# No Till Drill - Need Your Experienced Advice



## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

So, our experience with no till drills is limited to the Haybuster conservation office rentals. Needless to say that is why we haven't gotten on board with no tilling. We've lightly disked and used conventional drill and most recently completely re-seeded grass stands. At that time our timothy would only survive one year but it for whatever reason it is looking like we could just interseed -- thus no till entering the picture.

Anybody add a no till coulter cart to a pull type IH 510 drill?

What drills do you recommend for using with a JD 2955 tractor? Will be for timothy into existing timothy fields. Won't be a lot of acres so not looking for what big time operators would need, just something that would do a reasonably good job without a lot of aggravation.

Oh, and appreciate any general advice on no tilling grass into grass (nothing involving row crops needed).

Thanks,

Shelia


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

I have borrowed a friends no-till drill in the past. It was a United Farm Tool drill, which is no longer in business (can get most parts from Arts Way, who bought them out however). It is a 15' drill, that you could be comfortable running with a 80HP tractor on level ground. I have a few hills (probably mole hills to some folks), that I use a 115HP tractor (weighs around 12K pounds), which is comfortable IMHO.

Being the coulters are spaced at 7.5" I cross drill everything (1/2 seeding amount in each pass), which I feel gives me a better seeding pattern.

Problem with his no-drill is no native grass seed box, (he did add a small seed box, which helped a lot for planting alfalfa). He is selling this drill it (no longer farming, planting soybeans). I have thought about buying this drill but the lack of native grass seed box is a handicap in my situation. I have been looking for a no till, with a small seed box and a native grass seed box for years to, with no luck. Seems IF you find one it has been 'road hard and put away wet' too many times (usually has been a rental unit even). Hope you have a LOT better luck on finding a good used no till, with the small seed box than I have. There is a fair amount of no till drills in my neck of the woods, but are all set up for mainly soybean planting.

I'm probably going to end up purchasing a new no till drill sometime in the future. I have been looking at different brands/models, but the $$$ they want for them!! Most likely I'm going to end up with a 12' (maybe only 10'), Truax or Great Plains as of my current investigation.

HTH

Larry


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

r82230 said:


> I have borrowed a friends no-till drill in the past. It was a United Farm Tool drill, which is no longer in business (can get most parts from Arts Way, who bought them out however). It is a 15' drill, that you could be comfortable running with a 80HP tractor on level ground. I have a few hills (probably mole hills to some folks), that I use a 115HP tractor (weighs around 12K pounds), which is comfortable IMHO.
> 
> Being the coulters are spaced at 7.5" I cross drill everything (1/2 seeding amount in each pass), which I feel gives me a better seeding pattern.
> 
> ...


FWIW we're where United Farm Tools started.

Is his drill advertised anywhere online?

Thanks,

Shelia


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

RockyHill said:


> Is his drill advertised anywhere online?
> 
> Thanks,
> Shelia


Not yet that I know of, he is piecemealing his equipment sales, trying to minimize capital gain taxation. Drill will most likely be one of the last pieces sold, I'd guess. His son has taken over the Christmas Tree operation, so he is getting first dibs on everything and is the first buyer in line for each year's limit on what he is selling.

He did tell me that he was thinking about $7500 IIRC.

Larry


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Regarding the coulter cart, make sure you've read this recent thread if you otherwise hadn't.

https://www.haytalk.com/forums/topic/94476-john-deere-515-drill-with-coulter-cart/#entry979222

I take it you don't have any private individuals in your area offering any for rent (or even providing seeding services) because to get a decent drill right now you're going to have to pay quite a bit.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

It may be more than what your looking to put into a no till drill but I have a 10' JD 1590 for sale that's in excellent shape. Not trying to make this sound like a sales pitch but I honestly believe that's the best no till drill on the market hands down....that's why I bought it and have been extremely satisfied with it. I have planted seed as small as Teff and Timothy with excellent results all the way up to seed as large as soybeans and sunflowers. With some attention given to proper planting depth adjustment, press wheel, and closing wheel pressure you can get an excellent stand in most all conditions. The depth control adjustment on a JD drill is very easy to adjust and accurate.....that is one of the most important things when planting very small seeds such as Timothy that must be planted very shallow. The only downside is there is not a native grass box available on JD drills so you can't plant fluffy native grass seed with it. If you have any interest in my drill send me a pm.

Hayden


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

FarmerCline said:


> It may be more than what your looking to put into a no till drill but I have a 10' JD 1590 for sale that's in excellent shape. Not trying to make this sound like a sales pitch but I honestly believe that's the best no till drill on the market hands down....that's why I bought it and have been extremely satisfied with it. I have planted seed as small as Teff and Timothy with excellent results all the way up to seed as large as soybeans and sunflowers. With some attention given to proper planting depth adjustment, press wheel, and closing wheel pressure you can get an excellent stand in most all conditions. The depth control adjustment on a JD drill is very easy to adjust and accurate.....that is one of the most important things when planting very small seeds such as Timothy that must be planted very shallow. The only downside is there is not a native grass box available on JD drills so you can't plant fluffy native grass seed with it. If you have any interest in my drill send me a pm.
> 
> Hayden


If we were a lot younger, doing a lot more acres a drill as nice as your 1590 would be very tempting.



8350HiTech said:


> Regarding the coulter cart, make sure you've read this recent thread if you otherwise hadn't.
> 
> https://www.haytalk.com/forums/topic/94476-john-deere-515-drill-with-coulter-cart/#entry979222
> 
> I take it you don't have any private individuals in your area offering any for rent (or even providing seeding services) because to get a decent drill right now you're going to have to pay quite a bit.


