Metric fertilizer settings

[DaveGrohl]

I work on: 34,5% of a 1cwt bag (now in foreign speak is 50kg) is 34.5 units so each unit weighs 50 / 34.5 = 1.45 kg............ 50 units* 1.45 = 72.5 kg a hec. simples.
Mind you are spreading it a bit thin at that over a hectare.

Wow, now that is confusing.

 

[DaveGrohl]

I spread a field or three with the border spreading deflector down before now. Luckily in most fields I spread back and for’ not round and round, so apart from a large stripe some 20m from the hedge, around the headlands, it was not noticeable. I’ve done the same for mercifully short runs of maybe tens of metres this year as usual. Maybe twice. Not significant.
Years ago I had a mechanic replace a gearbox top grease/oil seal and he didn’t think that it was important to reassemble the exit curtain to one of the disks with any precision. That made a nice pattern on a couple of fields before I noticed that the opening to the disk was about thirty degrees out compared to the other.

I’ve had the curtain grab the spinning disk on rough terrain and being forced to turn out of whack before now. I can tell by the noise the fertiliser makes against the front shield when this happens and I’ve added some tech screws through the stainless steel curtain to add security since early last year. A peculiarity of the design of Vicon Rotaflow is that the static curtain is attached to the hopper basically, with only a mm or so of clearance between it and the spinning disk. The disc is mounted to the base frame of the chassis and with all the weight in the hopper, no doubt there is some flex in the chassis that on rough ground closes the gap between the two. Ordinarily there are only three bolt heads at the top of the curtain located in grooves in a shallow plastic ring that hold it in place and the ring can easily flex, allowing the curtain to turn out of place, usually by 120 degrees to the next groove in the plastic ring.

They’re fiendish devices them boundary deflectors, work of the Devil. I live in constant fear of leaving it down in the middle of the field. What’s the alternative? Go back to a separate disc and the ballache of changing it twice every field? Nah, you’re right, live with the fear

 

[Boysground]

They’re fiendish devices them boundary deflectors, work of the Devil. I live in constant fear of leaving it down in the middle of the field. What’s the alternative? Go back to a separate disc and the ballache of changing it twice every field? Nah, you’re right, live with the fear

Anyone who says they have never forgotten to change the headland setting for the main field is being economic with the truth

I did it last week

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[tullah]

Anyone who says they have never forgotten to change the headland setting for the main field is being economic with the truth

I did it last week

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We now do all fields inside first and go round all headlands afterwards. less room for error.

 

[colhonk]

Wow, now that is confusing.

Yay but I am a simple old fart who cannot get my head around the new fangled todays youf way, ie; erm erm eerm no, it is too confusing trying to work out 2 different weights ,1 of actual product and 1 of the shite they mix it with to bulk it up, then +?-?*?/? to get the final weight of what comes out of the bag

 

[Sharpy]

Short version.

1 CWT to the acre equals 125kg a hectare.

That's all you need to know.

 

[Cowabunga]

Short version.

1 CWT to the acre equals 125kg a hectare.

That's all you need to know.

That’s all I need to know to set my spread rate, but one must know how much to apply for the time of year, the crop, the yield required and so on. Plus the settings for the desired spread width, the actual spread width/pattern for different fertilisers, the forward speed and appropriate disc speed and spreading height. Plus have a driver able to calculate all that and maintain the spread width and stop and start the fertiliser application at the appropriate points on the headland. Consistently, and not forgetting the setting and the position of the evil headland deflector.

It has never been a job for a sleepy steering wheel attendant.

 

[DaveGrohl]

Short version.

1 CWT to the acre equals 125kg a hectare.

That's all you need to know.

Yup. Until you mention the actual fert and someone says is that kg of product or kg of N?

 

[DaveGrohl]

That’s all I need to know to set my spread rate, but one must know how much to apply for the time of year, the crop, the yield required and so on. Plus the settings for the desired spread width, the actual spread width/pattern for different fertilisers, the forward speed and appropriate disc speed and spreading height. Plus have a driver able to calculate all that and maintain the spread width and stop and start the fertiliser application at the appropriate points on the headland. Consistently, and not forgetting the setting and the position of the evil headland deflector.

It has never been a job for a sleepy steering wheel attendant.

My spreader overstates the weight of fert by a factor of 1.015, so I have to factor that in too

 

[tullah]

That’s all I need to know to set my spread rate, but one must know how much to apply for the time of year, the crop, the yield required and so on. Plus the settings for the desired spread width, the actual spread width/pattern for different fertilisers, the forward speed and appropriate disc speed and spreading height. Plus have a driver able to calculate all that and maintain the spread width and stop and start the fertiliser application at the appropriate points on the headland. Consistently, and not forgetting the setting and the position of the evil headland deflector.

It has never been a job for a sleepy steering wheel attendant.

Can the bum on the seat work out how much his rate alters by increasing his speed from 5 to 6mph without a chart or a computer. How much do managers have to oversee their drivers while fert is four times last years price.

 

[Cowabunga]

Can the bum on the seat work out how much his rate alters by increasing his speed from 5 to 6mph without a chart or a computer. How much do managers have to oversee their drivers while fert is four times last years price.

You’d have to ask ‘them’. One would hope that they are competent, but you never know.
I have always done my own farm’s spreading, ever since I was 14 years old. Handling, and lifting all those 50kg bags off the floor is what buggered my back up, no doubt about it.
Done my fair share of striping fields when I had the Varispreaders [wagtails] and even with the Sulky twin discs on slopes. I find the Vicon Rotaflow to be in a different accuracy league but certainly not the most robust or idiot-proof.

 

[tullah]

You’d have to ask ‘them’. One would hope that they are competent, but you never know.
I have always done my own farm’s spreading, ever since I was 14 years old. Handling, and lifting all those 50kg bags off the floor is what buggered my back up, no doubt about it.
Done my fair share of striping fields when I had the Varispreaders [wagtails] and even with the Sulky twin discs on slopes. I find the Vicon Rotaflow to be in a different accuracy league but certainly not the most robust or idiot-proof.

Started doing that in late 60s, thirty five tons off lorries and no pallets. Bags off the floor into the spinner. I do most spreading and calibrate it ready for the driver. It's back exercises twice a day now to keep me less irritable and functioning. Those bloody bags.

 

[DrDunc]

Started doing that in late 60s, thirty five tons off lorries and no pallets. Bags off the floor into the spinner. I do most spreading and calibrate it ready for the driver. It's back exercises twice a day now to keep me less irritable and functioning. Those bloody bags.

Did same starting when I left the primary, and full time filler by 14 year old (I've always been fairly big). Father bought "cheap" stuff that was a "bit lumpy" when I was 15. Not only had the hundred weight bags to be lifted from the floor to the spreader, they'd then to be smashed through the riddle screen with a sledge hammer

Don't think that's specifically what's buggered my back and knees now I'm in my fifties, but it certainly helped build the muscle for the rugby pitch....