This is the first time in my farming career that we have ever seeded this late into the season, and I doubt that we ever do it again. However, with no landlords to worry about, crop insurance in place, and weather forecast of low moisture and hot temperatures, we turned down a custom operator and waited until we finished constructing our drill.
It may be a fools concept, but we believe we have the pieces put together for growing a small grain crop successfully on low moisture and warm temperatures. In general we have a lot of residue to protect the soil surface and, hopefully, that will reduce evaporation leaving more moisture for the crop. We have the drill that allows us to do ultra-low disturbance seeding which, hopefully, will reduce moisture loss allowing more moisture for the crop. I'll update this post after harvest.
WHAT'S OUR THINKING: The criteria is moisture, moisture, and more moisture. We are not in an ideal moisture scenario for the 2014 crop. The winter, early spring moisture was short of prediction. The prediction of dryer than normal summer and slightly higher temperatures appear to be a serious possibility -- so, where is the optimism in this scenario. Maybe in part is being resigned to the idea that this will be a short crop regardless of seeding date. We are already seeing some fields of winter wheat under moisture stress. That is not a good sign.
The back bone of my optimism though goes back to the 1970's unpublished 10 year research project done by WSU and OS on "where moisture goes". (click on the label of "moisture" for more detail) I think it's time has come, but how to measure it????
12% of our rainfall is what we grow our crop on. 83% of our rainfall is lost from evaporation off the soil surface. I have known about this since 1989 and think about it, a lot, --- what could our crops yield if we could shave a few percentage points (1 or 3 or maybe 5%) off the evaporation column and add it to the production (transpiration) column. Ohhhhh -- the possibilities are tantalizing. Researchers of the day, Dr. Pappendick, being one of them, as well as being the presenter of the paper, lamented at the time, that there wasn't much they could do to change those numbers.
Recent studies have shown how moisture is lost from the soil surface. It is all about micro-climates and the balance of gases. There is a micro-climate on the soil surface where humidity can achieve a balance and moisture is neither moving up or down. In fact, it is probably out of balance most, if not all of the time, and moisture is moving into or off of the soil nearly constantly. Don't bother looking for it, it's invisible to the naked eye. Our challenge is to minimize the out bound. That means, do everything possible to keep the top edge of the humidity layer intact. When conditions deplete that layer, natural forces develop that draw moisture from the soil to replace that layer. It may be micro-scopic, but it is a powerful force that will not be denied. That is what robs us of our seed depth moisture. Wind is an obvious culprit, but temperature differential will do the same thing by creating changes in air pressure which results in air movement. Warm air rises and is a powerful force on the soil surface. Dr. Pappendick's final words at that conference long ago are golden today. "There is not much we can do other than keep the soil surface as cool and calm as possible." We have the tools today that allows us to begin, and the future promises better tools.
There was a time in my youth when I observed that snow stayed about 4-6" below the top of our stubble. As I began my farming career I concluded that 4-6" of stubble was adequate to keep wind off the soil. Well, that was obviously wrong. It is better stated that the wind velocity slowed to the point that snow or dirt particles were not moving, but there was significant air velocity at that level. For years I mowed the stubble attempting to seal the surface with residue. That resulted in high wind velocity near the soil surface, and there was never enough stubble to completely cover the soil surface. Sometimes the residue blew away, and it seemed that seed depth moisture was leaving faster, and going deeper. Mowed stubble gives the illusion of surface protection. In recent years I have come to the conclusion that if you see dirt you don't have enough residue. That attitude is becoming more strongly reinforced in me every year as I observe fields.
