Agronomist Notes

I spent last week working on business housekeeping and attending committee meetings. We sat down as a family and went over future plans for the farm and what needs to happen this spring to get rolling. It’s a great feeling to have supportive family members and a plan in place. Now if only the snow would go away. On the bright side the FPC on HRS No.1, 13.5 protein wheat just hit $8.50 a bushel yesterday.   

In this issue of Beyond Agronomy News, we’ll look at comparing two high capacity air cart systems to see which is most efficient. Next, we’ll look at how to tweak your seeding speed this spring once the crunch hits. I’ll outline the new Dutch low draft opener on the market, a welcome change to replace their old one. I’ve included the latest article in Top Crop Manager on our CTF system and finish with my good friend David Gooden’s Nuffield report on spraying systems. We’ll finish with fundamental and technical grain market news. 

I’m speaking on seeding speed, accuracy and efficiencies at Kneehill Soil Services’ Spring Splash in Linden on Tuesday afternoon. See you there.

Agronomy

Comparing the efficiency of high capacity air tank systems

There has been an increase in demand for large capacity air tanks in Western Canada. In an effort to increase seeding efficiency, producers are looking at trading up from their 430 or 550 bushel air carts to the new 700 bushel air carts. With wider drills growing more popular and seeding rates hitting 140 to 160 lbs/ac and fertilizer at 225 to 300+ lbs/ac, the next place to look for efficiency is the air cart. Today, I’d say most producers with 430 bushel air carts are seeding roughly 55 to 65 acres per fill. If you increase to a 700 bushel capacity, which is a 62% increase, you can theoretically increase your seeded acres to 95 acres per fill. Today we’ll look at the numbers to determine why bigger is better then compare the two options for larger air tanks on the market. 

Example 1: Number of fills per day for 430 bu tank vs. 700 bu tank seeding 320 ac/day
430 bu tank: 320 ac ÷ 55 ac/fill = 5.8 fills/day
700 bu tank: 320 ac ÷ 95 ac/fill = 3.4 fills/day

45 min per fill × (5.8 - 3.4) ÷ 60 min/hr × 35 ac/hr = 63 ac/day

In this example, you could increase your seeding efficiency by 20% per day or 63 acres per day with the larger tank. This is one of the main reasons producers are moving to larger air tanks and I think most people should have larger tanks in their radar when planning future purchases.

Next, the two options for increasing air tank capacity on the market are the large tow-behinds like the Bourgault 6700 or a combination of tow-behind and tow-between like Case IH/ New Holland, John Deere and Morris. With those two options, we’ll run the numbers to find out which system provides the greatest number of acres per fill. I’ll leave out the pros and cons of tow betweens verses tow behinds and focus only on the efficiencies between the two.

Let’s compare the John Deere 1910 270 bushel tow-behind (TBH) and 1910 430 bushel tow-between (TBT) to the Bourgault 6700. This allows us to compare 700 bushel capacity to 700 bushel capacity. We’ll base this example on a 225 lb fertilizer rate and a 140 lb seeding rate.

I chose a wheat seeding rate of 140 lbs/ac because it is very common in our area and wheat is typically close to 50% of our crop rotation. The 225 lb fertilizer rate is a common 85-25-0-0 for wheat or close to a 90-20-0-0.  

You can see in this example, the John Deere TBH and TBT system can generate an additional 13 acres per fill compared to the Bourgault 6700. Some would say that’s splitting hairs and perhaps it is, but it’s a difference of 13.7% in seeding efficiency. With three or four fills per day the numbers start to add up. I know you’re thinking you’d have to pull in a big loop to fill the tow-between then move to the tow-behind and perhaps that eats up the 13.7% in efficiency gains.  

Just for interest sake, the weight of the Bourgault 6700 and the John Deere 1910 TBH and TBT fully loaded with seed and fertilizer come within 640 lbs of each other. The Bourgault 6700 weighs 62,400 lbs and the John Deere system weighs 63,040 lbs. I know which one I’d rather pull out of the mud and it starts with J and ends with D. Another interesting note is the length difference between the two systems. The John Deere system is only 13 ft longer than the Bourgault even with the extra hitch. The Bourgault 6700 is 40ft 11in long or about the length of my house.   

The next thing to address is the cost. The John Deere 1910 270 TBH and 430 TBT air tanks combined cost roughly $160,000 but that depends on cash verses finance verses trade-ins, etc. The Bourgault 6700 will run you roughly $160,000 depending on the same reasons so the two systems are closely priced. 

In the end, the two-tank system does have a 13.7% increase in acres per fill using our example. There are other comparisons you can run with tow-between/tow-behind air tanks such as Case IH/New Holland, SeedHawk and Morris. The bottom line is to consider more than just the 700 bushel number on the side of the tank. Be sure to pencil out which air tank gives you the most efficiency based on its compartment size and your seeding and fertilizer rates. This will ensure you get the most out of your $160,000 purchase. SL

Bourgault 6700: http://www.bourgault.com/airseeders/6000page09.htm    

John Deere 1910: http://www.deere.com/specsapp/CustomerSpecificationServlet?sbu=Ag&pciModel=1910XH&displayModelName=1910%20Air%20Commodity%20Cart&tM=FR&pNbr=1910XH

Maximizing seeding speed in a late spring

When it comes to small seeded crops like canola, research has shown that increasing seeding speed reduces yield and maturity. One could say the same thing about wheat and barley to a lesser extent. With a potentially narrow seeding window this year producers will be pushed to get things done faster. That means seeding speeds will increase at the expense of germination and emergence. So the question is how fast can we seed without sacrificing seed placement?

