With the harvest now wrapped up across most of the country, growers have turned their attention to sowing oilseed rape.

Sean Brennan is based three miles south of Wicklow town and is tillage farming as well as operating a tillage and silage-cutting contracting service.

Growing in the region of 450ac for himself, across both owned and leased land, Sean also sows anywhere from 200ac to 400ac on hire each year.

“I have been running power harrow and seed drill one-pass combination units since 1984,” he said. “I love the flexibility of a one-pass, it’s a machine that you can bring to the field and get the job done in short weather windows. Over the years, I have generally found that you will get 2,000ac to 2,500ac largely trouble-free out of a one-pass, before it’s time to trade them in again.

“In 1984, I bought a new Kuhn power harrow, that was matched up with an Accord drill. It was a good machine, but the bolt-on tines had to be tightened every morning in our stoney soils.

“Two years later, I upgraded this to a new Pöttinger power harrow with an Accord drill; it was well able for the stoney soils. I think that machine sowed around 2,300ac before a rotor shaft broke. I traded that machine for a new combination of the same. In total, I bought three of the Pöttinger Accord combinations,” he said.

“I later upgraded to a Kuhn harrow with a Venta drill. I ran it to just over 2,000ac, until a rotor shaft broke. I went out to the market again and studied the various options. At this stage, I was looking to move from Suffolk to disc coulters.

“In the end, I decided to buy a new Kverneland harrow with an iPro seed drill. This was a game-changer for me. The CX-II disc coulters allowed me to sow from dry to wet ground, from sandy to marl ground, and everything in between. It never failed me to cover seed. I ran that Kverneland one-pass to 5,250ac and aside from wearing parts such as the tines and scrapers, I only had to replace one seal in the bed of the power harrow. It was a bulletproof machine.”

Moving to a disc drill

“Around five or six years ago, I started looking at the concept of moving to a trailed drill. The main reason for this was that I was afraid the power harrow year in, year out was too hard on the soil structure. After doing some homework, I opted to buy a new Väderstad Spirit R 300S in 2021,” said Sean.

The 3m R 300S Spirit is the entry-level drill in the series. Up front, the soil is consolidated by a pivot packer to ensure reconsolidation between the tractor wheels. Next up are the track eradicators, which are followed by the CrossBoard hydraulically controlled levelling paddles. Next is the 450mm-diameter conical discs mounted in an X formation. The depth of this tool bar is fully adjustable from the cab.

For a firm seedbed prior to seed placement, a second round of large packer wheels consolidate the soil between the disc and rear-mounted seed coulters. The drill also features the light soil kit, which consists of rubber legs that even out the soil ridges if present between the consolidation wheels.

The Spirit R features 380mm offset discs. These discs move the soil to the side and place the seed at the bottom of the seed furrow. Once the seed has been placed, the soil falls back behind the disc, covering the seed with the fine soil.

A key feature of this Spirit drill is its active coulter and wing pressure. Sensors in the hydraulic system mean the machine knows whether it’s on a rise or in a dip in the field. Valves instantly compensate for both pressure drops and rises, ensuring the coulter pressure is maintained at the preset value to ensure a constant seed depth across the working width of the machine.

The machine features 380mm packer wheels to close the seed slot, as well as ensure the working depth is maintained. The Spirit includes a centrally mounted following harrow that presses down on the soil under its own weight. Väderstad offers the ability to monitor each seed row via its seed-monitoring system, triggering an alarm if seed flow declines, thus identifying clogged hoses.

The Spirit R 300S features automatic headland sequence control, in which the system automatically lifts and lowers the front tools and seed coulters in sequence at the headland. This drill features the E-Control interface, which uses an iPad.

The drill is wirelessly connected to the machine via a gateway that is mounted on the machine. The gateway creates its own wireless network, so there is no need for internet access. Väderstad has developed an app that controls all the drill’s functions. The iPad is also used for drill calibrations, where the iPad can be removed from the tractor and brought out to the drill to carry out this procedure.

Kverneland E-Drill Maxi Plus

After the success of the Kverneland iPro drill, Sean purchased a new Kverneland E-Drill Maxi Plus one-pass set up in the autumn of 2024. This is a combined grain and fertiliser drill, which is married up to the new S series power harrow. The E-Drill Maxi Plus is available with a hopper capacity of up to 2,100l. This can be divided into an adjustable hopper ratio of 60:40, 70:30 or 100:0, with two independently working metering devices positioned either side.

When it comes to sowing seed and fertiliser, the E-Drill Maxi Plus has a selection of offerings – two types of seed; one type of seed and one type of fertiliser; one type of seed combined with eg, slug pellets; or just one type of seed. A second outlet handles the fertiliser or second seed application in the seeding row in one working pass. The fertiliser is applied in a mixture with the seeds. To date, Sean has only used it to sow cereals and grass seed, without the use of fertiliser through the drill.

As with all of the E-Drill models, application rates for seeds and fertiliser are controlled by two units of the Eldos metering device. Both are Isobus-compatible and electrically driven, which allows fertiliser and seed rates to be adjusted independently.

The operator can carry out the calibration process of the metering device through a remote control. When calibrating, the operator enters the desired values into the terminal and presses one button on the metering device to start. The calibration is done automatically, meaning no gears have to be adjusted. Section control is also possible, but Sean didn’t opt for it. Overall, Sean said he is very happy with the build quality and accuracy of the drill.

“I’m lucky that I have the best of both worlds, with the Kverneland one-pass and the Väderstad trailed disc drill. What I typically have done over the past few years is sow the oilseed rape and the early cereals with the Väderstad. When things get a bit trickier with the weather, I will take out the trusty Kverneland one-pass.

“Looking at output with both machines, in slightly bigger fields, the Väderstad will sow 6.5ac to 7ac/h, while the one-pass will sow 4ac to 5ac/h. Sowing oilseed rape today, I was travelling at 7-8mph burning an average of 5l of fuel per acre. Meanwhile, the one-pass would be back at 5-6mph in the same type of ground, while it would burn 7.5l to 10l per acre.”

“Due to the nature of the beast, the trailed drill is cheaper to run than a one-pass. I have around 400ha (988ac) sown with the trailed drill, and I actually haven’t changed any wearing parts at all yet. Typically, over the years, one-pass drills were running at around €1.50/ac on wearing parts, which were largely tines and scrapers. With the increasing cost of parts in recent years, this figure is probably slightly higher today.”

“Overall, I find both of these drills to be effective and very accurate. I like the output capacity and lower fuel consumption of the trailed drill, but when the going gets tough, it’s back to the trusty one-pass,” he said.