Spreading the harvest workload, reducing a diesel bill and improving soil health were essential factors when Rob and John Clough decided to invest in a 6m Kuhn Prolander.
Nottinghamshire farmers Rob and John Clough knew their four or more-pass deep cultivation system needed to change. Not only was it a large consumer of diesel but it also took considerable time – a valuable commodity on their clay soils and in short supply once the younger generation of family support had returned to university by October.
They needed a cultivator that offered more versatility and one that could operate directly into stubbles or as a secondary machine. With over 400ha, and a big proportion of spring crops, Rob explains why the farm needed more options.
“We like to drill after 15 October to allow a flush of blackgrass, which means it’s a very small window if the weather turns. Our Keuper clay soils can go from boulders to a pudding in a matter of days and our previous system of deep tillage and multiple passes was expensive and left very few options.”
Spring crops are a large part of the rotation due to historical blackgrass issues that weren’t under control by growing winter crops. A winter cover crop is now sown to overwinter particularly bad fields to allow soils a rest, improve structure and nutrient availability, before establishing a spring crop.
Wholesale changes
The brothers knew their Horsch Terrano, although a great machine and one that remains on the farm, was cultivating too deep and leaving a crust when it came to drilling. Using a shallower cultivator, to incorporate the top at a faster speed, was an option they were keen to explore. Rob explains the previous system.
“I still like the Terrano and it has its place. However, after a pass with the Terrano, a Flatliner subsoiler, and a third pass to level with a cultipress, the clay would develop a crust that we then needed to break with the cultipress again in front of the Horsch Pronto drill. It didn’t allow us much flexibility if we wanted to try something different.”
The answer was to invest in a wider, shallower stubble cultivator that had the versatility to go directly into stubbles but also pull down as a secondary cultivator or incorporate organic manures. After assessing the options on the market, they had a Kuhn Prolander and Bednar Swifterdisc out of demo.
“The Bednar and Kuhn demos showed what we were missing. The Bednar felt more complicated than it needed to be with its tine and disc system, whereas the Kuhn Prolander was a simple setup and offered us a versatile tine cultivator that could move the top 2-3in of soil for the soil and stubble mix we required.”
The farm took delivery of the machine in 2023 and the Prolander has now completed its second season. Rob and John also bought a new John Deere 750A direct drill instead of a Horsch Avatar. After considering both options, the decision came down to reducing the weight they were carrying across the field at drilling.
“The Avatar weighed 10t empty and we knew this would cause us a problem with compaction but also pulling power. Our land is hilly and, in slightly poor weather conditions, our largest John Deere 6250R wouldn’t have coped with the Avatar’s weight.”
They knew the JD drill would allow them to direct drill in certain conditions. However, the predominantly clay land required moving to incorporate stubble and straw, to breakdown and reduce slug pressure on following crops, while creating a chit for a pre-drilling glyphosate application. Do we need to be talking about drills, as we are bigging up competitors?
Reduced diesel bill
The Prolander has allowed the farm to settle on a new cultivation regime but also be flexible should the season require it. It has five rows of tines with a front levelling board and a Double U-ring roller at the rear to consolidate. At 6m-wide, it is already 2m wider than their previous Terrano and 3m wider than the Sumo Trio, so it can cover more ground with each pass, but the finish and depth control have offered more benefits.
“We could never cultivate a full 3m width with the Sumo Trio as the outside discs weren’t on the edge of the machine, whereas the Prolander is set at 5.9m to account for a small amount of overlap. We tend to do two passes with the Prolander, and the levelling board allows us to create an even seedbed ready for drilling on the second pass.”
It has 8-inch duck foot shares on the tines to break up the soil, and at 12kph it provides an ideal mixing effect to leave plenty of tilth for weed seedlings to chit. However, the most noticeable benefit has been reduced fuel bill and increased output of 40ha/day.
“With the Sumo Trio we couldn’t do a full day cultivating and would regularly be back in the yard by 4pm to refuel. Admittedly we were going much deeper with the Trio than we are with the Prolander, but as a comparison, we can do two days on a single tank now.
“The tines have enough flex to avoid damage but move all the soil. It also has a big distance between the frame and the ground, so we have no problem cultivating long stubbles such as winter beans or oilseed rape. It has changed our system completely, as the Prolander now cultivates every field, covering around 800ha/year,” explains Rob.
Backup essential
A recent bearing failure on one of the two front land wheels, which are integral for even depth control across the field, put the Prolander out of action for 24 hours. However, Rob says this was a small amount of downtime considering what it could be with some machines.
“One of the things we like with Kuhn was the parts backup from our dealer Ripon Farm Services, and Kuhn in the UK. Most parts are available, and if they aren’t, we can get them shipped from France usually within 24 hours, so downtime is kept to a minimum.”
One thing Rob and John have discussed is fitting a seed hopper to the Prolander to either establish an over winter cover crop to fulfil some of the SFI options the farm has undertaken, or to potentially sow oilseed rape in the right year.
“Just this year it occurred to us we could be sowing our winter cover crops on the second pass of the Prolander, rather than drilling with the 750A. There is no need to use a drill for these crops and the seedbed created by the Prolander is ideal to sow straight into, so it would save us a pass when we still have areas of the farm to combine.”
Although the Prolander covers a lot of ground, the brothers view it as a long-term investment and the additional versatility and reduced diesel use has allowed them more options across the farm rather than treating everything as a blanket approach.