Tar River SAYA-507 No Till Drill

breddick

5 year old buck +
As the title implies this is a thread aimed at providing an ongoing review of the No Till drill manufactured by Tar River. I just bought the drill a few weeks ago and other than some test "passes" I haven't seen any results yet. Therefor my review will be an ongoing thread rather than single big post.

A little background. I have about 200 acres of property in northeast Arkansas. Around 170 acres is mature timber and the other 30ish is creek bottom / pasture / plots. It's really a nice habitat in the making. I've owned the property for just under 10 years and over that time have tried hard to get good plots in and had some successes and plenty of failures. I've got all the traditional tillage equipment and in the past have disked, tilled, dragged, sprayed, planted, etc (not necessarily in that order) and have found it to be extremely labor intensive (hours that I don't have) and therefor only was able to plant ~ 5 acres max of soybeans / year. I used an older 2 row JD planter that did a great job. Rows were 22" wide (as narrow as I could get them). 5 acres of soybeans on 22" rows did not do well for my property. The deer density is too much and the fresh clean dirt seedbed made the rows stick out like a sore thumb. That was year one. Disaster. Year two and on I did the same thing but invested heavily ($ and time) by using electric fence (solar). Beans did amazing but the hassle of fencing / maintaining fencing, and only having ~5 acres of beans when all finished made it less than ideal. I was still happy with my results and the deer hunting in the fall was good too.

I (like dang near everyone else) am a fan of Grant Woods and had been drooling over a Genesis drill for a few years. The $12-15K price tag wasn't appealing but I was willing to bite the bullet if needed. One concern I had was my tractor is a 32HP JD 4300... and the 5' light Genesis drill was a concern for me to carry.

In comes the Tar River... The 507 is a 6.5' NT drill that weighs in at 1400 lbs (empty). 10 rows at 7.5" spacing. (you guys can look up all the additional specs). Two weight shelves to enable me to make it as heavy as I want. Empty my JD 4300 picked it up no issue so I started adding weight. After about 300 lbs on the shelf my 3 pt started to strain a little. I had also put some weight in the FEL bucket to help balance the tractor.

The instruction manual is pretty thin so a lot of my "figuring" just came from looking at the drill and figuring it out as I went. It's not rocket science.

Into moist soil the drill would easily cut 1.5- 2" deep and get the beans into the ground just right. This was into 100% unworked ground (old pasture). Again, this ground was very moist. NOT dry and not muddy.

The roll cage / crimper on the back does crimp the standing vegetation over and I'm not sure how that will translate into the fall if I want to do the buffalo system. I suppose I could fabricate a wheel system to replace the cage if I wasn't happy with the pressing down of the beans... However, no way will I do that at this time. I'll see how it does this year. I know in the past I've had beans stand up that were run over by the actual tires of the tractor / 4 wheeler so I am optimistic some will stand. Less than a wheel system like the Genesis? Very likely. Enough to matter? We shall see. Also assume that if I plant 20 acres of soybeans I could easily buffalo and skip rows to plant say 10ish acres of the fall planting leaving 50% of the beans untouched? I'm sure there will be some experimenting going on.

Back to the weight of the planter. I was concerned with the 10 rows / 1400 lbs as that's only 140 lbs / row of pressure. However, I also realized that it's a 6.5' planter. If I were to remove the outer row (all parts) and make it a 8 row planter that would turn it into a 5 '3" planter with 175 lbs of pressure / row... before adding any seed or shelf weight. So I could easily get it to 200 lbs / row and still have a 5' planter. I don't plan on doing this for starters but the option will remain.

I'll stop the review here for now. Pics to come. So far VERY pleased. For $6k I am having a hard time thinking it's less than half as good as a Genesis 5.
 
Initial report:

Over the past 3 days I have planted roughly 10 acres total with the new drill all the ground was fairly moist with recent rain. With the added weight in the shelf it deposited the seeds extremely well. Most seed 1-2” deep with less than 10% visible on walk by.

The metal flaps on the back do a decent job of closing / covering most of the openings but I doubt they work as well as individual wheels would. However with the seed sitting 1-2” down into a narrow slit it’s going to be very happy whether closed or not.

