Power Harrow Combis, Are they really any good?

[KennyO]

@DrWazzock can you not put a bridge link on your ph and tow the mf behind?

Or just pick up a cheap air drill to stick on your ph.

 

[DrWazzock]

@DrWazzock can you not put a bridge link on your ph and tow the mf behind?

Or just pick up a cheap air drill to stick on your ph.

I think that’s what we will do this year.

 

[YELROM]

Hopefully in years to come we will run a min till or even zero till system as we have had reasonable success with these on the continuous arable land over the past 20 years.
At the moment we have ploughed up a fair bit of grass so are looking at conventional cultivation maybe for one year only to make the change to arable. Next year stubble cultivator, spray off, drill. Simple.

Why didn't you just DD into the old grass ley

 

[rob h]

Thanks. The old folks wouldn’t hear of them but there were plenty of us back then to power Harrow in front and clat about with the MF30.
Ideally I’d want the seed tank on the front and a front press but I’ve only got 135 hp.

We used a 3m for years on a Ford 7610.no problems but did have a frontlinkage with press between th wheels. 135 hp is more than enough

 

[Vincent]

The destroying of soil structure with power narrows happens more with more power in front of the power harrow, run a combi with 100hp up front and you are not able to over till the soil. I plough and sow on an organic farm so the ploughing is required then in with the combi and maybe a run of the roller when it suits. The soil on that farm is in the best condition I seen anywhere locally.
Drilling grass/red clover in the past few days the only time we might power harrow twice just to level it a bit.

 

[britt]

If we didn't have a power harrow combination drill we wouldn't have had much of a harvest apart from the odd early drilled field in 2019.

How does working 4 inches on the top with a power harrow destroy the soil any more than any other cultivator working the same depth ??. The same job can usually be achieved I one pass of a power harrow compared to at least 2 of a carrier for example and then you need more time to drill it so we might only get 40-50 acres per day with the combi but 2 machines doing more passes to achieve 100 acres is no better. I know different soil types it's not possible to do what we do but if your soil suits then why not

There were a few round the area that went totally into strip till or direct drilling last year and the ones running a cultivator then trailed drill really struggled. Where the rest of us plodding away with plough and combi following got most of it in the ground and got winter crop to harvest.

The only winter wheats planted around here last winter were with a combi drill.
But the best yields that I have heard of are around 2t per acre (with many failing and having to be replanted in spring)
. Spring wheats have yielded better, at lower cost and with no soil damage to repair this autumn.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

[KB6930]

The only winter wheats planted around here last winter were with a combi drill.
But the best yields that I have heard of are around 2t per acre (with many failing and having to be replanted in spring)
. Spring wheats have yielded better, at lower cost and with no soil damage to repair this autumn.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Exactly that sounds like the sort of situation that the farmers should've known when to stop and leave it alone till spring.
A combination isn't the answer to everything but in the right hands it's a very good way to establish a good crop if used in the appropriate way

 

[Lowland1]

This is ours. Old school but 3m on a 100 hp means it’s hard to overwork the soil

 

[farmerm]

The destroying of soil structure with power narrows happens more with more power in front of the power harrow, run a combi with 100hp up front and you are not able to over till the soil. I plough and sow on an organic farm so the ploughing is required then in with the combi and maybe a run of the roller when it suits. The soil on that farm is in the best condition I seen anywhere locally.
Drilling grass/red clover in the past few days the only time we might power harrow twice just to level it a bit.View attachment 910937

heck you could drag a chain harrow over the furrows on that soil and still make a decent seedbed! can I swap you some clay....

 

[Vincent]

heck you could drag a chain harrow over the furrows on that soil and still make a decent seedbed! can I swap you some clay....

You should have seen the weeds I ploughed down.

 

[ollie989898]

PH combis are popular because they work. Can get a crop in even if the weather and conditions are far from ideal. I would say a good proportion of people who use or own them have used them a time or two when they realised they probably shouldn't have but they had a crop emerge ok.

Minimum tillage type systems, on most of the soils I have experience of, have a far far narrower margin for error. Plough and powerharrow will create a 'false' layer of cultivated soil that will allow rainfall to percolate though and give a crop half a chance to get going before drowning. Whether this is a cost-effective, legit or eco-friendly practice or system is entirely another discussion. Powerharrows are amongst the most versatile tools but they do permit you to do things you probably wouldn't if you had other options available.

 

[Chae1]

I drilled wheat for a neighbour last backend. The field was like a swamp. I was carrying power harrow on lift most of time. Diff lock in to keep moving. I was positive it wouldn't grow. So wasn't that bothered what it looked like.

Heard last week it did 5t/acre!

Its away from road so never saw it again.

I also had headlands of winter barley I puddled in at home. Didn't grow.

 

[Lowland1]

This must be the peasant farmer section because no one has mentioned Using a Fendt and Horsch drill instead.

 

[Phil P]

This must be the peasant farmer section because no one has mentioned Using a Fendt and Horsch drill instead.

My combi has horsch coulters, does that count

 

[Lowland1]

My combi has horsch coulters, does that count

Some people just want it all.

 

[organicguy]

The plough and the power harrow are both the work of the devil but I'm not clever enough to farm organically without both.

 

[MattR]

This is ours. Old school but 3m on a 100 hp means it’s hard to overwork the soilView attachment 910949

The 7810 handles that ok? Looks like quite a bit of weight a fair way back?

 

[Lowland1]

The plough and the power harrow are both the work of the devil but I'm not clever enough to farm organically without both.

That is what the unbelievers would have you believe but the evil that is minimum tillage or even worse direct drilling has been sent to make idle people of us all. What’s wrong with dragging a field four times to kill twitch before ploughing I would like to know.

 

[DRC]

Very popular around here . A few have tried other methods , even the bigger farms , but most have returned to the plough followed by a combination drill. Can do in one pass and is weather proof. Can’t see that I’m knackering the soil anymore than anyone else , or we wouldn’t get decent crops.
perfect after maize or beet late harvested, as you can keep tight behind the plough.
I sometimes drive both outfits. Plough a bit, drill a bit . Not the quickest , but it gets done .

 

[Lowland1]

The 7810 handles that ok? Looks like quite a bit of weight a fair way back?

Piggy back linkage. If I use it on a bigger tractor I will turn without folding it back but it has handled it very well but we are on black fen.