crbr
Veteran Member
A good find. Thanks for the pictures. I have a lot of ground that needs re-seeding....
Best way to seed acres?
- Thread starter Jbbies
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Smallplot
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You did not mention if you have the other needed equipment to do this your self, like a disc, chain harrow, or broadcast seeder. 5 acres is a lot to do with small equipment. If it is weeds now you should mow them and wait about 2 weeks to let them begin to grow good again and spray them with gly 41% or round up. This will kill all the weeds that are growing. If you plan on broadcasting the seed you will have to disc or till the ground to get good seed to soil contact (without this you are wasting your time and money). Once tilled you need to cultipack the ground before you broadcast your seeds and after. All the seeds you mentioned will have decent germination doing it this way. If the ground has sat fallow for more than a year talk to a local farmer with field equipment as long as this 5 acres can be accessed with the large equipment. Trust me the larger equipment will have better results with initial ground prep and be a lot quicker. Your advantage right now is that farmers will be using the same equipment on their own properties so they will not have to do anything special to help you. I would seed the varieties you mentioned in the spring and not the fall - just my opinion.
mjncad
Super Member
What part of eastern Colorado are you located in? Have you checked the USDA/FSA office for a list of people who do seeding? I got one while going through the CRP process for our dirt near Byers.
mjncad
Super Member
Just did.
DJ54
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Somewhere in the spec's for my overseeder, I read the operating speed could be from 3, to 6 mph.
When I used the discing, and broadcast/frost seeding method, I had to disc it twice, in the late fall to open the soddy ground a bit.
So I'm thinking one pass at aprox. 3-4 mph, pulling 4', versus 3 passes at approx the same speed pulling 6' implements, I'm money ahead... Especially in March, on windy days...
And I'm reseeding 6 acres every few years.
When I used the discing, and broadcast/frost seeding method, I had to disc it twice, in the late fall to open the soddy ground a bit.
So I'm thinking one pass at aprox. 3-4 mph, pulling 4', versus 3 passes at approx the same speed pulling 6' implements, I'm money ahead... Especially in March, on windy days...
And I'm reseeding 6 acres every few years.
North West Farmer
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Jbbies,
Today I planted approximately 10 acres to Forage Perennial Rygrass. Used a Massey Harris grain drill built in 1929, always maintained an used nearly every year. We pulled the drill with my old 1946 Farmall "M".
This is part of our prep work for a new Hazelnut orchard that will be planted in March. It took just a little longer than two hours to do the job.
The ground prep prior to planting was three times over with a heavy cover crop disc, followed by a couple times over with a disc harrow pulling a drag harrow and corrigated roller behind the disc harrow.
Land planed the entire field to level and make it as even as possible considering an orchard is to follow.
Approximately two weeks ago, prior to rain we broad leaf sprayed the field and today following a few days of light rain we drill in 22 pounds to the acre of the grass seed. I would have increased the seed application rate to 30 pounds per acre if broadcast, due to less cover when broadcasting. Whatever you do to cover the seed, use caution, grass seed does not germinate very well if it is not quite close to the surface, at least, that has been my experience at our location.
The drill is equipped with drag cover chains and a single 2X12 drag to follow for extra cover and some leveling.
This perennial ryegrass needs to be in the ground prior to the ground temperature falling below 60 degrees F for maxium germination. As the ground temperature drops, the germination drops. The drill was set at around one inch depth, that is our norm for grass seed in newly worked ground. If we are overseeding a pasture we push the drill culters down fairly hard against the springs and get the seed in by the middle of October here in this part of Oregon.
Hopefully, this will be of assistance to you. This is our common practice with most grass seeds and we generally have very good results unless we get some extremely ugly weather, very heavy rain before the seed germinates and gets some roots established.
Nick, North West Farmer
Today I planted approximately 10 acres to Forage Perennial Rygrass. Used a Massey Harris grain drill built in 1929, always maintained an used nearly every year. We pulled the drill with my old 1946 Farmall "M".
This is part of our prep work for a new Hazelnut orchard that will be planted in March. It took just a little longer than two hours to do the job.
The ground prep prior to planting was three times over with a heavy cover crop disc, followed by a couple times over with a disc harrow pulling a drag harrow and corrigated roller behind the disc harrow.
Land planed the entire field to level and make it as even as possible considering an orchard is to follow.
