Farmers Guardian – Feb 2007 (Relating to SR Drill)

Wanting farmers with a smaller area to benefit from the cost savings of direct drilling, Claydon has added the SR machine alongside the V-Drill. The 3m version uses the same principle of running a cultivating tine in front of the seeding tine to minimise soil disturbance and power requirement.

Jeff Claydon said the drill can be operated on a tractor of 150Hp with a forward speed of between 8 and 12kph. “We tested the drill on a field that had been in set-aside for five years, which had been sprayed off, and the drill didn’t block,”, he said “It has a high clearance for better trash flow as the tines are spread across 4 rows.”

The hopper and metering system come from Sulky and are carried on the same frame as the Bellota cultivating tines, the depth of which is controlled by the tractors linkage. The spring auto reset tines loosen the soil ahead of the seeding tines, which are attached to a separate frame, and get their contour following from the depth wheels at the front.

Trials have shown a daily output of 50 acres per day is normal. On a 1,000 acre farm this means that the tractor used for establishing the crops will only clock up 200 hours. The 3m SR costs £19,500 and Claydon hope to develop 4m, 5m, 6m and possibly 8m versions.

Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer – May 2006 (Relating to V-Drill)

Claydon Yieldometer’s direct drill uses a leading depth adjustable, rigid chisel tine to sub-till the soil to create a drainage channel for the seed and also shatter the soil to allow better optimum plant root development.

An A-Hoe tine then lifts and creates tilled soil for the seed to be laid under, while combining the residue into rows between the seed bands, and drops the soil back over the seed. Consolidation for good seed to soil contact is achieved by a press wheel or harrow.

Making Direct Action Pay

Any comparison of conventional seeding and direct drilling will show big establishment cost savings. But the system is not for everyone and in certain areas it can take some selling.

Crop establishment using primary and secondary cultivations plus drilling will see costs in excess of £30/acre – more on heavier. Direct drilling comes in at half this cost with, on appropriate soils, little if any loss of yield.

Most of the savings naturally enough come from fewer tractors and operators, and less diesel.

Jeff Claydon, who launched his Claydon Direct Seed Drill a few years ago and uses it on his farm and for contracting, recons on savings of 30+ litres/ha – equivalent to about £10/ha at current red diesel prices.

The Claydon family farm has been direct drilled for four years with good results. The system replaced four tractors and operators with one tractor, one operator and one 6m Claydon Direct Drill.

Even so, early experience with direct drilling has made some farmers shy, and despite the apparent benefits there is a long way to go to get large scale support for the technique.

Contractors tell us the technique can take a bit of marketing; the best way, they recon, is to organise farm visits to see results and talk to committed users about such thorny aspects such as grass weeds, yield penalties and soil structure.

Jeff Claydon, inventor, farmer and contractor, sits on both sides of the fence. He comments “In 2005 we established 1500 hectares in just 500 engine hours.”

“Most interestingly our yields have not dropped, compaction has become a thing of the past and our soil quality and fertility has improved significantly, not to mention the obvious cost and time savings we have experienced.”

To cost the system we took a 4.8m direct drill at £40,000 and amortised it over four years at 2000 acres of work a season.

Work rate was put at 8 acres per hour, lower than some manufacturers’ claims, but designed to allow for transport to and from site, setup and seed loading.

Spares and repairs have been put in at 10 percent of purchase price per annum, which seems to agree with users findings.

Interest on capital involved has been charged at 6 percent of half the investment to allow for its gradual write off.

Direct drills have a fairly heavy power requirement – around 50hp/work meter – so we have allowed for a 300hp plus power unit including operator and fuel at £40.40/hr.

The costings in the table show a cost for the drill of £7.60/acre plus £5.50/acre for the tractor, which adds up to £13.10/acre. Adding 20 percent to allow for overhead costs and profitable use of the equipment brings the total per acre to £15.72

Direct drill saves a packet – Farm Business (november 2005)

A Suffolk grower claims to be saving thousands of pounds in establishment costs per year by using a direct drill he has developed.

