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Moore Versadrillity
Many factors such as field size, farm size, tractor horse power and soil type can influence the figures tabled. However, they do give a good starting point when calculations are made. They are taken from reliable sources freely available to all farmers.
They will enable you to compare your present system costs against those systems suggested for low cost establishment as suggested on this site.
| System | Max Depth (cm) | No. passes (incl. drill) | Cost (£/hectare) | Times(Mins/ha) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ploughing | 15-30 | 4-5 | 100-135 | 100-250 |
| Heavy discing | 8-15 | 3-4 | 80-105 | 60-70 |
| Disc and time combination | 15-18 | 2-3 | 75-90 | 40-50 |
| Shallow tillage | 5-8 | 3-4 | 65-90 | 30-60 |
| Scratch (one pass) & drill | 3-5 | 2-3 | 40 | 30 |
| Direct Drill | 0 | 1 | 30-50 | 15-30 |
Good chopping and spreading of straw and chaff is important to achieve successful results when either direct drilling or drilling in minimum tillage.
Soon after ploughing or discing, get the soil pressed firmly. It will make drilling easier.
Combination drilling takes time - yielding only 10 to 12 ha./day. And it costs £50/ha. Add to this the tillage costs involved in making the field ready, plus the potential damage to soil structure. It all adds up to ...The Moore Uni-drill!
Ploughing could be worked into a 4-5 year rotation. Some farmers would be very reluctant to stop ploughing, but there is a strong argument for doing it less often. Cost and time savings would be substantial and soils would improve.