Old moore unidrills

[DrWazzock]

How do these tine drills cope with trash?

On our sand it's possible to bung up a Bomford Superflow with legs two foot apart in trashy stubbles. Just wondered.

The Moore will "run over" a really big heap of trash and maybe not cut right through it but generally it cuts through trash and is unstoppable but can sometimes bulldoze when the discs stop turning in very loose dry trashy ground.

 

[Kevtherev]

I’ve had trouble with the Duncan in cultivated barley stubble but there was masses of straw.
Going straight into stubble after the combine not normally a problem.

 

[hendrebc]

@hendrebc, if this happens, would you be so kind to give me first shout on your plough and cultivation kit?

Its nothing fancy just an old ransomes disc i paid £300 for a turbo tiller and a couple of different drag harrows that have been here forever. Id probably keep them for levelling off poached areas were ive had feeders and gateways.
Id sell the plough but dad is quite attatched to it of we do i can give you first shouy on it if you like. Here it is for your enjoyment

 

[Selectamatic]

Its nothing fancy just an old ransomes disc i paid £300 for a turbo tiller and a couple of different drag harrows that have been here forever. Id probably keep them for levelling off poached areas were ive had feeders and gateways.
Id sell the plough but dad is quite attatched to it of we do i can give you first shouy on it if you like. Here it is for your enjoyment View attachment 620298

I would appreciate that, thank you.

We can't live that far from each other, we may even know each other in the big wide world outside this forum!

 

[Kevtherev]

Ransomes TS spring leg certainly a rare beast in good nick too

 

[hendrebc]

I would appreciate that, thank you.

We can't live that far from each other, we may even know each other in the big wide world outside this forum!

Quite possibly! Ive just had a reply to a comment from someone on another thread asking about my walkabout ferret. This person must live within a mile or two to know about him but i have no idea who it is

 

[hendrebc]

Ransomes TS spring leg certainly a rare beast in good nick too

Very rare ive been told. Not many with springs about only seen one for sale online ever. The legs for the discs are very odd on it cant find 16inch discs with 4 holes anywere they didnt make many

 

[DrWazzock]

I'm no expert but find ploughing is the best way of alleviating compaction and levelling up rough ground which is a big help for a new ley, that is if compaction is a problem which it might not be.

I'd keep the plough and conventional kit and buy a cheap old Unidrill. I wouldn't lend it or share it with anybody! Once you have set it up, it will do quite a few years on a small acreage before it needs more attention, so you won't find the maintenance too arduous.

I'd go for it. The grassland drills have more coulters per metre than the arable drills. Though you can go over it twice with the arable drill for same effect.

 

[neilo]

so you can buy a £16k drill...get £10k grant...so it only costs you £6k.....whats to stop you selling it on for for say £10k and making £4k profit

You have to keep it for 5 years, as it has to available for inspection at any time until then (and rightly so). You also aren’t allowed to use it for contracting, but not sure how that could be policed.

 

[hendrebc]

I'm no expert but find ploughing is the best way of alleviating compaction and levelling up rough ground which is a big help for a new ley, that is if compaction is a problem which it might not be.

I'd keep the plough and conventional kit and buy a cheap old Unidrill. I wouldn't lend it or share it with anybody! Once you have set it up, it will do quite a few years on a small acreage before it needs more attention, so you won't find the maintenance too arduous.

I'd go for it. The grassland drills have more coulters per metre than the arable drills. Though you can go over it twice with the arable drill for same effect.

Dad is very keen to keep the plough as we have had it since new and its HIS plough. I might have to let him keep it in theback of a shed somewere to keep him quiet and it might even come in handy one day.
A cheap old unidrill is what i had in mind but i will look at the grants we can get if i could get a new drill for 6k it would be worth getting it would last my whole lifetime if i looked after it which i would. If not then cheap old unidrill it will be
If i csn get a new one then in 40+ years time it might be me refusing to sell MY drill just in case it comes in handy one day

 

[Bury the Trash]

I'm no expert but find ploughing is the best way of alleviating compaction and levelling up rough ground which is a big help for a new ley, that is if compaction is a problem which it might not be.

I'd keep the plough and conventional kit and buy a cheap old Unidrill. I wouldn't lend it or share it with anybody! Once you have set it up, it will do quite a few years on a small acreage before it needs more attention, so you won't find the maintenance too arduous.

I'd go for it. The grassland drills have more coulters per metre than the arable drills. Though you can go over it twice with the arable drill for same effect.

same here .....and also for the Lucerne ......as level as poss.

 

[Kevtherev]

You have to keep it for 5 years, as it has to available for inspection at any time until then (and rightly so). You also aren’t allowed to use it for contracting, but not sure how that could be policed.

Ooooooy
Watching

 

[hendrebc]

I guess levelling a field with ploughing depends a lot on who is doing the ploughing

 

[neilo]

How do these tine drills cope with trash?

On our sand it's possible to bung up a Bomford Superflow with legs two foot apart in trashy stubbles. Just wondered.