Jeffrey Claydon say that, compared with the conventional drilling regime he used to use, his Claydon Direct Seed Drill has saved the 480 hectare farm £168,000 over the past four years and a time saving of 1,350 hours per year.

Mr Claydon developed the drill after identifying a need to reduce establishment costs.

Now, the establishment regime begins during harvesting when straw is either bailed or finely chopped using a Claas Lexion combine. Weeds are then allowed to green up before being dispatched using glyphosate.

One criticism of direct drills is that crops are not always so well established as when using conventional methods and soil structure can be damaged.

Mr Claydons son, Spencer, explains that the drill incorporates two patented tines. The first, a ridged chisel tine, creates a drainage channel so that the seed does not become waterlogged, while also shattering soil to aid the growth of strong, long tap roots. The second tine, an A-Share spring mounted tine, lifts and creates tilled soil for the seed to be laid underneath and brushes aside straw and rubbish. A seeding boot then spreads the seed into bands, not rows. Finally, a wheel presses the soil down, allowing contact between seed and soil.

The drill is arranged in a V formation to allow better flow of soil and make pulling it more efficient.

Mr Claydon says the design of the drill has improved soil structure and led to an increase in yields.

It can be used to plant cereals, oilseed rape and pulses and is available in 3.5m and 4m solid versions or 4.8m and 6m folding versions. Power needed to operate ranges from 170hp for the 3.5m to 300hp for the 6m.

Straw Incorporation - Farmers Guide – May 2005 (Relating to V-Drill)

Do you mix, plough or direct drill perhaps? All 3 methods have been used successfully and can give good results providing a realistic approach is taken. With wheat at £60/tonne which method can you afford? What are the problems with each system? How can you reduce the risks involved and remain profitable?

All require good management and every opportunity should be taken to reduce cost and maximise yield and profit. After all, do you want to spend most of your single farm payment simply growing a cosmetically good looking crop? It is no good having the best looking farm and going bankrupt over it.

The secret is to adopt a sustainable method to suit your farm and will probably involve a mixture of methods to control grass weeds, slugs, drainage and adopting the most cost effective method of crop establishment depending on your cropping programme. It is all about reducing costs. That’s where Claydons have concentrated their efforts with 2 unique products.

Back in 1995 they introduced the Furrow Cracker to help reduce the cost of establishing a seedbed behind the plough which has proven to be a very successful and cost effective method of reducing cultivations behind the plough. In 2003 they introduced the Claydon Drill for direct seeding or conventional seeding behind the plough. Designed and built on their own farm it is proving to be a winner in reducing costs in crop establishment with great success in direct drilling oil seed rape, pulses and cereals. Yields have remained at high levels, with second wheats yielding 10T/Ha, in all circumstances, due to better timing of operations, despite the fact that fields do not look at all attractive throughout winter and early spring.

Claydons are farmers as well as Engineers and work with farmers to solve difficult problems, one being the ever increasing puzzle of staying profitable.

Claydon Grain Sampler - Arable Farming - February 14, 2005

Suffolk-based Claydon, a company more widely known as a manufacturer of direct drills has launched the Grain Sampler - a simple device for automatically sampling grain as it is taken from the store and being loaded for transport.
The Grain Sampler removes a small sample of grain as each load goes into the lorry resulting in a 5-6 litre sample collected from a 25 tonne lorry load.
"The idea is to reduce rejections by providing a fool-proof method of taking a representative sample of each lorry load before it goes off to the merchant. Half the sample can be bagged up and given to the driver to hand on, and half can be saved for the farm records," says Jeff Claydon. HGCA tested, the Claydon Yieldometer, which won a Certificate of Merit for Best Product Development' at the show, is priced at pounds 120.00. Claydon also announced the introduction of a 3m version of its direct seeding system. Modular by design 4, 4.8 and 6m units are also available.

