Page 12 - dale drills

“This helps the long term
health of the soil” MATT LAWMAN
MATT LAWMAN
S & M M HALL FARM, CAMBRIDGESHIRE
Matt, who farms near Huntingdon, bought an 8m Eco L in April 2015. It was used in August of that year to establish grass, oilseed rape and cover crops, followed by wheat and barley later in the season, with plans to establish Lucerne in mid - late spring.
“I see the biggest challenges to any arable business as profitability, black-grass control and soil health,” he said. “The Dale drill helps to address all three.
“Because we can sow direct or into conventional seedbeds it gives us more options, allowing greater flexibility, fewer operations if we so choose and a fairly low power requirement, which will all hopefully help to save some money.
“The narrower tines stir up less black-grass than our previous tine drill, making the most of stale seedbeds. The high output of the ma- chine also allows us to make the most of later drilling windows in fields where black-grass has been an issue that would otherwise have to be spring cropped.”
Matt has also found that the Dale drill is more than capable of drilling into cover and catch crops, mainly black oats, vetch and phacelia. “This helps the long term health of the soil,” he said. “Equally the drill will do a fantastic job in conventional seedbeds where manure has been worked in to increase fertility.”
The ability to change between 5” and 10” coulter spacing was also an important factor when choosing the drill.
“At the narrower coulter spacing, cereals, grass, Lucerne and cover crops are hopefully more competitive against weeds,” Matt said. “Meanwhile, the wider spacing helps trash and cover crops flow through the drill and gives the option of placing fertiliser with the seed.”
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ADAM CARR
J&VCASEY&SONLTD
(BOMBER COUNTY PRODUCE), LINCOLNSHIRE
Adam and the rest of his family – including wife, Nicola, mother and father-in-law, Marilyn and Mervyn Casey, and brother-in-law Tim Casey – farm a total of 290ha between Lincoln and Boston. They bought a 6m Eco L in 2014 to help with crop establishment on heavier, clay soil because the cost of investing in a new, higher horsepower tractor was too much.
“The numbers just didn’t add up,” Adam said. “But the Eco L fits perfectly. It’s very low disturbance and relatively speaking it doesn’t weigh very much at all – so we’re able to operate it with our existing 130hp John Deere 6630.
“It’s also incredibly versatile. Most of what we do is direct drilling – but it’s just as good for min till or conventional seedbeds, which gives us a whole range of options. Variable row spacing also allows us greater flexibility. We sow all our cereals at 5”, beans at 10” and 20” for OSR.
“It makes it very cost effective. A split hopper also means we can apply seed and fertiliser at the same time. On top of that it’s very fuel efficient – working out at around 6l/ha.”
Low disturbance has also improved the health of the soil – leading to more consistent growth and better yields, while the versatility of the drill means it can run later in the season, helping reduce grass weeds.
“We’ve seen an 80% improvement in black-grass,” Adam said. “That’s all down to later drilling.”
“We’ve seen an 80%
improvement in black-grass” ADAM CARR