No till drills?

[Copenhagen & Shiner B]

I am thinking about getting a no till drill. The reason I want to get a no till drill is that I am tired of having to make 3 passes(scratching with a disc harrow,spreading with a broadcast seeder, and dragging with a drag harrow to cover) to overseed a pasture with rye or ryegrass. My tractor is a John Deere 5045 which is a 2 wheel drive 45 hp tractor. I know that some counties rent out no till drills, but my county and surrounding counties have sold their no till drills for lack of use (and abuse when they were used). I do not mind spending a few thousand(2 to 4K) on a no till drill that I will only use on 10 to 15 acres a year and will be kept in a shed out of the rain when not in use. Any opinions will be appreciated.

 

[LaneFarms]

it may be hard to find one in that price range. I bought mine well used several years ago for $4500 and had to put several openers on it and new coulters. Mine is a 10' Great Plains and it was all a 70hp tractor wanted to pull it in hard sod.

 

[dun]

You might want to give some thought to an old JD/Van Brundt with the disk type openers. If what you're drilling into is fairly short they will do a decent job if you just drag something heavy along behind it to close the furrows.

 

[BC]

Check some of the farm equipment auctons for a Haybuster 77. They make a bigger one (Haybuster 107) but you don't have enough tractor.

Have you looked at dragging the harrow behind the seeder to eliminate one pass?

 

[novatech]

Around here nobody plants rye into the ground. They just broadcast on top. That is the way I have always done it and have always had a good stand.
In this article it says it should not be drilled.
http://www.noble.org/ag/Forage/AnnualRy ... index.html

 

[1982vett]

Around here nobody plants rye into the ground. They just broadcast on top. That is the way I have always done it and have always had a good stand.
In this article it says it should not be drilled.http://www.noble.org/ag/Forage/AnnualRyegrass/index.html

But it refers to being mixed with other small grains which implies seedbed prep and a deeper planting dept in which the ryegrass could end up being planted to deep.

Absolutely it will grow with anything that closely resembles rainfall, but I notice and believe that by drilling in established pastures I can get by with 10 lbs per acre, get the same stand and save 50-66% of the seed cost. Of course I most likely will have added cost of fuel, time and equipment that may use up any savings from seed. However in pasture situations and during times of unreliable rainfall I find that drilling is better insurance that the seed doesn't germinate and die before the next spit of rain comes. I am mindful of 2006 and 2008 when ryegrass planted by broadcasting wasn't any better than pastures left to volunteer ryegrass. I suppose we are again in a situation where I will find if the volunteer will survive as we again have past 3 weeks since the last rainfall.

 

[ERNIBIGB]

We use the disc with a ezee flow drop seeder followed by a cultipacker or flex harrow all pulled in one train and one pass. We call it our poor mans no till drill. Have also used a pasture renovator as the first car in the train. A drop seeder the width of your disc harrow is nothing to pull. A good used one can be found but may take some searching. We actually wound up buying a new one a few years ago for around 2K. My 85y/o dad sowed about 75 acres with this setup this fall pulling a 10ft disc, 10ft seeder and 12 ft cultipacker with his old 70 hp Ford tractor and had power to spare.

 

[shaz]

Around here nobody plants rye into the ground. They just broadcast on top. That is the way I have always done it and have always had a good stand.
In this article it says it should not be drilled.
http://www.noble.org/ag/Forage/AnnualRy ... index.html

I've tried that many times and can't make it work. Even with a drag, nothing comes up.

 

[Jogeephus]

Around here nobody plants rye into the ground. They just broadcast on top. That is the way I have always done it and have always had a good stand.
In this article it says it should not be drilled.
http://www.noble.org/ag/Forage/AnnualRy ... index.html

I've tried that many times and can't make it work. Even with a drag, nothing comes up.

Are we talking rye or ryegrass?

 

[1982vett]

I'm talking ryegrass and I think Novatech is too hence the Noble foundation link. Chopenhagen said rye or ryegrass so I guess he could be thinking rye or both.

 

[MF135]

You might want to give some thought to an old JD/Van Brundt with the disk type openers. If what you're drilling into is fairly short they will do a decent job if you just drag something heavy along behind it to close the furrows.