This brings me to the stripper header. I've come to believe that residue height is the best deterrent to wind. The higher the residue the lower the wind velocity at the soil surface. Its a shame that all crops can't be harvested with it. It's also a shame that we have the put machine tracks through it. Tall grain stubble leaves a nice visual effect; however, I have observed that even spindly mustard stalks standing knee to thigh high reduces wind velocities significantly at the soil surface. Keep in mind that everything is relative. Tall spindly mustard stalks is about the same or better than thin mowed grain stubble, but not nearly as good as standing wheat or barley stubble. Tall grain stubble is better yet. If you have a thin layer of residue laying on the soil surface along with tall stubble, that is even better. If you can then add to that layer as time passes, that is even better. You finally reach a point where your surface moisture loss is low enough that you will have good seed bed moisture whenever you need it, whether that be July, August, September or October. This in itself expands your opportunities for crop diversity and the ability to build bio-mass. The stripper header is a great tool to maximize residue height in the quest to capture soil moisture, but it has an inherent problem --- how to get the cash crop seeded into good earth with all that residue on and above the soil surface. Four years ago we hit the wall with residue when it came time to seed with our hoe type DS drill at Thornton. It was time for a different drill, one that wouldn't leave piles, one that would cut through a heavy mat of residue, one that would plant small and large seed, one that didn't destroy residue, one that minimized moisture loss during the planting process.
The CrossSlot drill opener was our answer to this problem. (see the post by clicking on the CrossSlot label) We had a custom operator seed for us while we came to the decision to build our own. There have been opportunities to "seed for knowledge" but no drill was available for small acreage on short notice. We are also looking at bringing a significant number of CRP acres back into production and, hands down, the CrossSlot is the drill of choice for that job. There are several single disc drills available; however, I don't think they can match the CrossSlot in difficult seeding conditions. The CrossSlot does not appear to require any land or residue preparation to seed and develop a satisfactory stand. The future is with UltraLowDisturbance. Hoe type DS drills will never meet the demands of the future; however, they are good starter drills and I encourage their use. With the CrossSlot, Kye now has a drill that he can take that next leap of faith when the time comes. Inter-crop seeding,cover crops to enhance bio-mass, and developing systems to grow crop nutrients and reduce commercial inputs are the future. These are exciting fields of study. Research supporting organic farming will likely to be the driver for breakthroughs in fertility. This drill, I am confident will be able to accommodate that technology when it is developed, and that is probably not far off.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Organic Matter After 25 Years of CRP
Attempts to quantify the gain in OM have been elusive, and the subject is full of ambiguity, so this post will basically be antidotal. There are no records showings OM content on this property for cropping years prior to CRP. The top picture is of soil from the 25 year old CRP recently seeded to spring barley with the CrossSlot. The bottom pic is ≈ 100' away, across a property line seeded to spring barley. This soil has been one pass, DS for 20 plus years. The soil in the bottom pic is in poorer condition because it had less makeup soil available than that represented in the top pic during it's cultivated years. This spring we took a 4 foot sample and ran a series of tests for various nutrients and soil conditioning factors. The pics are fair representations of what I saw. The following stats are: Top pic -- pH of 5.8 and OM of 3.20. Bottom pic -- pH of 6.35 and OM of 3.12.
Commentary on top pic:--- This soil is heavy with worm castings. When turning the soil it breaks up into small clumps -- very friable. It has a sweet pungent aroma. It has a high moisture level (wet). High density of fine roots.
Commentary on the bottom pic:--- This soil is clumpier, showing more stickiness, less friability, and a lighter color. Good moisture, but not like the top pic. Not as sweet aroma as the top pic. Fewer roots. Note the pH is higher and OM is a little lower. The pH is probably higher because of more subsoil mixed into the top layer, also, giving it a lighter color. The OM is lower because, even though this area has been DS for 20 plus years, it has been in a three year rotation, and fallow is part of that rotation. Oregon State research shows that the fallow year lowers soil health more than the two DS crops can build up. We are lucky to have as good a number as we have. Both sets of numbers are in line with what I would expect. A couple of hundred feet away, a neighbor conventionally tills his field. I don't have any numbers from him but I would expect they are similar to the bottom pic -- maybe slightly less for both pH and OM. If the CRP had been managed like a crop, with added fertility, more biomass would have developed to feed more micro-biological communities. OM probably would have been some higher.
