Simtech drill

ace

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
east anglia
Am looking for a drill for mintill drilling and direct, is this drill the one ? Concerns are, why are there not more of them on farm
and will they have any residual value? Has anyone got horsepower requirements ? Some user feedback would be very useful
 

Jim Bullock

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Am looking for a drill for mintill drilling and direct, is this drill the one ? Concerns are, why are there not more of them on farm
and will they have any residual value? Has anyone got horsepower requirements ? Some user feedback would be very useful

No problem with re-sale as they are very much sought after second-hand. A three meter box drill only needs about 80hp to operate it and most of the power is required to lift the drill. Fuel consumption works out at 2.75-3.00 litres/ha.
We have tried just about every drill (DD, Min-till, tines, discs,...etc, etc) over the last 15 years and the Simtech concept is the only one which ticks most of our boxes, especially if you need to work in the wet: late Autumn or early Spring. My experience is with a 3 metre mounted drill, I do not know much about some of the companies more sophisticated air and trailed drills but I suspect the figures would be very similar. The Simtech team are very farmer friendly and I would have every confidence in recommending the products and the company.
 

BSH

Member
BASE UK Member
Fairly comprehensive reply from Jim, but to add, I think in the past there have not been many around because it has only been available as a 3m drill. It is only in the last year and a half that wider models have been developed and available with the advent of increased manufacturing capacity.
 

BSH

Member
BASE UK Member
My 3m drill handles a lot of trash and has the standard spacing. It will block up with laid crop but not chopped straw and stubble. The version with the wider spacing I imagine has even better trash flow and if grassland reseeding hadn't been an important requirement I would have gone for the wider spacing.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
No problem with re-sale as they are very much sought after second-hand. A three meter box drill only needs about 80hp to operate it and most of the power is required to lift the drill. Fuel consumption works out at 2.75-3.00 litres/ha.
We have tried just about every drill (DD, Min-till, tines, discs,...etc, etc) over the last 15 years and the Simtech concept is the only one which ticks most of our boxes, especially if you need to work in the wet: late Autumn or early Spring. My experience is with a 3 metre mounted drill, I do not know much about some of the companies more sophisticated air and trailed drills but I suspect the figures would be very similar. The Simtech team are very farmer friendly and I would have every confidence in recommending the products and the company.

So are you actually going to buy one now @Jim Bullock ?:whistle:
 

rob1

Member
Location
wiltshire
It will probably be our next drill..I am Georges longest ever "tyre kicker"... That said the Mzuri Zip-till looks very interesting..:confused:
I must be second to you jim then have looked on and off for three years, hired one for two only lack of tramlines on the smaller one stopped me buying, then just when i bought the claydon they bring out the three mtr air drill:banghead: . Very happy with my caydon tho
 

Jim Bullock

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
I must be second to you jim then have looked on and off for three years, hired one for two only lack of tramlines on the smaller one stopped me buying, then just when i bought the claydon they bring out the three mtr air drill:banghead: . Very happy with my caydon tho
I had forgotten about the Claydon, again another "farmer friendly" company, my problem is that I do not have enough power for the Mzuri or the Claydon, and I suspect I need a drill with some form of cutting disc to get through some of the weeds we are so good at growing, Wire weed being a good example - it will block a 3 meter 7 leg Shakerator with ease..!!! so might well challenge a Claydon and a Dale...!
Only being a small arable producer (circa 300ha) I cannot afford to have a yard full of machinery that "might" just be needed. We have to compromise and operate with something that will work well for 50-75% of our area and will need a degree of "management" on the remaining area.. (Isn't management a wonderful word...it covers everything but means b**ger all)
 

rob1

Member
Location
wiltshire
I had forgotten about the Claydon, again another "farmer friendly" company, my problem is that I do not have enough power for the Mzuri or the Claydon, and I suspect I need a drill with some form of cutting disc to get through some of the weeds we are so good at growing, Wire weed being a good example - it will block a 3 meter 7 leg Shakerator with ease..!!! so might well challenge a Claydon and a Dale...!
Only being a small arable producer (circa 300ha) I cannot afford to have a yard full of machinery that "might" just be needed. We have to compromise and operate with something that will work well for 50-75% of our area and will need a degree of "management" on the remaining area.. (Isn't management a wonderful word...it covers everything but means b**ger all)
No way i could justify the claydon for my acres, but do some contract work that helps and aim to keep it for 15 yrs so as long as i can pay for its ok even if i have to save elsewhere. I am going to try to add a disc to help with weed flow
 