At this point I could not be happier. It’s doing the job and seems to be built tough. Some of the things that I find less appealing would be a non issue if I wasn’t lifting / pulling it with a 32 HP tractor!

note in the pic you’ll see I figured out an easy counterbalance for the heavy planter. FEL forks scooped up my homemade 3pt cultipacker.

It’s still not a Genesis but with the $ saved I see it as a solid performer.

in all honesty zero complaints at this point. Anxious to see the beans coming up in a week or so.
 
thanks for sharing this info, ive wanted to buy a genesis for some time but the price keeps scaring me off. I have a 3032 john deere now so not sure if mine can handle this drill but i do plan on buying a larger tractor. At $6k i could justify this unit since i would mostly use on my home 40 acres. I want to move towards the buffalo system myself or towards Jason Snavelys regenerative ag methods. Can this drill handle small seeds ?
 
Interestingly I looked up the specs of the JD 3032 and on paper it looks very close to my JD 4300. EXCEPT for the rear lift capacity. My 4300 is rated for 2200 lbs 24” behind the 3pt. The 3032 is rated for 1356lbs??? Given the other specs are so close I have no idea why the big difference. Maybe it’s just a rating thing and they’re both capable of similar lift? I do know that my 420 loader says very clearly it is not capable of handling round bales... My cattle would strongly disagree.

I haven’t used it for smaller seed just yet but it has two seed boxes and the gears for the smaller box are much smaller than that the large box (that I’ve used for the beans). Just from looking at the gears I am confident it should do a good job with the tiny seeds. I like the fact that it has two separate boxes. Nice to be able to meter two different seeds on the same pass (if desired)

definitely plan on the buffalo system. I plan to research the mix that Grant Woods uses and do something similar. I may buy a bag or two of the Eagle seed variety (to compare results) but I don’t think I’m going to splurge and use it exclusively.

When I looked at the genesis I very briefly considered the Genesis 3 due to lower cost. I absolutely can not imagine planting very many acres with something that narrow. I spent a few hours on the tractor planting my plots and this drill is 10 row / 6.5’.
 
I looked at one of these at my local dealer. Its hard for me to justify the cost when only planting 5 acres. I'm working with a old JD Van Brunt min till drill and JD71 planter. I will be following, as you may change my mind.
 
If I had a min till drill + JD71 planter and was working on 5 acres the. I’d probably be content. Matter of fact I have a two row JD71 and that what I’ve been using for several years before now. Disadvantage was 22” was the narrowest I could get the rows with the 71. It served its purpose but this new no till drill(I think) is going to be a game changer. Looking to plant up to 20 acres in beans. Biggest additional labor has been lots of spraying since a lot of this ground has been pasture before now. Hopefully as the Buffalo rotation occurs the need for weed control spraying will be significantly reduced so that the bulk of the labor is simply planting the next rotation.
 
My 71 is on a double toolbar, I can put 3 planters on the bar @ 12" spacing, which for me would work fine.
 
I watched a youtube video of a guy drilling with a Tar River drill. It looked to be doing a great job. The thing that jumped out at me was his drilling speed, he was absolutely flying. He was drilling nice flat fields. If I tried that with all of my Virginia rocks I'm sure I would damage most any drill, even the farmers here don't drill near that fast.
 
Biggest additional labor has been lots of spraying since a lot of this ground has been pasture before now. Hopefully as the Buffalo rotation occurs the need for weed control spraying will be significantly reduced so that the bulk of the labor is simply planting the next rotation.
I would think that since it has been a long running pasture and you never tilled the soil you won't have as much spraying as you think. Im a long ways North of you though so who knows.
 
How are the bean looking breddick? Did you end up trying any other seed through it?
 
Guys I’m sorry for the delay. Life has never been busier.
The drill worked fantastic. The beans germinated and popped up just like I had hoped. However, the crop was a fail. Never anticipated the degree of browser pressure could essentially wipe out 17 acres. There’s straggler beans still trying to regrow but the dozens of deer 24/7 in secluded fields is just too much.
Just now replanted a good portion and have been erecting electric fence. The crop will be a little smaller and yeah it’s late but dang I’m gonna have some beans.