OM is difficult to build. (click OM on a label for accessing other posts on the subject.) The Oregon study was a real downer for me. It was the catalysis to upgrade our cropping system from high disturbance DS to ultra-low disturbance DS. At this point, we have the stripper header (attempt to reduce evaporation), the CrossSlot drill (attempt to reduce evaporation). Expanded crop rotation, and inter-seeding crops, and seeding cover crops will be next. The purpose is to build bio-mass, feed the micro-biological community, hold more water, recycle nutrients that have gone below our normal root zone, and start manufacturing nutrients (like N). The short version ---Build Soil Health for future production with less dependency on commercial inputs, and remove fallow from the rotation.
Commentary on top pic:--- This soil is heavy with worm castings. When turning the soil it breaks up into small clumps -- very friable. It has a sweet pungent aroma. It has a high moisture level (wet). High density of fine roots.
Commentary on the bottom pic:--- This soil is clumpier, showing more stickiness, less friability, and a lighter color. Good moisture, but not like the top pic. Not as sweet aroma as the top pic. Fewer roots. Note the pH is higher and OM is a little lower. The pH is probably higher because of more subsoil mixed into the top layer, also, giving it a lighter color. The OM is lower because, even though this area has been DS for 20 plus years, it has been in a three year rotation, and fallow is part of that rotation. Oregon State research shows that the fallow year lowers soil health more than the two DS crops can build up. We are lucky to have as good a number as we have. Both sets of numbers are in line with what I would expect. A couple of hundred feet away, a neighbor conventionally tills his field. I don't have any numbers from him but I would expect they are similar to the bottom pic -- maybe slightly less for both pH and OM. If the CRP had been managed like a crop, with added fertility, more biomass would have developed to feed more micro-biological communities. OM probably would have been some higher.
OM is difficult to build. (click OM on a label for accessing other posts on the subject.) The Oregon study was a real downer for me. It was the catalysis to upgrade our cropping system from high disturbance DS to ultra-low disturbance DS. At this point, we have the stripper header (attempt to reduce evaporation), the CrossSlot drill (attempt to reduce evaporation). Expanded crop rotation, and inter-seeding crops, and seeding cover crops will be next. The purpose is to build bio-mass, feed the micro-biological community, hold more water, recycle nutrients that have gone below our normal root zone, and start manufacturing nutrients (like N). The short version ---Build Soil Health for future production with less dependency on commercial inputs, and remove fallow from the rotation.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
CROPPING CRP AFTER 25 YEARS
[7/5/14 Update]-- This field has a complicated soil structure, and many areas where the soil is relatively thin over broken rock--we're talking inches, not feet. Currently the stand is pretty good but looks a bit ratty. Visually, It has that leopard look without the evenness of spots, and I expect the condition will become more pronounced as the season progresses. The drill design fault is more pronounced, --leaving 20" rows instead of 10" rows over the hog-backs. I think I know how to fix this. Other areas are showing crop stress (lack of development), even though there is no shortage of moisture. This field started with exceedingly high moisture level in the top 4 feet. We need to get soil and tissue tests and make some comparisons as was recently pointed out at the Wheat College seminar. The barley is heading, and there is a lot of unevenness. Our field that borders this field is barley on barley and looks significantly better(even) at this point in time. This field has 50-60acres on the west edge that will make a great test area for out of the box thinking. There is enough shallow soil to make any attempt at moisture saving using fallow a waste, so annual cropping is a no brainer. I have no doubt, with this field being along the hwy, that, what we do, will be the talk of the community for years to come. Kye has a 5 year rotation worked out for the whole farm. What I/we do on this 50-60ac will, hopefully, work in conjunction with the rotation crop present. What that is, has yet to be settled on but options are developing as we/I surf the internet on interseeding and cover cropping. Building biomass in general, and OM in particular is crucial. Small gains in OM produce large gains in moisture holding capacity, and the ability of a soil to manufacture nutrients needed for crop production. Recycling and redistributing nutrients within the soil root zone is something that we need to figure out also. Exciting times. Challenges and solutions put meaning to life.
