In 2021, we were in a unique situation where we had sold our existing seeding equipment and needed a replacement. We looked at two different units and because of the strong dealer support we knew we’d receive from Rich Maisonneuve at Peace Country Equipment, along with the simplicity of it and more attractive price point, we chose to buy a SeedMaster UltraSR single rank drill.
I’m an agronomist as well as a farmer, so I was really nervous at the start with a 15” spacing machine. Everything I knew about seeding cereals meant seeding them at narrower spacing and 15” was just not what I believed to be the right way to do it. However, 2021 was a very dry year and everyone’s yields suffered but ours exceeded our expectations with the UltraSR. We learned a lot that first year and benefited from being able to seed a little faster, up to 6 miles per hour. We found the single rank drill simple to fix with the few issues we had.
After 2022, I now recommend the UltraSR a lot. People always ask about the 15” spacing but I have no concern with it, especially in our cereals. Last year our wheat ran around 70 bushels in some fields and our average was 65 across the board, while the average in the region was 60-65 bushels. We keep our fields clean with good pre-burn with residual control in cereals, followed by an in crop application of a group 1 herbicide for barley and a group 2 herbicide in wheat to manage certain weeds. We have a wider window to spray because of the residual control and because the canopy takes a few more days to close with the 15” spacing. Come harvest, we find the crops mature quicker than our neighbours now and we don’t have to desiccate because the crop matures nice and even.
How can I sum up our experience with the SeedMaster UltraSR? We didn’t know exactly how this drill would perform for us the first year, but it definitely had surpassed the expectations we had and continues to do so year after year. Especially when it came to cereals for the yield to be the same or higher than neighbouring farms with 10 inch spacing. We have no regrets at all.
Joelle Benoit
Girouxville, AB
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