Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Can anyone help with the total outside width dimension of the 507? Would it fit in a shipping container when connected to a tractor?
Tar River SAYA-507 No Till Drill
- Thread starter breddick
- Start date
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Looks awesome, what size tractor is that pulling your land pride drill?
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^ Nice to see the success you have had with these methods. Great pics and descriptions / results. This is my goal too. Already bought my seeds for next summer.....the vast majority of it is in mixes from Green Cover Crop. Along with some buckwheat for some poor sandy soils that need to be rebuilt a bit. I do like the operation and affordability of the Saya drill.....but I do have an opportunity to upgrade to a Genesis 5 and I am considering that option. Been wondering how the Saya "basket" will handle planting into standing cereal rye......as rye is prone to wrap from my previous experience.
I'm still learning all I can about the No Till methods and expect substantial benefits over time. Interesting that you terminated your rye in early July. I am northern MN and likely a similar time frame for me, with my late august planted Rye. Thus I plan to plant the summer crops in June and terminate the rye at an appropriate (early July?) time frame. Dough stage seems to be a big variable depending on latitude. I hope by eliminating all the tillage stages I can preserve the moisture needed to get thru the summers with my sand.
Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Thanks Foggy - I have considered buying seed from Green Cover but for now have decided to just "roll my own" at least for this year. I have been doing that for many years. My wife and I actually attended Grant Woods' field days weekend in Missouri back in 2015 or 16 and that was when we jumped in to the no-till practice. Initially I was just cover cropping with mainly rye with maybe some clover mixed in with it. About 3 years ago is when I started learning about the benefits of planting blends with many more varieties mixed it. I wish I had started doing that sooner.
Regarding termination dates, I just seem to terminate my cover crops in the same time line that I plan to plant that particular plot. If I am planting sugar beets I want to get them in the ground as soon as possible (Mid-May)....beans - early June...brassicas early-mid July....cereal grains - mid-late August. I want something growing in that dirt as many days of the year as possible. I am sure the dates for terminating rye before the seeds are viable is dependent upon latitude. I did rag-doll tests on some seed I collected in July last year and they didn't germinate. Those I tested the first week of August did so depending upon what I am looking for, it helps to know whether or not the seed will germinate. Actually, the one plot I pictured in one of my posts above, I didn't mow it until August and I knew that I would get a great deal of germination from the volunteer rye - more than I actually wanted, so I waited until we got some rain and it germinated and then sprayed it with Gly so the rye would not dominate my cover crop. I should have terminated that plot earlier before the seed was viable and then I could have planted the cover crop earlier. Live and learn LOL.
Once you stop turning your dirt you will never go back to tillage. I cringe every time I think about what I was doing to my soil every time I ran the cultivator or disc through it. My soils are much happier these days. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention how much faster things get done without having to till, pick rocks, etc. You already know about the benefits of no-till for preventing erosion, moisture retention, suppressing weeds, soil temp comfort, etc. And, of course, another big benefit is that seat time in the tractor is far less than half of what it was when I was turning dirt. This year, I am very much looking forward to the savings of time and money for not having to purchase synthetic fertilizers...and my soils are going to love that as well.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I guess I had not known much about no-till until recently. Never took the time to understand what were the benefits.....and I was a bit too tight to want to invest in a drill. Not sure why I am that way...grin. Then I got into issues with pig-weeds over the past two seasons.....and it was ruining many of my tillage plots. After learning all I could about crowding out pigweed (and weeds in general) I found myself immersed in all I could learn to get started. While I am not going to sell all my tillage stuff.....I hope to use those tools quite lightly in the years to follow. I got a good stand of crops going into fall....and I am stilll waiting on delivery of a roller crimper. I may sale my Saya 505 after I take delivery of a Genesis 5 light drill. It's not that the Saya is not capable.....I just like more bullet proof, long lived, machinery. Right now I am glad I found a drill to buy last season and get this process underway. The way prices are going up......I would think my Saya would hold its value. Popular machines are very hard to get right now....seems the shortages are everywhere.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Thought I would put up some pics of the beginnings of my Tar River Saya 505 and setting it up.....through planting and the success I had with 10 acres last fall. I got the drill in mid August and spent a few hours to get the blades aligned using a board to line up the front slicers with the double disk openers. (all were askew when I got it). Also spent allot of time getting the seed cups set up right.....as all had some variation in them. Here are the progress pics from that time period through about 30 days. While many of my plots were previously tilled and then died due to a drought....I also had some virgin sod I drilled seed into with pretty good results. The ground that had died due to dourght was all nuked and then drilled. The virgin sod was mowed short....then nuked and then drilled. Everything was burned and dry during the drilling of the seeds (134 lbs in a mix of 10 / acre). Rains followed on the day I finished. Niiice.
