Am I looking for a Unicorn with a grain drill?

[Laminarman]

I have been back and forth with the dream of a no till drill (Kasco etc.) but the reality is- it's a lot of money. I broadcast seed now. But I broadcast 3 acres of soybeans last week and I don't know what it is, I just hate broadcasting seed. The uncertainty, waste, it's just not "fun." Depending on acreage I either use my hand broadcaster and walk (which totally sucks when planting two acres of clover), or use my Land Pride poly hopper like I did for soybeans. I would like a drill to do what I needats, corn, clover, brassica, soybeans, maybe sunflowers, alfalfa, chicory, switchgrass. OK, so I've come to terms that I will probably give up corn; I have a Deere Flexi planter that works fine, but it's single row...ugh. Soooo, supposing I keep the Deere for corn, is there a good used 6 to 8' "grain drill" that will serve my needs? I go on Tractorhouse, there's just so many choices I'm confused, so I'm looking for advice on specific brands/models. Would rather buy used due to cost. Thank you.

 

[bcp]

Like these?





Bruce

 

[motownbrowne]

I've been told the old cheap ones can usually be made to work well. There's one for sale here 7 or 8' with a cultipacker for $1000. Have you tried craigslist?

 

[countrybumpkin]

Yep craigslist is a good source.

 

[Laminarman]

I've tried Craigslist, but nothing local so far. Also, not sure what brands and what plants what. What I'm asking is will any drill out there plant all I need except the corn?

 

[flusher]

I found two Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drills (10 ft wide, 20 drops, single disc openers, 48" dia steel wheels) at a neighbor's place and paid $275 for both. Spent another $250 or so getting one of them working and plant 6 acres of oats at my place.

Enterprising individuals take old 10 foot wide drills that they buy for a few hundred bucks, cut them in two to make two five-footers and then sell them on eBay and Craigslist for $1500 plus each. That's another way to get a drill, if your budget permits.

Good luck.

 

[AaronS]

I have an old Massey Ferguson 10 footer sitting on the edge of one of my food plots that I bought and never used. If I had the time I'd cut it down to 6 feet and convert it to 3 pt, but I probably never will. If you weren't so far away I'd make you a great deal.

 

[bigtiller]

JD used to make what we called a "pony drill". I built them one spring in 1984 but I can't remember much about it or even the model number. It was a wheel end drill that was about 6' wide and had about 10 or less openers.

The old 750 no-till drills were hard to beat but they are probably out of your price range.