Big for the sake of big isn’t logical.
Just ask Norbert Beaujot of Seed Master, whose company makes the largest air drill in North America.
It is available in 88 and 90 foot widths and features 12 and 14 inch row spacing. Producers buy it, as well as other brands of new giant drills, to save money on fuel and to get the crop into the ground within the available window.
However, Beaujot says going big just for the sake of big is not sound thinking. The strategy behind a big drill purchase must be solid.
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“My first warning to farmers is that they need to maintain the accuracy of their seed and fertilizer placement and also their packing,” Beaujot said.
“If you go bigger and sacrifice good seed placement, then you’re definitely moving backwards. That’s why a terrain-following drill becomes absolutely essential when you go to these bigger sizes.”
Beaujot said travelling faster to cover more acres per hour with a smaller drill is also a step backward. Producers pay a high price when they sacrifice accurate seed placement, he added.
Conversely, a bigger drill operated at a lower speed can have major yield benefits.
“If you’ve been pushing six mph and a bigger drill lets you back off down to five mph, then you’ll see significant agronomic advantages,” he said.
“Better seed placement always pays off. That alone can be one of the best reasons for going to a bigger drill – slower ground speed and more accurate placement.”
Beaujot said the short window of opportunity at seeding time is another reason to consider a bigger drill. Most in the industry now agree that the seeding window is really just two weeks.
It’s generally accepted that one foot of drill width can seed a maximum of 100 acres.
This means that when pressed to the limit, a 50 foot drill should be able to seed 5,000 acres, but to achieve that ratio, the drill is working long hours for a month.
“It means you’re out seeding a week early, when the soil hasn’t warmed up enough. And you’re late seeding a week after the window should be closed,” Beaujot said.
“Those two weeks outside the window often have a devastating effect on your yield.”
Beaujot said a more logical approach is to consider bigger yield rather than just bigger acreage. A bigger drill lets producers slow down for better placement and seed their crop within the window of opportunity.
Beaujot said producers must be well organized if they want bigger equipment to work for them. They don’t want to spend a half million dollars or more on a drill, cart and tractor and then have them sit idle.
Producers moving into the giant drills already know they need 500 plus horsepower, big hydraulic capacity, the best possible guidance system and double fans on the product cart.
And then there’s the cart.
“Optimal tank size is always a tough one to figure,” Beaujot said.
“It has negative horsepower implications that some people ignore.
“The bigger you go, the more likely it is to get stuck. And the bigger you go, the more difficult it is to keep filled with product.”
He said his long-term plan is to develop the Seed Master system into a hybrid that will carry all seed on the drill frame and all granular fertilizer on the cart. Farmers then have the option of adding tag-along anhydrous or liquid carts behind the granular cart.
Because seed placement is top priority at Seed Master, Beaujot wants the seed supply close to the openers so it can be accurately metered directly.
Putting the seed box on the drill frame is the best way to accomplish that.
He said such a design should be able to handle 700 or 800 bushels of seed and granular, plus the extra tag-along carts.
Deciding on the best drill width can be tricky because producers want the same drill size to fit all their fields.
“You’ve got to pencil out your field sizes pretty carefully.”
Western Canadian fields are multiples of a quarter section and most are measured at 2,640 feet per quarter.
Complications occur, however, when working with fields with road allowances and ditches. As well, producers may have fields where they can seed two whole sections without interferences.
To be strategically efficient, producers need to figure out how many passes they need to complete a field without skips or overlaps.
Beaujot said it won’t work out perfectly for every field, but the bigger the drill, the more important it is to match the drill to your fields.
He said that on a true quarter section, an 88 foot drill needs 15 passes and an 82 foot drill needs 16 passes.
“On my own farm, I have a 77 foot drill and I make 17 trips for a quarter section. A 73 foot drill is 18 passes. A 70 foot drill is 19 passes.”
Producers should also consider transport width. A drill that’s too wide can waste a lot of valuable time moving between widely separated fields, especially when dealing with bridges and other narrow points.
Row spacing is another important decision. Seed Master drills are available in 10, 12 and 14 inch row spacing.
The trend is definitely toward wider spacing, especially on bigger farms. Seed Master is now selling as many 14 inch as 10 inch drills.
Frame strength and design become more critical as the drill size grows. A 90 foot drill has two 45 foot steel structures reaching out to the sides, creating a gigantic leverage effect pulling on the frame.
For more information call 1-306-721-3001 or visit www.seedmaster.ca.
