no till disc seeder

craka · Nov 24, 2019

Just doing research at the moment. I grew up on a farm, and mainly we used offset disc harrows, diamond harrow for ground prep and used a broadcast spinning spreading for pasture/grass seeding followed by a roller.

I'm looking to get back on the land and have been reading about no till, and no till disc seeder seem to be the most favoured. They seem rather cost prohibitive for small scale farmers, so was hoping to maybe modify a chisel plough or something similar.. However I can't seem to find and full diagrams etc to describe what they do in from go to whoa. I can see that a coulter make a cut or slit in the ground and a press wheel follows behind after the seeding. Does the seed go direct after the slit cut in ground by the coulter and press wheel direct over this or is the press wheel offset, or is there some sort of furrow made after the initial slit by the coulter?

Or does anyone have any diagrams on the workings of one?

jeff9366 · Nov 24, 2019

Here are two factory implements that may do what you want at reasonable cost:

The Wingfield 3pt VersaVator is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment you can own. It combines three tools into one, and can be operated by a smaller tractor.

Wingfield 3pt VersaVator - YouTube

Aerator Products (SCROLL DOWN TO "YARDMAKER")

Ferguson Yardmaker site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

HOW MANY ACRES ARE YOU PLANNING TO PLANT?

craka · Nov 24, 2019

jeff9366 said:
Here are two factory implements that may do what you want at reasonable cost:

The Wingfield 3pt VersaVator is one of the most versatile pieces of equipment you can own. It combines three tools into one, and can be operated by a smaller tractor.

Wingfield 3pt VersaVator - YouTube

Aerator Products (SCROLL DOWN TO "YARDMAKER")

Ferguson Yardmaker site:tractorbynet.com - Google Search

HOW MANY ACRES ARE YOU PLANNING TO PLANT?

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the reply, looking anywhere from 10 to 50 acres sewn.

Not sure if it reads as so under my profile details but I'm in Australia

I'm more interested in disc drills than a cultivator..

Kiwibru · Nov 24, 2019

In reply to your original question a no-till drill has a cutter coulter, followed by twin "spreader" coultors, then the seed tube assemblies, then the press wheel.
If you can keep an eye out for the used stuff a Great Plains drill in the 6 to 8 foot range is ideal for small acreage. You may even find some neighbors who would go in on it or take the plunge and offer custom seeding for your neighbors!

DJ54 · Nov 26, 2019

I have no idea if you have any type of Governmental Agricultural Extension offices there, but here in Ohio, through the Ag. Ext. Soil & Water Conservation offices, they rent no-till seeders/drills, to those who don't, or can't afford to make that kind of investment. Here, they rent for around $15 per acre. Most units here I've seen,are the Great Plains brand.

There may be some equipment dealers that may provide rental units also. Might be worth checking into. They are a lot of money to invest in an implement, that may only be used every 4-5 years, unless you do your grass seeding's on a yearly smaller acreage annual/bi-annual rotational seeding.

LouNY · Nov 26, 2019

DJ54 said:
I have no idea if you have any type of Governmental Agricultural Extension offices there, but here in Ohio, through the Ag. Ext. Soil & Water Conservation offices, they rent no-till seeders/drills, to those who don't, or can't afford to make that kind of investment. Here, they rent for around $15 per acre. Most units here I've seen,are the Great Plains brand.

There may be some equipment dealers that may provide rental units also. Might be worth checking into. They are a lot of money to invest in an implement, that may only be used every 4-5 years, unless you do your grass seeding's on a yearly smaller acreage annual/bi-annual rotational seeding.

I'll second this, here the county cooperative extension service has a rental unit.
They are built heavy to be able to get the seed in the proper depth and covered well but not to deep.
It would be very difficult to modify a disk as each individual seeding unit is on it's own linkage to allow it to maintain a consistent depth yet be able to roll upand over rocks and such. Also they will have adjusting levers to set the spring tension for the individual units which will vary for the type of ground and the moisture in it.

craka · Nov 27, 2019

Nothing like that here, not for small operations anyway. The big farms out west would potentially have large hire equipment possibly available but for the most part equipment is owned here. I'm only looking for something that is a width of somewhere between 2.5metres (rough 8ft) to 3 metres (rought 10ft) wide.

The disc opener assemblies can be purchased individually but seem to be rather cost prohibitive. The ones I've seen are about $1000 to $1500 AUD each such as this
http://www.konigs.com.au/new-stockl...g/display/396-disc-opener-single-disc-seeding

Not sure what prices you pay in the states for something like that, or if anyone know of cheaper source?

The discs themselves are not so expensive but the parallelogram assembly appears to be.

LouNY · Nov 27, 2019

No till drills are expensive $35,000 and up for 12 footer,
here's a used JD 10 footer for $22500.
Depending on your ground a no till drill will take some hp, we use 60hp minimum on our 10 footer.

This outfit has some small ones that work with small tractors or even large ATV's
RTP Outdoors Make the Genesis No-Till Drill

craka · Nov 28, 2019

Not wrong about being expensive to purchase. Hence why I'd like to try and build something for less money.
Why do no till drill take some hp? You mean in terms of being 3PL mounted for lift capacity or for dragging behind? Reason I ask is we used to pull/tow a set of 10ft offset disc harrows with a mf65.