The Moore will "run over" a really big heap of trash and maybe not cut right through it but generally it cuts through trash and is unstoppable but can sometimes bulldoze when the discs stop turning in very loose dry trashy ground.

My Simtech copes very well with all but the worst. The discs on the front help a bit I think, but the distance between the tines allows most trash to pass through OK. If you get a lump of straw left on stubble, it tends to drag it out and spread it if you keep going. It takes a good bit to block it tbh.

I have plenty of stones here btw, and the Simtech does seem to throw many up. My old Moore did leave them be and ride up over them instead, leaving the seed on the surface presumably. Which is better?

Personally I like the individual coulter depths on the Moore and I like the fact that the bearings are cheap & available, and the wearing parts can be readily bought from the likes of Spaldings. However, I didn’t like the smeared slots in wet, heavy ground, as mentioned previously.
On the Simtech, I very much like the simplicity of design, the versatility of it, and the slight tilth it creates in the seeding zone. If an old one were available for £3-5k it would be a simple decision imo, but they’re not (yet).

 

[Bury the Trash]

You can get spares for the Unidrill.
The unidrill rolls the seed in as it works.

The others fall short in these aspects as far as I know.

but a tine will give a nice little bit of soil around that little seed .....as long its not too deep or scittered on the surface...

moore unidrill was ok when used at perfect.time and in perfect conditions i was told.



seed is so expensive

 

[neilo]

I'm no expert but find ploughing is the best way of alleviating compaction and levelling up rough ground which is a big help for a new ley, that is if compaction is a problem which it might not be.

I'd keep the plough and conventional kit and buy a cheap old Unidrill. I wouldn't lend it or share it with anybody! Once you have set it up, it will do quite a few years on a small acreage before it needs more attention, so you won't find the maintenance too arduous.

I'd go for it. The grassland drills have more coulters per metre than the arable drills. Though you can go over it twice with the arable drill for same effect.

I had 5ac (2 fields) ploughed by a contractor this year, on the insistence of my agronomist, to bury some sprayed off weeds before drilling grass & clover.
Why oh why oh why did I give in? Loads of shallow willow roots brought up to the surface, some of which i’ve Managed to clear up, some will need more work. The furrows have dropped already as it’s settled, despite several passes with a cultivator (which wouldn’t have been needed otherwise) and it successfully buried all the lovely sheep muck from grazing swedes previously.
If i’d Stuck to my guns and DD’ed it, it would be lovely and level still, the ‘fertiliser pellets’ would have been mixed in the seeding zone and those roots would still be where they were.
I won’t be doing it again!

 

[neilo]

Ooooooy
Watching

I’ll use my spare one for that.....

I’m not that daft. I’ll leave you to chase all those slow payers Kev.

 

[DrWazzock]

I had 5ac (2 fields) ploughed by a contractor this year, on the insistence of my agronomist, to bury some sprayed off weeds before drilling grass & clover.
Why oh why oh why did I give in? Loads of shallow willow roots brought up to the surface, some of which i’ve Managed to clear up, some will need more work. The furrows have dropped already as it’s settled, despite several passes with a cultivator (which wouldn’t have been needed otherwise) and it successfully buried all the lovely sheep muck from grazing swedes previously.
If i’d Stuck to my guns and DD’ed it, it would be lovely and level still, the ‘fertiliser pellets’ would have been mixed in the seeding zone and those roots would still be where they were.
I won’t be doing it again!

Entirely agree with you in that scenario. I think about 3 out of 4 times direct drilling works better for us but sometimes the plough is the right choice, though I am finding the Paraplow quite useful as an alternative to the plough.

 

[DrWazzock]

The Moore won't generally work here between 4th October and 15th March, but I can't see a tine working very well either when it's too wet.

I agree, the Moore is not good in wetter clay where it's easy to end up with the seed sealed in. You can't avoid rolling the seed in with the Moore straight behind the coulter. But I generally find if the Moore won't go, then not much else will.

There is no hard and fast right answer. Every situation needs assessing with an open mind, not a rigid ideology.

 

[neilo]

The Moore won't generally work here between 4th October and 15th March, but I can't see a tine working very well either when it's too wet.

I agree, the Moore is not good in wetter clay where it's easy to end up with the seed sealed in. You can't avoid rolling the seed in with the Moore straight behind the coulter. But I generally find if the Moore won't go, then not much else will.

There is no hard and fast right answer. Every situation needs assessing with an open mind, not a rigid ideology.

I don't generally roll behind my Simtech either. It has a chain dragging behind the Springflex roller that loosely covers the slots, leaving the seed in loose soil (hopefully).

In an ideal world, when the soil conditions are such that the seed would be sealed in a smeared clay slot, you shouldn't be drilling anyway. 2012 was far from ideal though, and I was right up a dirty creek with no stubble turnips growing as a result, relying on grazing a fodder beet crop (that would otherwise have been lifted for sale) and chasing round taking expensive tack grazing. I would have had 60ac of at least half a turnip crop if I had used my tine drill, or even min-till cultivator & slug pelleter, that Autumn.