Shepherd milks 400 cows on a 185ha platform and cropped and this year regrassed 50ha of his farm using a new Celli Pioneer 140-305 spiked rotor hoe and Farmgard Proseed A8 air seeder.
There were no missed strikes in the regressing, which Shepherd attributes to the weather and the new air seeder. “You couldn’t have asked for a better season. From March 1 conditions were perfect.”
Northland has been enjoying a mild winter, with weather moving from La Nina to El Nino patterns, but Shepherd says the air seeder contributed most to the success of the regressing.
“Certainly there were no jobs that had to be redone and that’s not always the case with direct drilling. Some people around the district this season had disappointing results with direct drilling and they don’t know why, while contractors who used air seeders seemed to be getting uniformly good strikes,” he says.
Shepherd last season planted 30ha maize silage, a 10ha brassica/sorghum mix and 10ha of Italian annuals across the farm as part of a capital regrassing project.
While contractors planted the 30ha of maize Shepherd planted the 20ha of Italian annuals, brassica and sorghum with the air drill and did all the cultivation with the spike rotor hoe. He regrassed all the cropped area with the air drill.
Celli New Zealand distributor Farmgard says the tailgate at the back of the spike rotor hoe allows soil to be worked up twice within the same pass.
Tel. 09 275 5555 or 03 437 9000
www.farmgard.co.nz
