BRANDON – Frank Prince did what he could in last year’s mud.
Prince, who farms near Pipestone, Man., seeded canola at 2.4 pounds per acre, achieving 99 percent germination and yielding 40 bushels per acre.
Some spots hit 60 bu.
“On this one field, we seeded canola on June 15 and then got five inches of rain, so we didn’t expect any of it to get out of the ground,” he said.
“The field was totally saturated, but in the areas where it didn’t flood, it was an amazing crop.”
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Researchers have found that canola seeded with an air seeder achieves 50 to 60 percent germination in stress free conditions.
But Prince didn’t use an air seeder.
He used a modified JD 1780 corn planter on 15 inch spacings that he bought last year to convert into a machine capable of precisely seeding canola at a rate of two pounds per acre.
He knew he would have to rethink the springs that control the down force.
“Then we went down to the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville last year and that’s where we discovered all this Precision Planting equipment,” he said.
“Well, they didn’t have any dealers around here, so we became a dealer and took their training schools to learn about the equipment.”
By last spr ing, the 1780 was equipped with a lengthy wish list of innovative technology from Precision.
Prince said the main component in making the 1780 perform is the Air Force pneumatic system of down force control.
“We did comparison trials on soybeans, sunflowers and corn with and without the Air Force system engaged,” said Prince.
“With the Air Force engaged, we gained two bushels on soybeans. On sunflowers, we gained 200 to 300 lb. per acre. The benefit in corn was eight to 16 bu. per acre.”
The mud-friendly modifications helped Prince start seeding three days before any of his neighbours, which generated a lot of phone calls and custom seeding work.
“It works pretty well in wet conditions if we’re in a zero till field, but when I hit a muddy spot, everything blocks up. It’s a nightmare. Planters hate mud,” he said.
“So for 2011, I’ve added the Devastator gauge wheel and the notched disc opener. This is all designed for mud. It’s supposed to run through any conditions. I guess we’ll see this spring.”
Prince said the aggressive V-prongs on the Devastator ensure that the wheel has good traction in the mud and keeps turning as it should. Built by Beaver Bearing, the Devastator costs $110 per row unit.
Each row unit on a corn planter weighs 200 lb. The hopper weighs another 200 lb. when full of seed. The factory springs exert 80 to 400 lb. of down force.
All this weight works together to compact the soil, especially in wet conditions. To compensate, many producers fill their seed hoppers only to the halfway mark, but that means more fill stops and wasted time.
“For good placement, you don’t want more than 60 lb. down force on a planter, so the challenge really is to hold the unit up, not push it down,” Prince said.
“If you can accomplish that, you can go ahead and load full hoppers and still get very accurate seed placement with this machine.”
The Air Force system from Precision accomplishes this task with two air bags. One pushes up nearly all the time to hold 60 lb. down force. When needed, the other air bag is available to hold down on the unit.
“The Air Force is totally automatic. There’s an electronic sensor on each row unit, so there’s no averaging,” he said. “There’s a weigh pin located just above each gauge wheel. It gives the controller instant information as field conditions change, so pressure on each row unit always stays at 60 lb.”
Prince said he spent $15,000 to equip the 31 rows on his 38.5 foot planter with the pneumatic system. Because he does a lot of custom seeding, he gained experience with different crops in different soil conditions last year.
“Overall, on our farm and on our customer fields, we saw a net benefit of at least $25 per acre.”
Price breakdown is $260 per row unit plus $3,000 for the electric compressor, which handles up to 16 rows. A hydraulic compressor handles anything beyond 16 rows and costs an extra $1,000.
Down pressure on each row unit can be displayed on the screen in real time.
Because of the mud, many producrs with ground drive metering systems and ground drive ancillaries had trouble with the drive wheel skidding. A skidding drive wheel throws the whole seeding operation into turmoil and causes skips in the field.
To remedy this, Prince is converting the planter to hydraulic drive, but that leads to a problem with hydraulic capacity.
“You absolutely need a four wheel drive tractor to pull this thing. Last year, we used an 8640 on it. That gave us enough traction, but it lacks hydraulic flow now that we’re fully hydraulic. We figure we’ll need at least 35 (gallons per minute), so we’re switching up to an MT Cat this year.”
Prince said he wanted a corn planter mainly so that he could try singulating canola seed.
“There’s a big debate about canola seed spacing. A corn planter has the capability to put them an inch and a half or two inches apart every time, depending on how you adjust it.
“A planter isn’t rough on seeds. But an air seeder has meters and manifolds and high air velocity. All that grinds up the canola seed so you get low germination.
“A planter simply drops the seed by gravity and it goes to the exact depth you want.”
The Precision eSet discs that Prince bought for the 1780 allow him to set up for corn, soybeans, canola and sunflowers at a cost of $110 per row.
The eSet trials have shown it provides better singulation than the original JD discs, he added.
Corn is a 30 cell disc, canola is a 60 cell disc and soybeans are a 60 cell disc. However, Prince said some producers install their old Deere 108 cell disc.
Sunflowers are a 30 cell disc but the plants are too crowded on 15 inch row spacings, so Prince plugs every second hole in the disc.
He said altering the position of the plug holes from one row to the next creates a checkerboard affect over the field with uniform spacing in all directions.
“Once you’ve got your discs installed, you go into the computer to set up your plant populations. You can do variable rate seeding with different plant populations for different parts of the field.”
The Precision Planting 20/20 monitor that controls the system costs $6,000 and is capable of managing four to 48 rows.
“Other monitors do their average count on either 100 seeds or 1,000 seeds. The 20/20 monitor counts each and every seed. There’s vacuum sensors so if you’ve got a plug or something, you can find it immediately.”
Prince runs liquid fertilizer with tractor side-mount tanks and puts down all fertilizer at seeding time. He still uses a Micro-Trak for the liquid but expects to switch to a Precision 20/20 monitor when it becomes available next year.
Precision Clean Sweep row cleaners are located at the leading edge. Prince said they work fine at their normal 80 p.s.i. down pressure until it gets muddy. Then there’s trouble.
Each sweep has its own dual action pneumatic cylinder so the operator can quickly raise them before they load up. The operator can also fine tune the pressure of each individual sweep on the go from the cab.
“We’ve also found that you can’t run anything in front of them if it’s wet. That’s why we put the fertilizer coulter at the back.
“The other thing we’ve learned is that you need to buy the floating row cleaners, not the solid mount ones. They’re the same price, $350 per row, so make sure you order the right ones.”
The spiked wheel at the back breaks up the sidewalls and costs $80 per row.
For more information, contact Frank Prince at 204-747-3693, e-mail princeagparts@hotmail.c a or visit www.precisionplanting.com .
