Nuffield no-till/dd

[Alfie]

Hi, I'm Tom Sewell a second generation farmer from Maidstone in Kent. We have 850 acres of combinable crops plus around 150 acres cut for hay. We have been min- till for 15+ yrs based around discs and rolls with a sumo trio preparing land for osr and beans. This season we have direct drilled all but 100 acres of wheat after osr, and that was a mistake! The dd land is by far the best for us, this year cultivation has led to poor soil structure, water logging and rotting seed and higher slug nos. The dd land has coped with the high rainfall much better and worm numbers are high.
Of our 850 acres cropped only 67 is owned! (As dad started from scratch!) we share farm and rent the remaining acres. All land and machinery is fully bought and paid for. We have not used any P, K or lime in the 15 yrs since I've been home from Harper Adams and most years first wheat yields are 10t/ha or thereabouts. We used an 11 year old Horsch CO4 this year in standard form to drill 260 acres of osr in August which all looked fine before snow and pigeons embraced it!
We are well overcapacity for our acreage but prefer to push on when conditions allow and when soil/ crop conditions are most favourable. We use 3 John deere tractors, biggest is a 175hp 7810 which is 16yrs old. Combine is 570tt Lexion and we spray with a Bateman RB 26 which is the only machine to enter the field between drilling and harvest as we apply all liquid fert.
I am looking for a jd750 a to add to the Horsch after a successful demo/contracting operation by Simon Chiles in less than ideal conditions mid November.(drilling wheat after linseed)
In November I was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, sponsored by HGCA, with my study subject being
"Long Term Benefits of Direct Drilling"
So this year for me is going to be very interesting. My wife is also expecting our 4th child in April!
I have joined the BASE UK group so am looking forward to meeting up with many experienced no-tillers over the coming months.
Finally I am embracing social media and can be found on twitter @tandssewell or check out our website sewellfarms.co.uk

 

[stephen]

Hi Tom from snowy cold Northamptonshire-will be good to see your posts as well as hearing from the 'horses mouth' when see you or Jem. Well done on your scholarship- look forward to your findings. Steve

 

[dontknowanything]

Are you using liquid P&K too?

 

[VTP]

Hello Tom ,
I think i came to your farm in june with french farmers .
If i'm not wrong, i saw a Dale drill ?

What about it this autumn ?

 

[155tm]

Hello Tom! Were you converted to CTF today then!?

VTP I believe you visited Andrew Barr with the Dale drill in June on your way to Cereals. He writes for the farmers weekly now and again and can be found on twitter as ewenmcewen.

I had a lovely chat with eliot2004 from the other forum when you visited Andy!

 

[VTP]

You are write

The shed looks similar .

Let's have the same chat ,'cause i'm Eliot2004 :mrgreen:

 

[155tm]

You are write

The shed looks similar .

Let's have the same chat ,'cause i'm Eliot2004 :mrgreen:

A different name for each forum just isn't fair!!

Hello Nicolas (or VTP or Eliot2004)!!!! I hope you are well. We will have to send Tom to see you whilst doing his research for his Nuffield, you can explain how you seed your wheat using a turbo tiller type cultivator!!

 

[Jim Bullock]

Nicolas
Am I right in thinking that we have persuaded you to come and speak at he BASE-UK annual meeting? If so we have got a lot to learn from you..

 

[VTP]

You are write

The shed looks similar .

Let's have the same chat ,'cause i'm Eliot2004 :mrgreen:

A different name for each forum just isn't fair!!

Hello Nicolas (or VTP or Eliot2004)!!!! I hope you are well. We will have to send Tom to see you whilst doing his research for his Nuffield, you can explain how you seed your wheat using a turbo tiller type cultivator!!

Hy Guy, i've change my name because Eliot is my son and he can't understand why some friends call me Eliot when they come and visit my fields .

VTP means in French Earthworms passion and it's also a joke against a forum called GTP who only talk about big machinery .

