air drills - the ugly stuff

[gordonn]

we are doing some air drill shopping and the two brands we like the most are the bourgualt's and the flexi-coil's. Well, I have heard of all the "good" and some of the "bad" stuff about them, so I would like to hear from some you guys who own them - the good, bad, and ugly. What about the mid-row banders - do they work well and live up to bourgualt's arm waving? Does the protein in your wheat seem to have increased because of the later uptake of nitrogen? Thanks guys.

[frustrated1]

been in the same spot you're at. even on the morning i finally bought one. still glad i made the decission to buy the flexicoil. biggest reason is the simplicity in setting the seed rate. no chains and sprockets to "come close" to being right. seen the neighbours more than once looking for thier sprockets in the field because they forgot to tighten them proper or simply left "the rest of them" laying on the frame of the cart. i bought my flexi-coil tank in 1994 and have yet to weigh a sample. take the density and set it by the book. honestly, i've never had the weigh boxes off the machine. see the neighbour out with his weigh bag way too many times for my liking. i'm not that patient.

mid row banders. neighbour bought a used bourgault this spring. took all the banders off before they started. replaced the discs and brgs. by time they seeded thier2000acres they'd redid 2 sets of brgs and managed to snap 5 banders right off by turning with them in the ground. granted, that barton opener that was on the 6000 flexicoil was pretty high maintenance as well.

whatever you decide, make sure you get a drill with true on row packing. those plastic things on the bourgault cultivator are a joke(i know, it's not a drill). even the neighbours tossed those out and put harrows on.

we run the 5000 drill. nice, heavy machine that has yet to cause us any grief. we're now due to replace the hoses next spring but that's maintenance.

best of luck in the decision.

[rook]

We run a Bourgault 5710 and so far have seeded about 4000 ac with good luck. A burst hydraulic hose is all the trouble I can think of. Just regular maintenance on the MRBs, although we will likely replace the disks for next spring as they're smaller than when we started.

The drill works well and we like the MRB. We've grown very good wheat crops with the machine with high protein, however the last couple of years have been dry so that's not necessarily a comment on the MRB. THis year will be more of a test. It seems to prepare a good seedbed and pulls easy.

The monitor is good and it has the cab adjustable rate setting. We do weigh and calibrate when switching crops and fertilizer blends and it is very accurate. We have enough recorded densities that we wouldn't need to do this anymore but we're in the habit and with the high cost of product we want to ensure accuracy.

All in all, we're satisfied with the machine. Now that we're comfortable with direct seeding we'll probably be switching to narrower openers to reduce disturbance more.

There's lots of both machines in the country so you probably can't go wrong.

[countryguy]

"those plastic things on the bourgault cultivator are a joke"


The real joke is that I can grow as good or better crops with those plastic things than the fanciest of airdrills in the area with less than half the investment.

[frustrated1]

sorry, didn't mean to offend anyone. i tell the truth when i say the neighbours threw thier's away. you must be in the land of consistant rains. we are not. every drop of moisture we disturb we try to pack back in. i do agree if you have regular rains there is no problem growing a good crop with a cultivator. plastic wheels or harrows. i've got a friend who gets good crops with 2or 3 tillage passes. and rain. but i'm also custom seeding the neighbours with my 5000. he works for a farmer with the bourgault cultivator. my point being if you need the moisture conservation, buy a drill with the on row packing. either make.

[cris]

We have a 5710 with MRB's. What many people don't know is that there are two shank layouts on drills with MRB's and without. The first year we bought the drill without the MRB's and the dill would go through any kind and length of stubble. We purchased MRB's the next year and moved all the shanks and added banders and discovered we didn't have a good enough straw management plan.
we have seeded 20,000 acres on a 54' drill with our banders and have not changed a coulter or bearing, but they have been greased daily. The coulters are ready to be changed now and we will make a decide on the bearings as well.
We are mostly very happy with the drill. We have moved and reconfigured layout and have made it a bit better. We only have trouble in wet conditions with heavy straw. The other thing I should confess is we refuse to harrow. Zero means Zero.
The thing we like the best is Nitrogen seperation, no question if high N rates are safe. Depth of seeding can be so accurate canola is easy to seed at ½ inch. The packing is good enough to bring moisture up to shallow seeding. Good luck shopping!!!

[dhewlitt]

I have seeded over 30,000 acres with a 45' Flexi 5000 over the last 5 years.
Others around have used Borg's with no Problems.
MRB is a sure way to be fertilizer safe but does leave the fertilizer in the middle of no where in my opinion. Liquid and sulfer may get you safe and high protein as it has for us.

[dhewlitt]

you can email me direct if you wish to discuss any of this.
hewlitt.d@sasktel.net