuel and lots of tractor hours, but without doubt do work even in atrocious conditions. Our combi has never failed us in terms of establishing a crop.
Then on the other hand drills like the Pronto and Rapid are cheaper run due to their speed.

New combi drill prices are eye watering but still cheaper than new horsch and vaderstads. I know you shouldn’t make knee jerk decisions just because of one year like this one but I have to say I’m edging towards going back to tried and tested approach. We use muck and are rotating grass so in my head that offsets a combi drill battering the soil but others will disagree. What I do know is no planted crops means no harvest and no money!

 

[Fraserb]

It’s a difficult one because combi drills ruin soil structure and generally are expensive to run in terms of labour, fuel and lots of tractor hours, but without doubt do work even in atrocious conditions. Our combi has never failed us in terms of establishing a crop.
Then on the other hand drills like the Pronto and Rapid are cheaper run due to their speed.

New combi drill prices are eye watering but still cheaper than new horsch and vaderstads. I know you shouldn’t make knee jerk decisions just because of one year like this one but I have to say I’m edging towards going back to tried and tested approach. We use muck and are rotating grass so in my head that offsets a combi drill battering the soil but others will disagree. What I do know is no planted crops means no harvest and no money!

Slow the rotors down on the powerharrow and they can leave whatever finish you want.

 

[MrNoo]

A 2nd hand Combi stored at the back of the shed comes into it's own in a year like this, hardly break the bank buying one. I have ploughed/drilled the heart of the fields, using the headlands to turn then gone back and ploughed the headlands then drilled them.
I have a Vaddy that has sat in the shed but have noticed no difference in headlands first or last re establishment in a normal year although the headland tramline when spraying is more comfortable when drilled after the middle.

 

[Bobthebuilder]

do you work in front of pronto if so what with?

 

[Davylad]

Thanks lads for all the replies ... we had in our wisdom ploughed 400 acres by the 22 September thinking as dust left the boards and pressed with a simba unipress ... no headlands ploughed! But then 23 September came and 5” rain by October 27th ! We sowed for 3 days average hours and all sowed ! That’s the positive at the time!! 6” later and I’m not so happy! But also not realistic! ... my soil is classified as sand silt loam but when you have 3” rain post sowing in 7 days it turns to putty ... I guess being a would be perfectionist shows it seldom works when weather is outside your control! Sounds like you I’m whining, just a little disappointed! Merry Christmas to all .. cheers...D

 

[KB6930]

We bought a trailed drill with the aim of running it along with our existing 3m combi but quickly worked out it wasn't for us after patchy spring crop headlands etc so sold both for a 4m combi and after this backend it's been the right decision the combi might be a little slower than a trailed outfit but at least it's a one man operation

 

[Fraserb]

We bought a trailed drill with the aim of running it along with our existing 3m combi but quickly worked out it wasn't for us after patchy spring crop headlands etc so sold both for a 4m combi and after this backend it's been the right decision the combi might be a little slower than a trailed outfit but at least it's a one man operation

We had a trailed drill doing some bits at the start of this year, bought a second 4m combi to finish off with.

 

[snipe]

I think our horsch pronto will go when our amazon combi won’t. we can let the tractor tyres down to 8psi rather than 15psi so it treads very lightly. The pronto has superior coulters to the combi, so it might not be a fair comparison

 

[Davylad]

I don’t disagree with your opinion and definitely we need wider wheels going forward.. will probably dual up as it’s the most cost effective option.I still think or am a little surprised that ground that got a run twice has hardly put any plants... as in field corners ! The wheels on the pronto seem to compact more than I would have thought...

 

[Sandy]

I think our horsch pronto will go when our amazon combi won’t. we can let the tractor tyres down to 8psi rather than 15psi so it treads very lightly. The pronto has superior coulters to the combi, so it might not be a fair comparison

lemken have far better coulters than a pronto and am sorry the combi will go where the pronto will be hiding in the shed it’s a useless machines in the wet.

 

[quattro]

I think our horsch pronto will go when our amazon combi won’t. we can let the tractor tyres down to 8psi rather than 15psi so it treads very lightly. The pronto has superior coulters to the combi, so it might not be a fair comparison

There’s a lot of trailed drills been swapped up here by people going back to power Harrow drills
for one reason only!!!

 

[Sandy]

There’s a lot of trailed drills been swapped up here by people going back to power Harrow drills
for one reason only!!!

I’m 1 of them I didn’t shed a tear when it was loaded up

 

[David.]

It is a pretty ex optional year, and if I read it right that OP has got 400ac October drilled, albeit with a few patchy headlands, I'd take that; so would plenty others.
I assume that the Horsch has full width consolidation tyres, upon which it travels on the road? If so, I reckon that would just about rule it out for me, farming as we do a lot of busy A road frontage. How do you lose the mud?

 

[Davylad]

Fair enough David.... I’m a little OCD about crops emerging and I guess we’ve been spoiled the last few years ! I do know we’d only have half the acres sown with a 3 mtr in the same 3 days end of October! I’d also make the point I’ve never seen an autumn from September 23 to current date with a decent few drying days , so maybe ...! A lot of people here switched or have bought combi drills and left trailed in shed ..However I didn’t think the tyres on the drill would add to compaction ! Thanks

 

[David.]

I dont see it as either/or tbh, there will always be an exceptional year. Another year you will drill everything nicely and wonder why you blew all that diesel up the chimney combi drilling.
Wheel compaction is a funny thing, I think on top after the drill is worse; the field that always gives us trouble in a very wet year has emerged well from combi drilling, but has ATV wheelings from a dose of slug pellets, with not a single plant in them...

 

[KB6930]

I dont see it as either/or tbh, there will always be an exceptional year. Another year you will drill everything nicely and wonder why you blew all that diesel up the chimney combi drilling.
Wheel compaction is a funny thing, I think on top after the drill is worse; the field that always gives us trouble in a very wet year has emerged well from combi drilling, but has ATV wheelings from a dose of slug pellets, with not a single plant in them...

I can't understand why people say combi drilling is fuel hungry pulling a cultivator over then a drill isn't a lit if any better and usually ties up 2 people

 

[D14]

I can't understand why people say combi drilling is fuel hungry pulling a cultivator over then a drill isn't a lit if any better and usually ties up 2 people

On our4m kuhn combi our drill tractor (vario) uses 30l/hour and generally it covers 1ha/hour as an average.
On our 4m Horsch the same tractor uses 18l/hour and it covers 3.5ha/hour.
The cultivation for both drills is a shallow disc/press and a rotational subsoil as and when required. In labour and fuel alone the combi is around £20/ha more expensive and that’s without taking into account the extra depreciation on the tractor due to 3 times more hours. So on say 400ha it’s a lot extra.