I'm after some advice on buying a seed drill with a maximum 3m working width. I'll be looking to use on land with a high clay content, mainly on pastures. At most, it will have a yet to purchased disc harrow through it first. I was looking at the Massey Ferguson 130 as I think they could do the job, but have no experience drilling so if anyone has experience/suggestions in this area then it would be appreciated. Researching online, it looks like the Moore unidrill would be ideal, but for the amount of work it will do, I cannot justify the expense.
No till seed drill
- Thread starter Livestockandveg
- Start date
What do you want to drill? What area, and what budget?
Have a look here for a starter on the MF130.
thefarmingforum.co.uk
Then tootle across to the DD part of the forum for more advice and research.
Have a look here for a starter on the MF130.
Massey ferguson 30 drill
Hello farmers, I am new here and like to say hello. Could anybody help me with this question: I would like to buy a massey Ferguson seeder 30 with 4 meter wide. I am planning to use it on my no-till land, it is light and sandy soil. I am writing from north germany. Do you think this could work...
thefarmingforum.co.uk
Then tootle across to the DD part of the forum for more advice and research.
Thanks, I saw that thread, we have very different soil (lots of clay), which I am assuming would make a significant difference. But thanks for drawing the DD part of the forum to my attention, I'd missed that. We'll be sowing a mix of things from grass seed, to wildflowers, to oats.
The area we'll be doing is small, I'd think an area of no more than a few acres.
Budget-wise, that's tricky, but as ever it's a case of as little as possible. At a stretch we could maybe push to £2000
The area we'll be doing is small, I'd think an area of no more than a few acres.
Budget-wise, that's tricky, but as ever it's a case of as little as possible. At a stretch we could maybe push to £2000
- Location
- Ceredigion
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
I was going to suggest the same. £2k on an unsuitable for ‘a few acres’ seems lavish, depending on the OP’s definition of ‘a few’ of course.
@Bossfarmer describes his 1000ac as a small farm.
Fully agree on the use of a Contractor, if there is one locally who will do the job!! I bought my Aitchison as it was impractical to get a contractor to do my work, as and when I wanted it done!I was going to suggest the same. £2k on an unsuitable for ‘a few acres’ seems lavish, depending on the OP’s definition of ‘a few’ of course.
@Bossfarmer describes his 1000ac as a small farm.
Probably a poor decision as a straight financial one, but as we all know farming is often a bit more than just numbers....Well, I describe our humble Shropshire holding as a "glorified hobby farm", it's all a matter of perspective!
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We're too low on any contractor's list of priorities. They, understandably, want to crack on with the big jobs on the larger farms around us.
Our farm is genuinely small, in terms of drilling I would be surprised if we ever did more than 10 acres in a year, and that would be a big year. This is why the budget has to be small and why I was wondering if an older and cheaper machine could do the job. Like I say, new to this side of things, much more comfortable around livestock than machinery.
Our farm is genuinely small, in terms of drilling I would be surprised if we ever did more than 10 acres in a year, and that would be a big year. This is why the budget has to be small and why I was wondering if an older and cheaper machine could do the job. Like I say, new to this side of things, much more comfortable around livestock than machinery.
Where are you based...? There may be a farmer operator in your area who could help out where the pressure is lower than with a contractor... There will other TTF'ers from your area who might know.
The problem will be finding a working drill for your budget I suspect if you decide to buy.
I wonder if something like a Logic spider seeder would do your job though. Very rare 2nd hand though, as I found when I sold my 1m drill a couple of years ago, I could have sold it 10 times over!
- Location
- Ceredigion
I would forget direct drilling then , just go for, min till, buy a cheap rotovater or rotor spike roundup it first, one shallow pas ,roll it then broadcast seed then roll again ,works fantastic
- Location
- Near Colchester
Given the right weather and grass situation DD would be good I reckon for this sort of thing.
Wasn't the 130 the old 20 row direct drill? If so it would be ideal. They are as common as rocking horse poo though in any sort of order and I think that there were small seed rollers for them too. It was a long time ago though and doubtless someone will know better.
Wasn't the 130 the old 20 row direct drill? If so it would be ideal. They are as common as rocking horse poo though in any sort of order and I think that there were small seed rollers for them too. It was a long time ago though and doubtless someone will know better.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Did you also say your going to disc it first, believe me or not but all you need is a vicon wagtail , your using and expensive drill just to put seed on
We'll put some sort of harrow through it first. Contractors haven't been keen to put their power harrows through it. I've looked at buying a disc harrow but concerned that in what is a rather dock heavy field, we'll just be spreading that everywhere and disturbing the seed bank.
There's years of thatch in it so I was thinking maybe get hold of a spring tine harrow, does anyone have experience using these? I have some but whilst I'm confident it would thin out the thatch, not so sure it will expose bare earth that we could then establish a wildflower meadow in - that is the ultimate goal for this part of where I'm working.
I also need to be able to work rows in an orchard where we want to be able to sow into, these are around 3-4m wide, and this is why I'm rather limited on the size of kit that we buy - not to mention we don't have a big tractor just a 100hp New Holland.
In answer to not going no till and using roundup - that is currently not an option for us, though I am sure it would work well.
There's years of thatch in it so I was thinking maybe get hold of a spring tine harrow, does anyone have experience using these? I have some but whilst I'm confident it would thin out the thatch, not so sure it will expose bare earth that we could then establish a wildflower meadow in - that is the ultimate goal for this part of where I'm working.
I also need to be able to work rows in an orchard where we want to be able to sow into, these are around 3-4m wide, and this is why I'm rather limited on the size of kit that we buy - not to mention we don't have a big tractor just a 100hp New Holland.
In answer to not going no till and using roundup - that is currently not an option for us, though I am sure it would work well.