Tramline benefits are clear
Tramline benefits are clear
Running down rows of
seedlings may seem a
drastic method of installing
tramlines in sugar beet. But
one grower believes the
advantages still justify the
means. Peter Hill reports
USE tramlines in sugar beet once, says Graeme Hogg, and you will never want to be without them again.
Three years experience with the technique as manager at Glentworth Scottish Farms in Lincs convinced him of their worth. Now, having moved to an associated farming operation at Selby, North Yorks, beet tramlining is being adopted there, too.
"However, the contractor who sows our beet here does not have a tramlining kit on his drill, so we are having to take a more radical approach," says Mr Hogg. "Running down the rows means we lose the seed saving you get when tramlines are installed properly. But the advantages are too great to miss."
On the Lincs enterprise, Mr Hogg had the farms own 12-row Kleine drill at his disposal. Fitted with electronic seeding unit drive, enabling the flow of seed to be switched off wherever a tramline was needed, the appropriate tramlining bout sequence could be programmed on the drills control box to do the job automatically.
"We still had to mark out for pre-emergence applications, which was quite time-consuming," he says. "But tramlining makes all following operations so much easier, as well as more reliable because you know exactly where to go with the sprayer or spreader and there is little risk of getting it wrong."
Peace of mind is, therefore, one of the great attractions of tramlines, especially when more than one operator is involved in field applications, he says.
"It makes life easier for the sprayer operator, in particular. He is busy enough because it is avoiding over-sprays or misses and keeping an eye on sprayer pressure without having to count rows of beet to know when to turn in."
Later in the summer, when ordinary wheelings are obscured by foliage, tramlines are clear to see.
"They help you spray sugar beet with the same level of accuracy and confidence as any other crop," says Mr Hogg.
Moreover, given the 20in rows in which beet are grown at Selby Farms, it saves an awful lot of time messing about with tractor and sprayer wheel track settings.
"Things would fit better with 18in rows because the tractors are set on a 72in track to suit the other arable crops," Mr Hogg points out. "But on our silty land we really want a decent amount of space between the rows to avoid beet being dislodged or having too much mud being picked up during a wet harvest."
Without tramlines, the tractor and trailed sprayers wheel track settings would have to be changed to 80in for beet herbicide spraying and fertiliser dressings, then changed back to 72in again for work in cereals and oilseed rape.
"That would probably cost us more than four hours on every occasion when time is at a premium and we are working with fewer staff," says Mr Hogg. "That is time we can ill-afford to lose."
Tramlines in this years Chorus, Duke and Wildcat beet were marked out pre-emergence for the first of the crops split nitrogen applications by the staff man who ran the fertiliser to the field. Mr Hogg is confident that with a post-emergence nitrogen dressing, plus four or five post-emergence herbicide sprays, few if any seedlings are likely to survive to cause problems for the harvester.
Nor is he concerned about yield loss from removing two in every 40 rows of beet since British Sugar trials have consistently shown insignificant effects on yield. Beet in rows adjoining tramlines tend to compensate thanks to the greater amount of space, light and nutrients they enjoy.
"Tramlining beet is something you have to try before you can really appreciate the benefits of it," says Mr Hogg. "It is easy to think it is going to look terrible and resist the idea. But use tramlines in sugar beet once and you will never want to be without them again." *