We would be happy to do this, unbiased trials are good whether they come out good or bad. We all have to learn!
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Sky drill experiences
- Thread starter chester
- Start date
We would be happy to do this, unbiased trials are good whether they come out good or bad. We all have to learn!
@Clive Did anything comes me of this in the end? Any more views on Sky & Sly coming into the mix? Thanks
@Clive Did anything comes me of this in the end? Any more views on Sky & Sly coming into the mix? Thanks
Afraid it never happened, odd, late spring weather last year made logistics of organising it difficult
We have avatar, 750, Sly and weaving on the same field (on a neighbours farm) not much difference really.@Clive Did anything comes me of this in the end? Any more views on Sky & Sly coming into the mix? Thanks
Thank you. It’s clear that all drills will do a job now, it’s getting the system right that requires the investment. My biggest worry is bringing our CFA farmers with us ... how much of reduction in output will they take as we build knowledge and establish the system etc. Some are on board, others will need careful encouragement.
Still keen to explore options?
Yes in the same boat here. I don’t see why yields should go down though. I’m very apprehensive about no tilling spring crops on clay however so will carry on doing a cultivation and sowing a cover crop off the back of that for the time being to mitigate risk.
Moving away from our TopDown / Rapid to No Till without the strip till ‘bridge’ will surely lead to the much-publicised early yield dip, will it not? Our rotation is already diverse with soil type a silt clay loam, but OSR is a large part of it (25%) which is a concern ...
On this clay round here I would say winter crops won’t dip but spring crops are much more hit and miss under no till
Yes, so you’re saying that heavier clay soils should re-structure quickly in a no till environment, with siltier soils maybe taking a touch longer?
I don’t know. This clay does self structure.
Having just started our no till journey i am hoping that the yield dip wont be that big. The soil and structure was in such great condition after such a dry year in 2018 that i felt we had to take the leap now to really benefit from this. Having started spring drilling early (seriously early for NE of Scotland) our biggest hurdle so far is getting seed depth even. Because of previous deep cultivation all the previous tramlines and tracks are still showing. On normal settings the drill is leaving seed on the surface over the tracks so we are sinking it in quite deep to compensate and worry that it is too deep?
What drill do you have? Most should have better depth control than that.
It depends on what kind of clay. The calcareous clays will crack as they dry, giving natural fissuring. Warp silty clays are awful. There's little self structuring in silts IME.
Can you put the tines down a bit?
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
Err, I have NO idea what a Sumo Versadrill is, but if we were having trouble with wheel tracks etc & depth control on a planter that didn't have independent row depth control ( such as a basic tyne / cultivator based machine ) - we would just travel at an angle across the wheel tracks when planting, which does really make up for some of the unevenness of depth control / seed placement