No till or minimum till drill...

[Mitigator33]

Someone on here responding to another thread of mine suggested a no till drill. So I thought I would ask...

What drill?

I plant about 8 acres every year for wildlife. I have 15 acres of pasture that needs seeding every year or so. the seeds I plant are rye grass, clover, alfalfa, oats, chicory, fescue, corn, soybean.

Should I buy or rent a drill? What make and model should I consider. I have a tractor that is 83hp and 7ft wide.

 

[spruce Deere]

Someone on here responding to another thread of mine suggested a no till drill. So I thought I would ask...

What drill?

I plant about 8 acres every year for wildlife. I have 15 acres of pasture that needs seeding every year or so. the seeds I plant are rye grass, clover, alfalfa, oats, chicory, fescue, corn, soybean.

Should I buy or rent a drill? What make and model should I consider. I have a tractor that is 83hp and 7ft wide.

Needing to sew that much wildlife food and pasture now and again, for me would warrant purchase of a conservation planter like deere offers or an overseeder type drill.

I would lean toward something like a overseeder type drill.

The frontier overseeders I looked at a few years back averaged around thousand bucks per foot. Conservation planters may be less.

Land pride or great plains also offer good no-till drills also.... I think those two brands roll out from the same factory just different colors.

 

[Mitigator33]

Is this what you are referring to?

http://www.deere.com/wps/dcom/en_US...seeders/frontier_tr10_series_overseeders.page

I really no nothing about these things. What is the main difference in a seeder and drill other than the seeder broadcast and a drill drills? Also which would benefit my use more the drill or the seeder? With an oversseder like this can I do row crop planting like soybean and corn?

Or maybe something like this?

http://www.brillionfarmeq.com/BFEInternet/BFE/products/seeders/foodplotseeder/default.aspx

Or this

http://www.landpride.com/products/74/800-series-compact-drills

Or this

http://www.landpride.com/products/seeders/primary-seeders

 

[spruce Deere]

The deere overseeder or the landpride model is what I was more thinking of.

Woods also has what they call a turf renovator as they claim a two in one tool for lawns or pastures Woods Equipment Company Its in there landscape equipment attachments line.

Its been a few years since I was looking, Deere use to carry overseeder/renovators that looked real close to the woods models. Thats the style that I figgered that would work best for me for minimal ground disturbance for seeding pastures, lawns and plots.

 

[super55]

If you plan on purchasing a true no-till drill be prepared to make a significant financial investment. Top of the line such as frontier, Great Plains/Landpride Sunflower, and other brands can easily go past 10 grand for even there 6 foot model. To plant all the seeds you mentioned you will need one with a small seed box attachment for alfalfa.

A lot of conservation districts have no-till drills you can rent out for reasonable rates. Mine I believe is 5 dollars an acre with a ten acre minimum fee so unless you use it a lot it's hard to justify the costs over the benefit for a lot of people. The only bad part about renting is a lot of times others are trying to get the crop in the same time as you so reserving it can be tedious at times.

Another option like you said is going with the minimum till option. For your beans/corn a JD 7000 planter is hard to beat and is no till but not capable of running grains/small seeds. (Drills and Planters are different just so I don't confuse everyone with my wording) They are fully functional in planting over last years stubble. A planter will also give you much better intervals between plants in the row.

A min-til drill will also work unless you have some really hard clay type soil. They will have a double coulter in order to slice a slit in the ground and a packing wheel. The difference between the no-till drill and a min-til is usually the amount of pressure the coulters and exert on the soil to open it and full no-tills will usually have and extra set of coulters to close the furrow over the seed before the packing wheel comes through.

Before going and making a major purchase check with some of the local farmers or try the rental beforehand. These people are the local experts and from my experience are always more than willing to take a minute to share their knowledge as long rain isn't imminent.

 

[Mitigator33]

What are your opinions of this particular model?

http://www.kascomfg.com/_products/_drills_seeders/Eco-Drill Literatures.pdf

 

[super55]

I know a lot of guys over on the QDMA.com forum are using the Kasco's for food plotting and are really happy with them. Kasco drills pretty much have the lions share of the market for food plotters mainly because they are within people's budget. Still pricey but no where near Tye's, sunflowers, or Great Plains.

The only issues I have heard was people getting corn to meter through them correctly but they are getting them to plant corn. This is plotting after all and last I checked deer haven't refused corn yet because it was at 5 in. intervals.

The other concern I have is from the cultipacker on the back instead of individual press wheels. The higher brands will have individual press wheels for each seed tube to ensure each seed gets adequate seed/soil contact. With the kascos you can miss spots from furrows, ruts or corn stalks.

Kasco drills I would best describe as a hybrid min-till drill. It won't handle planting through heavy trash and uneven ground but if your fields are fairly well maintained I doubt you will even notice a difference in yield.

Go check out the forum on QDMA.com and do a search for KASCO in the forums there is a ton of posts on there about people using them. This drill might fit your niche quite well. I apoligize for not mentioning them because they are good drills.

If it were me. If I had won the lottery or I was producing crops for $$ I would by a Great Plains. If it is for hobby farming/food plotting than I would definitely go with KASCO.

 

[bigbull338]

i priced a 6ft notill drill last year for $12,000 or $14,000 new.with your small acreage yoube be better off renting a notill drill when you needed it.

 

[crowbar032]

The local government ag office rents their drill for $13 (I think, I know it was less than $20) an acre. One of the employees even followed me home to make sure it was set up properly. The no till ones are Yee God expensive to buy if you aren't planting massive acreage.