Seed drilling

babybrian

Has anybody here experience of using a seed drill, or getting a contractor to do it? I know a few contractors have a min till system where they power harrow it at the same time as drilling but I want to know has anyone tried just drilling into a field that has been spraed off?
I was in Australia in a big dairy area and thats all they did, never ploughed or power harrowed and seemed to work great with fields back in rotation much quicker.
If anyone has tried this what time of the year and what rate of seed/acre?

dar31

id assume you are talking about reseeding.
we would never plough except after the kale/maize
burn off, absolutely skin off the dead material, you can start grazing after 5 days.
then powerharrow with it set up high, as the father says "hen scratch" the surface. keep putting the high of the powerharrow up till the contractor starts looking at you funny, then you know its right. the biggest mistake people make when reseeding this way is to go to deep.
broadcast seed with spinner and roll. been doing it this way for 10 or more years with 100% success rate

babybrian

Okay that sounds like a good idea and yes reseeding is on my mind.
What time of the year would you usually do the job?spring or autumn or have you noticed any advantage in either?
What rate do you usually put it on at?

dar31

spring is probably better,more tons grass grown, but it depends on your stocking rate, if its high you wouldn't get to do it in the spring.
we would usually do some in the spring after kale and then more in the autum. usual rate of seed no point in skimping on it.
some times drag a chain harrow behind spinner to give seed some cover if very dry and helps to see where you are going

bk1991

my father would never sow grass any other way other than ploughing .discing,grubbing,leveling,sowing,fert,chain harrow,rolling and the when grass comes up more fert.


bk1991

babybrian

My dad is of the same thinking but alas I think it is time to change things and try get cheaper ways of reseeding. I wouldnt rule out ploughing in a few years but the auld lad has neglected reseeding and now I really want to get good grass in quick and cheap.

denis086

my uncle imported a seed drill its made by aitichsonthe field is grazed very tightly then burnt off and then is just reseeded with this drill it put the seed down beside the discc and drags a chain harrow after it he used it to undersow barley this year and sowed the barley with it too its working very well so far bar a strip he missed with the sprayer and a few weed popped up but the barleys smothered them now very sell suited to stoney ground and avoids stone picking i just wouldnt be a fan using it too many times because its just the top layer of soil the whole time the fields need to be ploughed every once in a while its probably the same method you know because he saw it being used in new zealand

nilhg

I've seen plenty of different systems used to establish new grass swarths and all of them can work very well if conditions are right. If your field is in good order then a light tilling and careful spreading of the seed is the way to go but if you have a problem with compaction or rutting or bad weed infestations then it's hard to beat the plough, there is no one right way to do it, you have to know your own land and be clear in your own head why you need to reseed.