Affordable access to variable rate drilling – Arable Farming
A drill conversion kit has provided an affordable route into variable rate drilling for one Wiltshire grower ...
For Sean Richards, the ability to move into variable rate drilling with a low-cost drill conversion is a development that makes technology affordable to all.
Mr Richards of Lordswood Farm, Sherston, Wiltshire, says: “We have a first generation six-metre Kverneland Tine Seeder drill that was bought new in 2006. It is a brilliant bit of kit for establishing cereal crops on our farm, in almost any conditions.
“Our preference is to plough and power harrow to keep on top of black-grass control and to create the seedbed quality we want for our mostly heavy clay land,” he says.
“Though there are seams of stone and brash running through many fields, plus heavily shaded areas under trees, for example, that would benefit from a different approach when drilling.”
In recent years the farm has gradually been adopting more precision farming techniques to help improve operational efficiency. GPS auto-steering has been introduced on the farm’s two MF tractors and the combine to maximise efficiency at any working width. Targeting of fertiliser applications has also been improved using a Kverneland Exacta TL Geospread with auto section control and auto start-stop, which has enabled the farm to make the most of variable rate N, P and K applications.
Through soil scanning and soil samples taken as part of his Rhiza subscription, Mr Richards has been moving more progressively into variable rate applications.
“We’ve been applying variable rate P and K for 10 years and variable rate nitrogen for the last two,” he says.
“We’ve also been gathering yield maps over the last seven years too, which has given us a historical picture that highlights progress and efficiency improvements across the farm.”
He says that, perhaps more importantly, the data is also highlighting areas which are underperforming.
“We’ve already pinpointed several areas where variable seed rates are now worth trying – mostly to lift some of the poorer patches we’ve identified. Where we have shaded areas near woodlands or questionable headlands, these areas could ultimately be taken out of crop production and managed differently, if variable seed rates fail to deliver a worthwhile improvement,” he says.
Every change that is made is then monitored by field walking throughout the season. Until recently, the path to variable seed rate capability has been cost-prohibitive, says Mr Richards.
“The challenge for us was, how do we get into variable rate drilling for sensible money? Until we came across Omnia’s E-Seed conversion, the only other option meant trading in our 16-year-old drill for a newer model with electric drive.”
Swapping the drill was, he says, simply too costly across the 242 hectares of cereals he grows.
“It’s all about economies of scale. While we do work with a neighbour, which almost doubles our acreage, we would still need a lot of additional work to justify the cost of changing the drill,” he says.
“Besides, there’s nothing wrong with our Tine Seeder. It uses a robust, accurate Accord seed metering unit which is driven by a land wheel. The only drawback is the seed rate you set is the one you get – with this early model and its Mueller control box, there’s no ability to adjust seed rates on the move, let alone have it follow a seed map.”
He says the Omnia E-Seed kit provided a cost-effective option. The conversion kit includes an electric motor to substitute the land wheel drive with an Omnia Connect variable rate controller providing a WiFi network that allows connection to the drill’s electric seed metering drive.
This is managed through Omnia’s iOS-based E-Seed app, using a tablet mounted in the cab. Uploading a variable seed rate map to the app then enables the seed plan to be followed by the drill.
“It cost me £5,000 to buy the kit and fit it onto our drill. There was some fabrication work required to create brackets so the electric motor drive could be correctly located on the drill frame, and that was it.”
Autumn 2021 was Mr Richards’ first season with the E-Seed and to get a better appreciation of the process, he opted for full manual control of the seed rate.
He says: “It takes a little while to trust the tech with any new system. So I spent last autumn watching and learning from the tractor cab. I had three fixed seed rates in the app, which simply let me change seed rates by tapping buttons, for those areas I felt needed a bit more seed.
“The drill doesn’t have half-width shut off, so it was simply a matter of changing between preset values to increase or decrease seed rates for the full6m working width.
“We’ve yet to fully scrutinise our yield maps to see if any changes impacted on harvest, though there is scope to improve what we do with our inputs.”
His seeding process is one that sows the headlands either first or last, depending on soil moisture. Then it’s a matter of using GPS to sow all the tramline runs across a field, then filling in the bouts as he works back towards the field gate.
“I can make wide sweeping turns which minimises any soil disturbance. And using my tractor with auto-steer, as soon as I get near the next A-B line, the auto-steer does the rest and steers the tractor in.”
He says output is around 40hectares per day, with the drill having now covered more than 324ha since the E-Seed conversion was carried out. Mr Richards says the system has worked well, with 100% reliability as a seed metering drive unit for a variety of crops he has sown.
“Our cultivations strategy is based around black-grass control and our rotation includes oilseed rape, winter barley and winter wheat. We won’t drill any wheat until October and we’ve learned the hard way that when it gets wet, we stay off the land until spring.”
With renewed confidence for autumn 2022, Mr Richards intends to upload variable seed rate maps when wheat drilling starts in late autumn.
“I’ve been using Rhiza for variable rate fertiliser maps and the same team will be creating my variable rate seeding maps. These will be emailed straight to my iPad and uploaded into the E-Seed app,” he says.
“Then the iPad is put in the tractor cab where it connects by WiFi to the drill.
“It is quite straight forward to use and easy to see where the next improvements could be found.
“This could be through yield improvement or a reduction with input costs- either way, it won’t take long to recover the cost of the variable rate drill conversion kit.”
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