[5/24/14 Update:] Excellent emergence. Not perfect but close to it. The CrossSlot design limitation showed with some of the back rank openers shallowing up when crossing over small hogbacks that some of our topography contains. The crop stand is even, meaning it all emerged in one or two days. The field of barley on barley next to this CRP also has excellent crop emergence.
This spring we get to seed the first crop on ground that was put into CRP back in 1986. 2013 was a good year to kill the old CRP stand. There is none of the old stand that seems to have survived. There was a lot of new seedlings that we were able to get a RT3 application on prior to seeding barley.
It will be interesting to see what kind of yield we will get off this field. Some of the ground is shallow, and all was badly degraded through erosion from approximately 75 years of cultivation prior to entered the CRP program.
The pic below represents the CRP field before and after the drill planted spring barley.
The flash of the camera washed out the soil color. It was a much darker color in real life. This pic was good to show worm castings. Everywhere I checked, the soil at seed depth was mostly made of worm castings. It was surprising to me.
[5/24/14 Update:] Excellent emergence. Not perfect but close to it. The CrossSlot design limitation showed with some of the back rank openers shallowing up when crossing over small hogbacks that some of our topography contains. The crop stand is even, meaning it all emerged in one or two days. The field of barley on barley next to this CRP also has excellent crop emergence.
This spring we get to seed the first crop on ground that was put into CRP back in 1986. 2013 was a good year to kill the old CRP stand. There is none of the old stand that seems to have survived. There was a lot of new seedlings that we were able to get a RT3 application on prior to seeding barley.
It will be interesting to see what kind of yield we will get off this field. Some of the ground is shallow, and all was badly degraded through erosion from approximately 75 years of cultivation prior to entered the CRP program.
The pic below represents the CRP field before and after the drill planted spring barley.
While checking for the seed. We found worms everywhere. This was a good sign for soil health.
Drilling with the CrossSlot - 2014
[Update 10/10/14]-- Today I measured the residue at the drilling site pictured below. This spring I was apprehensive about whether the crop would emerge through the residue mat after coming through ≈2" of soil. This measurement was from one 20"x 20"site. It wasn't in the heaviest or lightest areas. The first number is of the bright residue which was the 2014 spring wheat. The second number is from the aged residue we had to drill into. The third number is the chaff I sucked up off the surface. 1@(4oz)=3,920#/ac, 2@(12oz)=11761#/ac, 3@(8oz)=7841#/ac.
[Update 9/22/14]--added video of seeding this field.
A pic of our first season seeding with the new drill. This field is near Thornton and was seeded close to the Insurance cutoff date of May 15th. This is very heavy WW residue. This field was stripper headed and left at 40". Wheel tracks and winter weather flattened a significant amount leaving a tangle. The soil under the mat is very wet and has a temperature of 69 degrees.
We were able to punch seed into good earth. The depth of the seed is around 2 inches
The pic below is a broader view of the conditions we were seeding into.
July 31st -- The Pic below shows stand established in the approximate area. I attempted to get the same line and angle of the shot to match the pic above, but missed. I'm ecstatic over the stand, and the general look of the crop. There are some tillers still filling, but most of the heads are filled out. The 4th week of June we had a week of hot weather. July was mostly hot with temperatures in the high 90's and several days of 100+ degree weather with more predicted to come. Holes in the stand are few --mostly at the corners. We need to adjust the "look ahead" setting to start seeding a little quicker. There are small areas dotting the field where the crop is showing moisture stress, but the grain is not shriveling at this point. Will this field mature into a good crop? If it does, it will be do to stored moisture and lower evaporation rate because of the heavy residue level. We'll see around Labor Day.
EROSION
CAN THE VALUE OF SURFACE RESIDUE BE MADE ANY CLEARER !!!!
When the soil surface is left exposed -- IT ERODES !!
