Mixed farm looking at going to strip till

[jonnieboy]

I'm strip tilling and swap most of my straw for muck .
As said above keep trailers on tramlines where possible and get the straw men to turn round empty and load back towards the gate (this seems to really confuse them ) . The muck I get back is heaped up from now till next harvest and is really well rotted by then so spreaders can apply an even coat and it doesn't block the drill. I'm trying to put a smaller amount on and work on a 3 yr cycle across the farm. Only troubles I have had is with fresh yard muck straight on the field in summer.
Most of the ground has one pass with a carrier to chit volunteers and to get a bit of tilth especially for osr I have had mixed results with osr but this year was late sowing due to it raining every other day and a big flea beatle population didn't help . I have ploughed some ground before barley this year but that was due to inheriting some bad brome areas and trying to get areas into a new longer rotation and clean up the worst ones meant some fields had to have a hard reset .
I'm using a dts and one of the best features is when tramlining it doesn't cultivate the tramline so in time they will hold up really well. I'm seeing this benefit already
Getting the mind set right is your biggest challenge just because the neighbours are out ploughing and combi drilling doesn't mean the drill will go , I've just finished my beans tonight seems a bloody long season but at least I've had value for money out of my 3 month omnistar subscription .
Rotation will play a big part I'm hoping to keep winter barley in as its a good earner for this farm and a early entry into OSR just not sure about the volunteer numbers but time will tell

 

[eagleye]

agree with all above on strip till, claydon drill here on w barley, wheat and spring barley ( and some maize last year). Muck spread before drilling this autumn in damp conditions with hybrid winter barley into wheat stubble which was lightly disced (horsch joker) then rounduped to kill volunteers before the muck.
Pre em was easy with the ground travelling well, one field ploughed and phdrilled was difficult to spray as leaving ruts on first attempt, had to leave to soak a bit.
No OSR to limit slugs and using straw harrow after harvest to spread any straw left after the baler. I thought it was only us had problems getting bales onto trailers that faced the gate before loading!!! same for grain trailers

 

[E_B]

That is brilliant thank you for all your help. We are on square bales but we are going to the get a sledge for the baler to keep the to reduce the traveling of the field with the handler.

We are also looking at a Mzuri drill as well for the same reasons we like the front leg design and the fact that each coulter is independent. We will probably stick with drilling maize the traditional way for the first year, but it might be something to consider in the future. I know there are some people who drill maize with a strip till and just the ordinary metering system as I don’t know if we can justify the precision seeding for just our 25ac of maize. We aren’t on practically hill ground but we do have some heavy land what sort of power are you pulling yours with? We always intended to keep the plough and Combi still as a back up just in case we do get autumn, but we hope in time as we get into the system more the ground will improve so that even in a wet time we won’t need to use them. I know slugs are a problem with strip till and that is our only concern with it. Ye but if glyphosate get banned I’m fair we are all pretty well screwed what ever you do even if you plough.

Again thank you for all your help it’s nice to hear off someone that is in a similar situation to us but 2 years in and still happy with it.

We will continue to plough for most of our maize due to cattle poaching and muck etc but pick and choose where we can strip till some. Did about 25 acres last season with the Mzuri and worked well on light land. Got the same planned for next Spring on slightly less light stuff and then the next year potentially try it on some heavier ground. We don't worry about in-row plant spacing, the photo I posted was using the standard metering (with the biggest sized seed roller) and I was more than happy enough, with not too much bunching. I did have to drill some uphill only as I had a job to get such a light seed-rate to go against gravity on the downhill runs on very steep banks.

We have some pretty heavy ground on hills and consequently we have the drill on our largest tractor. We also use the widest wings. If you don't have hills, and your land is comparable in the clay stakes, you might get away with around 200 hp on a 3m but really you want 230hp plus.. I have seen a 7230R on its knees pulling up one of our hills, a 180hp Claas had to fleeten out to make it up the hill. Take the wings off the front legs, or run them not much deeper than the coulters for cereals, and you can get away with much less obviously but there's no denying that they understandably take a bit of pulling if working 7 inches or so with wings. You're right, over time you can reduce the leg depth in some situations depending on the state of the field. An advantage of the drill is that if you hit a heavy or wet patch and the wheels start spinning, you can tap the spool to lift up the front legs as much or as little as you want, and the coulter depth will be completely unaffected.

As mentioned, you're in a good position regarding slugs as you are taking away the tras.. residue so that'll help a lot. Still one of the main challenges though.