The economics of autosteer

[John 1594]

even so, il like to see anyone do better without autosteer, bet there aint many who could, or who would even dare try, let alone consistenly repeat that day in day out, keeping the drilling like that isnt a chore to me, its just natural

 

[Clive]

even so, il like to see anyone do better without autosteer, bet there aint many who could, or who would even dare try, let alone consistenly repeat that day in day out, keeping the drilling like that isnt a chore to me, its just natural

Have you ever tried match ploughing ?

It's like a kind off "dance off" for those that get excited about straight lines (and I'm pretty sure autosteer is banned !)

 

[John 1594]

Have you ever tried match ploughing ?

It's like a kind off "dance off" for those that get excited about straight lines (and I'm pretty sure autosteer is banned !)

yes, when i was younger. Was pretty good at it too. Got bored of it as the match ploughing fraternity is a very closed shop, and they not keen on youngsters who come in threatening to steel the elders thunder, tend to try and make life hard for you, have to be in the judges pockets to get anywhere with SOP

And just to add, my ploughing is as straight as my drilling, day in day out without fail

I almost feel like a robot sometimes...........

 

[Mdt]

even so, il like to see anyone do better without autosteer, bet there aint many who could, or who would even dare try, let alone consistenly repeat that day in day out, keeping the drilling like that isnt a chore to me, its just natural

You want to get yourself up here and see what our drillman does no gps in tractor and his drilling is 99% spot on! Only occasionally does he overlap cause he is constantly checking his markers. Sorry to say it john but after seeing your pic its nowt on our drillman.

 

[John 1594]

Would take a lot for me to even consider going to yorkshire tbh, i can think of far nicer places having been there before

 

[Mdt]

Would take a lot for me to even consider going to yorkshire tbh, i can think of far nicer places having been there before

Tell you what beans just peeping out give a couple of days an will take a pic.

 

[stuart]

You want to get yourself up here and see what our drillman does no gps in tractor and his drilling is 99% spot on! Only occasionally does he overlap cause he is constantly checking his markers. Sorry to say it john but after seeing your pic its nowt on our drillman.

Stick a picture up to late

 

[TheEarlOfMoray]

God John you have one hell of a chip on your shoulder. Like someone said before I'd like to see you on a side lands in a dust storm in the dark. GPS takes all this into account and you can use it in any conditions when it's humanly impossible to do! Give it a go some time. You never know you might be impressed!

 

[Robt]

Sorry to say, my father can drill just as straight but without the overlap like you have. And to be fair. So can I!!!!!!
Yes you are straight but your markers are way out!!!
With regards to ploughing matches, my dear friend is only 26 and is taking the ploughing scene by storm. They all like him, however he isn't arrogant and full of himself!

 

[John 1594]

@Mdt, how old is your drillman, if you dont mind me asking. My bet is he over 40, maybe over 50, very feew youngsters ever get the title of "drillman" so id say he is going to be a well experince chap with a lot of hour and acres under his belt, amd knows ever hill and hole on your farm

Try finding another 27 year old who does just under a 100 acre of drilling a year to that standard, its not as if ive had 1000s of acres of practice to get to where i am now, if i had more time on it i could be better, thats a natural phenomenon, the more you do something, the better you get at it

And another natural phenomenon is it sometimes takes a day or so to "get your hand back in" if you have been off a machine for a long period

I dont have that chance, ive only got 75 acre to drill, if it took me that long to get upto standard id be drilled up before i got there, i can hop on the drill and do as in my pic on the first field of the season, soid say that puts me ahead of some people surely?

 

[Mdt]

John our drillman is 38-39. He has only been on the estate 6years and drilling the last 3years. Last year a local contractor asked what gps setup we had because drilling was straight as driver before wasnt too straight, the manager said none just the driver!!

 

[Fraserb]

@Mdt, how old is your drillman, if you dont mind me asking. My bet is he over 40, maybe over 50, very feew youngsters ever get the title of "drillman" so id say he is going to be a well experince chap with a lot of hour and acres under his belt, amd knows ever hill and hole on your farm

Try finding another 27 year old who does just under a 100 acre of drilling a year to that standard, its not as if ive had 1000s of acres of practice to get to where i am now, if i had more time on it i could be better, thats a natural phenomenon, the more you do something, the better you get at it

And another natural phenomenon is it sometimes takes a day or so to "get your hand back in" if you have been off a machine for a long period

I dont have that chance, ive only got 75 acre to drill, if it took me that long to get upto standard id be drilled up before i got there, i can hop on the drill and do as in my pic on the first field of the season, soid say that puts me ahead of some people surely?

When I was 21 I started doing all the drilling at the farm where I work (900 acre) and I was always pretty straight and very little overlap got no photos to show though. The last two seasons I've been drilling with autotrac and although I thought I was straight before the autotrac has made a big difference, its as good all times of the day and doesnt loose its mark on fresh ploughing and I also go home more relaxed than when I've been staring at the mark all day.

 

[Robt]

I admire your confidence!!!!! I thought I was full of myself! But you're something else! I've met lots of 27 year old as good As you! Think of most athletes they are all young. I started drilling at 18 so by the time I was 27 I had 9 seasons under my belt!
Would love to see you as drillman on a 2000 acre estate where you can prove yourself through fog, dust, rain, early mornings and late evening! With only 75 acres you will never ever get tired!!! N

 

[John 1594]

I admire your confidence!!!!! I thought I was full of myself! But you're something else! I've met lots of 27 year old as good As you! Think of most athletes they are all young. I started drilling at 18 so by the time I was 27 I had 9 seasons under my belt!
Would love to see you as drillman on a 2000 acre estate where you can prove yourself through fog, dust, rain, early mornings and late evening! With only 75 acres you will never ever get tired!!! N

thing is, id love to be drillman on 2000 acre, if id have stayed in my first job i would have been by now, but i like being my own boss too much, i work best on my own, less people to argue with!

