My poor dogs got dragged round the fields on their walk because I had a notification of a new video. The farmers round here seem to be moving towards this style of farming and your videos are great for educating me about the rural area where I live. Thank you Harry.

Harry, You don’t need an almost £100k 4 metre Direct drill for your farm. A mounted 3 metre version would be ample for you. I’d strongly suggest a Weaving GD 3000M with 22.5 degree angled discs. Less than £40K. Open slots after the drill are not good for deterring slugs and dry out in a drought, killing the seed. That is where the GD scores and it is made locally at Evesham. If you chops tree down with an axe, you don’t drive it in at 90 degrees to the trunk. You go in at an angle to get penetration. Hence the use of the GD angled discs. You won’t need to roll it afterwards either! The drill wheels close the slot, crumbling the soil around the seed and roll it at the same time. Job done!

I live in Thailand and the farming here is amazing. To avoid grass mix growing with the rice, they plant the rice seeds in sort of nursery areas. Then when the rice is about 150 mm long, they crouch down and pluck every stalk out of the ground by hand. They form bunches of stalks and keep the root part in puddles of water for a day or so. Meanwhile they plough over the land where the rice will grow to maturity and that deals with the grass and weeds for a while. Now they replant each of the thousands of stalks by hand into the newly ploughed ground. The grass and weeds will now try and regrow but be smothered by the rice. As the rice grows it takes on an almost dayglo bright green hue. Eventually when the rain stops, the rice will turn brown and be ready to harvest. Much is still harvested by hand scythe. It is hot, back breaking work, and you must cover every inch of skin to avoid contact with the rice or you become horrendously itchy. Once the harvest is complete, those with buffalos, send them into the fields to eat the stubble and fertilize the soil. The farmers used to like having plenty of children to help with all the work. Now as machinery is rapidly taking over the farm work, the people birth rate is going down as machinery use goes up.

hi Harry,I have an arable farm at the bottom of the south island,New Zealand, I have tried direct drilling(great plains drill) as well as surface incorporation of straw,the resultant crops always yeild substantially less than when the ground was ploughed (burying chopped straw) or when the straw was burned then top worked. For context we're on heavy soils 1000mm annual rainfall mainly autumn sown,wheat averages 12.5 t/ha milling oats average 9t/ha,so lots of straw to deal with, our yeild penalty for not ploughing/burning is 10-20%,which pays for an awful lot of diesel

Every time I watch your channel I wish I had become a farmer!!! Loving the videos Harry, well done

You Harry and that old boy with the bees make a pleasant change from all the rubbish that has been going on for the last 13 years. 😄

Harry asks all the right questions and won’t be fooled 👍

Learning about farming makes me appreciate more the food i eat everyday, thanks Harry and Charlie

Great video Harry. I design for a manufacturer in Yorkshire and we've been manufacturing low disturbance subsoilers for many years. Some that work alone and others you can pull the drill directly behind. They're becoming very Popular as people go down the min till / no till route.

Love direct drilling, it's not suitable for every land but a great concept, and I believe the way forward. Slugs are a menace and this year has been perfect for them, I can't remember seeing more! good luck, great video as always

As a chartered accountant who has never taken an interest in farming, I find your videos fascinating, especially the legislation / costs / subsidies / Govt intervention. Keep up the good work!

Another farming school day for me, love it!👍 I find the conventional/min till/no till argument interesting. I guess it's a bit of a balancing act between lower diesel/energy use, soil and pests advantages/disadvantages and the initial cost outlay of newer more specialised machinery which can be used multiple times of course.

Great stuff Harry, here in Australia direct drilling is the norm now. I’ve still got an old planter for our farm but we’re not upgrading as we’re selling up soon. Great to see things progressing in the old country.

Definitely put out more slug pellets, and don’t be surprised if you need multiple applications in the first few weeks. After owning and using this type of drill for several years in our broad acre farm in Australia, it would be best to really keep on top of the slugs. They were the hardest problematic thing we had to deal with using the type of drill because it doesn’t disturb the soil much at really. And at harvest time make sure your spreader and/or the chopping system is working properly. They won’t put seed in the soil if the individual row has to roll over large clumps of straw, as it will lift the row up out of the ground. But they are fantastic it dry finish years, where any moisture you can keep in the soil really counts at harvest time. We found that side by side with a filling drill the HD drill would always put yield it. Always, in multiple years and multiple crop types. Good luck for the rest of the season. 👌👍

Can't wait to see the difference in that field. I've heard that with no- till farming you can plant more crops in each year and have less erosion.

