David Hubbart opted for the Air 8 seed box to enable better use of a 5m Opico pasture tine harrow and allow easier and better sowing on heavy clay land.

Mounting a pneumatic seed box on a Opico pasture tine harrow appeared a logical move for Somerset farmer David Hubbart.

The seed box, which was bought two years ago, has made re-seeding and sowing grass leys on heavy clay land much easier than with a 2.5m Suffolk coulter drill.

"Depending on time of year, our land becomes either rock hard or sodden wet. Sowing grass seed in rows with a conventional drill was a slow laborious operation and coverage was poor," says Mr Hubbart, who farms near Long Sutton, Martock. "We decided to make better use of our existing 5m pasture tine harrow by mounting it with a pneumatic seed box for re-seeding grassland and sowing leys in cultivated ground."

Last Autumn Mr Hubbart used the combination to sow 10ha (25 acres) of perennial rye grass into uncultivated grassland as a five year ley.

"The sowing outlets gave a very accurate distribution, allowing a good overlap which resulted in no unsown strips," he says. "Mounted on our 80hp Same tractor, the combination is capable of six acres/hr - more than double the output of our conventional drill."

In addition to summer and autumn sowing, Mr Hubbart has found the seed box useful for re-seeding grass which may have been washed out of the ground through floods over the winter.

"Fields which have suffered badly over the winter may require the seeder to be attached temporarily during grassland harrowing work in March," he says. "In this situation, the seeder can be turned on when a poached area of ground is encountered and turned off again when back into established grass."

Grass appears after about five days in favourable soil conditions and climate, compared to the seven days for grass sown with a conventional drill.

Reproduced from an article by Andy Moore in Farmers Weekly 5 May 2000