ALL GO FOR ENTRY LEVEL MACHINES AT TILLAGE

Two models from Great Plains' new entry level specification cultivators will make their public debut at a working demonstration at the Tillage Live event, being held at West Hall Farm, Welton, Lincolnshire on Wednesday 11th September.

The new style 3m X-Press & ST Bar and the new TL tined cultivator will be shown working at the event.

Also being demonstrated will be the 6m Centurion drill; SLD 540; SL400; DTX300 and a 4.6m X-Press.

These new specification machines are already attracting significant interest from farmers who work consistent soils and don't need the full adjustability of working elements that the company offers.

Additions to previously offered specifications include shear bolt leg protection; bolt-on points; limited individual disc angling and a wider choice of rear rollers. These changes make the machines simpler and lighter, and are reflected in their price.

“Our existing customers appreciate the full adjustability of working elements that we offer in our current specification that enables them to cope with changing soil types; differing working systems and high stone burdens”, says David Holmes, UK Sales Director.

“But many other farmers don't need that level of specification. These new options will make the machines lighter and offer selected cost reductions, which we hope will enable more of them to benefit from Simba's design and component standards”.

The new style mounted Simba X-Press and ST Bar, which is now offered with shear-bolt protection of the ST and LD soil restructuring legs; bolt-on points; manual individual disc angling and a choice of six rear rollers.

The Simba TL300 is now offered with shear-bolt protected restructuring legs; fish-tail coverers as an option for the sprung covering discs and a V-roller – one of the six roller options now available.

DOUBLE SUCCESS FOR HUNGARIAN OSR TRIALS

Oilseed rape establishment trials completed in Hungary this year have achieved a valuable and elusive double – by raising yields and cutting growing costs.

And the improvement in soil structure achieved by Great Plains' Simba DTX cultivator is crucial to this success, says Simon Revell, European Exports Director.

The trials – conducted on five sites spread across the country – have helped raise yields by anything between 400kgs/ha and 700kgs/ha.

They compared crops established after ploughing, several cultivation passes and drilling – the conventional system used in Hungary – and crops established after one or two non-inversion passes, with a Great Plains Simba DTX and seeder doing the second pass and seeding:

“We have achieved a combination of a very positive yield increase and a reduction in costs which has greatly improved profitability on the trial plots. Many of the farmers who have visited these plots are now looking seriously at the techniques and machines involved.

“Yield benefits of the size we have achieved represent a 10% to 20% increase over normal yields in the country (3.0t/ha to 3.5t/ha).

“Combined with the reduction in costs, that has improved the margin by around 180 Euros/ha”.

“The trials clearly show that understanding soil structure is crucial, as is removing deep set compaction and restoring correct conditions for the crop to establish a healthy root system.

“In some of the trial plots the structure was so bad we had to use the FlatLiner subsoiler because we had to work deeper than 400mm (the DTX's maximum working depth) to remove compaction problems.

“These results also show the importance of enabling the crop to establish a strong root structure before the winter shutdown.

“Root bulk density is key to enabling the plant to fully access moisture and nutrients throughout its lifetime, so it can develop fully and make best use of light and space in the spring to create the maximum foliage and flowering.

“We got exceptionally good results where we achieved a target plant population of 25 plants/square metre – we seemed to get more branchlets, better flowering and pollination, leading to large, healthy seed pods.

“Because the roots could get down to access deeper lying moisture, we suffered much lower rates of pod loss towards senescence, which has also helped raise yields”.

EXTRA: Great Plains' oilseed rape establishment methods were among a range tested in field trials in Denmark this year. The results of this work are due to be published this week – and we'll report them here as soon as we can.

PRECISION PLANTING OF OILSEEDS

The idea of combining a deeper seedbed restructuring pass with precision seeding of oilseeds is being tested in a series of trials that Great Plains is completing with leading industry partners.