This past winter an unusual event happened where snow melted quickly and water moved off our fields. The soil was frozen rock hard, but in a short time period, the exposed surfaces warmed sufficiently to cause serious damage. All the cultivated fields in the area showed similar damage, but on a much larger scale.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
NEW CROSS-SLOT DRILL
[10/4/15 UPDATE]: When we finished our spring seeding season, we noticed that damp soil was being drawn into the bottom of the blade forcing seed to exit high in the slot, putting a lot on the surface. It turned out that the drill tool bars were leveled in a heel down position which worn the blades to a rounded open bottom. This allowed soil to enter. The first drilling season we established the drill level in the field under load. The original drill design had all the wheels (4) inline across the drill to minimize side pressure on the wing wheels while turning. Each tool bar on the wings have a 4"hydraulic ram applying down pressure. The design wheel arrangement provided longer leverage on the front toolbar which forced it down. By leveling the drill to that wing, we put the drill main frame in a heel down position that was not readily visible. The fix was to move the wing wheels to an equal distance between the front and rear toolbars. The downside to this "fix" is more side wall pressure being exerted on the wheels and wheel mounts. At this point in time that does not appear to be a problem. At the bottom of the post see pics showing this change.
[10/4/15 UPDATE]: Moved discussion about depth to seed peas to --update: 8/23/15 on post of 5/24/15.
[10/8/14 UPDATE]: Added a pic and narrative to the seed delivery system.
[8/21 UPDATE]: We mounted a Bourgault transmission on each OmniSeed drive. They give us plenty of reduction for the small seed at low rates. The Bourgault is an interesting design. The input shaft can be turned in either direction, or back and forth, but the output shaft only advances in one direction. There is some sort of ratchet mechanism involved, and you can see that action at low output rpm. With the Omni hydraulic motor range of 0-150 rpm (0-1.5 gpm), the chosen sprocket ratio of 12/40 between transmission and seed roll, and the Bourgault transmission settings that range from 5-100%, we get a seed roll rpm that varies from a high of 45 revolutions per minute to a low of 6 minutes per revolution. Because the Omni motors become erratic near 1rpm do to low oil flow and pressure, we have arbitrarily chosen to not operate the motors below 30rpm. It appears that at 30rpm the motors provide sufficient torque for smooth operation under varying loads applied to the rolls. If we need to go slower we may be able to go down to 20rpm (???).
5/20/14 UPDATE: We are very pleased with the drill. It is heavier than I desired though, tipping the scale at ≈24,000 pounds without commodity. It placed the seed properly in the varied conditions presented to us this spring, whether heavy or no residue existed. Changes, settings, adjustments and repairs were accomplished with relative ease do to the designed access of the major components. Fertilizer over-run was quite good at ≈5%. Seed over-run was ≈ 15%. The drill design included fertilizer being divided into three sections across the width of the drill. The seed is full width. The scale mounted to the seed box made for easy calibration of seed rate. Not all is perfect though. The scrapers designed for the unit tend to promote opener plugs causing drags. Removing the scrapers can lead to seed being brought back to the surface with soil sticking to the disc. We had little or no issue west of St. John; however, at Thornton, in the heavier soils, in places we left some on the surface. What to do????
--The Original Post--
From here:
To here:
Design Features:
[10/4/15 UPDATE]: Moved discussion about depth to seed peas to --update: 8/23/15 on post of 5/24/15.
[10/8/14 UPDATE]: Added a pic and narrative to the seed delivery system.
[8/21 UPDATE]: We mounted a Bourgault transmission on each OmniSeed drive. They give us plenty of reduction for the small seed at low rates. The Bourgault is an interesting design. The input shaft can be turned in either direction, or back and forth, but the output shaft only advances in one direction. There is some sort of ratchet mechanism involved, and you can see that action at low output rpm. With the Omni hydraulic motor range of 0-150 rpm (0-1.5 gpm), the chosen sprocket ratio of 12/40 between transmission and seed roll, and the Bourgault transmission settings that range from 5-100%, we get a seed roll rpm that varies from a high of 45 revolutions per minute to a low of 6 minutes per revolution. Because the Omni motors become erratic near 1rpm do to low oil flow and pressure, we have arbitrarily chosen to not operate the motors below 30rpm. It appears that at 30rpm the motors provide sufficient torque for smooth operation under varying loads applied to the rolls. If we need to go slower we may be able to go down to 20rpm (???).