It is amazing how efficient all those machines are. It is like spray-painting the landscape.

Harry creating worm paradise. Unlike my local farmer who still uses the heavy plough 🤷‍♂

Possibly a new sideline for Harry slug racing on their little own motorway😅👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

All this high tech...As a kid I can remember the farmer who owned the fields behind our house using a Ford 5000 tractor... it was down to the skill of the driver to get neat straight and parallel rows. These days you only need to be in the cab in order to turn it around at the end of a run as all the computers do the rest... and I bet it won't be long before that gets automated so you'll have driver-less tractors. I'm not a farmer, or connected to the industry in any way, but I do love these videos..Thanks Harry

Another educational update, really enjoy the content. Please keep the videos coming 👍

I've always asked for a video on new machinery. I would never thought of it being done in such a way, as in this video. Thanks, Harry. btw I can see why there are accidents with machinery. Complex and brutal looking.

I first come across zero till drills when I was in Ohio in 1998 they had been established on that farm for several years. For certain soils I think it’s the way forward. Once again excellent excellent video thank you Harry

Great video. Well explained. The Deere 750 drill has been available for years and has stood the test of time. I remember Massey Ferguson with their 130 Drill in the late seventies promoting Direct Drilling along with ICI and Gramoxone. Fascinating to see the choices available.

Always interesting Harry and presented with a clear passion. I enjoy your ability to have a sensible discourse with differing opinions and approaches. Thanks for posting.

Great to see zero til in UK. Here in western Canada this is the default seeding set up. The benefit is the soil has all that lovley roots from previuos crop in place adding to more material in soil. This also reduces tillage and here in Western Canada provided retention of moisure .

Half a Fanny for John, George and Harry for Drilling the Winter Wheat! 🚜 🌾🌾🌾🌾

Just for interest Sam Moore from Ballymoney, Co Antrim developed the uni drill for arable production in the 1970's. It has taken many years for widespread adoption to really take off using this method to avoid hitherto soil tillage techniques which severely affect soil structure.

On the US western high plains we direct drill into stubble. We plant direct;y into standing stubble to save moisture. The openers will usually follow between the previous rows. Many use a 18M JD single disk air drill.

Love the Monty Python reference! "Ex-slug"!

Excellent video Harry, thank you

Great video as always. Thanks

When you have a lot of straw to deal with particularly with a disc direct drill I understand hairpinning can be an issue so anything so any additional spec on the drill to avoid that would probably pay dividends.

As usual, a great video and educational as well.

Another very good informative video 👍🏻

Love the updates on the farm Harry!

From my extensive knowledge acquired from Farming Simulator 22, i can confirm that a no till drill is a game changer. 😉

Gosh from watching it looks very much like you'll be spending some pounds and buying that John Deere unit! Another great watch sir, for this non farm-boy!

As always, detailed and very informative! *****

Fascinating as usual. Be interesting to see how the new drill compares.

Great enthusiastic content Harry.

I look forward to seeing the results. Hope it does well for you.

Always very interesting stuff. presented nice and easy still. Thanks Bob

I saw direct drilling for the first time in Hampshire the other day - straight into a cover crop. Fascinating to see and hear of these techniques.

Great video, thanks Harry. I enjoy your discussion of the farm just as much as your cars.

Fantastic insight. As an office worker this Chanel is fabulous. I remember a while back you recommended buying rapeseed oil..... How right you were. Prices went up. I always spread the word and always try to buy British and support British farmers both arible and livestock.

Yea buddy, Go Deere!! My pops works for them. Nice to see some green n yellow on Harry’s farm

John Deere is the Apple of the farming world. I got the impression Harry knows this all too well and is wary of getting roped in by their business plan.

