In a bid to slash the manpower, horsepower and time required to establish crops on his heavy arable land near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Karl White built a one-pass combination drill.

To keep the cost down, he based it on an old 3m cultivator with 13 pigtail tines dotted across three rows.

An Accord hopper was grafted on top, paired with a land wheel-driven metering system that feeds distribution boots from a Kverneland tine drill.

See also: Surrey farmer builds 4m no-till drill on a £2,000 budget

Finishing touches come by way of a spring-loaded following harrow and, at the rear, a flexi-coil roller with hole-and-pin mounting to set the working depth.

For wheat, barley and oilseed rape drilling, Mr White pairs the outfit with a set of front-mounted discs, with his John Deere 6210R typically running at about 9kph.

The total bill came to £3,500 and it has so far covered 160ha of autumn drilling. He’s now planning to build a 4m trailed version, which he intends to base on a Vaderstad frame.