is lime usage correct?

[PrincessJessi84]

pretty well what the title says.. im not a farmer irl and have no idea about these things but does the usage of lime match up with real life? I love the feature.. but the equipment selection for the small farmer to spread lime in this game is.. well its pathetic.. there r mods out there that do the job nicely.. the "problem" is when using the smaller stuff I literally have to refill every handful of seconds.. I literally just used over 15k liters to do a couple small fields.. and needless to say after all this time my overlap is way minimal if at all.. I have really learned to push it super close and hold a straight line.. so im not wasting.. would it really take 15,000L to do.. idk.. a couple acres (if that) of ground? I absolutely don't want to increase the capacity to some unrealistic number.. and I don't wanna turn the usage down on the spreader I use unless its somewhat realistic to do so.. plus I barely use any fertilizer as it is.. I like using my lil bags to fill my fertilizer.. turning the usage down would kinda ruin this for me.. im not sure what to do about this (if anything should be done at all).. im "ok" with leaving it as is.. I just cant shake the feeling that it might be a lil broken.. look forward to hearing about your experiences in game and irl.. thanks for reading and for any comments u make.. happy farming

also - would lime spreaders irl only come in the huge sizes available in game? would u really not find this in a 3pt model as opposed to some big ol pull behind?

[Farmercaseih]

I'm in the US, and I have only seen large pull behind spreaders and self propelled units like a terragator. For the usage, IRL I think it would change depending of the acidity of the soil.

[PrincessJessi84]

ok because irl u can change the spread volume on spreaders correct? so it would be adjusted on an as needed basis.. one can assume safely then that if the usage is correct, giants will have made it to assume u need the max amount spread.. I hope in the future this system is evolved to reflect this.. maybe the first spread might need to be high and after that lower if u keep your fields up.. maybe one day it will be on a map per map basis depending on the geographical location the modder or giants has chosen for the map.. either way I am getting ahead of myself here.. thank u for your response.. I wonder how unrealistic it would be to lower the usage by about 25% or so.. oh well.. for now its just gonna stay the way it is until I am able to gather more information on the process.. thank u again

[gentfarmer]

This mod allows you to change the rate of application for any sprayer or spreader
https://www.farming-simulator.com/mod.p ... tle=fs2019

And this post has a table for rl application rates of fertilizer (but not lime)
viewtopic.php?f=963&t=150381&p=1167200& ... e#p1167200

Hope they help

[PrincessJessi84]

thanks gentfarmer.. its weird.. I tried that mod (the variable sprayer one) once before after it released.. it worked good.. until it didn't.. it was strange.. some things it worked great with.. but with other things it didn't use ANY product, no matter what I had it set to.. do u know if this has been fixed?

[norfolk farmer]

That's strange I've been using that mod since it released and I've not had any issues with it.

[PrincessJessi84]

really?? I must have had some conflict or something.. I will most certainly give it another go.. when it did work right I loved it and was sad when I had to remove it

[this_is_gav]

Regarding the width of lime spreading, you're basically flinging dust around, so it won't travel nearly as far as the bigger and more solid fertiliser beads (can't think of a better word), plus in real life it's more easily affected by wind (wind is also the reason spraying speed has nearly halved in most modern farming).

As for usage, the K105 (the smaller of the in-game spreaders) has a capacity of 14,000 litres at the maximum extension. That is around 20 British ton apparently. I don't know if that's lime, fertiliser or both but let's assume it's lime.

Using field 13 on Felsbrunn as an example, the helper used 14,047 litres of lime to cover the field, though let's round that down to 14,000 litres (around 20 tonnes), which is exactly seven full lime bags.

Depending on the type of soil, the pH and the quality of the lime the needed application can vary wildly, but in the UK it generally seems to be around 1.5 to 2.5 tonne per acre done every few years, as the game loosely replicates.

That would mean for the 10 acre field 13 on Felsbrunn, in real life you would need between 15 to 25 tonnes of lime. As you can see above, I used a little over 20 tonnes (2 tonne per acre), so about right compared to real life.

Hope all the calculations are right there.

