It's also here!

[Daniel]

Bring it on @B&B Pig Man!



I'm putting this down to the power of TFF, a recommendation on here, I've forgotten which member suggested we demo one. Next thing you know the ploughs been abandoned and a 2nd hand Claydon sits in the shed!

 

[nick channer]

Bring it on @B&B Pig Man!

View attachment 37298

I'm putting this down to the power of TFF, a recommendation on here, I've forgotten which member suggested we demo one. Next thing you know the ploughs been abandoned and a 2nd hand Claydon sits in the shed!

How many acres you likely to drill in season with the claydon.
Are you gonna dd everything..
Min till previously???
Have to say our winter barley dd'd for the 3 rd time but min tilled for 6 yrs previous is far far better looking at min than that that was drilled after being ploughed last spring.

 

[marco]

Jesus theres nothing to them really is there? Best of luck with it.

 

[rob1]

Jesus theres nothing to them really is there? Best of luck with it.

Thats part of the atraction not many bits to go wrong KISS at work

 

[Daniel]

Jesus theres nothing to them really is there? Best of luck with it.

You do wonder where all the cost is!

 

[Daniel]

How many acres you likely to drill in season with the claydon.
Are you gonna dd everything..
Min till previously???
Have to say our winter barley dd'd for the 3 rd time but min tilled for 6 yrs previous is far far better looking at min than that that was drilled after being ploughed last spring.

Only a couple of hundred, its in a rotation with linseed, beet and spuds and we keep getting caught out with rain after spuds, and to a lesser extent beet, the harvesters on terra tyres compact it, it rains within the next couple of days before its pulled up and ploughed and so can't get on with the plough, rains more, wet spots get worse etc. This drill can almost follow the harvester and then forget about it.

Everythings been ploughed annually, and spuds will still need the plough, beet maybe discs and powerharrow, its kind fen soil but this is the unknown really. Everyone locally ploughs everything every year so someone had to try it!

Its definitely a luxury on our acreage, but i'm happy to do some drilling or hire it out for any locals that see it and fancy a try, otherwise over 10 years or so it still wont owe us much if its saves on the ploughing.

The idea is to DD with it, although Dad hasn't quite got his head around the concept I fear, as this afternoon he wanted to know when I was going to plough the fields that are coming in for linseed, erm.......

 

[E_B]

Looks in fine condition from the photo. Can batterboards be retrospectively fitted in addition to the green rake tines incase you find you aren't getting adequate seed coverage? Handy that you are so close to the Claydon farm if you want to get things sorted on the drill or if you want them to come out and give you some guidance.

I'm not that far from you, and although we don't direct drill (except for turnips, grass, min till behind maize on light land etc) I have a keen interest. We farm a small block of severely heavy clay that if we remain there long term I would strongly consider going the strip till route, if nothing else to see if we could get away with it. We have this year stopped growing sugar beet because of the almighty mess the contractors make when they turn up at the wettest time. I spent most of late November and December pulling three furrows with 300hp. And that was a job in places. Currently on the third pass of the power harrow to try and get some spring barley in, it's like concrete now.

With such difficult land it makes you wonder if we can get away with strip tillage. We are mainly a dairy farm so my idea of a rotation would be grass, oats, wheat repeated. The grass as a starting point to get the root structure and organic matter in place, and use that time as an opportunity to do some serious mole ploughing and extra land drains. Clear the bales soon as possible after our second cut, spray off and in with oats by mid September. Possibly preceeding the drilling with a minimal disturbance flat-lift if required. After harvesting oats next summer, clear bales, rake, spray off, in with wheat by mid September again if possible. Oats before wheat in the rotation because the oat volunteers can be controlled with Atlantis but not vice versa from what I gather from my father (still learning about spraying); the trade-off being sacrificing usually high wheat yields after grass. But hopefully that wouldn't be too painful. And then back to grass again and repeat.

Anyway point of all that is I'm very interested in how your dabble with it goes, keep us posted!

