Efficiency awareness contributes to major cost savings

Precision farming technologies, coupled with auto steering capabilities on tractors, combines sprayers and forage harvesters have well proven the benefits when it comes to accuracy of planting, recorded input applications and harvesting analysis. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to machine operating costs and optimisation. Some farming enterprises are harnessing the technology to further improve other cost performances.

Overbury Estate, which is situated under Bredon Hill on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire border, farms some 1560Ha of which 930Ha is combinable crops including winter wheat (425Ha), oilseed rape (180Ha), winter barley (150Ha) and spring barley (120Ha) and the remainder down to spring beans. Some 50% of first wheats go for milling, while malting barley is grown under contract and the oil seed rape is grown under the LEAF Marque Standard - Overbury being registered as a LEAF demonstration farm.

Utilising precision farming technology, Overbury started using variable P&K applications in 2006 and variable seed applications in 2011, both showed significant savings of as much as 30% compared with traditional application methods.

Commented Overbury Farm Manager, Jake Freestone, “With a wide variation of soil types across the estate from hungry brash land on the banks and good fertile land in the valleys, variable inputs was the way to go. More seed on the brash and lighter soils, where we normally get around seventy per cent establishment, meant that after winter losses, we still had a very strong crop. Precision farming technology has enabled us to manage the variations to the benefit of more even cropping and an enhanced yield.”

The farming enterprise runs a 370hp John Deere 8370R for zero tillage planting and harvesting is taken care of with a John Deere S680i combine on tracks, sporting a 9m Premium Flow header. The combine incorporates AutoTrac steering and Yield Mapping as part of the precision farming specification, the signal being sourced through a Mobile RTK set-up for enhanced accuracy. Both machines came with John Deere’s JD Link as part of the package and wasn’t something that was initially considered to be of major importance to the operation. However, subsequent analysis by their local John Deere dealer, Tallis Amos Group (TAG) based near Evesham, has meant that by working with the combine operator - Tim Stanford, significant awareness has been established as to the productive and non-productive costs of utilisation and performance versus idling time.

Richard Allard, Service Manager at TAG, with the approval of combine owners, set-up an analysis of different combines, by using the JD Link reporting system, to see who was the most efficient in up-time and performance and comparing why there would have been differences between the same model of combine being used by a different customer/operator. Said Richard, “with the combine owners approval and using JD Link, we carried out a remote analysis of machine operating time, idling, unloading on the move - versus unloading whilst stationery, servicing and maintenance times and in-crop output performance of each combine. There were significant differences in output and downtime between machines and therefore improved benefits in reduced costs per hectare for those who were operating the most efficiently. Overbury Estate and their operator Tim Stanford came out top of the group. So we will be sharing the differences in performance and machine operating time with all of our customers to help them all get the best from their machinery. My analysis report for Overbury compared with the previous harvest shows that by more awareness of downtime and improved efficiency, Tim Stanford managed to save over one thousand pounds worth of fuel this harvest, and this is just the beginning.”

A number of factors affect the collation of data for overall analysis and can include, but is not limited to; number of trailers for unloading, size of trailer, distance travelled, unloading on the move, idling awaiting trailers, idling for adjustment or maintenance, size of field, yield of crop and whether the machine is chopping straw or not.

Added Jake Freestone, “it’s amazing how JD Link can provide such valuable data to help us to improve our in-field performance which to a degree has been somewhat taken for granted. One of the biggest factors affecting combine efficiency is trailer size and number of trailers. Size of trailer needs to be able to take a full or multiple tanks of grain from the combine while harvesting. To leave some grain in the tank means the combine could well be full before the next grain trailer arrives and that means lost performance. We try to have enough trailers running so that the combine is never held up, for whatever reason. It’s enabled us to analyse every part of our logistics so we can get the maximum performance with the minimum cost. Just a simple evaluation of our performance by Richard Allard at TAG, compared with the same analysis for last year, shows we have saved over £1000 in fuel alone, just through better planning. That’s massive!”

Combine operator Tim Stanford said, “By comparing our JD Link data with the previous year it has made me more aware of the amount of unproductive time that I could be using positively. It’s made me conscious of keeping the combine going at all times. When someone comes into the field to talk with me while I am harvesting, I don’t want to stop and I encourage them to hurry up, so I can avoid any negative results through non-performance. I think everyone should consider this system because time and costs mount up and if you are not aware of where the costs are being created, then you can’t improve efficiency.” He concluded