These are the latest trials that the company has been involved with over the past 25 years which aim to provide farmers with reliable information on which to base their machinery and cultivation decisions.

As part of this year's programme, three sites have been established – two with Agrovista and one with Agrii – where crops have been established using a Great Plains Yield-Pro planter working directly behind a Simba ST Bar fitted with LD legs:

“The ST Bar worked to depths between six and eight inches (150mm – 200mm) according to the conditions on each site, which ensures the seed was planted into soil below which the root zone had been effectively restructured, which we believe is the best way to enable the plant to establish a healthy root system”, says David Holmes, UK Sales Director.

The Yield-Pro planter achieves accurate seed singulation, whether working as a conventional planter sowing a single row of seed, or using Great Plains' patented Twin-Row concept, which sows two parallel rows of seed 15cms apart either side of a centre line and ensures each seed has a dedicated rooting zone and eliminates inter-plant competition and enables it to achieve its full growth potential

A range of different seed rates are being trialled, says Agrovista's Niall Atkinson:

“We have tried three different seed rates using the planter in Twin-Row mode, the planting 7.5 seeds/metre; 11seeds/m and 15 seeds/m either side of the centre to test which setting achieves the best yield.

“On some of the plots we have also applied seedbed fertiliser by mounting an applicator on the ST bar and placing the fertiliser directly behind the LD legs to see what added benefits that might achieve”.

Farmers will be able to assess the performance of the crops over the year as we are planning to hold a series of open days at the sites. Watch this website for more information.

SLDS TEAM UP AT THURLOW

A full range of Great Plains' Simba kit - both old and new – is helping the Thurlow Estate introduce an entirely new cultivation regime on the 12,000 acres straddling the borders of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Essex.

Manager Andrew Crossley introduced the new regime when three farms that had previously been run separately were combined, and three machinery fleets were rationalised into one, and they moved towards a block cropping system including controlled traffic on 40m tramlines.

The core of their cultivation fleet is a team of three SLDs – one fitted with a seeding kit – that cultivate most of the ground. They still plough 30% of the land for sugar beet, beans and some second cereals.

“The SLDs were chosen because they are a clear evolution from the original Simba Solo – which we had used previously – and the more recent SL, with well-proven components and features that suit our soil types”, says Andrew.

The machine fitted with the seeding kit also tows a Simba UniPress to finish off the seedbeds.

They also have two Simba 10m CultiPresses which are used to consolidate and level seedbeds across much of the area, and an interesting re-working of an old Simba favourite – the Top Tilth:

“Our existing 6m model wasn't big enough for the new system, and we could not find an 8m model anywhere, so we employed a local engineer to fabricate two 4m models into an 8m one with a novel central beam chassis.

“We could not find another machine that does a better job of levelling our heavy soils. The levelling board skims off the tops and drops the soil in the lows, and we have a DD Lite roller on the back that leaves a really good ridged finish which is ready for weathering”.

TWO NEW DEALERS IN FRANCE

Two new dealers are joining Great Plains' network in South East France, and Pierre-Arnaud Noiret, Territory Manager, is confident both will make a big impression for the company:

“Both these companies are established John Deere dealers, with AgriPro having three branches in the Ain department, and has relinquished several competitor brands so it can concentrate on the brand, while Axe is based in the Côte d'Or, Yonne, Saône & Loire et Nièvre departments and has already sold a Centurion drill.

“AgriPro is in a mixed cropping area where rotations include a lot of brand, while Axe is based in the Cote d'Or, Yonne, Saone, Loire and Nievre departments and has already sold a Centurion drill.

“AgriPro is in a mixed cropping area where rotations include a lot of forage maize, and we expect them to have good interest in machines like the X-Press.

“Axe is in a region where direct drilling is a popular technique and - as well as selling the Centurion – we feel they should have interest in the Spartan drill range as well.

“We expect both companies to find a good market for the Yield-Pro planter as well, as forage maize is an important crop in this part of France”.