Tramline Management

[BLACKDOG]

Have been strip tilling for a few seasons and have some deep tramlines in places this year. What is the best way to deal with them. I don't fancy using them again as they are. Some are stood in water!! It is rather wet.

 

[Douglasmn]

I'd go for the tried and tested drilling at an angle. With Claydon/DTS style drill that should fairly level them. Having something growing in them over the winter should help to sort them out for next year. If really bad rip them up first then start again.

 

[simonk88]

we have been lightly discing or cultivating our tramlines, just to fill them in, finally got people convinced that deep tillage in tramlines encourages deeper ones next year.

 

[Clive]

use something light to fill in deepest bits then keep them in the same place - they will get better if you stop deep working them

mine have improved so much in the last 5 years i'm considering selling the self prop and moving to a trailed sprayer now

 

[martian]

mine have improved so much in the last 5 years i'm considering selling the self prop and moving to a trailed sprayer now

+1. Unfortunately new trailed spreader looks like costing more than our self prop is worth...

 

[Green oak]

use something light to fill in deepest bits then keep them in the same place - they will get better if you stop deep working them

mine have improved so much in the last 5 years i'm considering selling the self prop and moving to a trailed sprayer now

Why is six wheels better than four. unless your going for a higher capacity tank? More weight.

 

[Clive]

Why is six wheels better than four. unless your going for a higher capacity tank? More weight.

Because it's 100k cheaper maybe ?

 

[Green oak]

Fair play

 

[shakerator]

Because it's 100k cheaper maybe ?

Tough times @twb ??

 

[Clive]

Tough times @twb ??

always looking for the next saving / efficiency the fun of this job is doing it as well as possible for as little as possible, any idiot can throw money at a job

 

[Flintstone]

Very well said.

 

[Brisel]

Have a Google search for Julian Gold at East Hendred. He is using CTF & has built his own cultivator using a Shakerator frame specifically for filling in tramlines whilst avoiding ripping them up. It's basically a couple of tines either side of the rut with a couple fo discs to throw the loosened soil back into the ruts.

 

[yellow belly]

the main element is not to make a rut in the first place
use a lighter sprayer first then do not work tramlines deep as once moved the rut get deeper

on heavy land mole a cross the headland tramline into the drains

using tracked combine that is slightly wider track than tramline the outside of the tram line is pushed down by the combine and the drill

the firmer the tram line the heavier the load it will take

trailers with wide tyres help level end headland tramlines

if there is a wet place on the tramline that will not mole away then redrain it

I have learnt the above by trying the subsoil and cultivate tramlines out in 2013 after 2012s rain they did not improve
but field I moled the water away and levelled the rut with the combine track and drill tractor wheels have now solved the rutting

in future if a wet place starts a rut I will drive slightly out of the rut to keep the tramline level the lower yield from a wider tramline is a lower cost than spending time and fuel trying to do the impossible throwing good money at the problem

if I have to put early fert on or late spray on doing half loads is more sensible 6t sp sprayer with 1000 litres on 4 540 tyres at 10 psi leave no mark on notill even when it is wet

 

[Brisel]

Have a Google search for Julian Gold at East Hendred. He is using CTF & has built his own cultivator using a Shakerator frame specifically for filling in tramlines whilst avoiding ripping them up. It's basically a couple of tines either side of the rut with a couple fo discs to throw the loosened soil back into the ruts.

@Goldilocks ?

 

[RTK Farmer]

I don't drill tramlines any more, something growing in them helps drainage and they rut much less.

 

[doorknob]

Curious from an outsider's point of view, how do you get anything to grow in a tramline? I dont have actual tram lines, but I have invested heavily in same width applicators so I run the same tracks year round, but not even weeds grow in my tracks as they get run over so much.

 

[Badshot]

Curious from an outsider's point of view, how do you get anything to grow in a tramline? I dont have actual tram lines, but I have invested heavily in same width applicators so I run the same tracks year round, but not even weeds grow in my tracks as they get run over so much.

I simply drill at an angle with my tinedrill, it grows, some of the headland tramlines don't stay green as they get too much traffic, but the middle of the field does normally.

 

[yellow belly]

Tramlines have the deepest cracks in the summer