Soil health focus boosts contract tillage work
The Gregoire Besson ‘Discordon One-Pass Finisher’, which comprises two rows each of independent tines and notched or smooth discs, plus a following packer, can go just about anywhere, on all soil types, according to WA wheatbelt contractor John Davis. John says compared to his previous chisel plough style machine, it also leaves a better soil bed leading into seeding programs.
In earlier times it used to be looking to the skies, but growers have since looked into the ground, particularly at their soil health, to help maximise the potential of good seasons and minimise losses in poor performing years, and for tillage contractor John Davis this has meant plenty of time on the road.
Based from York, John operates Total Tillage Contracting and Hire and has been assisting growers across the WA wheatbelt with soil amelioration work.
The business’ tillage equipment fleet includes a spader, speed tiller and delver, while he also has recently upgraded from a chisel plough style machine to a Gregoire Besson ‘Discordon One-Pass Finisher’, which comprises two rows each of independent tines and notched or smooth discs, plus a following packer.
Compared with the chisel plough, he said the disc machine was more versatile and provided a better soil bed finish leading into seeding programs.
“As a result, we can rip more soils with the machine and it doesn’t leave a mess – ever,’’ John said.
“A spader is probably the best machine on the market for soil amelioration, but they are way too fussy. They can’t handle rocks and stumps.
“On most farms, about 70-80 per cent of the land would be suitable for amelioration, but only 10pc could be handled with the spader – unless you are on sandplain country.
“The Discordon can go just about anywhere and on all soil types.”
He said Gregoire Besson was renowned for manufacturing some of the industry’s best ploughs, and particularly for its mouldboard plough.
The Discordon One-Pass Finisher features a parallelogram setup, and, compared with other similar machines, the tine and disc frames are completely independent, allowing the disc and tine depths to be adjusted separately – and also on-the-go with the packing pressure.
The tines dig to a depth of about 450 millimetres and the discs to about 230mm, while the disc gang angle also can be adjusted for a more aggressive cut. This allows the Discordon to carry out shallow stubble ploughing through to deeper subsoiling, as well as mulching, decompacting and reconsolidating all in the one pass.
John said one of the best attributes of the Gregoire Besson Discordon was the fact the ripper tines could be lifted independently of the rest of the machine.
“We run the discs at full depth all the time, and with full pressure on the packer all the time, and we rip as deep as the conditions, or tractor, allows.”
“We have a crumble packer with the machine, which has also performed way better than we thought it would.
“The job the Discordon has done has been most impressive and we have had great support from (Australian distributor) Waringa Distribution.
“Due to it performing so well, we’ve probably deep ripped at times when you shouldn’t. We started mid-January this year and didn’t stop – and for about three weeks we did night shift only because it was so hot.”
John’s 6.2-metre Discordon One-Pass Finisher, which folds to less than 3m in width, has worked in medium to heavy country in the eastern wheatbelt through to sandy soils near Dandaragan, covering about 5000 hectares in just over a 12-month period at a travelling speed of around 8 kilometres per hour.
He said most of the soil types were non-wetting, including forest gravels and sands, and almost all involved lime incorporation as well.
“You need to fix these soils from the top down. Mixing fixes the top, you can bury the non-wetting sand and incorporate the lime.”
“The more you mix, the better it is and the longer it lasts before looking to do it again. I would rather rip and mix to a depth of 300mm than straight rip to 600mm, and the mixing with the discs is ideal with this machine.”
John said grower feedback from works completed by the Gregoire Besson Discordon had been outstanding, largely because it produced a “tidy finish”.
“Out of the 5000ha, we have only had one complaint that it was a little rough, but most of our customers are return customers.”
“With land so expensive now, soil improvement is becoming important to do and can significantly increase your land value. Rather than considering buying more land, it can be a better move to fix what you have got.
“Bringing poor areas back to good production provides a huge benefit and improves your property value per arable acre,” he said.
For further information on Gregoire Besson Discordon, view the Gregoire Besson range here. To organise a demo, growers can contact their nearest McIntosh & Son branch below.