No Till Drill Info

[roymunson]

I'm not actively looking for one, but I do have access to a cabbed, 4x4 JD 5603 whenever I want it. If I came across a decent No Till Drill, I'd be interested in buying it and my land neighbor would buy 1/2 of it. Could be a win win.

I don't know a whole lot about them, and don't need a top of the line unit, but I don't want a broken down piece that's never gonna work when I need it to.

Where are you guys shopping for them? I'm sure I could come up with something on tractor house, but that seems like retail is the name of the game there. And craigslist has a bunch, but some of those look like they'd make better boat anchors than implements.

Something 8' wide or so would be plenty as it'd let me get into some of my smaller plots, but I also want to be able to plant cereal grains as well as larger seeded things like beans/corn. Then our fall plots too...

Educate me.

 

[swat1018]

Anything but a farm style drill is a compromise. I decided I wouldn't buy a drill until I could afford a Great Plains. Buddy had a Kasco, it wasn't cheap, but it did a horrible job. I know others like theirs, but I would never own one after planting one season with a friend's. None of them are going to do perfect corn, everything else it does pretty well. Only down-side of a GP or Land Pride is the cost. I have a 6' and can do about 2 ac/ hour chugging along nice and easy. If you get a 3pt, make sure you have plenty of lift. I know you said an 8', a 6' fully loaded throws a JD5400 around pretty well and that's a heavy tractor. Good Luck, finding a used one is tough.

 

[Bill]

I have a 6' and can do about 2 ac/ hour chugging along nice and easy.

Crank her up to the next gear :). If it’s dry and flat I can move right along with mine.

I’ll second the finding one used is hard to do. Wasn’t cheap but I wouldn’t trade my 6 footer for any other planter.

 

[roymunson]

Anything but a farm style drill is a compromise. I decided I wouldn't buy a drill until I could afford a Great Plains. Buddy had a Kasco, it wasn't cheap, but it did a horrible job. I know others like theirs, but I would never own one after planting one season with a friend's. None of them are going to do perfect corn, everything else it does pretty well. Only down-side of a GP or Land Pride is the cost. I have a 6' and can do about 2 ac/ hour chugging along nice and easy. If you get a 3pt, make sure you have plenty of lift. I know you said an 8', a 6' fully loaded throws a JD5400 around pretty well and that's a heavy tractor. Good Luck, finding a used one is tough.

That's what I was afraid of. Kinda like buying a used snow plow. You're buying somebody else's problem that they battered and beat for a number of years.

I was watching one of the midwest whitetails shows and they're always talking about hte RTP brand. Don't know anything about it, but man, would it make food plotting fun and easy. And you could do some pretty interesting stuff if you can no till and get seed into the dirt.

I'll have to keep my eyes open and ya, a 6' unit would be fine. We're not putting in hundreds of acres, if it takes a little more fuel, that's ok by me. Efficiency and high yield isn't necessarily the most important part.

I have a buddy who works for the DNR and they'll loan out their Great Plains if I can use it at a time when they're not. Have to drag it 20-30 miles to the farm, but that may be the way to go to start with until I can justify the coin to buy one.

 

[Bill]

And you could do some pretty interesting stuff if you can no till and get seed into the dirt.

My neighbor loaded his with a brassica blend late summer and drilled right over his beans. He hit about every third row. It killed the beans but man it was a sweet field come November.

 

[roymunson]

My neighbor loaded his with a brassica blend late summer and drilled right over his beans. He hit about every third row. It killed the beans but man it was a sweet field come November.

This is not the kinda thing to say when it's February, I didn't kill the buck I was after, and I have a bad idea to want to spend money on something.

Maybe time to go take a cold shower :D

 

[yoderjac]

Anything but a farm style drill is a compromise. I decided I wouldn't buy a drill until I could afford a Great Plains. Buddy had a Kasco, it wasn't cheap, but it did a horrible job. I know others like theirs, but I would never own one after planting one season with a friend's. None of them are going to do perfect corn, everything else it does pretty well. Only down-side of a GP or Land Pride is the cost. I have a 6' and can do about 2 ac/ hour chugging along nice and easy. If you get a 3pt, make sure you have plenty of lift. I know you said an 8', a 6' fully loaded throws a JD5400 around pretty well and that's a heavy tractor. Good Luck, finding a used one is tough.

I've got the little 4' Kasco no-till versadrill, and I completely understand your comment. I've had to make lots of modifications to mine. It works fine, but using it is as much art as science. I would never recommend someone buy one of these for the prices they sell for new. I got lucky and found a used one for 3K which is almost nothing for a no-till drill. I'm glad I got it and use it all the time. I do love the seed metering system and it will plant about anything. It was well worth the money for me, but I'd love to have a Tye, GP, or similar big-boy drill if I had the budget.

For the OP,

Another option to consider is a planter rather than a drill if you are just looking at beans and corn. I've seen cut-down JD drills that are 2 or 3 rows that work very well. They are identical to large planters but just have fewer rows so a small tractor can handle them. It takes more time but that may not be an issue for you depending on how much you plant. They are less expensive.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[olson1]

Just joined this site, I farm in MN and have a bit of experience with drills and planters. Swat1018 is right don't settle for cheap food plot drill or seeder. I would go right to a three box drill with coulters and openers. This will allow you to plant switch grass, (fluffy seeds) small seed, alfalfa, cereal rye grass and peas, soybeans, etc. Corn is just not meant to go through a drill but you can make it work.