Of course in real life you wouldn't be driving miles back to the farm or a shop to fill up the spreader (you might with fertiliser though due to less usage per acre). Often you'll have the lime dumped in a field closest to whichever fields needed it most and load it in the field, similar to what is often done with manure, before ploughing or cultivating it into the ground before drilling.

[redglasses]

^^Very good break down. Also your point in the end is a good one, I've even seen spreaders with a crane and bucket attached to them to load it without needing another machine. Would be cool to have one of those in the game.

[Mwal]

I’m not sure how they do it in Europe, but yeah lime usage is how we use to do it, except we used a manure spreader. Now the combine makes a digital yield map and you take that to the co-op they load it up into there system figure out what you need as far as fertilizer/lime and every so many years come out and apply lime. They drive there truck up and down the field and the computer speeds and slows the live bottom to feed more or less fert or lime depending how the field yielded the previous year. We are a smaller farm so that plays into how we do it. It wouldn’t be cost effective to own application equipment like that. As far as you variable speed application one thing that’s missing from the the game is the kind of speed you use. When we use to apply things like manure it’s not just a standard speed you do for everything. If you wanted a heavy application it’s a low gear with a higher rpm then for lighter applications higher gear with a bit lower rpm. Even fall tillage usually a higher speed with an offset disc or chisel plowing as needed but you also have the ability to run a gear lower at wide open rpm to keep the wheels turning thru wet spots. Then in the spring a slower speed putting the disc down a smaller amount to avoid large furrows and make a nice smooth planting bed. I suppose if this was added people would cheat and just till wide open. Hopefully this helps but just remember every farm and every region is different so there will be a wide variance in how things are done.

[blue_painted]

Around here (East Anglia, UK) we don't need lime because we're on chalky clay, but I've seen these ...
https://www.farming-simulator.com/mod.p ... tle=fs2019
... used here for prilled urea and used elsewhere for lime on a contractor basis. They usually come with their own loader and the fertilise/lime is dumped in big heaps from lorries.

(Just remembered that I've got a mod that allows all manure spreaders to spread lime ... must remember to try this out!)

[PrincessJessi84]

omg such WONDERFUL answers.. im learning a lot.. or.. I would be if I wasn't so darn tired.. just opened my eyes a few minutes.. but I am coming back to this thread after a cup of coffee.. thank u all soooooo much! and imma start dumping my lime by the trailer load at the edge of the field when its time and loading it with a loader as that sounds like the most fun (and possibly most realistic) option.. im really surprised that it takes that much lime.. but.. I know nothing about this irl so fs19 is my first experience with lime in farming.. I seen a few different sized spreaders using an image search last night so I guess having a 3 point or smaller pull behind one is still feasible.. I just really cant see pulling those big ol spreaders around with the tiny tractors I use.. but I might roleplay hiring a contractor every few years or even the shop to come and lime my fields.. u guys have opened up some new doors for me in my game and helped me keep it "real".. thank u very very much (insert awesome emoticons that I don't know how to use here)

[george.earlslight]

When I want to play realistically I use a semi with a bulk trailer (can be leased to roleplay it's a contractor) to bring in and dump the lime on the field headland.
Then I use a tractor with the spreader and a second machine (tractor, tele etc) to refill the spreader from the pile.

[crash]

In Norway, where I live lime is spread with the in game bredal spreaders and mostly fendts 7 and 9 series, beacause of its top speed and and its a comfy durable tractor for entrepreneurs to drive around in all day. They pick up the lime at the quarry within a radius of 30km I belive. Longer than that and they use dump trucks. They spread it on the snow in the days in early spring right before the snow really starts to melt. A little run off, but no compaction.. Lime Is used to balance out the pH in the soil to make nutrients more available to the plants.

[PrincessJessi84]

that's a cool idea crash!.. sadly I don't think seasons will let me spread lime if there is snow on the ground.. u guys r all full of awesome real ways of doing this.. im completely rethinking my liming technique in game.. good stuff folks.. we really need a section on here about how farmers do things irl.. no right or wrong ways as farmers do things differently depending on where they r from and how they were taught.. but.. just something so people who like to roleplay and play realistically can gather info from folks who do and have done this irl and apply this info to their play style