Hydraulics put to work in latest version of direct seeding system - Farmers Weekly - January 28, 2005

The LAMMA Show at the Newark Showground drew exhibitors and visitors by the bus load. Geoff Ashcroft, Nick Fone and Charlie McCarron toured the machinery lines

A machinery exhibition comprising predominantly outdoor trade stands and held in January could appear to hold little interest to show-goers. But LAMMA has built up such a following in recent times that the mood at this year's event was, once again, buoyant.
Exhibitor numbers were up from 325 to 357 compared to last year's event, and exhibition space totalled 6000sq m of indoor stands and 23,000sq m of outdoor space, offering plenty of opportunity for manufacturers from all over the country to display their latest innovations and developments.
Jeff Claydon, of Suffolk-based Claydon, used the event to show off the latest changes to the company's direct seeding system. Hydraulic folding now reduces overall width from 3.25m to 2.85m, while a modular construction of the drill's working sections allows additional modules to be added to create working widths of up to 6m in a fully mounted format.
"We've also added an interchangeable point design," says Mr Claydon. "The standard 7in items didn't suit all growers in wet conditions, so users now have the choice of a 5.5in tine and a slotted tine - the latter for crops such as beans."
A hydraulic folding, trailed version of the drill has been developed, he adds, but it is still under evaluation.

LAMMA 2005: CLAYDON YIELDOMETER TO REDUCE REJECTIONS - Farmers Guardian - January 28, 2005

SUFFOLK-based Claydon, a company more widely known as a manufacturer of direct drills has launched the Grain Sampler - a simple device for automatically sampling grain as it is taken from the store and being loaded for transport.
Fitting to the rear side of a loader's bucket, the Yieldometer removes a small sample of grain as each load goes into the lorry resulting in a 5-6 litre sample collected from a 25 tonne lorry load.
"The idea is to reduce rejections by providing a fool-proof method of taking a representative sample of each lorry load before it goes off to the merchant. Half the sample can be bagged up and given to the driver to hand on, and half can be saved for the farm records," says Jeff Claydon.
"If the merchant comes back with a discrepancy on the load, the farmer has the opportunity to prove that the sample was actually OK and should not be rejected."
HGCA tested, the Claydon Grain Sampler, which won a Certificate of Merit for Best Product Development' at the show, is priced at pounds 120.00.
Claydon also announced the introduction of a 3m version of its direct seeding system. Modular by design 4, 4.8 and 6m units are also available.

It proves versatile and cost effective - Farmers Guardian - December 10, 2004

AFTER just one season in use, Midlands contractor Angus Farming has found that the Claydon Drill is helping the company live up to its reputation as a crop establishment specialist.
Pulled behind a tracked, 235hp John Deere 8200 series tractor, the unit has covered more than 3,500 acres this autumn drilling a wide range of crops - and the results are already promising.
"Wheat which has been direct drilled straight after beans is looking very well and crops that went straight into rape stubble look particularly good," says Angus Farms owner James Reid.
Angus Farming - which operates between Sleaford and Grantham in the east to Melton Mowbray and Loughborough in the west - has been offering a direct drilling service for five years and had been using a John Deere drill.
"I went to the 2004 Cereals Event to see what was on offer and ended up taking home the 4.8m Claydon Drill that the company had on its stand," says Mr Reid. "We then built it into a carrier to make it the country's first trailed model."
It was the drill's mode of action that caught his interest. He liked the idea of the front tine working the ground a little bit and setting up the soil to allow some drainage, while the A-hoe tine accurately placed the seed in the optimum position.
"We are specialists in crop establishment and the Claydon Drill offered exactly the low-cost, precision drilling our customers need," he says. "We let the others do the combining."
The firm charges about pounds 16-21/acre depending on whether a spray application is required or not, although this can increase on heavy ground.
"Our best performance this season was 120 acres/day, but on heavy soils we were down to 50 acres/day.
"We brought in our 295hp tracked John Deere 8520 to pull the drill when the ground got stronger, but effectively you can keep drilling as long as you can get traction on the ground."
Angus Farming intends extending the drill's use to 6,000 acres a year running through all the crops, from oilseed rape at the end of the summer to maize in late spring. Mr Reid even plans to try the drill with peas and linseed.
"In my experience, the Sulky hopper that the Claydon Drill uses is the most accurate on the market and I'd be quite happy using it for most crops - it might even handle grass seed if you were to drill in a diamond pattern."
Mr Reid is so convinced that direct drilling with the tine drill is the way forward that he has set up demonstration plots on land that Angus Farming farms under contract so that his customers can see the benefits.
"We are going to let people compare crops grown using conventional drilling techniques with those using just the Claydon drill."