I had forgotten about the Claydon, again another "farmer friendly" company, my problem is that I do not have enough power for the Mzuri or the Claydon, and I suspect I need a drill with some form of cutting disc to get through some of the weeds we are so good at growing, Wire weed being a good example - it will block a 3 meter 7 leg Shakerator with ease..!!! so might well challenge a Claydon and a Dale...!
Only being a small arable producer (circa 300ha) I cannot afford to have a yard full of machinery that "might" just be needed. We have to compromise and operate with something that will work well for 50-75% of our area and will need a degree of "management" on the remaining area.. (Isn't management a wonderful word...it covers everything but means b**ger all)

What sort of hp do you have!?

I keep looking at the DTS mounted, and Zip till - just not sure I could justify the expense of one!?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I had forgotten about the Claydon, again another "farmer friendly" company, my problem is that I do not have enough power for the Mzuri or the Claydon, and I suspect I need a drill with some form of cutting disc to get through some of the weeds we are so good at growing, Wire weed being a good example - it will block a 3 meter 7 leg Shakerator with ease..!!! so might well challenge a Claydon and a Dale...!
Only being a small arable producer (circa 300ha) I cannot afford to have a yard full of machinery that "might" just be needed. We have to compromise and operate with something that will work well for 50-75% of our area and will need a degree of "management" on the remaining area.. (Isn't management a wonderful word...it covers everything but means b**ger all)

What is it that let's your current Kuhn down Jim and makes you want to change ?
 

Jim Bullock

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
What is it that let's your current Kuhn down Jim and makes you want to change ?
This year nothing. We have had some very good results..will post some pics tomorrow... but I need to plan for another year like 2012 (early 2013) possibly one year in three and then the Kuhn is just not a contender, its a dry weather drill.. I need something light weight and probably mounted which can get us out a hole in a wet year. I suspect that our Kuhn is not worth very much (a well known machinery exporter offered me £6500 for it a couple of years ago so I asked him to find me one for that price and as yet I have heard nothing from himo_O).. I cannot afford to have another year with no Autumn sown crops..
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
This year nothing. We have had some very good results..will post some pics tomorrow... but I need to plan for another year like 2012 (early 2013) possibly one year in three and then the Kuhn is just not a contender, its a dry weather drill.. I need something light weight and probably mounted which can get us out a hole in a wet year. I suspect that our Kuhn is not worth very much (a well known machinery exporter offered me £6500 for it a couple of years ago so I asked him to find me one for that price and as yet I have heard nothing from himo_O).. I cannot afford to have another year with no Autumn sown crops..

I think if your looking for insurance for a year like 2012 anything with coulters of any description will fail - my 'extreme' insurance would involve a front hopper broadcasting high seed rates from the heap in front of a mounted cultivator on a light well shod tractor

However the lesson I learnt was to maintain green cover to drill on to as in my presentation at the BASE agm, It made such a difference to our ability to travel with tractor and drill to run clean in conditions where we couldn't get near brown fields
 

rob1

Member
Location
wiltshire
I think if your looking for insurance for a year like 2012 anything with coulters of any description will fail - my 'extreme' insurance would involve a front hopper broadcasting high seed rates from the heap in front of a mounted cultivator on a light well shod tractor

However the lesson I learnt was to maintain green cover to drill on to as in my presentation at the BASE agm, It made such a difference to our ability to travel with tractor and drill to run clean in conditions where we couldn't get near brown fields
Not being funny but you admit to farming boys ground, on heavy land it is very different, green cover will help you travel but under it the soil will be wet and cold
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Not being funny but you admit to farming boys ground, on heavy land it is very different, green cover will help you travel but under it the soil will be wet and cold

It's not all boys ground we have some that's a bit more of a challenge but I do take your point
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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