Mzuri Ziptil

[Clive]

So why is using the carrier which stirs all the soil to two inches, increasing weed germination and making that two inches more prone to turning to sludge when it turns wet, better than using a strip till drill which only moves 50% of the soil?

I would only carrier in the first year or so to get soil level, I think this is important in zerotil but I know others don't think it matters also it would be a shortcut to build OM in the top few inches which coming from a plough system I guess might be lacking

I would also be making my stale seed bed before drilling and not on the same day which is pretty important to those that grow good crops of black grass

There are many ways to make the transition and I'm not for a moment saying strip till is wrong, it just wouldn't be my chosen route now I have the benefit of a bit of hindsight

 

[rob1]

I would only carrier in the first year or so to get soil level, I think this is important in zerotil but I know others don't think it matters also it would be a shortcut to build OM in the top few inches which coming from a plough system I guess might be lacking

I would also be making my stale seed bed before drilling and not on the same day which is pretty important to those that grow good crops of black grass

There are many ways to make the transition and I'm not for a moment saying strip till is wrong, it just wouldn't be my chosen route now I have the benefit of a bit of hindsight

I think it depends a lot on soil type and cropping history, maybe in ten years we will know the answers, but by then will have more questions

 

[Fuzzy]

What size is it?

Only saying what I've heard / read.

I think this is why it is best to have machines on demo on your own farm in conditions you would normally work in and with your own tractor.
Dealers will generally turn up with a tractor with at least 50hp more than you have. So the first thing i get them to do is unhook there shiny tractor and hook the kit up to what is actually gonna pull it!!!
IMO in your situation i would have some demo's next year and then buy the following year, even if it means getting a contractor in to demo a particular drill!
I'm am in a similar position to you in that my father is now 72 and i need to reduce the farm workload (i also don't want to employ anyone)

 

[Mattch]

@Martin Lole, i would have a couple of issues in how you rate the Claydon, i would rate the trash flow as excellent, i have drilled into maize stubble with had laid plants in it and it drilled fine; the seed depth control is ok, i think the rating of poor is a bit extreme. Once the drill is set up, i'm convinced there is nothing better on the market, as i'm sure you'd agree yours is too.

After our first season using our Claydon, our next door neighbour was so impressed by our crops that he came to look at our drill twice, he eventually bought one of your Pro-til's (but i suspect that was because we had a Claydon and couldn't be seen to be copying!)

Having seen the Pro-til i would argue that the setup is very complicated and time consuming, am i correct in thinking you have to set each leg individually?

Also, one other thing i have noticed (and i stress this is just from looking over the hedge) is that he struggles to get going after a heavy dew, and can't go much longer after dark, whereas i can keep going.

I can only comment on the pro-till as I have not tried the claydon (wanted the ability to place fert whilst drilling). The set up, once you have some experience with the drill, is very straight forward. Yes, the individual legs have separate adjustments but this allows a high degree of fine tuning. We can try different settings for best results although in practice once you have the drill set up for a crop type we only really make adjustments if soil type changes.

I have had no problems with early starts and most of my time on the drill is during late evenings when I have achieved the same work rate as during the day. Normally higher work rate as the phone doesn't keep ringing!

What I think is a credit to the industry is that there are a number of UK built machines that we can choose from which are all capable of establishing a crop at low cost.

 

[Andrew K]

Clive,
I think Strip till has evolved mainly on the heavier soils , certainly in the early days anyway , partly because of people like Claydons promoting it on their heavy soil types and also because those on the heavy stuff appreciate the way a loosening tine can help drainage and rooting on land resembling plasticine.These same tine type drills are well suited to a range of crops/ conditions.
If i had sufficient ground i would probably run both no till disc and strip till tine machines and alternate their use around the farm.
In the "right" conditions a 750A is all you need

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

Anyone using a pro till or zip till now? Going ok with it?

 

[chaffcutter]

Shooting yesterday on a farm where they have been using a pro-till for the last couple of years, their osr and wheat was looking well and even. The only downside I can see with them is that the surface disturbance encourages the weeds to germinate at the same time and compete far more with the crop than with no till.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

Shooting yesterday on a farm where they have been using a pro-till for the last couple of years, their osr and wheat was looking well and even. The only downside I can see with them is that the surface disturbance encourages the weeds to germinate at the same time and compete far more with the crop than with no till.

But no worse than a crop established using min till or combi?

 

[chaffcutter]

No certainly not, mintill or a combi disturb all the ground whereas the mzuri is only cultivating the strip so probably only 40% disturbed and encouraging weed growth, just noticeably more than the 750. (Other disc drills are available....)

 

[E_B]

Anyone using a pro till or zip till now? Going ok with it?

https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/mzuri-pro-till.138870/

About done with the first season with a pro til, posted a few thoughts in here the other day.