Building it himself - tine drill cheaper alternative - Farmers Guardian - December 10, 2004

Launched at the LAMMA event, the Claydon tine drill offers farmers a cheaper aternative to crop establishment with 32 units having established crop this seson. Graeme Kirk reports.
IT might not be everybody's approach, but when Jeff Claydon has a farming problem to solve he tends to build his own solution.
In 2001 the issue was how to grow wheat profitably at pounds 60/tonne. It was clear to him that the way forward was to cut out the costs of ploughing and conventional cultivation - and that meant a shift towards direct drilling. The problem was that none of the drills on the market were suitable.
"We had 1,200 acres of heavier land that was totally unsuitable for drills with a disc opener," he says. "On our soils, you would just end up with the seed sitting at the bottom of a slot with no drainage."
He set about studying the weaknesses of the existing drills and came up with a new design which overcame the problems usually associated with direct drilling into heavier soils - and the Claydon Drill was born.
The drill he developed combines up to four actions:
A rigid sub-tilling tine is first through the soil. This shatters any compaction so the plant roots can grow down and for the water to drain through, creating an ideal germination and growing environment.
This tine can be independently set to run at 1.5 to 6.0 inches below the required seed depth to promote soil drainage or can be removed altogether.
The second action is conducted by an A-hoe tine. This lifts the soil to create a tilth. The larger lumps of soil and the straw are combed to the side of the hoe tines and left in bands, while the finer tilth drops over the back of the tine on to the seed.
The seed is deposited by a boot just behind the A-hoe. For cereal crops, a spreading boot is used which spreads the seed 75mm either side of the centre line of the A-hoe. With the tines mounted 300mm apart, the result is bands of seed 150mm apart.
The final action is carried out by an individual press wheel for each seed band. These can be replaced with a spring tine or left off altogether depending on different soil conditions or crops.
Mr Claydon says the drill, available in widths from 3.5m to 6m and has its tines placed in a V-formation to make the machine easier to pull, leaves the bands of seed underground with undisturbed soil between the rows and any trash placed on the surface to act as a mulch.
"The undisturbed soil holds moisture which can't escape because of the mulch," he says.
"More worms in the soil survive the drilling process and they help build better soil structure.
"Another advantage of leaving much of the soil untouched is that the ground is much better at carrying machinery, which results in reducing the risk of rutting and the need for sub-soiling to combat compaction is removed."
In its first season (2002), the drill was used over the whole of Claydon's family farm, at Wickhambrook, Suffolk. Most of the drilling was into land that had been ploughed and pressed, with only one third of the farm direct drilled.
Last year, only 80 acres of more than 1,200 acres on the farm was ploughed before drilling, while this year there was no ploughing at all.
"The drill can be used for direct drilling, in minimum tillage or on land that has been ploughed and pressed," says Mr Claydon. "It can follow behind most things - all it needs is a level, consolidated finish.
"We recommend a power requirement of 50hp/metre for the drills. You might need more than that in very difficult conditions, but we've found that as long as you can get sufficient traction to pull it, the drill will do its job."
Each season has also brought new challenges for the drill. The first year was more or less normal as far as weather is concerned, but last year was dry and this year has been unusually wet.
The performance of the drill has helped increase wheat yields from an average of between 3.5 to 4.0tonnes/acre to a consistent 4.0 tonnes/acre, with some areas reaching 5.0 tonnes.
He is particularly happy with the 1.55 tonnes/acre of oilseed rape he got this year. It was down from yields of 1.85 tonnes/acre last year, but still much better than most growers managed in a difficult season.
The cost savings are certainly hard to argue with.
"I reckon we're saving about pounds 42,000 on establishment, while it has also freed up staff to go out and contract drill for other farmers," he says.
"The fields may not look as neat and tidy as they did under traditional cultivation, but direct drilling is all about cost savings, not appearance."

