Bullwinkle
Active Member
No, it's someone else
What Planter to Get
- Thread starter Stevieray
- Start date
Stevieray
Active Member
I have decided to get the Golden Valley GV60C. I like the fact that it is made in Oklahoma . I understand that it is not a agricultural drill but it will sure beat pulling my broadcast spreader with my ATV and then following up pulling the Packer Max cultipaker with the ATV.
Just my opinion but i would definitely wait on the 3' version of the Genesis
Most of these "all in one units" I've seen are just a disk,drop seeder and packer welded together that will not get the job done in one pass and not even close to the job a true seed drill will do. Resale value on those units are also very poor. All of the drills I've seen in action will plant corn/beans with excellent results.
Bullwinkle
Active Member
I think they are gimmicks. May work ok in light sandy soil but not much else. i bet most who buy stuff like that end up kicking themselves. I have a heavy duty 9' disk and have to make 4-5 passes to get a good soil bed.
The 60" is rated a 4.5 acres an hour so in an 8 hour day you could probably do ,about 20 acres,
the 36" should do about an acre+ per hour, so about 10 acres.
Bullwinkle
Active Member
It takes me about 1 hour/acre with my 7' no till Great Plains drill. Don't fall for it. Just trying to share my experience
I can tell you've never used one before, they have been used for 100's of years and are very efficient. I quit using a disk 15 years ago because it takes so many passes and such an exorbitant amount of time and fuel. There only achilles heal are rocks.
I don't mean to be rude, but how much experience do you have planting? Those numbers are completely unrealistic in my opinion. I've planted with a 5 ft drill, 2 row planted, 7 ft no till drill, and 10 foot conventional drill, and even in the best circumstances it takes me AT BEST 30 minutes per acre.
Does anyone here think it's realistic to plant 4.5 acres in one hour with a 60" wide drill? I will be happy to admit I'm wrong if that's the consensus. Assuming the ground has already been prepared and the seed bed is perfect, I would plan on 45 minutes per acre with a 5 foot drill, longer for 3 footer. No till will speed things up considerably, but still not anywhere close to what you're expecting.
Bullwinkle
Active Member
No I haven't. 100's of years??? Really? Buy me they used horses
About 250-300 acres of food plots over the years. And that is why I said 20 acres, which is about 2.5 acres an hour, and yes it does depend on field shape and many other factors but there is no doubt it is the most efficient way to plant.
There are somethings like NWSG seed boxes that you would have to decide if you are going to plant it on a regular basis or 1 time and be done.I broadcast all my NWSG by using switch.I use a Kasco min till 3pt and it cost alot less than that and was a trade in that bought from kasco
This is what I average with the same drill. I will say that we have lots of rocks. I laugh every time I see planter ads where they are planting in awesome looking loam with not a rock in sight. How about a real world plot? Even if we didn't have the rocks I am not sure I could do 2 acres an hour, but maybe I baby the equipment.
Bullwinkle
Active Member
I baby mine too although the GP is built like a tank. Hope to make mine a lifetime purchase
If i go to fast the coulture and disks bounce on my rocks. I don't get the seed where they need to be. Especially beans and corn
swat1018
Well-Known Member
I also drill about an acre an hour with my GP. It's not just the small working width that troubles me, but it's the diminishing return you will get with a drill that is also that small, and thus light. Some times by 6' GP that weighs a bunch doesn't want to cut the ground well enough.
No way it drills anything at 4.5 ac/hr.
Triple C
Well-Known Member
Respectfully disagree with you bugeye. Been using a Plotmaster T600 tractor series since 2011. 2 sets of disc harrows in front of seed box. We now do every plot in one pass. Spray with gly about 4 to 6 weeks prior to planting and then plant into the dead matter with one pass. First pic is a plot that has been planted for years. One pass back in late September with buck forage oats and this is what it looked like a few weeks ago.
Next 2 pics are in ground that was clear cut and then stumps removed and piled in mid September. Still debris such as sticks and limbs on top of ground. Followed destumping with one pass of rye grain just to get something growing in the new plot. You can see the rows where the seed drops into the furrows created by the discs on the unit.
Ground level view with debris still in the field after clean up. Stumps piled for burning. Planted right over the sticks, limbs and such in one pass.
These "one pass" planters are by no means a no-till drill but they are well built and probably less maintenance. Haven't done anything to ours as far as repairs since purchase in 2011. Weighs about 1400 lbs and built really well. The Woods and firmnator appear to be just as heavy and well built. I like the fact they the cultipacker is under the Woods and Firminator rather than free floating behind the Plotmaster. At any rate, they are well built pieces of equipment and work well for food plotting.
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The ac/hour rating any company uses isn't real world planting time. They calculate the rate on the sticker at the maximum recommended planting speed, driving in a straight line for an hour. For a 60" drill driving at the maximum recommended planting speed (7.5 mph) in a straight line for 1 hour you would theoretically plant 4.5 acres. However, obviously no food plot is a 5 foot wide strip for 7.5 miles.... so in the real world it take more time to plant per acre with all the variations in soil, speed, turns, and irregular field shapes that most of our food plots have and require.
60 in. / 12 in. = 5' - Working Width of Drill
5 ft. / 5280 (ft./mi.) = .000947 mi. - Working Width of Drill
.000947 (mi.) x 7.5 (mi./hr.) = .007102 (sq. mi./hr.) - Area Planted
.007102 (sq. mi./hr.) x 640 (ac./sq. mi.) = 4.5 (ac./hr.) - Area Planted
60 in. / 12 in. = 5' - Working Width of Drill
5 ft. / 5280 (ft./mi.) = .000947 mi. - Working Width of Drill
.000947 (mi.) x 7.5 (mi./hr.) = .007102 (sq. mi./hr.) - Area Planted
.007102 (sq. mi./hr.) x 640 (ac./sq. mi.) = 4.5 (ac./hr.) - Area Planted
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