Like your show Harry. I am In Australia 🇦🇺 actually but it's great to see how u blokes di it. Good program and thanks Harry

What an impressive tractor drill combination complete with Satellite guidance and digital drill calibration. Great Stuff!👍

Interesting video. Back in the 70’s I did direct drilling with a bettinson direct drill and also minimum cultivation using Howard rotavators and heavy duty spring tine cultivator. The direct drilling was difficult where straw was present and we would burn the straw using both methods however the combine didn’t have a straw chopper or spreader so the best method was to bale the straw and cart it away. A good straw burn was best but is now not allowed. My overall winner would be minimum cultivation which dealt with the stubble left after baling. A bettinson direct drill was a heavy drill but the slot was often left open as it used a cutting disc and two side discs to plant the seed. I noticed the JD drill did the same in your video so I’m not altogether convinced it would be good in your stoney soil and you may be better off minimum cultivating and then drilling. 😊

Yet another great video thank you Harry Very interested to see the yield difference between the two drills

Very interesting and informative.

Very interesting video Harry 👌🏻😍

Thanks for that Harry. Was very interesting to see the direct drilling. I wander what the life of the discs are in stoney ground and what the mechanism is to let the operater know if any seed tubes get blocked.

As a Midwest American we take a lot of pride in John Deere. They’ve faltered a bit recently but still great machinery

Thankyou andyrbush inThiland for all that info of growing rice an how to deal with competing weeds.

Excellent video the John Deere rep knows his product well

Hi Harry. You may find that the pre-ems don't work as well on the direct drilled land because you are spraying on to the straw rather than the soil.

In North America John Deere has been marketing that style of drill system since around 1990 for planting soybeans and cereal crops. It’s extremely popular. I’m surprised it’s not more common in the UK

Lovett Harry so interesting thank you

Over the course of the winter it might be an idea to do some "Car review" style videos on the machinery and equipment you have on the farm i think that would be very interesting.

Interesting to see how this zero till trial works out. I have some doubts about the control of plant diseases when the crop residue is not incorporated into the soil. Also is there a risk of the soil becoming highly compacted over time? Pros and cons, I guess.

Harry your videos are so educational - they are brilliant! Indeed I work in Africa and often point policy makers and government ministers in your direction to give them some context. Direct drill is critical to more sustainable farming - just need to bring in some livestock post harvesting to reduce some of your glyphosphate needs and reduce your fertiliser inputs. Power from an H2 fuelled tractor and you will be farming well into the 22nd century!

Looks like a good idea. Buy it !

Very interesting as always, using the minimum cultivation system, and a very wet year the slugs really are a problem with the additional trash left on the surface it becomes the perfect environment for these pests. P.S.We were using a direct drill 55 years ago here in the U.K.

so educational and interesting

In all the year's we farmed, we never once put a slug pellet on 1 acre of our 225 acres of crops, we also ploughed every acre... every year, and worked the land to a fine seed bed so the slugs couldn't work in the soil, once you've got clod's.... you've got slugs.

Just a co incidence........Eastern poland......never seen so many slugs....(the orange ones) been here 14 years. We have had no where near as much rain as UK? Winter wheat is about 2-3 inches tall now. First really foggy mornings this week...pink/grey sky at night every night.

Great content Mr H

Think you’ll like a horizon drill. Built in the uk. Support British from field to fork. 👌

Very impressed with drill i think you will need more chemicals and what worries me is that slot it leaves with the seeds in all the rain after drilling on heavy land thst would just stand in water pros and cons 🚜😀

Great video. The JD drill is expensive for what seems a basic structure albeit high quality and computerised but over the years it cuts out the diesel bill for cultivation and also other associated machinery costs and factors such as labour and narrow weather windows so maybe it’s a relatively cheap and good option. Keep up the good work and good luck with the crops.

Harry, if there is a Brewery nearby or a Pub that collects beer drain overflow, along field edges old rain water gutter troughs filled with stale beer ought to collect Slugs for you. Test by leaving saucers of stale beer in your back yard. I think the beer gets them drunk, and as they have no drinking inhibitions, causes them to commit slug suicide by alcohol ; ) Small dogs may be tempted to lap up contents, so keeping your dog inside post placement might be wise…

it is amazing

Really good point about the seed type Harry wonder if there has been any detailed tests done on glyphosate absorbtion

KZfaqr , Jake Freestone , Videos are worth a look he sows clover along with the wheat , some free N and more root mass. Harry can you give us an update on your solar panels . with the lack of sun this summer, would be interesting to no the results .

