With soil compaction a problem on a large proportion of the land at Kempsford Farms in Gloucestershire\u00a0it was time for a change in cultivation strategy. A machine was needed which could do the job best in\u00a0minimising soil disturbance, and breathing new life into the ground.<\/p>\n
With 400 hectares of arable, growing winter wheat, spring barley and winter oilseed rape alongside a\u00a0poultry unit, the farm knew that to get the best out of the ground, improving the life of the soil was key\u00a0to overall profitability.<\/p>\n
The Sumo Trio immediately presented itself as the solution. It\u2019s main attraction was the fact that it was\u00a0the first machine of its type that could subsoil, disc, and press in one pass, leaving a seedbed that could\u00a0be drilled straight into on the lighter ground with minimal disturbance.<\/p>\n
After many years of ploughing, power harrowing, and disc\/pressing, the soils at Kempsford were\u00a0becoming increasingly tired with both plough and disc pans present, a new approach was needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trio looked right, was well built, and very simple to set up and use. It fitted the bill brilliantly. It was\u00a0just what we were looking for,\u201d says farm manager Simon Viner.
\n\u201cHaving seen the machine at the Tillage event, we had a demo and bought our first mounted 3 metre\u00a0Trio.\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe later upgraded to a trailed 3 metre Trio complete with front discs and a Sumoseeder, as we wanted to do more incorporation up front, and also to have the ability to remove all the discs (front\u00a0and rear) to band sow oilseed rape and create minimal soil disturbance using GLS legs\/points. This has\u00a0been very successful.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, instead of selling the straw, most of it\u2019s chopped and incorporated along with the chicken litter\u00a0into the soil directly,\u201d adds Simon, who believes this has been a tremendous help in addressing the\u00a0general wellbeing\u00a0of the soil. \u201cIt\u2019s also helped to sort out the compaction issues we were having.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe better quality seedbeds produced leave a fine, level seedbed that has much better moisture\u00a0retention and gives the crops the best start: particularly with oilseed rape where yields have benefited\u00a0significantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were barely getting 1.25t\/ha under our previous disc and press based system, and now we\u2019re\u00a0achieving consistent yields yearonyear\u00a0of around 3.55t\/ha using the Trio\/Sumoseeder system,\u201d he\u00a0adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time taken also to turn around the stubble to planting has halved compared to a plough based\u00a0system which has led to significant savings in labour, time, and diesel,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had exceptional service from Sumo,\u00a0they really couldn’t have done more for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431,"template":"","case-studies-category":[190],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n