Air seeder vs double hitch drill

[JL2510]

Looks like planting is underway here in Maryland/Southern PA. Something I've wondered and I always forget to ask when I'm around my family that farms- If a guy wants a bigger grain drill than 15', I've seen 2 options. Deere's with a double hitch and 2 ten foot no till drills. Then I've also been seeing more 30' air seeders around this area the last few years. What are the pros and cons of the two set ups?

Im guessing there's no air lines and therfore more simplicity with a standard no till drill over the air drills. Can you hook 2 fifteen footers together on one of those double hitches? Maybe not practical?

Saw a double hitch go down the road again today and reminded me.

 

[SVcummins]

Air drill is the way to go because of the big seed tank . Even with the old case ih 8500 air drill I could do 40 acres on one tank full . Pulled it with an 8400 John Deere at 8.0 mph 45 foot hoe drill .

 

[Brendon-KS]

There are lots of options available for folding box drills in the 20 to 40 foot range in both conventional and no-till varieties. Deere, Great Plains, Crustbuster, Sunflower, Kuhn/Krause, Landoll and others are all players in the folding box drill market. Air seeders have the advantage of having a very large seed and fertilizer capacity but are more expensive than a folding box drill of similar width.

 

[SVcummins]

Case ih drill

 

[coonie minnie]

Deere and others made a hitch to put 2 15 foot no-till drills together... probably more common than 2 10 foots, at least as you go west.

The air seeder is probably a bit less cumbersome to fold up in wider widths, and I think they come quite a bit wider than a double drill hitch.

 

[showcrop]

Last I knew a dairy farm in northern NH where I hung out as a kid was planting their corn with a conventional 36 row Kinze that simply raised up and pivoted in order to go from road to field.

 

[SVcummins]

 

[Ozlander]

(quoted from post at 10:23:26 04/07/21)
<img src=https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto84194.jpg>

Now there's a sweetie.

 

[coonie minnie]

I bet someone took the time to hook all the drills like that in transport mode about once! My dad had a tandem planter hitch. He learned quickly to run down the road, either with an escort, at 3am when nobody was up.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 10:15:38 04/07/21)

(quoted from post at 10:23:26 04/07/21)
<img src=https://www.yesterdaystractors.com/cvphotos/cvphoto84194.jpg>

Now there's a sweetie.

Well maybe, Ozlander, but she also looks like she could chew SV right up and spit him out if she were to be annoyed.

 

[JL2510]

Well that is just neat! Never seen anything like that around here. Grandad always ran a 15' Deere no till box drill as long as I remember. 750 I think, then 1560, then 1590. My Uncle still has one of those for tight areas and bought a 30' air drill a few years back. Fields here are typically irregular and small.

A few years ago I saw one of those tandem hitches with 2 10' 1560 drills. Saw another yesterday then. Got me wondering.

Thanks for the answers

 

[SVcummins]

Yes but what a way to go

 

[SVcummins]

Probably why its a cartoon drawing . Probably also why the Donahue trailer I posted the other day was born I cant imagine hooking up 5 drills like that end to end . We had a double drill hitch for the international 14 foot ihc 620 drills and it was a pain to hook and unhook them to move

 

[SVcummins]

My cousin pulled 4 John Deere lz unit drills behind a 36 foot cultivator for a quite a few years . The neighbor had a newer John Deere hoe drill that was 4 drills wide but it had an end wheel transport

 

[SVcummins]

John Deere has a 70 foot wide air drill and so does bourgault

 

[caterpillar guy]

Big advantage to the air seeders is the transportability and the seed capacity. Drill holds about 2 bushel to the foot and air seeder holds 100or more bushels of seed to do more acres per fill. The folding frame with one seed tank in the middle is quick and easy for transport. A local guy here had a pair of hyraulically folding tandem hitch drills back in the 80's or 90's he pulled with a eagle beaker.(2+2)