[Teslan]

From the first comment I guess you don't have a drill or hay planter at all. Depending on the size of farm you have I guess it would be good to get a Brillion. A few years ago I was considering a Brillion. But a few things stopped me. One was that that I have a good Great Plains 3 point drill that is 15 feet. It plants in 6 inch rows and has never failed planting anything we have tried with it (wheat, rye, oats, alfalfa, teff, orchard, brome). Always a good stand. So I figured finally why do I want to spend the money on a Brillion that might do a slightly better job and will be smaller? So hard to go smaller. Even if it is just 3 feet. There is a considerable lack of good used Brillions in our area. If there are any they are in much much poorer condition then our Great Plains. And new they are just too expensive to buy for a planting every few years when we already have a good drill.

So I recommend buying one only if you don't have a drill or planter or one that just doesn't work good.

On another note. We have a neighbor that has tried all kinds of different grass drills over the past 10 years. He has always ended up being mad at the dealer that sold them to him or hating the drills themselves. He had a crust buster drill for his last disappointment. But he has not ever tried 3 brands. Brillion, John Deere or Great Plains. The best hay planting drills there are. I suspect he hasn't tried Brillion or Great Plains because he must not like the dealer for some reason.

So if you can afford it buy the best you can. Hay planters can last a very very long time if stored inside. Think about it. You don't plant hay all that much. Not like a corn planter. It's just the overcoming the thought of spending money on something you might not use that much or could even not use at all for a year or more. There's been a few years our drill hasn't come out of the building at all. But it sure has been nice to have over the last 25 years.

 

[Teslan]

Yes, if I didn't need one but ever ten years then if would be difficult to buy. Here, I use mine every other year it seems like. I have to re-do my Orchard grass fields every 5-6 years here...same with Timothy. I guess the heat shortens their span more so than further North. I used mine last fall, this spring, and again in about 3 weeks.

Regards, Mike

I'm curious Mike. Why do you have to redo your orchard fields every 5-6 years there? Weed presence? Stand dies out? I ask because unless you want to change crops and you are a somewhat decent farmer here you never have to redo an orchard field. We have one orchard/brome field that is at least 40 years old. It's like a lawn it's so thick. And produces as well as a field 3 years old.

 

[Teslan]

Like I said, I guess it is the heat that makes them get thinner and thinner. OG is a bunch grass so it does have a tendency here to get that way( thin clumps). I have never heard of a OG field lasting 40 years. You folks can count yourself lucky as I don't know of anyone on this side of the Mississippi that gets one to last that long. I know that some varieties of Brome last a long time....but I sure never heard of OG lasting as long as you state.

Regards, Mike

It could be the heat. Since yours doesn't get cool at night. For the most part we go to 60 degrees or less every night of the year. Maybe a longer dormant period helps also. Maybe since your soil holds more moisture machinery traffic might also hurt during harvest. Also do you have to spray herbicide yearly? I've decided herbicide on grass hay fields for the most part isn't a good thing unless the weeds are bad. Every time I've sprayed new seedings the orchard/brome really gets stunted for that cutting. We don't spray any of our established fields. No need to. I want you know I didn't mean to sound like I think our area is better. I just haven't heard of anyone around here having to replant orchard grass or any grass due anything but changing crops or lousy irrigation. So I was curious.

 

[Teslan]

I am sure Ralph Moses is right about compaction/traffic hurting grasses in our clay soils. I usually do not have to spray very much herbicide, but I may have to spray the first year of a new stand to kill the weeds that I stirred up.

Regards, Mike

Yes same here with spraying. Coop guy always seems kinda shocked I don't want to spray for weeds. Why spray if you don't have to..