Equipment Design...

[farmaholic]

We use a Bourgault QDA Paralink. It doesn't seem to like tall flax stubble, even dry can cause problems but tough is worse. Long pea vines are another issue...not bad when they're dry but impossible tough. It clears most other stubble quite well, even anchored lodged cereals if it's not too tough. I don't believe in the "scorched earth" theory or blanket tilling (even vertical) whole fields...lots of spots don't need it, then it turns into a patch work of guessing where to till and not. I don't know if there is an independent shank drill out there that is perfect. I miss the simplicity of the flexicoil style drill we had before this one but like the seed placement of this one. Straw management is key-duh! But other than cutting the flax crop.much shorter what other option is there...clench your teeth and bare it!

[farmaholic]

Speaking of limitations. ...anyone getting any spraying done? But I guess the solenoid tips can spray in any conditions.

[agstar77]

Bottom line , does the paralink system make you more money and decrease your work load?

[Guest]

we still use a morris maxim 2 , it has edge on shanks . this shank design that goes straight down is one of the best straw clearing units we have ever had . we had a maxim before with C shanks and it was useless in straw . I watch all these independent drills , morris included , battling straw and just shake my head ! we have a bourgault 9400 deep tiller and an 8800 cultivator , neither will come close to the drill for straw clearance. and it's worth about 10% of what an independent drill would cost

[farmaholic]

Agstar..with depreciation probably not!

Case. The paralink shanks are also straight up and down but of course each trailed by a little packer wheel. Then in front of everything the infamous mid row banders. Lots of stuff under that drill. Gang packers can be tough(drag) in muddy conditions and not pack uniform across the individual gang, especially if it's a wider one.

[Guest]

Agstar..with depreciation probably not!

Case. The paralink shanks are also straight up and down but of course each trailed by a little packer wheel. Then in front of everything the infamous mid row banders. Lots of stuff under that drill. Gang packers can be tough(drag) in muddy conditions and not pack uniform across the individual gang, especially if it's a wider one.

this one has no more than 5 packers on a gang , mostly 4 . and the frame pulls like 5 little drills . they were about the most flexible before the independents . this one has sc****rs that work well in mud , everyone around here was trying to fabricate sc****rs on tires here last year on the independents . my point is that I would be choked if I spent that kind of money and couldn't get through straw , especially in an area where you need straw cover most years. seems like they were all in such a hurry to copy seed hawk they forgot about straw clearance

[sk_wheatking]

Regarding mid row Banders....has there ever been a more high maintenance thing ever invented? How can a bearing that turns so slow pile up so often? I hate mrb's with a passion but they do put down the 46-0-0 very efficiently. Really though come on bourgault there has to be a better way. Also the paralink drill is an excellent unit.

[farming101]

If conditions are bad nothing is going to work in flax stubble.

Most years we seed into chopped flax straw residue with minimal problems when conditions are right
Last year the stuff grew over 30 inches high. Had to burn.

[farmaholic]

Case...we had a 40ft NH440(flexicoil) before the one we have now...only three sections and the wings were a little too long for some of our rolling topography we have...even though it was designed to flex (twist) I thought it was too rigid for that length of section, I think they were about 14 ft.

Will there ever be a perfect mousetrap?

[farmaholic]

101.. . When we had old 850MF combines and the straw made one trip through the cylinder and danced it's way down the walkers to the factory chopper and fell evenly across it, it did a decent job of "chopping" and.spreading the flax straw. Now with the Agco rotary combine we have it gets twisted into lumps and falls to one side of the MAV chopper and is really hard on it's drive belts....so we drop, bunch and burn...even though I don't like it.

[farming101]

Got it. Not conducive to chopping. Might even spit out the odd knife with that situation

[Rareearth]

Cut maximum of 6 inches high, harrow on days like yesterday.

[Partners]

Cut maximum of 6 inches high, harrow on days like yesterday.

X2..
We swath so easier to cut closer to the ground..Straw never a issue.

[farmaholic]

Sk_, it may not be the speed its turning at as much as the load on it and the fact their always being torqued on at an angle. We use only wheel bearing grease on them and do them halfway through the season, which for us is only about 1200 acres. We haven't had any trouble but there will only be about 12, 500 acres on them by the end of the season (five years at 2500ish)

[Lowrider27]

Seeding in flax stubble

Hi Im new to this site. Lowrider27 here. We grow flax frequently . We desicate our flax before harvest which really eases the strain on our straw chopper, with Reglone not Roundup. Our combine is. 8090 CR New Holland and spreads the straw over 36 feet evenly. Last year our flax made 40 bus (best we ever grew) and was cut at 14 inches tall . This spring we pulled in with our 40 foot Salford 522 disc drill ( purchased in 2010) and seeded durum into droughted ground. The crop germinated and grew great for as dry as our area is this year. Will be less than our average dur crop over the last 7 years but I'm happy It still alive. We quit bunching and burning flax when we bought the Salford. Love that drill!