5/20/14 UPDATE: We are very pleased with the drill. It is heavier than I desired though, tipping the scale at ≈24,000 pounds without commodity. It placed the seed properly in the varied conditions presented to us this spring, whether heavy or no residue existed. Changes, settings, adjustments and repairs were accomplished with relative ease do to the designed access of the major components. Fertilizer over-run was quite good at ≈5%. Seed over-run was ≈ 15%. The drill design included fertilizer being divided into three sections across the width of the drill. The seed is full width. The scale mounted to the seed box made for easy calibration of seed rate. Not all is perfect though. The scrapers designed for the unit tend to promote opener plugs causing drags. Removing the scrapers can lead to seed being brought back to the surface with soil sticking to the disc. We had little or no issue west of St. John; however, at Thornton, in the heavier soils, in places we left some on the surface. What to do????
--The Original Post--
From here:
To here:
It has taken four months, but our new drill is finally in the field. The basic drill frame design went relatively quick and smooth. The fitting and finishing took a long time. We cut, drilled, ground, welded, painted, and plumbed and replumbed three days into our seeding. We will continue to make changes probably for most of the year. The pivots for the openers are left for later installation and also an ultra low seed metering device. The metering device is for winter canola, and other crops with small seed and low planting rates. The pivots will probably be another winters project.
Design Features:
Basic design size was calculated to fit our tractor which weighs around 39k and has 400hp. After much indecision over 8,10 or 12 inch spacing, we finally decided on 10" centers for the opener spacing on the basic cross-slot concept of a low frame, with two tool bars. We have 28 openers for a total width of 23.3'. The drill folds to a transport width of fourteen feet. The commodity pak is designed to drill out ≈25acres per fill of wheat or barley. The N tank will be the limiting factor in most cropping scenarios. We fill every hopper every stop. We use frame weight for opener penetration and not commodity weight.
The drill has the capability of:
---the openers came to us set up for applying dry fertilizer which is a different blade than one used for liquid. We run two different lengths of blades allowing us to place the deep band fertilizer ≈1" lower than the seed. As it turns out, we will be able to add more versatility to our seeding. Some culivars like peas and garbs do better when they are planted around 3-4 inches. By switching our seed tubes to the long blade we can reach those depths.
---two liquid fertilizer products. The main nitrogen source has a 1500g capacity. The second solution tank that will apply nutrients with the seed has a capacity of 400g. The solution tank has one manifold that is orficed for 7-10gpa and will carry the starter nutrient package. The main tank has two manifolds, each with a different orifice size to provide a wide range of application. They work in combination, and the design range is 30-100gpa without physically changing orfices. The rate is controled through the Viper 4 console. The drill is divided across into three sections (left, middle, right), and controlled (on/off) by the Viper to minimize over run of the fertilizer.
---the low profile, two rank toolbar on a narrow longitudinal frame member width (1.5") allows for easy access to service the openers and an even spacing of the openers (most direct seed drills have frame members that interfere with the preferred row spacing, so end up with uneven spacing). It took a lot of time in a trial and error process, but the design also allowed us to manage all of the hoses and tubing so that it looks clean and neat and accessible. A difficult task with 500 feet of seed (air)hose, 2200 feet of quarter inch tubing, and several hundred feet of hydraulic hoses. The seed tubes are hung on spring tensioned chains so that they don't have loops or sags that encourage seed blockage. The negative aspect to this design is the wide toolbar spacing from front to rear. To avoid compromising some of the features designed into the opener, the drill needs to be run on an AB line. Contouring our hills will leave the seed slot open in places. My hope is that when we get the pivots on the openers we can contour the hills without compromising the opener technology. To mitigate the problem associated with the openers being able to pivot, we have included a swinging hitch to shift the pull point of the drill. We have used this concept successfully on a cultivator many years ago and hope the principle will work similar with the drill. Currently, the Viper 4 is not capable of holding the line in auto steer with a swinging hitch, so use of this feature will require steering manually. (In 2015, we understand the Viper will compensate for a swinging hitch.)