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Wild Thing
5 year old buck +
Wow! Nice job Foggy. You did well.
Nightvision
5 year old buck +
If you don’t own a crimper, you could roll it with the cultipacker then spray it or spray, wait a day or two, then roll it with the packer. Of course, with the price of Roundup this year, it will not take long to justify the cost of a crimper.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
^ Yep, that is possible. The issue with spraying is that.....when you have a multiple species plot, with a variety of crops growing.....and only want to terminate the rye....you run the risk of killing all those other things growing at that point.
Often you can "get away" with clover rebounding from an application of roundup......and collards seem to withstand the roundup too.....but these are dependent on the timing of the chemical application and the rate applied. But some of the other things I got going are more susesptable to spraying. Also multiple trips over the same ground takes time away from other activities. I'd like to retain things like the clovers, alfalfa, and Delar small burnett - which is expensive to establish. A crimper allows the ability to just terminate long stalk plants by damaging that stalk that feeds the seedhead....if done at the right time..
Nightvision
5 year old buck +
Just spray it with Cleth. It will only kill the grasses.
Nightvision
5 year old buck +
Or you could invest in a wick bar. Significantly cheaper than a crimper.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
If push comes to shove, I will likely use my flail mower to take that rye down....or possibly try a tiller with the PTO shaft removed, or the other chemical suggestions mentioned. While a wick bar may be good for some weeds.....I doubt it's up to the task of 100 lbs / acre of 5' high cereal rye.....and ten acres at that. I'm kinda partial to try that roller crimper method as I think it's an important part of the system. Getting a mat of rye as a mulch is my goal. I know it's a bit expensive.....but kinda like a good cultipacker....it will last two lifetimes. So I hope my crimper shows up pretty soon. I got a fair shake for a price on these tools.....and they are not getting any cheaper. The chemicals and other alternatives are not free either.
I did consider making my own.....but lack the time to do so (Im retired and spend my winters in AZ - FORE!). Making a good roller crimper is not any easy task - especially without some of the needed tools and shop to do this stuff.
The overseas shipping issues and material logistics are screwing lots of stuff up....including the shipment of my roller / crimper. All that RTP stuff comes out of Holland. Glad I do not depend on this stuff as a livelihood.
huntWisely
Buck Fawn
Awesome post - so much useful information. I'd really like to get one, unfortunately, it doesn't appear any are available. If anyone has any leads, or in Central IL and open to a Demo or rental, let me know.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I thought this to be the case when I was buying too.....however I made a call to Tar River and they immediately put me in touch with the (MN) state Sales Rep....whom I called. He located a drill for me and happened to be traveling in the area where I live. Set me up with his dealer and I had a drill in a matter of a week or so. I think the drills are out there......but you may need to work it a bit. Also, several on TractorHouse.com......but not all the dealers list their machines on that site.
I had intentions of buying a SAYA 7' wide unit.....but that was somewhat harder to get and costs more....while having less weight per opener unit. I am really glad I got a 5 foot wide unit as the time spent in planting food plots is relatively low and the machine size would not be a significant time saver.....and the 5 foot unit is safely guarded by my tractor tires when operating around trees and tree stumps and such. The 505 can be handled my most compact tractors of 30 HP IMO. My tractor tire tracks also served as "row markers" which was helpful when planting some ground. (I have a Kubota L3560HSTC tractor but I am quite certain my "old" JD 3520 would handle this 505 unit just fine.)
One thing I think is quite important is to operate at modest speed. I kept my speed to about 3 MPH when planting in order to allow the coulters to penetrate and the machine to do it's thing. go too fast and the machine may ride up on top of the soils. I was able to penetrate some virgin grass land in a power line that passes through my property. I first mowed this test area....then did a burn down with roundup.....and then planted into the dead grasses/sod. Got a good stand of my seed mix. Going too fast may have let the machine ride atop this relatively heavy ground. Also, these are not the most heavy duty machines on the market......I think you need to treat them as such and you will get along fine with the Saya. Good value for the small time operation.
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Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
john volkman
5 year old buck +
i ordered one last march and it just arrived this month.
Buckhunter10
5 year old buck +
Nice! Let us know how you like it !!