Thanks, we had read that thread. Knowing that equipment shifts downward on hillsides, is the problem more with the seed not going into the loosened soil or the tractor being pulled too much?

Shelia


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I never used a notill drill till this year we rented a 5512 Esch notill drill from a dealership 50 miles away. We pulled it home with a 2500 pickup not something I would want to do every day but doable. We used it to plant Timothy with small seed box and did everything I wanted it to do. Pulled it with a unweighted JD 4020. If there are any Amish or Mennonite in your area I would bet there is a drill you can rent.


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Farmerbrown2 said:


> I never used a notill drill till this year we rented a 5512 Esch notill drill from a dealership 50 miles away. We pulled it home with a 2500 pickup not something I would want to do every day but doable. We used it to plant Timothy with small seed box and did everything I wanted it to do. Pulled it with a unweighted JD 4020. If there are any Amish or Mennonite in your area I would bet there is a drill you can rent.


 We have Amish and Mennonite in our area but they are a lot different than the ones we saw when we visited Pennsylvania.

Looked on Tractor House and the Esch look nice.

Shelia


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> It may be more than what your looking to put into a no till drill but I have a 10' JD 1590 for sale that's in excellent shape. Not trying to make this sound like a sales pitch but I honestly believe that's the best no till drill on the market hands down....that's why I bought it and have been extremely satisfied with it. I have planted seed as small as Teff and Timothy with excellent results all the way up to seed as large as soybeans and sunflowers. With some attention given to proper planting depth adjustment, press wheel, and closing wheel pressure you can get an excellent stand in most all conditions. The depth control adjustment on a JD drill is very easy to adjust and accurate.....that is one of the most important things when planting very small seeds such as Timothy that must be planted very shallow. The only downside is there is not a native grass box available on JD drills so you can't plant fluffy native grass seed with it. If you have any interest in my drill send me a pm.
> 
> Hayden


I'll have to agree, we have a 40' 1990 CCS, same row units as a 750 basically. I've planted rapeseed, turnip seed and rye mix with it and also all our soybeans. Very easy to set depth and closing wheel down pressure.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

I also rented an Esch 5512 NoTill from a local equipment guy this fall to overseed my Timothy stands. I was pleased with the function of the drill and the new grass came in nicely. Seems like a very nice drill. It would have doubled my rental cost, but in hindsight I sort of wish I would have cross seeded a second pass on at least one field as a comparison. I know this doesn't help answer your question if you don't have rental options in your area... but thought I would share my experience all the same.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

There are many features about a Esch drill that I like. Especially the pivot towing ability to narrow the road width that is offered.

I found this about a year or so ago.

https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=573883&DisplayType=flat&setCookie=1

Regards, Mike


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

The transport feature is nice, especially if you would need to traverse a lot of roads, and for a rental unit getting roaded from farm to farm.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Shelia- like you folks, I used the coop's haybuster multiple times. It was a good machine and I got good stands. That coop went out of business and then used the local SStates rental drill which was a GP 7' NT. The thing was never clean when it was delivered to the farm and something was always broken. Plus, when you are a one man shop, it is hard to adjust those drills when each of the springs is worn different etc. The last time I rented it one coulter wouldn't turn, another was missing along with the seed boot and the prior user had left coated og seed in it that had gotten wet and sprouted. Arrgh.

I talked to my hay buddy down the road and we agreed to split the cost of a new 10' GP nt which was about 14k a piece. we have a written agreement and share in the cost of any repairs which there have been none in the 5 years we have owned it. We also share a bobcat mini ex and the shared repair thing has worked fine as has the opportunity to use it when we want. Since it is new, the springs, down pressure and depth etc all works the same and we sow either fescue or orchard grass in the front box and timothy or clover in the small box. I never planted teff with it but see no reason that one couldn't do so. This agreement has worked well for us, the drill never stays outside overnight and it is always cleaned completely and greased when someone uses it. No loaning to others. Really nice to have a drill that works, is clean and set properly whenever you need to seed. I dropped about 7# timothy per ac from the rear box this past fall when overseeding established og with 15# og per ac. Will know in June how that worked out but have done so before with good results.

Granted it was pricey to go this route but it sure has made a difference in being able to capitalize on a decent planting window with very expensive seed. rick


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I also like the 5 1/2" planting rows on the Esch drill.....that is a full 2" closer rows than the Deere and I would think that would eliminate the need to cross drill in most instances.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Vol said:


> I also like the 5 1/2" planting rows on the Esch drill.....that is a full 2" closer rows than the Deere and I would think that would eliminate the need to cross drill in most instances.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Wish I had known that when we bought ours. and it is 3k cheaper for the 10' than we paid. I often run up and then back on the same path trying to offset just a little at half seeding rate. Seems to address the micro topography problems some. Most of my areas are a pain to cross drill. Always hoped for a 4" oc drill like the sod guys use but they are out so site on price and really long


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

Well, this is what we're added to the equipment line up.

























Shelia


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## Beav (Feb 14, 2016)

crustbuster 3400 all plant makes a 7.5 spaced drill in 10' and 15' models older from 1995 had both 10 and 15 models worked well but I no-tilled soybeans and wheat modt of the time only used for once and got a good stand look on tractor house find them from 5k to 10k


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

RockyHill said:


> Well, this is what we're added to the equipment line up.
> 
> 83858053_2685891088147437_1930386545974444032_o (1).jpg
> 
> ...


Looks good. Keep us posted on how it works for you


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

RockyHill said:


> Well, this is what we're added to the equipment line up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That looks like the real deal to me. Congratulations! I am happy for you.


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## paoutdoorsman (Apr 23, 2016)

Congrats Jeff & Shelia! Keep us updated once you get to use it!


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