No-till drill opinions.........

[Georgia_Cattleman]

Hello, first time poster here who was referred to this site by a friend who reads it regularly.

I'm looking for opinions on no-till drills. I'm a cattleman and the drill will primarily be used for pasture seeding, establishing winter grazing, and planting silage crops (round bale silage - millet, sorghum). There are two primary options right now, Great Plains and Haybuster.

I'm looking at the 1006NT Great Plains and the 107 Haybuster. Prices are both right at $22,500, and both dealers (Great Plains thru the Deere dealer, Haybuster thru the Ferguson) are about the same distance from the homeplace and offer good service and support. I have an established relationship with both (Deere tractors, Krone baler from the Ferguson place) and would feel comfortable buying from either.

I've been renting a no-till drill, a TYE, and it's a solid drill but my operation has grown to the point where I can't wait around when the drill is out to another customer, and I like the TYE, but there isn't a local dealer.

Any experiences with either of these drills?

 

[HayDR]

Most Haybuster dealers sell their rental drills in like new condition and you can save $$$ thousands.

 

[Duffster]

Here is my vote.

 

[HayDR]

Great Plains is a great drill. The advantage the Haybuster has is their 107 10' drill has the tires on the inside and you can legally pull it down the road. A 1006NT Great Plains Drill is 12'7" wide and is a bit wide for the roads here in the east.

 

[Duffster]

Great Plains is a great drill. The advantage the Haybuster has is their 107 10' drill has the tires on the inside and you can legally pull it down the road. A 1006NT Great Plains Drill is 12'7" wide and is a bit wide for the roads here in the east.

You have width laws for farm equipment?

 

[Georgia_Cattleman]

Yours?

What are your soil types and primary crops planted with the drill? Any issues? How heavy does the drill pull? How is your drill configured - fertilizer, native grass options, etc. (I wasn't paying that close of attention when the salesman was talking about the native grass box, I'll admit I was already mentally figuring depreciation and returns)?

 

[Georgia_Cattleman]

Per several folks I've spoken with the Haybuster pulls a little bit lighter than the Great Plains (seen them doing road crew work being pulled with 4630 NH tractors - 55 hp I think) and are easier to transport.

I'm more concerned with seed penetration as some of my soils are pretty hard (Georgia clay).

 

[RickB]

Per several folks I've spoken with the Haybuster pulls a little bit lighter than the Great Plains (seen them doing road crew work being pulled with 4630 NH tractors - 55 hp I think) and are easier to transport.

I'm more concerned with seed penetration as some of my soils are pretty hard (Georgia clay).

I've used both, my vote would be for the Great Plains. But the Haybuster is a very good drill as well. I doubt you will have trouble getting penetration with either machine. Maybe it comes down to your local dealer support?

 

[Duffster]

Yours?

Yes

What are your soil types and primary crops planted with the drill? Any issues? How heavy does the drill pull? How is your drill configured - fertilizer, native grass options, etc. (I wasn't paying that close of attention when the salesman was talking about the native grass box, I'll admit I was already mentally figuring depreciation and returns)?

We have a clay soil but probably not as heavy as yours.

The drill has worked perfectly. It has grass boxes.

We plant alfalfa/grass and oats, soybeans and winter rye or tritical.

The oats and beans are typically planted in tilled ground and the winter rye is no tilled into existing hay stands or into ground that has been V ripped after taking corn silage.

We pull it with a JD 7210 or 7220 and they just play with this drill.

The drill really couldn't work any better as far as I am concerned.

Here is few action shots from April.

 

[HayDR]

You have width laws for farm equipment?

It is like this if someone claims against you, the judge asks how wide was your load. If you are 6" over 10' you will lose because then you have to prove you had an escort with rotating lights, wide load signage, & slow moving vehicle signs in place. If you have more than 4 autos behind you, you are required to pull over and let the traffic go by or you can be ticketed. 2 problems with that is there are not many places to pull off and you are only doing 15-20 MPH being pulled by a tractor so it takes time to even get to pull off spot. Too many tree huggers wanting to control farmers practices.