Cross Slot Conference 2015

#crossslot #epag Almost 2 months since the 2015 Cross Slot Farm Tour and I haven't 'flogged my blog' with the photos from the tour on Eyre Peninsula.

It was an interesting, informative event and hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, thanks for visiting this part of the world Cross Slot owners. We'll see you in the UK next year with any luck!

Modra Seeds, Ungarra

 

Lunch at local Clubs - this one is the Ungarra Sports Club

 

At our place, Garry talking about our liquid setup

Tuna Steak cook off at the Boston Bay Winery, Port Lincoln

Visiting Bruce Morgan, Board member of SANTFA

Scott & Cassie Siviour's place at Wangary

Farewell Dinner at Port Lincoln Hotel, Me with John Baker

The Kiwi's love the Karaoke!!!

Riding with the Cross Slot

In the cab with the Cross Slot

Our maximum speed for this set up is about this mark 13.4 km/hr. We could get a larger tractor with more horsepower but we're happy with how this is going.

This computer shows the hydraulic pressure on the openers of the cross slot

GPS

 Disc's in ground

Slower pace - 9.3 km/hr

 Turning 

5 Hydraulic Banks, plus 'power beyond'

Video of Cross Slot in Action

Footage of our Cross Slot sowing Canola on our first day with the new rig

Aerial View

Minimum Till Disc Seeding

Seeding Last Year (2013)

Seeding This Year 2014

Last Year

What a difference a year makes. You can clearly see how much more organic matter is left within the soil when using a disc seeder compared to our old tyne machine in 2013.

So all this stubble left in place helps bind the soil together and retains moisture so our reliance over time on timely rains won't be as great.It just looks so different, it's amazing.

This Year

This is the goal, the stubble retention, the water retention, better quality crops and higher yields, but it does come at a cost. 

Setting up the rig itself costs dollars but in order to pull this thing, we are using a lot more Diesel. 

But you've got to take the good with the bad.

The whole rig in action.

The CAT track tractor, John Deere Air Seeder Hopper and the Cross Slot Disc Seeder with liquid tanks mounted on top.

A lot of our ground is quite rocky with some limestone ridges. We've had a couple of small breakages on the really rough ground but haven't broken a disc. Touch wood!

Normally, after we have sown the seed, we then scoot over the ground with the stone roller to flatten all the rocks back into the ground so that they don't damage our wind rowing and harvesting equipment when it comes time to windrow and reap the crop.

Basically, we'll be retiring the 'stone roller' now as we just don't need to use it anymore. The disc doesn't pull the rocks out like a tyne seeder does.

I had to really strain my eyes to be sure what part of the paddock hubby had already sown and which was last years stubble lines.

 Turning the rig seems to be going fine.

Cross Slot Seeder, John Deere Air Cart & CAT Tractor

This is where our new seeding rig is up to. 

My husband and brother in law still have to mount the 'liquid system' so we can apply liquid trace elements while seeding.

The CAT Tractor will pull this rig at a slower pace than our previous seeder but we are anticipating an upgrade to more horse power in the next few years to enable the seeding rig to work at a faster pace. 

As farm equipment is very expensive, we stagger our large capital purchases over time. 

The cost of this Cross Slot was comparable to a DBS (Digs Big Stones!), but obviously, people need to choose which seeder best suits their farming ground.

More photos to follow once the Liquid System is installed.

Cross Slot Arrival

 We ordered a new seeder from New Zealand called a Cross Slot.

It arrived a couple of weeks ago and was unloaded from 2 shipping containers via a crane.

It's a strange looking outfit but is supposed to be the dux nuts of minimum till machines. It wasn't cheap, but it is a long term investment and our hope is to improve our soil health with retention of organic matter.

It is a disc seeder with a 35 foot bar and 33 discs. It weighs about 14 tonne on its own.

Cross Slot, (a John Baker invention) have been very accommodating of my husbands changes and additions to our machine. It's basically been custom made for what we want.

My husband has spent about 3 years researching seeders and the Cross Slot, to decide what we would upgrade to.

The new seeding rig is currently being hooked up to a John Deere air seeder and our CAT tractor, so another blog post will follow once we get it all set up.