Yield bonus from Rollers?

[RichardDunn]

I noticed the game allows you to Roll fields before as well as after sowing.

Do you get the 5% yield bonus by doing it at a particular time? Or does the game not care if it's before or after sowing?

[FarmCatJenkins]

IRL if I understand correctly you would do it after cultivating/plowing. Not sure if it matters for the bonus in game though

[GrimHuffer]

Most people I've seen roll worked ground (if they do at all) do so after seeding to compact the seedbed (this has a number of small benefits, one of them being the rolling 'caps' the soil and helps to prevent moisture loss. Another is rolling also helps to eliminate large air pockets in the soil to ensure good seed germination).

There is a lot of variation in what methods a farmer uses and when (countries, regions and even neighbouring farms do things differently but is usually in response to a combination of soil type, weather, crop residues, weeds/pests and what's being planted next). Around here most farms grow cereals (back to back with the odd fallow/legume year thrown in every 3-4 years), the majority of fields will be ploughed (with a mouldboard plough) every autumn after harvest (they usually leave it a good few weeks after harvest before they do to allow any weeds/cereal seeds to germinate before turning them under with the plough. If they plough immediately the ungerminated weed/cereal seeds will be buried and will remain viable for a number of years and can end up germinating the same time as your crop (which will then have to compete with the weeds (or cereals if the crop type is different, e.g. wheat growing in conola field) for nutrients, water and space). Note: if the farmer uses manure/slurry this will be done prior to ploughing so the act of ploughing helps to mix the organic fertiliser in with the soil and not just sit there on the surface.

Some fields will be left in this ploughed state over winter (this is usually on 'heavier' ground like clay which forms big clods of soil, the freezing winter weather will help break them up) whilst others will have a pass over with a disc to prepare the seedbed before the seeder is brought in plant the winter cereal. Usually that is it (fertiliser/herbicide/pesticide done later on), not many people roll around here at all. The fields which were left in the ploughed state over winter will be disced and seeded in the spring for the spring cereal.

Slight aside but cereal (not sure about other crops as I don't know any farmers who crop anything else (well one grows veg)) planted in the winter will still grow but it grows downwards, meaning that it puts lots of it's energy into establishing a wider, deeper and more dense root network. For the farmer, this means the winter crop in a far better position come the spring/summer to resist drought (even just a few weeks with no rain can harm yeilds a little) than the shallower rooting spring planted crop.

[Shintai]

I didnt notice anything. I did test a stripe as the AI cant handle rollers either due to the broken maps and broken AI. Was no difference.

[mackintosh]

I believe the in-game intention is to roll after you cultivate to get rid of smaller stones and prevent equipment damage. This however appears to be broken in Elmcreek, as rolling doesn't remove small stones. Whether this is how it's done in real-life... well, this is Farming Simulator, its real-life accuracy has always been debatable.