 

[VTP]

Nicolas
Am I right in thinking that we have persuaded you to come and speak at he BASE-UK annual meeting? If so we have got a lot to learn from you..

Exactly Jim, i'll come the 28th.
I'm very afraid, i'm just a farmer .

I think i'll be first earing you at Tours ?

That's would be great to meet each other around this days , if you come by car i'm on your trip .
You are welcome on my home .

 

[DP32]

Exactly Jim, i'll come the 28th.
I'm very afraid, i'm just a farmer .

You have tested your presentation last week with us, it will be very interesting to compare your way to produce and the English way.
Good luck, VTP

 

[155tm]

VTP you will be fine on the 28th, I am looking forward to hearing you talk, may i suggest that "a picture paints a thousand words" and has no language barrier!

I am guessing that Eliot was born in 2004? In that case he is the same age as my eldest son.

Right then Tom, can we get you up to the first day of the NFU conference on the 27th before going over to the BASE meeting on the 28th!? :shock:

 

[SilliamWhale]

Hi, I'm Tom Sewell a second generation farmer from Maidstone in Kent. We have 850 acres of combinable crops plus around 150 acres cut for hay. We have been min- till for 15+ yrs based around discs and rolls with a sumo trio preparing land for osr and beans. This season we have direct drilled all but 100 acres of wheat after osr, and that was a mistake! The dd land is by far the best for us, this year cultivation has led to poor soil structure, water logging and rotting seed and higher slug nos. The dd land has coped with the high rainfall much better and worm numbers are high.
Of our 850 acres cropped only 67 is owned! (As dad started from scratch!) we share farm and rent the remaining acres. All land and machinery is fully bought and paid for. We have not used any P, K or lime in the 15 yrs since I've been home from Harper Adams and most years first wheat yields are 10t/ha or thereabouts. We used an 11 year old Horsch CO4 this year in standard form to drill 260 acres of osr in August which all looked fine before snow and pigeons embraced it!
We are well overcapacity for our acreage but prefer to push on when conditions allow and when soil/ crop conditions are most favourable. We use 3 John deere tractors, biggest is a 175hp 7810 which is 16yrs old. Combine is 570tt Lexion and we spray with a Bateman RB 26 which is the only machine to enter the field between drilling and harvest as we apply all liquid fert.
I am looking for a jd750 a to add to the Horsch after a successful demo/contracting operation by Simon Chiles in less than ideal conditions mid November.(drilling wheat after linseed)
In November I was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, sponsored by HGCA, with my study subject being
"Long Term Benefits of Direct Drilling"
So this year for me is going to be very interesting. My wife is also expecting our 4th child in April!
I have joined the BASE UK group so am looking forward to meeting up with many experienced no-tillers over the coming months.
Finally I am embracing social media and can be found on twitter @tandssewell or check out our website sewellfarms.co.uk

Tom,

When you going to Canada? I got some good North/South Dakota contacts if you want

 

[Alfie]

Hi chaps

Glad my intro has got the juices flowing. In answer to dontknowanything we haven't used P,K or lime for over 15 years. Very little/no fym but almost all straw is chopped and incorporated mechanically up until now but my fleet of shiny new worms will take on that job from now on!

Guy is correct, Andy Barr has dale drill, we have a 4m horsch co4 and I'm looking for a 4 or 6m jd 750a!!??

 

[Alfie]

Will

Off to Nuffield CSC on march 9th till 18th, would love to stay longer and visit guys there for a few weeks but my wife will be 38 weeks pregnant when I return home and I don't think she would still be my wife I I decided to extend my stay So I'll come home and be around home for a good few weeks over the spring/summer period. We've got a bit of outside work to do after the worst autumn/winter I can remember. I'm then planning on a chunk of travelling nov/dec and then more after Christmas!

