Which drill is best for plough and min till?

26 July 2001



Which drill is best for plough and min till?

If we min-till after break crop and establishing rape, and plough for second wheats, which would be the best drill for our situation?

All cultivator drills should be able to cope with direct drilling, minimum tillage and ploughed situations.

Each drill has a different cultivation technique to enable them to work best in each given situation mentioned above.

For example, a plain disc drill like a Moore Unidrill will work very well on ploughed land, as long as the soil is well consolidated.

A Horsch tine drill would need a levelling cultivation prior to drilling to overcome a tine drills lack of contour-following capability.

If youre looking for a good all-round drill to cope with your conditions then I would go for a Vderstad Rapid, fitted with system disc.

More information would be needed on soil type(s) and straw disposal method to be more accurate.

From:Steve Townsend

You need a drill capable of doing some cultivation but dont forget that this may also increase your draft requirement.

Examples of cultivator drills are the Vderstad Rapid and the Simba Freeflow.

The best thing to do is to go and see the drills in action in the situations you have specified. Click here to visit the Lo-till event website.

Both the two drills mentioned have performed well in our experience on a heavy clay loam.

From:Ben Freer