As for the planter. Could not be happier. The build is strong. Plants accurate and fast. Still very pleased with the decision to buy. I have not planted any smaller seeds yet but am anxious to try. The smaller seed box with smaller gear makes me think it should work very very well.
 
Does it have a grass seed box as well can’t find much info about these


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I'm not sure what constitutes "grass seed box" but it has two seed boxes. One for small seed and one for large. My understanding is that the small box can easily handle the tiniest of seeds and from looking at the inside of the box / gears I would believe that to be true. I expect to be able to plant turnips with it in the fall.
 
Sounds like you are happy with the purchase. That’s a good thing. I have looked at this unit a few times. I have no sane reason for getting a no till drill. I plant 2 acres a year but I still want one. The price is attractive if it would work for me. I wasn’t aware of the ability to add weight. The light weight was a concern. One thing that I don’t love is the front cutting wheel. Not sure what they call that but it doesn’t seem to be a true heavy duty coulter. I have seen them advertised with coulter packages but have not seen one without the wavy cutting disc or waffle wheel. I have heavy soil with rocks and that can be brutal when there is no moisture. I could see damaging those front cutters frequently.

You said the closers work good but have you drilled Into heavy vegetation? Seems the flap style closers would have a hard time closing that up. If the seed was placed at depth it may not matter all that much. It’s appears to be working well for you I’m just not sure my soil would be as forgiving. Great price though.
 
Does it have a grass seed box as well can’t find much info about these


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have used a Great Plains no-till drill to drill in switchgrass seed. The particular model I used had a native grasses bin in addition to a small seeds bin. We elected to use the small seeds bin and it worked beautifully at a shallow depth. I drilled the switchgrass in northern MO on July 2nd and had great germination and emergence that first year. I think with some native grasses you want a grass bin, but if it's just going to be switchgrass, you can use the smaller seed bin that most people are using for clover, alfalfa, and brassicas.
 
found a GP on craigslist the other day and the deal was right. Called the guy and was gonna tell him to hold it and I'd send him a check for a down payment. He said I should get to the back of the line...

bummer. I had mentally bought the thing already.
 
Sounds like you are happy with the purchase. That’s a good thing. I have looked at this unit a few times. I have no sane reason for getting a no till drill. I plant 2 acres a year but I still want one. The price is attractive if it would work for me. I wasn’t aware of the ability to add weight. The light weight was a concern. One thing that I don’t love is the front cutting wheel. Not sure what they call that but it doesn’t seem to be a true heavy duty coulter. I have seen them advertised with coulter packages but have not seen one without the wavy cutting disc or waffle wheel. I have heavy soil with rocks and that can be brutal when there is no moisture. I could see damaging those front cutters frequently.

You said the closers work good but have you drilled Into heavy vegetation? Seems the flap style closers would have a hard time closing that up. If the seed was placed at depth it may not matter all that much. It’s appears to be working well for you I’m just not sure my soil would be as forgiving. Great price though.

I find the front openers to do a really good job. I've planted quite a bit into heavy vegetation (mowed pasture) and its cuts through no problem. No idea how durable the coulters are compared to other mfg's. I have been timing all my planting around moisture.

I've been planting my soybeans about as deep as I can get them (2"ish) In some areas where the ground is a lot of clay and overly moist, with little vegetation the groove is still open. I attribute this more to the soil conditions than the drill. For what I'm doing it doesn't matter. Seeds are getting good soil contact deep in the groove. First good rain washes residue into any open groove. Good germination. Soybeans look very happy.

If my soil was really rocky and I had the need to plant into dry soil then my drill *might* be less preferable?
 
The electric fence is working well. The stand of beans from the Tar River drill is looking really really good. I've had to spray my pastures multiple times with glyphosate because the Bermuda just does NOT want to die! I think I' have it beat but am watching close. I will possibly have to spray one more time in about a week. I will try to take some pics soon.
 
Thank you for all the updates. It seems like you are getting great value and production for what you paid with the TR NT.
 
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