Have been direct drilling for last 7/8 years. This is first year with new Horsch Avatar drill. Very similar in design to the JD one but 12m in width. Gets on with the job. Also we are struggling with slugs on last years OSR ground. Hardly any on old Bean ground.

You should come to Western Australia next June and do a vlog on large scale direct drilling.

Harry channeling his teenage python influences: "That is an ex-slug". Very informative as usual.

Slugs around us are rampant, plenty try to cross the lanes which saves on slug pellets 😊

As ever a great video Harry. Have you ever grown corn? I’ve been waiting for the fields nearby to see how the corn is harvested. Today they started. It’s a wonderful sight to see, a well organised stream of trailers all day.

I could watch that technology described all Day.

Thankyou Harry for your explanation of glyphosate and naked and covered grains. A concern of mine is that I read that oats are being sprayed prior to harvest to prevent mold and glyphosate is a dangerous chemical to consume. As oats are a covered grain with chaff they have a protection and are inert from the glyphosate. Oats are my favourite breakfast cereal, I hope my assumptions are correct.

Low horsepower requirement at 150 hp for a 4 metre drill really got me - I was expecting/ hoping for 75-90hp!!

its amazing how Britain is only starting to go this way. my father started doing this over 25 years ago in australia. we use john deere everything but the last 8 years we have been using boss engineering air seeders towed behind their planter(australian made)n all gps controlled.

Enjoyed

My dream life, farmer and car enthusiast.

We have a few ‘slugs’ up here in Scotland. Our garden is full of them and they somehow find their way into my garage and my Vermicompost bins. They are part of the decomposition process but some species predate on my worms. Not a fan of them then. I have an outside Vermicompost ‘bed’ they are in there helping out I guess. If you send me you address Harry I’ll box up a couple of dozen kilos and send them down to you..

Love the drill! John Deere do have some software issues....

Looks like the next Harry's garage will reviewing a John Deere Tractor 😆

A couple of further point about Direct Drilling: Direct Drilling in the Autumns needs to take place about 2 weeks before conventionally, min-tilled or ploughed fields. Or 2 weeks later in the Spring. This is because we are giving the seed a bit of a headache compared to drilling them into cultivated land, on which the seed can establish and root itself into easily. Therefore it needs planting into better soil conditions. This won’t compromise weed control, because they don’t get distributed as is the case with any cultivation. Harry also mentioned a while back that his Claydon Drill system reduced his fuel costs to 1/4 of what it wold be if he ploughed or deep min-tilled. True Direct Drilling will halve that again to 1/8th the conventional crop established fuel costs. Some would regard the Claydon as a Direct Drill, because it can go straight into previous crop stubbles, without the need for any cultivations before drilling. However, The Claydon still moves a tremendous amount of soil, creating a seedbed. It is in effect a cultivator, with a drill on top of it. Lastly, one issue regarding chopped straw and Direct Drilling is that a Disc drill, especially a vertical or near Vertical Disc drill can ‘Hair-pin’ the straw, which will cause issues to the newly germinated crop. Various Tine type Direct drills can avoid this problem, but risk disturbing too many weeds. However, the 22.5 degree angled discs of a Weaving GD drill, both reduce the risk of ‘hair-pinning’ and provide minimal soil disturbance to help with weed control.

Damn, that is more rock than soil. The subsidy must be incredible to farm that.

Great video harry, be interesting to see the results from different drills, finally Charlie is revealed as your camera man. Is the whole farm wheat?

lol I could feel the slight anxiety that Harry had about the slot and seed depth

I remember direct drilling of grass on grass in the late 1970's after it had been sprayed off with Gramoxone (Been banned in the UK for many years now) this was for silage so I guess no till drilling is nothing new. Harry I just wondered if you direct drill year on year will you not get problems with ground compaction ?, I myself have worked in traditional arable farming methods for many years, cultivating, plugging ect...

I have seen John Deere drills in New Jersey on utube with one lonely farmer drilling into massive meadows and cover crops and then spraying the cover crops with glyphosate

Very good, thank-you. No till. Mext no spray?

I wonder how many men would have been needed to work a farm this size 100 years ago....

What type of pre-emerge do you use ? By the yellow colour of the mist by the sprayer, I would guess pendimethalin?

Soaking in the north of England!