Seeders broadcaster vs seed drill

[dennisleary]

Anybody have an opinion about a broadcaster vs a seed drill? I have 28 acres I want to covercrop with ryegrass/vetch, so I'm undecided about which one to buy. Based on what I've googled and read, plus conversations with my farmer friends, a broadcaster is more versatile, and cheaper, and simpler to use, but I wonder if I would waste lots of seed, and get a patchy field, and feed the birds to boot. A seed drill seems like it would produce more consistent results, but I don't like the idea of having an expensive piece of equipment sitting around 363 days of the year, you know what I mean? Thanks very much.

 

[Green Power]

I would get a drill the savings in not wasting seed will pay for itself. For as little land as you are going to use it for you will probably do fine with one that is missing some paint.

 

[Fallon]

Common wisdom around here is its cheaper to rent a drill than use your own broadcaster you have lying around. Seed savings is just that good.

A no till drill means no plowing & associated topsoil & moisture loss too.

 

[flusher]

Standard rule of thumb: broadcasting yields about 60% germination, drilling about 90%. Reason for that difference is the fact that broadcast seed just falls on the surface and is not pressed into good contact with the soil (unless you make another pass with a cultipacker over the broadcast field).

Ryegrass and vetch seeds are pretty tiny, so you'd need to find a grain drill that has grass seed boxes attached to the main hopper, which is used to plant larger size seeds like oats, wheat, etc.

I bought two old Minneapolis Moline P3-6 grain drills (10 ft wide, 20 drops, single disc openers) from a neighbor for $275. Used the parts from both to make one good drill. Added a hydraulic cylinder to raise the openers out of the soil while making turns. Total cost: less than $500.



Here's a couple of photos of Kanota oats planted with that drill.



The drill plants in rows separated with 6 inch spacing. If you want a solid stand with 90% germination you need to consider something like a Brillion grass seeder. You can rent these sometimes at county ag agencies. They show up on eBay regularly. A 5-fti wide Brillion goes for $3K or so.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I Have planted many acres by just broadcasting. But I always disc the field after seeding and get the good sold crop without the extra costs.

 

[jeff9366]

How much land prep can be AVOIDED by using a seed drill rather than a broadcast spreader?


(What can you drill through when planting seed with a seed drill?)

 

[Fallon]

Having researched a bit, but never used one... A NO TILL drill just needs the area to be mowed. A drill needs it tilled & possibly smoothed.

 

[kneedeep]

I broadcast seed/fertilizer mix from a cone spreader and drag it with chainlink fence with tires tied on top for years at old deer camp. always got a good stand but had to spray, wait 2 weeks, disc the edges, burn off the thick mat of dead grass, disc 3-4 times to get a seedbed.

I planted a 2 acre field this year the same way




I also drilled 5 acres of bean stubble with a Taylor Pasture Dream




after 1 week and 2" of rain
plowed field

drilled field


After 2 weeks

plowed


Drilled field




Same amount of seed and fertilizer

 

[JimRB]

I have broadcast rye grass seed and then used the chain drag harrow on established pastures. Fairly good germination. Just broadcasting not so good.

 

[super55]

ryegrass and hairy vetch establish pretty easily and compete well with weeds so you will get good stand most likely either way. Generally with broadcast you can plan on using 1.5-2x the amount of seed over using a drill.

I have a broadcast spreader and drill. For larger seeds such as grasses, cereal grains, peas and vetch and such the choice is the drill every time. Better metering and gets the seed in the dirt. For smaller seeds like clovers, brassicas and alfalfa I will go ahead and broadcast it. It's really hard to meter the small seed through the drill without a filler.

If you are doing 28 acres the only thing I would consider is a drill.