The key to fine tuning your seeding speed requires careful observation and helping hand. First, seeding speed is dependent on a number of factors: soil moisture, soil texture, seed size, opener style, and row spacing.

Each variable will alter the soils ability to flow around the opener and its ability to move out of the furrow and on to the next row. For example, in a loamy, dry soil with Dutch paired-row low draft openers on 10-inch spacing, I’ve seen significant soil throw at just 4.8 mph. Take the same opener and row spacing in a clay soil and you may not find the same result. The easiest way to find the sweet spot is to stick someone in the tractor, grab your quad and drive right along side of the drill to watch the soil flow real time. Have the operator speed up or slow down so the soil flows evenly across the opener and back into the furrow. Follow up with your trowel to measure the variability in seeding depth across the drill and you’re set.

To give you an example of soil flow, look at the soil around these CASE 800 precision openers at 4.8 mph (left) and 5.2 mph (right) in the photo above. The opener is 3/4 inches wide on 10-inch spacing so there’s not much iron in the soil, yet look at the soil throw at 5.2 mph! In this situation with dry loamy soil, speeds over 5.2 mph resulted in poor seed placement. In wetter conditions the speed could have been increased a few points. Again, this is something you can only observe beside the drill.

If you find yourself rushed to get the job done this spring, be sure to take the time to find out for yourself how fast is too fast. Perhaps you can go faster than Steve’s fail safe 4.3 mph -pull your hair out, watch the lugs turn recommendation for canola. Maybe it’s 4.8 or 5.0 mph. Maybe you’ll stop buying new openers trying to fix your speed problem. Maybe you’ll discover you have the right ones and grab one more gear. SL

Dutch finally comes out with new low draft opener

One of the most common low draft openers on the market today is made by Dutch Industries from Pilot Butte, SK. A typical seeding system in my area is a 3.5 inch or 5.5 inch paired-row low draft opener on 12-inch spacing. These openers have been my nemesis for a few years. My biggest beef with them is the pitch or angle of the wing causing unnecessary soil throw even at slow speeds.

The picture on the right illustrates my point. The arrow is pointed toward the area where the pitch of the wing takes a sharp 45 degree turn upwards. The opener design could be compared to the likeness of a moldboard plow. Soil comes off the tip, hits the 45 degree ramp and gets flung into mid air. Unfortunately it throws soil out of the furrow on onto the front shanks. I’ve seen these openers throw soil on to the next row at 4.3 mph in a loamy soil. At slower speeds the soil would just drift off to the side of the furrow and not flow back around the opener. I tried expressing my concerns to a salesman at the Farm Progress Show in Regina in 2009 but he excused himself and never came back. I was in mid-sentence!

Someone at Dutch Industries must have been listening because they’ve finally developed a new paired row low draft opener. Notice the picture on the left with a smooth wing that no longer has a 45 degree ski jump. I haven’t seen this opener in action but it looks very similar to the GEN 300 opener which we personally use on our air drill and are very satisfied with. The smooth wing style is the reason we chose the GEN for our soil type.

The unfortunate part, or clever merchandising part, is that the body style has also changed so you’ll have to buy new bodies and tips if you want the new openers. The seed and fertilizer tubes are the same. So instead of only $95.80 for a tip you’ll have to spend another $55.60 on the body for a total of $151.40. That being said, if you have problems with stepping or soil throw on to the front shanks and you use the old Dutch openers, the $151.40 could be worth your while. SL

Top Crop Manager – Getting started on controlled traffic farming

Getting started in controlled traffic farming (CTF) systems can be daunting. The difficulty is getting all machinery tires to follow the same permanent tramlines. Steve Larocque and his brother-in-law Mitch Currie moved to controlled traffic on their 640-acre farm at Morrin, Alberta, in 2010, and with a year of experience under their belts, offer some guidance on designing a CTF system.

Go to article: http://www.topcropmanager.com/content/view/5596/182/

Responsible Pesticide Application-Droplet Delivery, Deposition, Uptake, Regulation and Testing

Here’s a point form summary of my fellow Nuffield Scholar David Gooden’s report on spray application technology. I really appreciated the information on droplet delivery, deposition and uptake.

• Restrictions on Pesticide use will continue to impact on agricultural production.
• Pesticide application is not just a grains industry problem.
• Spraying is a complex task which requires a high level of understanding. Knowledge of the product, how to distribute it, the target pest, and the weather are critical to a successful result.
• New technology is evolving and operators must be rewarded for using drift reducing technology.
• Manufacturers are the key to developing practical solutions to improve efficiencies, reduce contamination points, equipment cleaning time and volume of water required to clean out.
• Research needs to focus on ground truthing spray drift models under Australian conditions especially in stubble retained inter row seeding systems which are unique in Australia.
• Australia would benefit from a spray operator accreditation scheme which links equipment testing with operator training.

Link: http://www.nuffieldinternational.org/rep_pdf/1301480251Nuffield_Report_David_Gooden.pdf
Written by: David Gooden, 2010 Nuffield Scholar