More than 100 farmers stopped their seed drills, turned off their sprayers and drove to a field north of Camrose on May 30 to hear four farmers tell what they liked or disliked about their seeding equipment.
It’s a far cry from direct seeding field days 10 years ago when it wasn’t uncommon for 1,000 farmers to follow a seed drill through the field like gulls in a newly cultivated field.
Rick Taillieu with Reduced Tillage Linkages, which co-sponsored the event along with the County of Camrose, said demonstration days are still an important tool for farmers.
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Some farmers are looking to buy their first drill, some want to change from an air seeder to an air drill, some want to see their drill with a different opener and others want to watch seeding into sod.
“It’s a period of evolution,” Taillieu said.
“Some producers are ready to make the first move and others are ready to move to their second drill.,
He estimated about 75 percent of prairie cropland is now direct seeded.
Pat Hilgartner of Camrose demonstrated the family’s 51 foot Flexi-Coil 5000 air drill with nine-inch row space and a 41/5 inch paired stealth row openers.
The family has direct seeded since 1998 and the drill is four years old.
“We’ve been happy with Flexi-Coil,” Hilgartner said.
The drill contours well on hilly land and is generally easy to pull, he added, although it pulled hard during the sod seeding demonstration.
One problem has been excessive wear on the openers. He has replaced some openers with carbide tip openers to achieve better wear resistance.
“We get three to four times more wear than with the uncarbide openers.”
The other problem with the stealth opener is the V shape under the openers tends to wear and plug off in mud and clay.
Guy Anderson of Camrose demonstrated his 35 foot Bourgeault 5710 drill with mid-row banders, 10-inch row spacing, two-inch spoon openers and an anhydrous ammonia tank.
Anderson said he belongs to the keep-it-simple school of farming. Everything about his drill is designed for simplicity so he and his wife can seed their 2,000-acre farm on their own.
When he switched from a cultivator he was looking for a drill that didn’t require a lot of new technology. He uses single shoot openers with mid-row banders and spoon openers.
Anderson said the openers don’t wear evenly, but each year he budgets to spend $400 on openers.
“To me that’s economical.”
Last year he bought a larger cart to carry more seed and fertilizer. It’s filled each night and once at midday when the anhydrous truck refills the ammonia tank.
Anderson said if there’s a negative to his machine it’s that he has broken an arm on his drill three times. While some of that may be equipment fatigue, some may be caused by speed and seeding in the opposite direction each year.
“I can’t drive slow. I start the season at five mph (eight km-h) and end up at six (10 km-h).”
Randy Kupka of Hay Lakes, Alta., doesn’t own the 48 foot Seed Hawk drill with 10 inch row spacing and Seed Hawk openers, but he demonstrated the drill this spring on his farm.
The nicest feature was that every shank was individually controlled and despite sharp hills and knolls canola seed was planted exactly 3/8 inch deep.
“It does an excellent job. Every shank is perfect,” Kupka said.
But before he makes the investment to buy the drill, he needs to have a better method of spreading the trash from the back of the combine.
“To use this I need a combine with a better chopper.”
Taillieu said residue management remains a significant challenge for farmers trying to adopt direct seeding.
“A relatively small investment at the back of the combine, compared to the cost of the seed drill, is critical,” he said.
Trying to seed this spring was especially difficult after last year’s heavy crop harvested under poor, wet conditions, which left clumps of straw throughout the field.
Keith Stollery of Armena, Alta., pulled a 40 foot Case IH Concord 4012 with 12 inch row spacing and, 51/2 inch paired rows, using Anderson openers.
In seven years he has had little trouble with the drill and has spent little money on repairs and maintenance.
Stollery said he has had little trouble seeding into either stubble or sod with his equipment, even though he uses the wide Anderson openers.
“They would do the least appealing job in sod, but it does work,” he said.
“I’ve never had a failure in sod.”
Taillieu said Anderson openers were the first that allowed farmers to use anhydrous ammonia with direct seed drills.
“This was the original opener that turned the key to direct seeding with anhydrous.”
By comparing different equipment farmers can realize there’s more than one option to direct seeding in sod or stubble, Taillieu added.
“It doesn’t have to be an ultra low disturbance disc drill to make it work.”