Compact drills like the Great Plains/Land Pride (1006NT) are top of the line and 10's go for $23,000 new and about $18,000 used. Another quality drill is a Haybuster 107c and you can pick it up if you find a deal for around $10,000 or $25,000 new.

There is also the Brillion FPSB6($10,000) type of seeders and the Woods PSS72,($9,000) which first mulch then the seed drops out of the box followed by a cultipacker. Great Plains NTS2507($8,000) also makes the same style seeder just better quality. In my opinion these do a good job if the land is already tilled or not a lot of trash.

There are also the seeders you can pull with your UTV, like the Genisis 3, but new they run around $9,000.

Of course if you are not looking to spend that kind of money for just food plot and switch grass seeding, your local county SWCD will most likely have a Great Plains for you to rent by the acre.

Like Yoderjac said a planter is best for corn and soybeans, two row planters are all over craigslist and marketplace for $800-$1200. You can even buy a wheel kit so you can pull it with your ATV.

I have some hunting ground I can not get to with the tractors so an ATV sprayer, drag, spreader, and packer do most of the work. I have to say these plots look just as good as the ones done with larger equipment.

 

[swat1018]

Great info above. The third box for native grass is about $5000 from GP. I had no use for one, so didn't buy that way. It also adds some leverage on the tractor, as it increases the drill length. If I would have found a suitable used drill, and it had the third box, it would have been ok, though.

 

[Bill]

Great info above. The third box for native grass is about $5000 from GP. I had no use for one, so didn't buy that way. It also adds some leverage on the tractor, as it increases the drill length. If I would have found a suitable used drill, and it had the third box, it would have been ok, though.

I kind of agree here. I have the native grass box but wouldn’t buy it that way again. Switch grass seed isn’t fluffy and honestly it’s just as easy to broadcast.

 

[roymunson]

Got off the phone with a couple local county SWCD and they have drills I can borrow for $10-12 per acre. She also pointed me towards the local Pheasants Unlimited and told me they have a NWSG drill. Talked to him and he said if I have the tractor and seed on site they'll bring the drill and plant it themselves (so I don't wreck their equipment) and all they want is a donation to put in the kitty for events and kid/promotion stuff. That sounds like a sweetheart of a deal. I can always rent the drill in july/august for my brassicas and fall plots.

Some day I'll own one, but for now, I think this is probably my best bet.

 

[Bill]

Got off the phone with a couple local county SWCD and they have drills I can borrow for $10-12 per acre. She also pointed me towards the local Pheasants Unlimited and told me they have a NWSG drill. Talked to him and he said if I have the tractor and seed on site they'll bring the drill and plant it themselves (so I don't wreck their equipment) and all they want is a donation to put in the kitty for events and kid/promotion stuff. That sounds like a sweetheart of a deal. I can always rent the drill in july/august for my brassicas and fall plots.

Some day I'll own one, but for now, I think this is probably my best bet.

Just make sure you get on the list early. I used one from NRCS before I bought mine. Weather affects when you actually get it because it’s first come first serve.

Turned out to be a pain. But I did finally get to use it.

 

[swat1018]

I would go the rental route, possibly, if I lived on the farm. I live 6 hours away, when I get a window I can't wait.

 

[Turkish]

I can’t believe there’s no comparison reviews online pitting the Great Plains/Lanpride against RTP.

 

[WeedyJ]

Got off the phone with a couple local county SWCD and they have drills I can borrow for $10-12 per acre. She also pointed me towards the local Pheasants Unlimited and told me they have a NWSG drill. Talked to him and he said if I have the tractor and seed on site they'll bring the drill and plant it themselves (so I don't wreck their equipment) and all they want is a donation to put in the kitty for events and kid/promotion stuff. That sounds like a sweetheart of a deal. I can always rent the drill in july/august for my brassicas and fall plots.

Some day I'll own one, but for now, I think this is probably my best bet.

That sounds like a no brainer

 

[White Birch Farm]

Got off the phone with a couple local county SWCD and they have drills I can borrow for $10-12 per acre.

I did 10 acres of NWSG and 10 acres of plots with the local soil conservationist’s drill last year. Doing another 20 or so of NWSG and Pollinator plus some plots with it this year.

 

[Turkish]

Looks great! What size tractor and drill is that?

 

[White Birch Farm]

Looks great! What size tractor and drill is that?

Kubota MX5800 HST (mid 50s hp) and Great Plains 706NT

 

[roymunson]

Now im sledding thru CL looking for something. There's some TYE's out there, but I don't know enough about em to know what's shot and what isn't. I'm probably better off spending a little more, someday, and getting something with low maintenance and in good condition.

 

[roymunson]

Just out of curiosity, what's the reason the Great Plains Solid Stand models are so much cheaper? I can't find much info on them and it looks like they're older. Will they plant everything?