Chris Blawell with his Terrasem
To find such a wide range of soil types from heavy clay to sand within one farming operation in East Anglia is unusual but maybe not so unusual when your drilling commitments can take you up to a 20 mile radius from your base in North East Norfolk. Chris Blaxell drills an annual acreage that has steadily increased to encompass 1,200 acres; no mean feat when you consider Chris carries out all the drilling himself using a 3mtr wide drill.
It was this increasing workload and ever more erratic weather patterns that prompted Chris to consider changing his power harrow drill combination for a trailed drill system, hoping to increase daily output, reduce passes and achieve a healthy high yielding crop. Dealing with persistent blackgrass see’s Chris favouring the plough as the backbone of the farm’s tillage regime but with very heavy clay soils to the West, plus free running sand nearer the North Norfolk Coast and everything in between finding a trailed drill system that could cope with this diversity was no easy task.
Having tried just about every trailed drill on the market with no success Chris was set to give up on the idea when he spotted the Pottinger TERRASEM 3000T during the spring of 2008. “We had got used to being disappointed having tried so many drill systems that just didn’t cope with our wide range of soil types, but upon trying the TERRASEM it soon exceeded our expectations”.
“We put it to work on the heaviest soil we have in less than ideal conditions and following the plough. With no preparatory work we achieved an excellent seedbed and placed the seed accurately in one pass. It’s fair to say with last autumn being one of the worst for many years I doubt without the TERRASEM we would have got everything drilled; it allowed us to get onto the most difficult land earlier and provide the best start for the crop.
Coupled to the farms 155hp New Holland TM155 tractor the 3mtr Pottinger TERRASEM 3000T was covering around 60 acres a day across a range of field sizes and with an increase of tractor horsepower this year Chris hopes to increase that figure to 80 acres a day.
In terms of results Chris describes the germination as fantastic, better than his previous combination set up. This was even the case on the lighter land which can prove as challenging as any of the heavier soils to giving the crop the very best start.
“We have suffered with no magnesium deficiencies this year and I put that down to the way the TERRASEM consolidates the soil before and after sowing, this pre and post consolidation also has seen a big decrease in the number of slugs on the heavier ground”.
Whilst we all don’t expect or hope to see another autumn like last year’s Chris Blaxell can be confident that he has the drill to get the job done with his Pottinger TERRASEM 3000T.
“I doubt without the TERRASEM we would have got everything drilled last autumn”
Chris Blaxell, Antingham, Norfolk
TESTIMONIALS
March 2010
finds favour with Cheshire Contractor
... click to read more
2010
exceeded expections in Norfolk ... click to read more
2010
has made life more simple says Devon Contractor ... click to read more
2010
has proved the best decision we ever made
says Devon farmer ... click to read more
