ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING
"Simba's Aqueel 2 roller can work in damper conditions than competitor presses".
The value of rolling oilseeds as soon as possible after seeding is highlighted in some of the establishment trials Simba has been completing with Masstock, says Southern Territory Manager Rob Iddeson:
“Some of the plots look excellent and some look a bit patchy – and the difference is how long after the crop was sown the plot was rolled. Where the crops look healthiest they were rolled on the same day as drilling; where they are a bit patchy they were not rolled until several days later, which does make a good case for people considering rollers like the Aqueel 2, which are slightly flexible and so shrug off soil, enabling them to run clean in conditions where other rollers may block”.
Northern Territory Manager David Holmes says the attendance at a Lincolnshire site – 140 farmers during the day – highlights the interest in the subject:
"Simba's oilseeds expertise is building all the time"
“The crops sown off the SL Cultivator (in its disc/disc/tine configuration) looked really healthy and should perform really well”.
Philip Wright, Technical Consultant, says the company’s advice on oilseeds establishment is constantly evolving as a result of this and other trial work:
“We have recently updated the advice we provide re the relative merits of spreading oilseeds either in front of or behind the roller, as a result of this autumn’s trials. Our original advice was to spread behind the roller, so the seed fell onto a closed surface and was retained in the tilth where it could germinate quickly.
Spreading in front of the roller and onto an un-pressed seedbed in dry conditions risked some seed falling to an indeterminate depth and either being lost completely or germinating far later than the rest of the crop. Even in damp conditions where the seed can be retained on or near the surface more easily, the added insurance of placing the seed into a ‘closed’ surface after the DD roller can be seen as the most reliable method”.
