Soil science
and retain soil moisture. Direct drilling with the Cross Slot also reduces the amount of capital tied up in machinery and, being a one-pass system, reduces fuel usage. “By having fewer im- plements and fewer tractors in operation, and by making fewer passes, we’ll save £280,000 over 10 years.”
The estate’s sheep enterprise also complements the no-till pol- icy as Jake explains: “Whenev- er feasible, we’ll use the sheep to graze off the cover crops. This puts manure back into the sys- tem and improves the biology of soils which would otherwise be adversely sterile.”
Establishment costs Using the Cross Slot drill enables the placement seed, base fertil- iser and slug pellets in a single pass. Winter wheat can be estab- lished on lighter land for just £45 per hectare, and at a rate of 6ha/ hour or 10 minutes per hectare. Compared to the old four-pass tillage system, which took almost an hour per hectare, the business
A Topcon X30 console controls the sprayer’s autosteer and nozzle control functions. An identical unit is used to control the cross-slot drill
is better equipped to drill crops quickly during favourable weath- er windows. Additional income is generated by contracting for neighbouring farmers and staff have a better work-life balance. “But we wouldn’t be able to
achieve these advantages if we didn’t have the right control tools in place to enable us to use the kit accurately. We’re using RTK-en- abled autosteer on the sprayer and drill tractor, and have also
equipped our current sprayer with individual nozzle control.” The estate’s fi rst steps into
precision farming were taken in 2006 when two tractors were ret- rofi tted with automatic steering. From there it progressed to a 36m Bateman sprayer with 10-sec- tions controlled through a Top- con X20 console.
Nozzle control Today, Mr Freestone runs a sim-
ilar machine equipped with au- to-steer and individual section control run through a Topcon X30 console supplied and fi tted by LH Agro. Individual nozzle control is provided via a CAN-based system utilising Pentair’s Hypro ProSt- op-E nozzle bodies. They are driven by a Topcon Apollo spray ECU, connected by a single cable containing only four wires, power and CAN, which makes for a very quick, tidy in- stallation: individual bodies can easily be swapped with no re-pro- gramming required. “We can now control all 72 noz- zles independently which means there’s less over-lapping and our variable spraying costs have come down,” says Mr Freestone. With narrower over-lap margins, indi- vidual nozzle control has result- ed in a 2% reduction in sprayed area.”
m 07979 181770 t 01603 558014 e
nragri@btinternet.com Norfolk
WHY NOT TRY SOMETHING
NEW?
To arrange a demonstration call Neil MOB 07979 181770
PHONE 01603 558014 •
nragri@btinternet.com • Norfolk 42 ANGLIA FARMER • AUGUST 2018 01647 231536
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