Bespoke outfit eats up the acres

17 September 2009

WITH an increasing acreage, the challenge for Stuart Davidson was how to quickly get over ground. But rather take an off-the-shelf cultivator and drill, he decided to get something that fitted his needs.

For many farmers, having a machine that creates a stale seedbed and then returns a few weeks later to plant a crop would be low-cost utopia.

For Stuart Davidson this is now a possibility on the 930ha (2,300) acres he farms, near Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

After explaining to manufacturer Phillip Watkins what he wanted, a Simba Horsch Pronto 6TD drill was added to the rear of a Quad-Till cultivator.

“When we were ploughing most of the farm last year, we spent a fortune pulling in contractors to deal with 500 acres of heavy red clay due to the poor conditions,” says Mr Davidson.

“We would normally plough, then spade roll, with the heavier land getting a pass of the X-Press before drilling with the 4m Pronto or 6M John Deere 750A.

“But I wanted a machine that could do everything and having looked at the Watkins it was exactly what we wanted as we can take elements out if they are not needed or use them all on the heavier ground.

“Simba’s territory manager Jimmie Carver came up with the idea of adding the drill after we looked at a wider Pronto, but I wanted something more versatile.”

The Quad-Till uses a mixture of tines and discs to loosen and mix the soil before it is firmed by the integrated DD ring packer.

First up is a double gang of 660mm scalloped discs that mix and chop material ahead of the nine subsoiling legs. Each tine has a hydraulic auto-reset to protect them from the large stones common in this area.

“In soft ground I set the trip pressure to 30 bar and increase this to 90 bar in clay,” says operator Lee Chapman. “The tines are usually set to a working depth of 9in (225mm) and the points last about 40 to 60ha (100-150 acres), twice as long as the wings.

Kongskilde Vibroflex tines are then used to level the soil ahead of the double row of DD rings. These two rows of tines are mounted on a frame that floats laterally to adjust to contours.

Further back

On a regular Quad-Till the packer is also used to carry the cultivator during headland turns but with this machine, having the rear drill, it is carried on a pair of 800/45R26.5 Trelleborg floatation tyres positioned further back.

For it to be an all-in-one machine, it is also equipped with a rear frame to carry the Simba Horsch Pronto 6TD.

This is a drill Horsch developed to put on the back of its Tiger tine cultivator and can be removed when sowing is not being carried out. The narrow 2,000 litre hopper sits between the folded wings for transport while the disc coulters are the same as those found on the Pronto cultivator drills.

“The drill has quick couple hydraulics to make it easy to disconnect and jacks hold it up so we can drop off the drill when we are not using it,” says Lee.

“The cultivator with the drill on measures over 13m so we have added cameras so I can see the coulters working and also check behind the subsoiling tines. The big discs do a good job of cutting through the trash but if there is going to be a build up it will be in front of the DD press.”

Straw passing through the farm’s Axial Flow 9010 is currently baled and used for bedding pigs contract reared at Knockothie. But reducing numbers means some straw could be chopped in the future helping build up organic matter along with green waste compost.

Lee points out the ideal forward speed is nine to 10kph with the Quadtrac consuming seven to 10 litres/ha with the engine typically running at 1,750 revs and on average cultivating 4.2ha/hour.

To make the most of the units 6m working width, the Quadtrac, like the combine, self-propelled sprayer and other main tractors, use RTK auto steering.

Lee adds the AFS Pro 600 terminal will also be used to control the drill thanks to the ISO-Bus compatible connection.

Light land

On the light land the Quad-Till and Pronto go straight to work drilling rape while on the heavy land it is used to establish a stale seedbed before going back to sow barley. Winter oilseed rape and barley are the main crops grown at Knockothie Farms with some winter wheat also making its way into the rotation and all of this will be drilled by the new outfit by mid-September.

“We still plan on ploughing 40 per cent of the farm on a rotational basis using the 10 and five furrow ploughs,” explains Stuart who farms with wife Susan, brother-in-law Craig Hamilton and sister Alison. “We are also ploughing in 10m from the hedge to prevent weeds creeping into the field.”

Although ploughing has always been a key part to establishing crops at Knockothie, Stuart adds they have been dabbling with min-till since 2000 using a Simba Flow King and Kockerling Precision cultivators pulled by a 400hp Steiger Lioness.

“By switching to min-till we can cover the ground more quickly on the heavier ground which needed two hits of a cultivator and the cost of wearing metal is also a lot cheaper,” says Stuart. “For not much more money than a cultivator drill we have a versatile stubble cultivator and drill.”