Couple questions:

What sort of land type is the drill going to be used on mainly? If heavy stuff, how well drained is it?
Do you have a straw rake or does your rotation mean you don't need to worry about it?

 

[Daniel]

Looks in fine condition from the photo. Can batterboards be retrospectively fitted in addition to the green rake tines incase you find you aren't getting adequate seed coverage? Handy that you are so close to the Claydon farm if you want to get things sorted on the drill or if you want them to come out and give you some guidance.

I'm not that far from you, and although we don't direct drill (except for turnips, grass, min till behind maize on light land etc) I have a keen interest. We farm a small block of severely heavy clay that if we remain there long term I would strongly consider going the strip till route, if nothing else to see if we could get away with it. We have this year stopped growing sugar beet because of the almighty mess the contractors make when they turn up at the wettest time. I spent most of late November and December pulling three furrows with 300hp. And that was a job in places. Currently on the third pass of the power harrow to try and get some spring barley in, it's like concrete now.

With such difficult land it makes you wonder if we can get away with strip tillage. We are mainly a dairy farm so my idea of a rotation would be grass, oats, wheat repeated. The grass as a starting point to get the root structure and organic matter in place, and use that time as an opportunity to do some serious mole ploughing and extra land drains. Clear the bales soon as possible after our second cut, spray off and in with oats by mid September. Possibly preceeding the drilling with a minimal disturbance flat-lift if required. After harvesting oats next summer, clear bales, rake, spray off, in with wheat by mid September again if possible. Oats before wheat in the rotation because the oat volunteers can be controlled with Atlantis but not vice versa from what I gather from my father (still learning about spraying); the trade-off being sacrificing usually high wheat yields after grass. But hopefully that wouldn't be too painful. And then back to grass again and repeat.

Anyway point of all that is I'm very interested in how your dabble with it goes, keep us posted!

Couple questions:

What sort of land type is the drill going to be used on mainly? If heavy stuff, how well drained is it?
Do you have a straw rake or does your rotation mean you don't need to worry about it?

Yes the extras can be added, we'll see how we go but I think we might want them in the autumn when its wetter.

Its light land not proper fen peat, more a loam but would have been peat maybe a century ago, the odd heavier bit, but a proper heavy land farmer would laugh at us for calling it heavy.

No straw rake and it would only be needed on wheat going into linseed and vice versa I think, we wont be spending any more money on one i don't think, it will be cheaper just to burn slightly more time and diesel tickling it with either a spring tine harrow or a konigskilde delta, tine/disc thingy, germinate then roundup and Claydon.

If you're not miles away happy to come and try a bit, better still from your point of view would be to ring Claydons and speak to Charlie who will lend you one to have a play with for free! (Other strip till drills are available, but this ones closest to collect with a tractor and you get to nose round the factory and their farm!)

 

[E_B]

Yes the extras can be added, we'll see how we go but I think we might want them in the autumn when its wetter.

Its light land not proper fen peat, more a loam but would have been peat maybe a century ago, the odd heavier bit, but a proper heavy land farmer would laugh at us for calling it heavy.

No straw rake and it would only be needed on wheat going into linseed and vice versa I think, we wont be spending any more money on one i don't think, it will be cheaper just to burn slightly more time and diesel tickling it with either a spring tine harrow or a konigskilde delta, tine/disc thingy, germinate then roundup and Claydon.

If you're not miles away happy to come and try a bit, better still from your point of view would be to ring Claydons and speak to Charlie who will lend you one to have a play with for free! (Other strip till drills are available, but this ones closest to collect with a tractor and you get to nose round the factory and their farm!)

Thank you very much, very kind of you. I have actually been round the factory and farm earlier this year, was a very interesting afternoon, and everyone there was very good to us with their time especially as we weren't close to purchasing anything but merely gathering info. Our strip-till venture, if it ever happens, is still a while away yet due to a number of reasons but by that time we should be well prepared at least! Also one of our neighbours has a Hybrid, but I like canvassing thoughts from as many users as possible.

