TOFIELD, Alta. – The seed implement salespeople in the crowd may have winced at some of the comments, but the farmers who were listening to other farmers describe the good and bad of their seeding equipment loved the straight talk.
The eight producers who brought machinery to a demonstration and field day in Tofield on June 21 were candid about what they liked and disliked.
Barry Mosby generally liked his Concord drill, but didn’t like the rough finish in the field and was concerned about accurately placing seed.
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Bill Sears liked being able to watch his Seed Hawk’s metering system from the cab, but he was concerned about the buildup of mud on the air-filled tires of his packer wheels.
It’s the kind of talk Brad Mohler of Strome, Alta., wanted to hear as he began his search for new seeding equipment.
“It’s not salesmen trying to sell me something. It’s farmers telling what they like and don’t like. This is the best part of the demonstration for sure,” said Mohler as he used his truck key to dig through the dirt to find where each piece of equipment placed canola seed.
Mohler also liked the variety of equipment demonstrated at the field day organized by Reduced Tillage Linkages. It included a Conserva Pak, Seed Hawk, Concord air drill, Morris Maxim air drill, Flexi-Coil 5000 air drill, Harmon air drill, Bourgault 5710 air drill and a Bourgault floating hitch air seeder.
“There’s machines here that aren’t generally sold in our country,” said Mohler, who was looking for something that was economical, would last a few seasons and have accurate seed placement.
The honest opinions were also attractive to Ron Pederson of Bawlf, Alta.
“Each one, they really are not scared to tell you what they like and don’t like about it,” said Pederson, who is considering a switch from a minimum tillage to a zero tillage seeding system.
Ron Andrashewski of Two Hills, Alta., said the time spent watching the seeding equipment confirmed his beliefs.
He’s leaning toward a John Deere or Flexi-Coil system, but also liked the Bourgault and the Conserva Pak.
“It sure opens your eyes,” he said.
That was the goal of the field day, said organizer Ron Heller, an agronomist with Reduced Tillage Linkages, which promotes sustainable production systems.
“It’s a learning thing for everyone.”
Heller said he chose the Tofield area because of its slow adoption of zero tillage technology and chose canola because of concerns that it is difficult to seed.