I bought one of these for $500 about a month ago. I only had to replace two of the rubber hoses and it has worked perfectly. The only problem is I wish I would have dragged behind it as the dragging chains don't cover the farrows very well. I put out a little over a half ton of oats on 10 acres 3 weeks back and it is coming up nicely. If I can get another good rain, the 30-0-0 will really get to work.

 

[dun]

You might want to give some thought to an old JD/Van Brundt with the disk type openers. If what you're drilling into is fairly short they will do a decent job if you just drag something heavy along behind it to close the furrows.

I bought one of these for $500 about a month ago. I only had to replace two of the rubber hoses and it has worked perfectly. The only problem is I wish I would have dragged behind it as the dragging chains don't cover the farrows very well. I put out a little over a half ton of oats on 10 acres 3 weeks back and it is coming up nicely. If I can get another good rain, the 30-0-0 will really get to work.

I used tires filled with concrete and drug behind with 4 foot chains. They were set up to overlap by about 1/3 of a tire on each side and they filled in behind real well. The chains and ring are for using in a prepared seedbed which is what it was really designed for.

 

[1982vett]

You might want to give some thought to an old JD/Van Brundt with the disk type openers. If what you're drilling into is fairly short they will do a decent job if you just drag something heavy along behind it to close the furrows.

I bought one of these for $500 about a month ago. I only had to replace two of the rubber hoses and it has worked perfectly. The only problem is I wish I would have dragged behind it as the dragging chains don't cover the farrows very well. I put out a little over a half ton of oats on 10 acres 3 weeks back and it is coming up nicely. If I can get another good rain, the 30-0-0 will really get to work.

Good luck with that. We've had a whole inch in the last 87 days.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

Just throwing seed on top of the ground takes lots of luck and rain at the right time. At least if you scratch the surface and cover the seed slightly some moisture is retained. My luck at broadcasting ryegrass over the last 30 years has been about a 20% chance that it will germinate and survive. Some years I would broadcast some fields and disk others. Without a doubt disking is better.

My only good luck broadcasting is with arrowleaf clover.

 

[GMN]

no tilling is the way to go for orchardgrass, fescue, alfalfa and the clovers.You may check the dealers, sometimes they buy the used ones from the FSA offices ofr resale. New ones are going to be in the 6-7,000 range or more. I saw one at a auction once, should have bought it, even with work it may have needed, $1300 was a steal.

 

[Copenhagen & Shiner B]

Thanks for all the replies. I have not made my mind up yet. I am planning to go check out a one pass seeder made by Plotmaster.

 

[hd5]

What does the pto drive on a John Deere no till drill?
A friend of mine found a pretty good deal on one but it is 1000 rpm and his tractor is 540.

 

[agmantoo]

I am north of Copenhagen and there is often some confusion between rye and rye grass when the subject is broached. Cereal rye or rye grain are what I use as ground cover to reduce erosion or as a nurse crop and not for forage. Rye grass I sow in the Fall for late Winter/early Spring grazing and I typically use Marshall rye grass as the type. Cereal rye will come up regardless of how it is sown here. Rye grass broadcast at 10 lbs per acre will establish decent supplemental grazing. I do pull a worn out drag harrow while broadcasting using the small tractor unless the ground is wet. If wet, I broad cast using the 4 wheeler and if the herd is nearby I often will let them walk the seed in. I also find that after several years of doing this that the annual rye grass will either reseed itself or regrow to where I do not have to sow each year.

Through some searching a person could possibly find an old Tye "pasture pleaser" small sod drill as they were once common in this area. I saw a good one sell for $500 last Fall.

 

[agmantoo]

Here is a pic of Marshall rye grass that was broadcast sown with the 4 wheeler during a wet period last Fall. There is some previously established fescue mixed with the rye grass. The area got ahead of the rate of consumption and I am cutting the heads off to reduce stem damage to the cattle's eyes to minimize pinkeye.

 

[1982vett]

Here is a pic of Marshall rye grass that was broadcast sown with the 4 wheeler during a wet period last Fall. There is some previously established fescue mixed with the rye grass. The area got ahead of the rate of consumption and I am cutting the heads off to reduce stem damage to the cattle's eyes to minimize pinkeye.

Looks like a mess....

Just wondering... That much material on top and laying over...do you have problems with it smothering out the understory?