The Claydon Direct Seeder – TCS - August 2004

When farmer and agricultural engineer Jeff Claydon decided to convert from ploughing to mi-till and direct drilling, he was unable to find a suitable drill for the conditions on his farm. The Claydons have a reputation for producing top quality cost cutting farm machinery which has been developed for UK conditions (the combine mounted Claydon Yieldometer and the plough mounted Furrow Cracker being two examples). His seed drill would be no exception: of robust construction and suited to UK conditions.

Jeff’s farm is situated in the county of Suffolk which is eastern England, one of the UK’s main cereal and oil seed rape producing areas. His land is like a lot of UK arable land; consisting of heavy wet clays, difficult and expensive to work. Like most farmers, Jeff needed to cut costs; minimum tillage or direct drilling were an obvious choice on his 485ha arable farm, but many of his soils are not that well suited to conventional direct drilling due to the high clay content, which can lead to soil structure and drainage problems. (See TCS No22)

Not being one to be defeated in his quest, he set out about designing his own drill which would cope with his conditions, so over a period of four years he has developed what is now a commercially available one pass direct seeder capable of operating in most of the conditions encountered in the UK.

The greatest challenge for UK growers is to establish winter oil seed rape after a wheat crop, often there is only a period of seven to ten days. Direct drilling would seem the obvious answer, but on many soils the results have been very variable due mainly to poor rooting and waterlogging later on in the winter, leading to poor yields and in some cases total crop failure.

The Claydon Drill overcomes most of these problems by cultivating below the seed depth, improving rooting and drainage. The drill was initially conceived to establish OSR, but it has proved to be equally successful in establishing cereals and beans.

The fundamental difference between the Claydon Drill and other tined drills on the market; is its ability to cultivate up to 150mm below the seeding depth. This encourages root growth on crops such as oil seed rape and beans, as well as improving soil drainage.

The deep soil loosening is carried out by a fixed knife blade, which has an adjustable working depth between 37.5mm and 150mm below the seeding depth. This is then followed by a sprung tine fitted with an A-Share, which lifts the soil and creates tilth into which the seed is placed. Larger lumps of soil and excess crop residue are swept to the side of the A-Share and left in bands between the seeded rows. The finer soil falls back over the rear of the A-Share and on top of the seed which was injected by the seed boot. For cereals and OSR a 150mm band width sowing boot is used, but this can easily be changed for a variety of other boots such as knife points suitable for planting winter beans at depths of up to 175mm.

The tines are in a V formation set at 300mm apart; this allows large amounts of crop residue to pass through the machine with ease, as well as reducing its power requirements of about 50hp/meter working width.

Behind each seed band is a press wheel that is used to gently firm the soil. This provides a good seed to soil contact. The wheel can easily be removed and replaced with small covering tines or even left off altogether to suit different conditions (wet and dry), soil types and crops.

The present range of drills are available in 3.5m and 4m working widths on a fixed frame, and 4.8m and 6m working widths on a folding frame. The first drills to be produced have all been mounted on the tractors three point linkage and have been fitted with Sulky seed hoppers and seed delivery mechanisms.

For the 2003 autumn drilling campaign 13 drills were at work, drilling an estimated 6000-8000ha of cereals, beans and OSR. Although most of the users were new to the system all reported good crop establishment in what was a difficult autumn (very dry). Many were impressed by the early root development, particularly with the direct drilled oil seed rape which also benefited from the drills ability to conserve soil moisture. Users claim that the cost of using the Claydon Drill is similar to that of ploughing, but as there is then no need for further secondary cultivations and seeding they are making savings of between £25 and £62.50/ha depending on the system they are replacing.