 

[Fraserb]

John our drillman is 38-39. He has only been on the estate 6years and drilling the last 3years. Last year a local contractor asked what gps setup we had because drilling was straight as driver before wasnt too straight, the manager said none just the driver!!

That sounds like the farm where my dad works, his boss has been asked a few times what GPS they use. I was up giving them a hand drilling this week and his boss was wondering if I could drill as straight as my dad, I said I'd give it a go, maybe should have told him we have autotrac.

 

[Steevo]

I'm a lot less convinced by precision applications vra etc than I am of auto-steer - I have tried most things vra but am yet to see a financial benefit of anything

I do see environmental benefits however but a lot of the rest of it is tech for techs sake in many case I think

I remain open minded however and will continue to try new things . I'm sure vra will become useful one day so wouldn't want to get left behind !

Auto steer is the biggest step forward agriculture has made in the last 25years IMO and it will lead to the driverless tractor at commercial farm level on many units within the next decade I think bringing real savings and efficiencies

Couldn't agree more Clive! Autosteer on the drill and combine are the best way to get savings - once the tramlines are in place all other passes should be as accurate as you can get. I can see some logic in auto-section control, but I can't see how you can make the same savings as with autosteer unless the fields are very awkward. As for VR P/K and N - I'm yet to be convinced. There are cheaper (and better) forms of P/K than is available out the bag, and N depends entirely upon the weather/season, something you only ever know in hindsight.

 

[Stoxs]

I'm a lot less convinced by precision applications vra etc than I am of auto-steer - I have tried most things vra but am yet to see a financial benefit of anything

I do see environmental benefits however but a lot of the rest of it is tech for techs sake in many case I think

I remain open minded however and will continue to try new things . I'm sure vra will become useful one day so wouldn't want to get left behind !

Auto steer is the biggest step forward agriculture has made in the last 25years IMO and it will lead to the driverless tractor at commercial farm level on many units within the next decade I think bringing real savings and efficiencies

VAri rate on compound applications must save/ target the product where it is needed. Individual nozel shut offs can produce big savings on any liquid application. As with all applications it might not save actual pounds but targets the product where it is needed most, in time will this not start to show in yields/ yield mapping? some say no, I have little experiance in this so cant really comment.
I did lots of work with yield mapping 10 years ago but then there was little use for the infomation and talking to some still the question is what do we do with the mapping info?
Agree its the one thing i have noticed is that driving a 20Ha field is 20Ha driven not the old way of a 20Ha field possiblly being 21 or even 22 Ha. all down to accurate tramlines and accurate shut offs.

 

[Clive]

VAri rate on compound applications must save/ target the product where it is needed. Individual nozel shut offs can produce big savings on any liquid application. As with all applications it might not save actual pounds but targets the product where it is needed most, in time will this not start to show in yields/ yield mapping? some say no, I have little experiance in this so cant really comment.
I did lots of work with yield mapping 10 years ago but then there was little use for the infomation and talking to some still the question is what do we do with the mapping info?
Agree its the one thing i have noticed is that driving a 20Ha field is 20Ha driven not the old way of a 20Ha field possiblly being 21 or even 22 Ha. all down to accurate tramlines and accurate shut offs.

Boom section control saves cash and has environmental benefits I agree. By autosteer I kind of meant all gps control of machinery that consistently out performs the human operator

It's the vra stuff that is mostly snake oil I'm affraid - I have tried them all pretty much and the deeper you dig the more you realise that as good as the tech is the agronomy and compromise of sampling methods and modelled assumptions based around it are frankly not a lot better than a guess. I have yield mapped and vra applied for 13 years now and I'm yet to prove I have made a penny more profit as a result. I enjoy doing it and it will one day be of use I'm sure but I don't believe anyone who says it is yet

 

[Stoxs]

even so, il like to see anyone do better without autosteer, bet there aint many who could, or who would even dare try, let alone consistenly repeat that day in day out, keeping the drilling like that isnt a chore to me, its just natural

John there are loads of chaps around who are obssesed with drilling straight and can drill as accurate as you if not slightly better. Dont get me wrong yours is great but nothing more than that.
You have flat fields and looking at it even soils and very few big stones no reason at all not to keep it straight and a 3meter mounted drill!
Get on the side of a hill (with ya foot on the door handle to stay in the seat) with a trailed drill and flints like dinner plates and you have to drive on your last run to keep the 4m drill on the mark and then see if you even worry about keeping it straght.

Straight drilling might look nice but it dosnt make any difference at all to the crop. accurate tramlines do make a difference,
so does accurate shutting on and off and accurate seed depth.

 

[Stoxs]

Boom section control saves cash and has environmental benefits I agree. By autosteer I kind of meant all gps control of machinery that consistently out performs the human operator

It's the vra stuff that is mostly snake oil I'm affraid - I have tried them all pretty much and the deeper you dig the more you realise that as good as the tech is the agronomy and compromise of sampling methods and modelled assumptions based around it are frankly not a lot better than a guess. I have yield mapped and vra applied for 13 years now and I'm yet to prove I have made a penny more profit as a result. I enjoy doing it and it will one day be of use I'm sure but I don't believe anyone who says it is yet

LOL sounds just like it was 10 years ago then, all the gear but no idea!
Totally agree , will it be different in 10 years time? who knows.
But atleast we as users will have some experiance of the equipment