---the drill design includes cylinders mounted on the hitch to tilt the frame fore and aft to change the angle that the wing on the opener blade enters the ground. The wing is normally set with the leading edge at 5 degrees down with the frame parallel to the ground, but it can be run with an angle of 1 degree. This feature doesn't have much meaning for us in the Palouse Hills. The wing angle changes frequently as we drill through dips and valleys associated with our topography. There is one intriguing thought that flits through my mind ----could Raven's Auto Boom be employed to hold the tool bars parallel with the ground?
---the commodity pak (white) is a unit to itself, and can be removed from the main frame. These tanks will likely be replaced in a few years. Each tank has it's separate frame that can be modified for a new unit.
---the main frame axle was designed for some height adjustment. The frame can to lowered a half inch or raised a couple of inches to accommodate minor adjustment for preferred opener height. The spindle capacity is 20k each and the low profile floatation tire has a capacity of around 20k at field speed. This will turn out to be marginal as our weight could get to 50k for fall seeding. We are not expecting any problems. As, with our old drill, we will move the drill with the wings down and under pressure to transfer weight off the main frame axle/tires. The advantage we gained by this low profile tire was the ability to position our air delivery tubes to minimize blockage. I've spent a lot of time fighting that problem with our old drill.
---these drills are heavy. The openers are designed for approximately 1100 pounds each. Disc's, unlike hoes, take a lot of weight to force them into hard ground. The result is that for spring planting they can compact wet soil. We have designed this drill frame to be "relatively" light (≈18k, oops, it came out at 24K) for spring work and then weight it up to about 28k for fall work by adding 7x7 box tubing into the 8x8 frame tubes. We have left all the 8x8's open to receive weight whether it is the main frame or the wings. Filling the 7x7's with concrete is by far the cheapest, but it is also the lightest. Filling and capping the 7x7's with flat iron is next cheapest and doubles the weight. Filling the 7x7's with lead again doubles the weight, but it has to be solid, not shot, for this gain, and is the most expensive. We'll probably use concrete and fill every 8x8 on the drill. Now-- add the commodity weight of approximately 20k and you have a heavy piece of equipment. For penetration purposes you need to discount commodity weight because it goes from 20k to near zero every hour or two.
---two seed products. The hopper has a 58b capacity and is fitted with a scale. The two Omni hydraulic seed drives have the capability of working together, or independently, with one or two products at two different rates, and variable across the field, which are controled by the Viper 4 console. We also can disable one drive, and drive both metering rolls through a coupler with one Omni drive. This will allow versatility for seeding cover crops or interseeding a companion crop with a cash crop. One bottom delivers to the front rank of openers, and the other bottom delivers to the back rank of openers. We did not chose to split the drill for the seed as we did for the fert. We seed full width. If only one seed product is being used at any one time, we will probably disable one drive and use a coupler to drive the two bottoms. This lessens calibration time and avoids streaking.
---The Bourgault transmission has infinite variability from ≈5-100%. We chose settings to approximate 5-20-50-100% using a fixed arm for quick and easy adjustment instead of the regular screw adjustment. We will probably only use the 5 or 50% settings, and use the PMW valves on the Omni motors to adjust the rate needed for the particular seed being used. We are using a 180 position encoder mounted on the end of the feed roll to give us the roll speed. A setscrew in the rolls keyway fixes the unit to the shaft. Rolls are easily removed by loosening the setscrew to slip the encoder off, then flipping the spring tension keepers holding the roll bearings in place, then lifting the rolls up and to the rear. All three sets of rolls that will be used with this machine (small seed, medium seed, large seed) have the same sprocket so there is no chain issues involved. The chain on the right side is looped around the seed roll sprocket before the roll is slid into it's run position. The chain on the left side goes under the seed roll sprocket so it rolls across the chain as it is seated into its run position. It will take less than 5 minutes to change out the two rolls. Each roll needs to be calibrated for the particular crop it will seed one time to get a "cal" number. After that, the Viper 4 and the seed hopper scale should be all that is needed for adjusting the seeding rate.
