Some farmers treat seeding like a track meet, a race against the clock to get the crop in the ground?
Others proceed without as much intensity, taking time to make sure it’s done right and maybe even trying new crops or practices?
Both approaches have their ad-vantages and disadvantages with most of us somewhere between the extremes.
Seeding capacity is paramount in the track meet approach: how long does it take to fill up the seed cart and is there any way to shave a few minutes? Just as pit crews at the racetrack need to be fast and efficient, the seeding outfit needs to keep rolling.
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Some analysts challenge farms to seed around the clock. If you aren’t doing that, they suggest that you examine what needs to be done to make 24 hours feasible.
The seeding outfit is expensive and needs to cover the maximum number of acres to keep the investment cost per acre reasonable. How many acres are being seeded per foot of drill?
While some farms cover 50 acres or less in a season, others are much higher than 100.
Efficiency certainly matters, particularly with large farms covering big acres with expensive seeders, but there are drawbacks to this approach. Employees and family members can burn out.
Seeding mistakes are more likely. Driving into the edge of a slough in the middle of the night can end up costing a lot of time.
Farms that focus on capacity are likely to grow fewer crops because switching from one to another costs time. If they decide to grow a new crop, they’re likely to try more than just a small field.
However, there is also lots of advice about slowing down at seeding to make sure the job is done well.
You should be checking your seeding depth often and adjusting when necessary. Blockage monitors are handy devices, but it’s best to crawl under the drill at regular intervals to manually check the runs.
If you’re in a region where clubroot is a concern, the soil should be removed from the openers before you move to the next field.
On-farm trials are often promoted as a way to evaluate whether a particular product or practice is viable on your operation. It’s a great idea, but doing it right usually takes time, particularly if the trial is replicated several times to make the results more meaningful.
Not running the seeder through the night could make it more feasible to employ semi-retired workers or students. It might also put less strain on family dynamics.
There may be limited ability for an operation that’s already at maximum capacity to push harder in a spring with more weather delays than normal.
Everyone has to find their own equilibrium, and many factors become part of the equation: acres farmed, employee ability, equipment investment, crop mix, available technology, weather issues and family considerations.
Like most jobs, the options for seeding boil down to fast, good and cheap, but you only get to pick two of the three.
If you choose fast and good, it probably won’t be cheap. If you choose good and cheap, it probably won’t be as fast.
If you choose fast and cheap, good is likely to suffer.