Sounds like your farm should suit the Claydon well, hope it all goes to plan, do keep us updated. I must admit I'm quite entertained by the thought of your dad's confusion about your plans, fingers crossed he gets fully onboard!

 

[Niels]

@Daniel Nice to see you've taken the plunge. Very interested in how you get on after potatoes and beet. What is your plan for establishing a crop behind those crops? Try and lift them in the dry and then drill straight into the stubble or first loosen the field? There's quite some weight going over it of course.

Maybe if you've seen or used the straw rake you it might be to your use after all. It's cheaper than a light cultivation or discing, plus you could even use it in the autumn as an extra pass to cover the seed. Think they have a 3m left which isn't a lot of money and brand new.

 

[Daniel]

@Daniel Nice to see you've taken the plunge. Very interested in how you get on after potatoes and beet. What is your plan for establishing a crop behind those crops? Try and lift them in the dry and then drill straight into the stubble or first loosen the field? There's quite some weight going over it of course.

Maybe if you've seen or used the straw rake you it might be to your use after all. It's cheaper than a light cultivation or discing, plus you could even use it in the autumn as an extra pass to cover the seed. Think they have a 3m left which isn't a lot of money and brand new.

The potato fields will be levelled, either with the potato contractors front disc/sumo trio combo or our own konigskilde delta. Then Claydon'd. The depth wheels on the Claydon may need some scrapers making up to stop them picking up loose soil. The chap who rents our land for potatoes covers a large area so getting them all lifted in the dry isn't always an option, some of his farms are going to have to lump it!

With the sugar beet as the fields haven't been irrigated and the harvester sort of crabs down the field sideways on terra tyres, and the trailers are on flotations so it leaves the field rolled quite flat. The headlands will need levelling though.

It will be trial and error!

 

[kneedeep]

You do wonder where all the cost is!

Thought it wad just me.
Looked at this wonder machine on a rare foray to cereals, about 4years ago, couldn't get past seeing a drill sat on top of a cultivator, simple, robust, drill.
Then chatted to a gent on the stand, told us the pice!!!!!!!!!
I thought for that money they'd chuck the tractor in too.
Looking at the mzuri, there seemed a lot more engineering involved.
Probably more to wear out though,
Good job I'm a livestock slave

I'll persevere with my shakeratorand £1500 combi, sowing my little patch when it's fit to drill, dreaming of being a barley baron, farming thousands of acres, controlled by computers and spreadsheetsthen watching it p#ss down every day in August as it seems to do more and more.
Bloody hell, the cattle job doesn't seem so bad after all

 

[Niels]

The potato fields will be levelled, either with the potato contractors front disc/sumo trio combo or our own konigskilde delta. Then Claydon'd. The depth wheels on the Claydon may need some scrapers making up to stop them picking up loose soil. The chap who rents our land for potatoes covers a large area so getting them all lifted in the dry isn't always an option, some of his farms are going to have to lump it!

With the sugar beet as the fields haven't been irrigated and the harvester sort of crabs down the field sideways on terra tyres, and the trailers are on flotations so it leaves the field rolled quite flat. The headlands will need levelling though.

It will be trial and error!

Ok, I see thanks! Hopefully I can come and see your achievements with my own eyes in the future. Are you not afraid the drill will sink in to deep when it's loosened like that or will you carry it in the hitch?
If the beet land is level and rolled down flat that's an advantage but it also means compaction from the machinery is widespread? I can already start seeing last years wheelings (combine, sprayer, baler) in rape and wheat crops that were Claydon drilled. Due to the dry spring those patches stop growing whilst the rest keeps going. Shows how important weight is and patience to go out there. The people that have waited with the combine have made less wheelings and also saved a lot on dryer costs!

Ref the costs. It doesn't matter (to some extent) what the machine costs. It's the price per hectare (acre if you like) that counts at the end. I'd rather have a strip/direct/zero/no-till/min-till drill of 50k that puts my crop in at £15/ha than a combi drill of 25k that costs £30/ha to establish a crop!