---the drill design includes cylinders mounted on the hitch to tilt the frame fore and aft to change the angle that the wing on the opener blade enters the ground. The wing is normally set with the leading edge at 5 degrees down with the frame parallel to the ground, but it can be run with an angle of 1 degree. This feature doesn't have much meaning for us in the Palouse Hills. The wing angle changes frequently as we drill through dips and valleys associated with our topography. There is one intriguing thought that flits through my mind ----could Raven's Auto Boom be employed to hold the tool bars parallel with the ground?
---the commodity pak (white) is a unit to itself, and can be removed from the main frame. These tanks will likely be replaced in a few years. Each tank has it's separate frame that can be modified for a new unit.
---the main frame axle was designed for some height adjustment. The frame can to lowered a half inch or raised a couple of inches to accommodate minor adjustment for preferred opener height. The spindle capacity is 20k each and the low profile floatation tire has a capacity of around 20k at field speed. This will turn out to be marginal as our weight could get to 50k for fall seeding. We are not expecting any problems. As, with our old drill, we will move the drill with the wings down and under pressure to transfer weight off the main frame axle/tires. The advantage we gained by this low profile tire was the ability to position our air delivery tubes to minimize blockage. I've spent a lot of time fighting that problem with our old drill.
---these drills are heavy. The openers are designed for approximately 1100 pounds each. Disc's, unlike hoes, take a lot of weight to force them into hard ground. The result is that for spring planting they can compact wet soil. We have designed this drill frame to be "relatively" light (≈18k, oops, it came out at 24K) for spring work and then weight it up to about 28k for fall work by adding 7x7 box tubing into the 8x8 frame tubes. We have left all the 8x8's open to receive weight whether it is the main frame or the wings. Filling the 7x7's with concrete is by far the cheapest, but it is also the lightest. Filling and capping the 7x7's with flat iron is next cheapest and doubles the weight. Filling the 7x7's with lead again doubles the weight, but it has to be solid, not shot, for this gain, and is the most expensive. We'll probably use concrete and fill every 8x8 on the drill. Now-- add the commodity weight of approximately 20k and you have a heavy piece of equipment. For penetration purposes you need to discount commodity weight because it goes from 20k to near zero every hour or two.
---two seed products. The hopper has a 58b capacity and is fitted with a scale. The two Omni hydraulic seed drives have the capability of working together, or independently, with one or two products at two different rates, and variable across the field, which are controled by the Viper 4 console. We also can disable one drive, and drive both metering rolls through a coupler with one Omni drive. This will allow versatility for seeding cover crops or interseeding a companion crop with a cash crop. One bottom delivers to the front rank of openers, and the other bottom delivers to the back rank of openers. We did not chose to split the drill for the seed as we did for the fert. We seed full width. If only one seed product is being used at any one time, we will probably disable one drive and use a coupler to drive the two bottoms. This lessens calibration time and avoids streaking.
---The Omni motors are advertised to give infinite variable speed from 0-150rpm, using 0-1.5gpm of oil. From a practical point they become erratic at ≈1rpm. These motors have their own PMW valve to control the oil flow. We hear that 50 is about as low as you want the PMW setting for stable operation of these motors. The max setting for these valves is 253 (giving 100% flow). With our arrangement we could seed the canola at 3#/ac with a PMW setting of 90.
----The down side to this drill, besides the size of the tractor required to pull it, is it's dependence on electronics. If the electronics don't work, this drill is junk. Seed and fertilizer delivery is not mechanically driven.
Pic's showing change in wing wheel location. Pic on the right shows wing wheel inline with main frame wheels which makes for a common pivot point. Pic on the left shows the wing wheel moved forward to center the distance between the front and rear tool bar. This allows the hydraulic cylinders to apply force approximately equal between the front and back toolbar minimizing any twisting of the wing. This wheel position causes more side pressure on the wing wheel when turning because the drill will pivot on the main frame wheel and the wing wheel will have to scoot sideways unless you are careful to pivot around the wing wheel.
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