Crop establishment try-out: part 2

Christy Willett

East Anglia Monitor Farm

November 14, 2017

This autumn, seven different drills have been trialled at Parklands Farm. We provided an 18 hectare field of spring bean stubble for this crop establishment try out as part of the Monitor Farm work. Over the course of seven dry days (10 to 17 October 2017) we saw six very different drills trialled, alongside their own. The brief to the manufacturer, dealer or fellow farmer was:

Drill Crusoe winter wheat at 200 kg/ha direct into uncultivated bean stubble
Ideal depth of seed is 40 mm
We will not be rolling this field but we will monitor for slugs and apply ferric phosphate if necessary

It was totally fascinating to see the different approaches for the same aim. From the very simplest drill that just required three point linkage (no PTO, no hydraulics, no electrics), to the more sophisticated arrangements with an unbelievable array of screens in the tractor cab. Some drills were easier to calibrate and set up than others, some were simpler to empty the unused seed from.

The drills tried were: (in order as you walk across the field from farm buildings)

Drill	Type of drill	Retail cost for 6m, unless stated otherwise	Power required for 6m (HP)	Drilling date	Emerged plant counts (Mean % emergence) 2/11/2017	Emerged plant counts (Mean % emergence) 9/11/2017	Standard Deviation
Sky Agriculture Easy Drill	Disc	£98,004	210	17/10/17	65	81	6.35
Amazone Cayena	Tine	£100,500	136	13/10/17	52	74	8.07
Weaving GD6000T	Disc	£70,840	210	13/10/17	48	73	5.85
Simtech T-SEM	Tine	£47,500 mtd £60,000 trld	180	11/10/17	34	68	9.65
Cross Slot 5 metre	Disc	£124,750	250	10/10/17	41	59	24.22
John Deere 750a	Disc	£102,00	140	09/10/17	50	50	18.52
Mzuri	Tine	£122,180	450	09/10/17	55	44	10.89

Christy Willett

Christy and Hew Willett farm at Parklands Farm in Galleywood on the fringe of Chelmsford, Essex. This mother-and-son team farm in partnership across 475 ha of arable cropping, with a mixture of owned and rented land. Their rotation is typically two wheats followed by spring beans/OSR, although this has become more flexible since 2012 to include spring barley and spring oats, based on the condition of each field. The farm has recently moved to a strip-till system and is focussed on the significant challenge of grass weed management, including black-grass and ryegrass. Most of their wheat is destined for local millers. The farm has diversified into horse liveries, as well as office and industrial lets. Christy and Hew see their greatest challenge as keeping their cost of production as low as possible without sacrificing yield. They are keen to use benchmarking, on-farm trials and discussions from the Monitor Farm programme to improve and develop their farm business in these critical years for the industry.

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