What method and machine,s are you using to establish your crops. And at what cost ? We run a 480 lexion which we spread the straw and then run over with a John deere Mulch finisher to create a stale seed bed. Then we spray with sting and drill with a John deere no till. If we remove the straw we can drill direct. Would a horsch drill cut out the pass with the mulch finisher.

Martin, Wer ein north warwickshire and 2 years ago we went from 5 pass system (subsoil if required, plough, roll, power harrow, drill, roll), to a 2 pass system. We tested various cultivation methods but because of our soil type and soil grade a direct drill was not considered. So we went down the middle with a cultivation pass (non inversion) and then a cultivator drill. The machines we use are a 3metre Simba Solo and double press and then a vaderstad drill. Were now establishing our crop for about £22/acre all in. If the weeds chit suffciently with the stale seedbed we spray off as well which puts the cost to about £25/acre. The old system cost us double that if everything went ok. sometimes an extra powe rharrow pass was required etc. Yon might say that was a big investment. well it was but we needed a new tractor and plough anyway, a new drill and a new power harrow. Add it all up and the cost is very similar. We were able to shed a staff member as well thus saving even more. The cultivator running costs are less then a pound per acre. the crawler, driver, fuel and finance however put the cost up to about £12/acre. We foresee the machines still here in 10 years time as both simba and the crawler are excellently built. I am keen to try other drilling methods in 2003 and i think the hosrch or new simba freeflow drill will win. The next step for us like you is the combine with a full spread chaff spreader as this can be a problem with min till systems

Martin, I have been using a min till system in germany since 1997,this system was also based around a 480 class(the best on the market for this system)then followed by a cat65 and simba discs with packer directly after combine,regrowth with roundup then drilled with a simba freeflow.(works well) 2001 i moved to canada to increase my knowledge on no-till and here i find the best seeders money can buy,they are non disturbance machines and trash is also no problem,most of these machines are to wide for transport in the uk but if you are interested flexicoil have now introduced a slim model which may go on sale in the uk,check with your FNH dealer. Good luck George Hanna.

The short answer is no, but so much depends on your soil type. The Horsch drill needs a friable ntilth to work into, since it really is a cultivator drill, not a no-till drill. If your soil does not have too high a clay content, then the Amazone Airstar Primera drill may well cut out any need for cultivation whatsoever even in the presence of chopped residues.

Not really in your league but everything is baled behind our 8080 New Holland. Then depending on field and weather the ground is worked twice with a Opico vari -disc and tine combination, rolled and left as long as we dare before spraying with Roundup and drilling using a Moores Direct Drill. One 115 hp tractor is used to do both discing and drilling. Have started direct drilling on some of the land and results so far are very promising. The kit is relatively cheap and the drill has been around for decades and is proven. It don' t like the wet though.

Martin We have not ventured into min till, as our tration enginrs need to get steam up to be able to pull wide tillage trains. We also find in the wet weather a plough / poerharrowdrill works better than a mulcher. Look forward to reading your reply on these matters.

Were min tilling and I would say you've probably got the best drill for direct drilling there is. A jd no till has been used here in the past on chopped straw and it worked very well. There are lots of different reduced tillage methods now all with different names, but I would of thought your method would go buy something like scratch technique as your basically just tilling the top few cm. Try putting a post up here for Jim Bullock on your query, as he's probably one of the most respected on this subject.

When i run off with your sister and she gets the house and i get the land i will be able to afford to buy my self another rau/accord to cope with the extra acres. With a bit of luck Brads will get another 500ac up on top of the hill to go with it. HA HA .You should be drilling not wasteing time on here as it takes you so long to get up steam.