Front Tank Sabre Drill

Our aim was to reduce headland compaction, running costs and fuel use as well as improve our ability to drill in tricky conditions. To reduce headland compaction, I liked the idea of a mounted drill with front tank. This gives us good weight distribution on the tractor and doesn’t leave wheel marks that you would get from a trailed drill when turning on the headland. The option of an 8-metre machine was able to further reduce cost and compaction per hectare. 

 After taking delivery of our Front Tank Sabre Tine in August 2022, we’ve covered approximately 1700 acres, drilling cover crops, barley, wheat and beans. The depth has been accurate and even at all depths and we’re achieving good depth when drilling beans. Drilling depth is quick and easy to adjust with chocks that slide onto rams on the 4 depth wheels. 

 Our previous drill had packer tyres and although this did offer a benefit in certain situations, it often hindered our ability to drill in even slightly tricky conditions. We drill a lot of beans in our rotation so we had to find a drill that would give us good results late into the season when conditions might not be perfect, the Front Tank Sabre Tine was a standout option to achieve this. 

 The drill follows undulations of the ground far better than our previous drill - the Sabre tine has two 4 metre sections that pivot in the centre which give us great contour following. Our fuel use is greatly reduced - as little as 2 L/Ha - with work rates around 7 Ha/Hr. Horsepower requirement is also reduced and our 300HP Class Axion handles the drill with ease. One of our concerns when moving to a mounted drill was hang on side land as we farm some steep ground. This however, hasn’t been an issue and we have actually found that we are getting far less drill hang. I think this is down to not having a pivot point where the drill is mounted to the tractor and a better balance of weight, with the hopper and seed being mounted at the front of the tractor. We cover large distances on the road between customers’ farms, therefore not having transport wheels reduces our risk of punctures and lowers running costs. Our driver has also found it more comfortable in the tractor cab, particularly on rough terrain and farm tracks.

Across the farm we have 350Ha of arable land that is cropped in a rotation of cereals and maize. We have previously used Weaving’s conventional tine drill whilst ploughing before and after maize crops. After ploughing continuously, we were finding large areas of compaction causing waterlogging. Blackgrass was also an issue when moving soil to create a seedbed which is why we now move ground to create a chit with discs before winter allowing spraying off and direct drilling in the spring.

Once we moved onto the original iteration of the sabre tine, we found that the ability to go direct would alleviate the need to plough but also moved a lot less soil preventing blackgrass emergence. The only drawback from using this system was in the spring following another cereal, there was not enough weight to penetrate the soil to go direct especially during dry periods. This is one of the reasons that we transitioned to the new generation sabre with the split front tank toolbar model.  The front tank provides exceptional front to back weight distribution on some of our steeper ground. The tank also gives us the ability to establish home grown cover crops over winter using the discs as a cheap and fast establishment tool. We are slowly progressing towards our end goal which is reduced inputs whilst maintaining the same yields and outputs. Since we have moved to shallower tillage and drilling direct where allowed, I cannot believe the improvement in soil structure and organic matter and no longer suffer compaction issues when used occasionally with a low disturbance subsoiler.

I cannot speak highly enough of Weaving’s as a company to deal with, they are always at the end of the phone willing to help and no problem too small. The parts service is also very efficient with parts ordered and being delivered next day.