West River, SD | Steiger Man - 3/24/2017 13:08
That's another thing. We've resisted disc drills because of the high maintenance. I have one friend who runs two 60ft 1890s and they get 5,000 acres out of each one before having to replace the discs which is every year. They farm a lot of acres. We bought a used 30ft 1890 last year to go with our two hoe air drills. We bought it to seed cover crops, grass, alfalfa, and just to experiment with. Might have to eventually upgrade to disc drills if this way of farming takes off. Another thing we are looking at is Shelbourne stripper headers. Our JD dealer sells them and we are hoping to rent one and do some test fields. If that works we definitely will need a disc drill for that.
I would bet that you will not need a disc drill if you get a stripper head. A stripper head might even help a hoe drill get through residue, since the straw is basically attached the the ground. A few people around here have a hoe drill and combine with a stripper head. It works fine, and this is probably a higher yield area than your location. I hear that the key to getting a hoe drill to work well in high residue conditions is 12" spacing, which I am guessing you have.
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Summer Fallowers: what are you spraying?
