# Drill vs Seeder



## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

Need some advice on what piece of equipment I should be looking for.
I will be doing some new seedings next spring - one will be alfalfa/orchard grass/timothy mix for putting up dry hay. One will be more of a pasture mix for grazing cattle.
I will also be looking for something to seed/interseed with/after a corn/bean rotation for Fall grazing.

I have rented a 10' brillion for new seedings in the past. But for interseeding after a corn/bean rotation I'm assuming I would need a drill?

I don't imagine a brillion seeder would satisfy both requirements, so should I look for a drill? No-till?

Thanks


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

No, a Brillion will not satisfy both needs unfortunately. You will find that there are occasions when a seeder(worked ground) and a drill(no-till) are both very handy and they are both very good to own. A John Deere 450 box seeder is nice about doing some no tilling grass seed into sod and you can plant beans with them also....but a 750 Drill or a 1590 Drill are much better but much more expensive. There are several very good drills of various brands out there.....but IMO, Brillion is the best seeder.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

The perfect situation would be to have both a seeder for planting grass/alfalfa and a drill for planting grains/soybeans. In my opinion you can't beat the solid stand a Brillion seeder gives you but you can't plant small grains with it. If you can only buy one to do both jobs it would be a drill.....preferably with a small seed box. You can still get a good stand of grass with a drill, it just takes a little more attention to make sure and not place the seed too deep.

On a drill as far as conventional vs no till it comes down to what works best in your area and for your operation. If you do conventional tillage there is not much need to spend the extra money a good no till brings......but a no till would be handy for interseeding into an existing stand that is getting thin or planting a cover crop.

Brillion is the best seeder hands down. For drills I prefer JD.....a 450 is a good conventional drill.....for a true no till a 750, 1560, 1590 is the way to go, it all depends on how much you want to spend as to which model to get. Whatever you do don't buy a worn out no till, you can get get into a lot of money very quickly. The 750s had a single piece seed boot but they went to a two piece on the 1560 which would need to be changed over to single piece boot if it hasn't already been done, JD switched back to a single piece when the 1590s came out. There are some other good brands of drills also......Great Plains is one that comes to mind.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

If you're not doing many total acres, owning a conventional drill and renting a notill drill when necessary may be the best allocation of funds.


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## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

I am thinking purchasing a conventional drill (used JD 450 sounds like a good fit) and renting a seeder would be the best option since I would use the drill for cover crops/annual forages every year while the seeder would only get used every few years....although it seems that brillion seeders are few and far between around here so custom seeding or renting it out might be a pretty good option.


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## Ray 54 (Aug 2, 2014)

You could be right about there being a market to rent a Brillion seeder in your area.But unless you like fixing, it will end up costing more to repair it than you make.Know body hardly will take the time to tighten a bolt let alone change a part if it will go another acre without when it is not there equipment.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Wife traded an old JD FB-B Drill for a new JD BD1108 conventional drill a few years ago and they seem to like it a lot. She ordered it with the marking tires and 2" press wheels. Son just got through with the last 12 acres of Oats yesterday. I tried to get her to go no-till but it was a no-go.

Son






Wife


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

I like the neighbors in the background. Or lack thereof. Still nice and green down there? Or were vids older.


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## shadyoakhay (Oct 23, 2014)

I like my 750 for both. The no til is great for beans after corn. And mine isn't all that bad to adjust. Just takes a little time. But provides a great stand of grass in sod. Have never tried no til alfalfa... And I'm planning on getting a brillion for my worked land for grass and mainly alfalfa. I have used my no til in conventional tilled land as well with great results.


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## Supa Dexta (May 28, 2014)

I like a brillion job too, but haven't found one for the right price. So I use my IH 5100 for everything. Its been a good seeder that I picked up for a song... and I ain't a very good singer.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

deadmoose said:


> I like the neighbors in the background. Or lack thereof. Still nice and green down there? Or were vids older.


Older video but yeah not too many neighbors. This property is actually a little ways away from the main farm. Trees are either yellow now or have dropped most of their leaves. Trees didn't have pretty leaves here this year.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Grateful11 said:


> Wife traded an old JD FB-B Drill for a new JD BD1108 conventional drill a few years ago and they seem to like it a lot. She ordered it with the marking tires and 2" press wheels. Son just got through with the last 12 acres of Oats yesterday. I tried to get her to go no-till but it was a no-go.
> 
> Son
> 
> ...


Where's the grass seed attachment?  ....it can still be added.

Regards, Mike


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## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

I'll probably just keep my eye open for whatever has the better deal between a seeder and a drill. First step is buying my own tractor and upgrading from my Dad's 560.

Does anyone do custom seeding or drilling? Wondering who is typically responsible for the field prep? I don't run many acres so I'd love to do some custom work.


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## Supa Dexta (May 28, 2014)

Any neighbours around that could do it? Over the years I've had every aspect hired out in one way or another. I mostly stick to myself now though, I'll trade some work here and there - but no one to blame but myself if something doesnt work out.


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## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

Supa Dexta said:


> Any neighbours around that could do it? Over the years I've had every aspect hired out in one way or another. I mostly stick to myself now though, I'll trade some work here and there - but no one to blame but myself if something doesnt work out.


The custom hire that we had a few years ago we weren't happy with the stand that we got, as well as the mixture that we were looking for. Very few neighbors seeding/drilling, which is what there might be a good market for custom work.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Have you thought about the Haybuster Drill? There's a quite a few of them in use around here. I know one guy runs two 10 footers both with the small seed box option.

http://www.haybuster.com/hb/SeedDrills.html


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## Hokelund Farm (Feb 4, 2014)

Grateful11 said:


> Have you thought about the Haybuster Drill? There's a quite a few of them in use around here. I know one guy runs two 10 footers both with the small seed box option.
> 
> http://www.haybuster.com/hb/SeedDrills.html


Looks like a pretty slick machine, but might be out of my budget. If I was just getting for on farm use I'd want to stay under $5000 for sure, if I think I have time for custom work I'd look up around $7,500.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

A neighbor bought a crustbuster no till drill that he seems to like. However he was drilling grass seed at the middle of October so it probably won't come up as that is not a good time of year at all to plant here. So he either will blame the drill or the seed.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Anyone ever make a small no-till drill for fixing patches you had to round up? Just laying down timothy. I have plow disc brillion for redoing whole field but I can't be putting dead furrows to redo a 200 x 200 patch of say milkweed.

I was think one 4 or 5 foot gang off a disc with an old cut down small seed box in back. Make a rack to pile a few hundred lb of weight on it a gauge wheel behind.

Timothy is pretty cheap to seed heavy fixing little areas.

I suppose a coulter cart for the brillion could accomplish the same thing.


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## Supa Dexta (May 28, 2014)

A good sized tiller is handy for wet spots once dried and redo's on small areas. You can usually blend them in pretty well, and they cut up the soil pretty well for planting. They are a little slow, but so is going around unfinished spots in a field.


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