LAMMA 2005: CLAYDON YIELDOMETER TO REDUCE REJECTIONS - Farmers Guardian - January 28, 2005

SUFFOLK-based Claydon, a company more widely known as a manufacturer of direct drills has launched the Grain Sampler - a simple device for automatically sampling grain as it is taken from the store and being loaded for transport.
Fitting to the rear side of a loader's bucket, the Yieldometer removes a small sample of grain as each load goes into the lorry resulting in a 5-6 litre sample collected from a 25 tonne lorry load.
"The idea is to reduce rejections by providing a fool-proof method of taking a representative sample of each lorry load before it goes off to the merchant. Half the sample can be bagged up and given to the driver to hand on, and half can be saved for the farm records," says Jeff Claydon.
"If the merchant comes back with a discrepancy on the load, the farmer has the opportunity to prove that the sample was actually OK and should not be rejected."
HGCA tested, the Claydon Grain Sampler, which won a Certificate of Merit for Best Product Development' at the show, is priced at pounds 120.00.
Claydon also announced the introduction of a 3m version of its direct seeding system. Modular by design 4, 4.8 and 6m units are also available.

THERE ARE DIRECT DRILLS THAT WORK WELL AND THERE ARE DIRECT DRILLS WHICH PERHAPS DO NOT WORK QUITE SO WELL. THE LATEST DEVELOPMENT FROM CLAYDON CLAIMS TO BE IN THE FIRST BRACKET - Farmers Weekly - January 23, 2004
 
First thing to note is the drill's coulter/tine configuration, in the form of a "V" which, says Claydon, allows easier pulling, a better flow of material and an easier flow of soil.
Key to the system is the design of the tine, which creates a slot in the soil, and also has an "A" hoe working nearer the surface to lift a layer of soil under which the seed is sown.
This arrangement is said to offer several advantages. The slot, which can be 10-12cm deeper than the "A" hoe blade, provides a degree of drainage and also encourages the rapid development of a healthy tap-root.
The fact that the lifted layer of soil is replaced immediately over the seed ensures that moisture loss is minimal. Further moisture becomes available from the untilled areas between the seed rows which, says Claydon, pulls the moisture up from the lower depths by osmosis.
Once sown, each of the seed rows is pressed by a following pneumatic-tyre press.
Tine variations allow for drilling of beans and maize at 300mm row widths and depths of up to 20cm.
A series of trials in a wide variety of soil types is reported to have produced good results in terms of yield. And last year's dry post-harvest period - a severe test for any direct drilling operation - produced crops of oilseed rape and cereals which were well established, while some drilled with other systems suffered from the conditions.
Available in working widths of 3.5m, 4m, 4.8m and 6m; price of a 3.5m version is listed at £ 25,000.

LAMMA EXHIBITION: Winning drill for direct seeding - Farmers Guardian - January 23, 2004

DESPITE the massed ranks of implement manufacturers vying for honours at LAMMA, it was a farmer-engineered machine that took the top new implement award.
Suffolk grower Jeff Claydon who already makes a combine yield meter and imports a plough-mounted furrow slicer for heavy soils, has now come up with a direct/mulch seeding drill. It draws on lessons learned from a number of different techniques used for direct and mulch drilling.
A dozen units are already in use following a four-year development programme.
"We used to plough all our heavy clay but now we have switched to virtually all direct drilling with no loss in crop performance but a huge cut in costs," says Mr Claydon. "The drill itself performs beyond expectations - it was originally conceived for oilseed rape but has now proven itself establishing cereals and beans as well."
For coulters, the drill uses Bourgault A' points mounted on heavy-duty spring tines, with seed sown in a six inch band. Ahead of each coulter is a rigid tine set to work about three inch deeper for cereals, four to five inch deeper for oilseed rape.
"The idea is to break and fissure the soil below seeding depth to ensure that plants can put down a good root system," explains Mr Claydon.
"The coulter points lift the broken soil, sow the seed and deposit the soil back on top - there is very little moisture loss and only the seed rows are cultivated."
The tines and coulters are arranged in a delta formation to keep the mounted implement compact and easy to pull. Mr Claydon says there is enough clearance to avoid trash blockages.
Four sizes from 3.5m to 6m are planned, with a choice of Sulky and Accord metering systems available.
The smallest model is priced around £25,000.