I'm particularly looking for advice on names of no-till experts around the world with some reasonably long-term (over 10 yrs) experience. I'd particularly like to visit smart forward thinking farmers and advisors (agronomists and soil/ business advisors)

Countries looking to visit at the moment are Canada/USA/Brasil/Argentina/Australia/NZ and France (to see Frederic and his gang) and possibly York in Germany! Always good to think big!!

 

[Alfie]

Hello Tom! Were you converted to CTF today then!?

VTP I believe you visited Andrew Barr with the Dale drill in June on your way to Cereals. He writes for the farmers weekly now and again and can be found on twitter as ewenmcewen.

I had a lovely chat with eliot2004 from the other forum when you visited Andy!

Evening Guy
I can see the benefits but already have GPS shut-off on the sprayer so I only really need an auto-steer tractor for drilling if I go all-out direct drilling. Having it on rolls would be "nice" but hardly essential. Combine has laser pilot and won't be changed for a few years so its really a question of what to spend on a tractor that might spend 150 hrs drilling a year!?
Would love to take Clive's approach and sell all three jds for one tractor then hire in during busy periods, but the odd bits of contracting/hay etc do require more than one. Might sell the oldest 6900 against a 750a or trade in 2 for a newer autotrac ready machine, but what colour?

 

[155tm]

Evening Guy
I can see the benefits but already have GPS shut-off on the sprayer so I only really need an auto-steer tractor for drilling if I go all-out direct drilling. Having it on rolls would be "nice" but hardly essential. Combine has laser pilot and won't be changed for a few years so its really a question of what to spend on a tractor that might spend 150 hrs drilling a year!?
Would love to take Clive's approach and sell all three jds for one tractor then hire in during busy periods, but the odd bits of contracting/hay etc do require more than one. Might sell the oldest 6900 against a 750a or trade in 2 for a newer autotrac ready machine, but what colour?

Hello Tom

There is a secondhand JD 2600 on BFF at the moment, you need to know whether the auto steer is unlocked for JD's only, or for ATU's and what level of correction it is unlocked for. £500 each for secondhand ATU's and it could be on autosteer for under £3.5k. If you need to unlock it for SF2, or to use my RTK it will cost more!!

On the question of what to spend for 150hrs drilling a year, the brass tacks answer boils down to 'not much'!! But the quality of life answer, for an owner operator who goes home to his family not as tired, or fatigued, from a more relaxed day on the drill, is a different answer!!

As for what to do with tractor numbers, as for the previous paragraph how you want to run your own business has more of a bearing on the answer than harsh financials.

 

[VTP]

... so its really a question of what to spend on a tractor that might spend 150 hrs drilling a year!?
...

Let's buy a 3 m drill and you'll spend more hours in your tractor .

Numbers of hours is not the good argument to buy or not .

 

[dontknowanything]

Hi chaps

Glad my intro has got the juices flowing. In answer to dontknowanything we haven't used P,K or lime for over 15 years. Very little/no fym but almost all straw is chopped and incorporated mechanically up until now but my fleet of shiny new worms will take on that job from now on!

This is intriguing. o you not think you are just mining your soils for P&K? Do you do soil tests?

 

[Alfie]

Dontknowanything lol lol lol
Of course I soil test! I even pay a soil consultancy company an acreage fee to test all my farm on rotation one year in three. I treat my soil advisors as importantly as my agronomist and they both have each others phone numbers and email addresses!!
Where possible the three of us walk our fields together so that as a team of three we are able to make agronomic decisions for the good of the soil and the growing crop!
There is so much P and K in our soils we are focussing on balancing nutrients so that the soil grows good crops, and as I have said we are averaging in the region of 10t/ha for first wheats for the past ten years with better fields regularly doing more than this!
Every time I meet with George (my independent soils advisor) I ask what he recommends (and his company supplies the products) and more often than not he says things look fine and our soils are in really good health.
Anyone who knows us and our farm will know we don't really do cutting corners!!
You're more than welcome to come and visit, there's no secrets here!