Approximately two weeks ago, prior to rain we broad leaf sprayed the field and today following a few days of light rain we drill in 22 pounds to the acre of the grass seed. I would have increased the seed application rate to 30 pounds per acre if broadcast, due to less cover when broadcasting. Whatever you do to cover the seed, use caution, grass seed does not germinate very well if it is not quite close to the surface, at least, that has been my experience at our location.
The drill is equipped with drag cover chains and a single 2X12 drag to follow for extra cover and some leveling.
This perennial ryegrass needs to be in the ground prior to the ground temperature falling below 60 degrees F for maxium germination. As the ground temperature drops, the germination drops. The drill was set at around one inch depth, that is our norm for grass seed in newly worked ground. If we are overseeding a pasture we push the drill culters down fairly hard against the springs and get the seed in by the middle of October here in this part of Oregon.
Hopefully, this will be of assistance to you. This is our common practice with most grass seeds and we generally have very good results unless we get some extremely ugly weather, very heavy rain before the seed germinates and gets some roots established.
Nick, North West Farmer
North West Farmer
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Jbbies,
I have not worked with or even looked at any of the Land Pride equipment up close and personal. Your note on purchasing a land pride seeding unit peaked my interest.
Looked at their web page and they have some very impressive drill models available with a wide variety of applications. Drills are commonly used by most of us in the farming business and in some ways they are also one of the more complex peaces of equipment.
After looking at what Land Pride had available I was wondering which model you are acquiring. My drill is very old, but very well maintained and does a good job for what I need. We do quite a bit of after use clean up and maintenance, partly because it is so complex and at it's age and being a Massey Harris machine parts are probably very difficult to come by. Plan to put a new paint job on it this winter, noticed it has gradually started to develop some rust which could be the beginning of it's end.
This old Massey is capable of doing a very good job of dealing with a wide variety of seeds and seed sizes. I think most of the newer drills can deal with most seed variations, but some of the older units had significant limitations in that area. New drills, especially in the wider widths get very expensive so we put a lot of effort in keeping our antique model in operating condition.
I didn't go back on the thread to see if you had mentioned how large the area is that you will be seeding. If you have been had broadcasting or broadcasting from a rotary spreader, you should really enjoy the new rig. A descent grain drill will do a great job of applying the exact amount of seed at the depth you desire. The end result is usually much better germination, good even distribution of your seed and less seed is needed per acre to achieve the same results when you are putting the exact amount of seed right were you want it. In years past we usually applied 15% to 30% more seed when broadcasting to make up for the seed that gets wasted when it is just tossed on top of the ground and left exposed to the elements and seed eating critters.
If you don't mind, I would be interested in finding out which model your were acquiring and it would also be interesting to hear how well the new drill operates. When the day comes that a new drill is needed it is always nice to have an idea about the equipment that is available.
Nick, North West Farmer
I have not worked with or even looked at any of the Land Pride equipment up close and personal. Your note on purchasing a land pride seeding unit peaked my interest.
Looked at their web page and they have some very impressive drill models available with a wide variety of applications. Drills are commonly used by most of us in the farming business and in some ways they are also one of the more complex peaces of equipment.
After looking at what Land Pride had available I was wondering which model you are acquiring. My drill is very old, but very well maintained and does a good job for what I need. We do quite a bit of after use clean up and maintenance, partly because it is so complex and at it's age and being a Massey Harris machine parts are probably very difficult to come by. Plan to put a new paint job on it this winter, noticed it has gradually started to develop some rust which could be the beginning of it's end.
This old Massey is capable of doing a very good job of dealing with a wide variety of seeds and seed sizes. I think most of the newer drills can deal with most seed variations, but some of the older units had significant limitations in that area. New drills, especially in the wider widths get very expensive so we put a lot of effort in keeping our antique model in operating condition.
I didn't go back on the thread to see if you had mentioned how large the area is that you will be seeding. If you have been had broadcasting or broadcasting from a rotary spreader, you should really enjoy the new rig. A descent grain drill will do a great job of applying the exact amount of seed at the depth you desire. The end result is usually much better germination, good even distribution of your seed and less seed is needed per acre to achieve the same results when you are putting the exact amount of seed right were you want it. In years past we usually applied 15% to 30% more seed when broadcasting to make up for the seed that gets wasted when it is just tossed on top of the ground and left exposed to the elements and seed eating critters.
If you don't mind, I would be interested in finding out which model your were acquiring and it would also be interesting to hear how well the new drill operates. When the day comes that a new drill is needed it is always nice to have an idea about the equipment that is available.
Nick, North West Farmer
