Variable rate lime spreading
- Thread starter vf949
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Makes a lot of sense to me. While P,K etc may appear variable on a soil map, I'm sure rectifying the pH in the various areas of the map would also have a big effect on the available P & K in those areas.
Thanks Bog Man. Does he do the soil maps too or just the spreading?
Claas Grass
Well-Known Member
I've done it with a Bredal but it didn't have weight cells so I thought it was a bit of a balls, the areas are usually a decent size so it's not actually constantly changing like variable rate P&K which seems to be up and down a bit more, I read somewhere before of lads just getting the field mapped for variable rate but doing it manually.
Blackwater boy
Moderator
Does a man near you not have a variable rate bredal for lime or was I dreaming when someone told me that a while back
I got the soil maps done with SOYL through Bretts in Kilkenny but there are others doing it as well . We just marked out the fields and had the spreader just spread the areas that needed it . There was quite a saving on lime and we would be very particular about the lime status of the land . If anybody else is doing the actual GPS testing I would like to know as we have another 50 acres needs testing and it is hard to get Bretts man to come for that .
Claas Grass
Well-Known Member
No you're not gone mad just yet, the spreader you're referring to is probably the one I used to drive, I used do all his spreading but don't have the time to do it anymore.
Blackwater boy
Moderator
No u think they use SOYL direct from the UK for it. I know that lad in the company you put the link up for, he is doing a PHD in soil with Teagasc, he was here digging holes last spring and taking samples of the crop during the year.
I think they use somebody else . I heard of farm tech and it would be interesting would they travel far. . I put pand k out before the deadline and Bretts man would not travel because I had reduced area by 50% . Who does the testing for Coolmore and spreading .
I know of one farm in Carlow that farm tech comes to anyway so might be a runner for you alright.
I got precision nutrition in Louth to do the whole farm for me last year. Did 120 acres and got it done on a 1.5 acre per sample basis.
I also tried my own usual method of blocks and said I'd use it to compare.
With my own blocks I needed 220t of lime as with the GPS maps I only needed 60t across the farm. So saving in lime alone more than paid for it.
Got the benefit of p k and mg maps also.
Great lads to deal with and rang me back a few weeks ago to do maps for this year's cropping plan for the p and k.
Link to website here http://www.precisionsoils.ie/
Blackwater boy
Moderator
Did you get a lad in with the variable rate like spreader so? I presume it was a good bit more expensive per tonne to spread it as you had a lot of travelling but only handy tonnes? Serious saving tho
Yes had to get a lad in, cost 6euro t spread, would have been cheaper if I'd more tonnes and he had to travel 20 miles.
Certain fields had no lime needed, others had one block etc and others needed small amounts across majority of field.
I should add I have vari rate on the fert spinner and results were positive this year from using it. Downside is using straights so covering ground a few times is time consuming
I will do it again after 3 years and see how it panned out