how to use a grain drill

bass

Member
need help here. just bought a JD FB-B grain drill so I can put in some Sudan in the spring and oats/wheat in the fall and have no idea how to set up or use one.

ok, it aint Red, but its in good shape and useable, and the price was right.

got an operators manual coming in the snail mail; however, in the mean time is there anyone out there in the East Texas area that can help guide/coach/instruct me on how to use a drill.

I'm asking yall cause ive always got good help from this forum

any help will be grateful.

thanks

bass
53superC
 
Pretty much just put the seed in the seed box then either pull the rope to drop the seed discs, which in turn should engage the gears to plant. Pull the rope again when you want to stop planting. If it should happen to have a hydraulic lift set up the same thing for starting it to plant as the rope just with the hydraulic cylinder to raise and drop. If it has 2 boxes front and back one is for seed the other for fertilizer. The seed should have a vertical wheel or cup for the seed to meter through. The other might have a gear looking wheel that turns horizontally to sow fertilizer . Not all have both. Some even have a smaller box in the front of them for small seeds like Clover or alfalfa for seeding hay crops. They will all have a seed setting adjustment even the smaller box on the front. The front smaller box usually has short tubes to drop the hay like seeds just on top of the ground as they don't need much of a cover to make them root and grow.
 
I'm familiar with Ontario drills but I assume all the old drills work similar. There will be different gears that controls rates for fertilizer, seed and grass seed depending on what boxes you have. Your
manual should have a chart with seed rates and what gears to use. If yours has a fertilizer box what kind of shape is it in. Fertilizer boxes rot out quick unless the previous owner has been diligent about
cleaning and protection them.
 
Just make sure you have the hole open set in
correspondence to the gear speed. Usually
they have a chart inside the cover.
 

most drills are marked for either pounds or bushels per acre. Use this as a GUIDELINE,only. Set it there and try to pant an acre or so to see the rats of feed.check frequently. You can adjust it as you go to get the field covered.There is a method used to calibrate by jacking up the drill ,turning the tires to get one acre. Catch the grain and measure. This was taught to us in Ag class.However,I never used it and no longer remember the particulars.I like to do 3-4 rounds around,then go up/down across the field. Others like to go around in circles,then drill out the corners.Choose what method works est for you. However,If you have a book coming,READ it first,then go to work.
 
One more tiny little detail here , Make sure you have the correct tire size on the drill as this too will really mess you up as with most farmers whe a tire goes back they grab what ever will hold air and fit the boot pattern of the hub and tire size and tread design will affect the drilling or planting of a grain drill or corn planter. As i have LEARNED this . I will probably be dragged out of the house and linched over this but i have a GREEN corn planter yep i am coming out of the closet and letting everyone know i have a GREEN corn planter . When i got it it had some of them what ever will fit tires and it was really messed up on population and while Drinking over the situation and thinking WHY it was messed up and not doing what it was suppose to do while looking at it from the rear after counting all the teeth on every sprocket and reading the book and it is still not doing what the Book said i am looking at two car snow tires and it hit me , I went and bought two new tires like what it was suppose to have set the air pressure like the book said and went to planting and it plants as good as a brand new planter at a whole bunch less then the first payment would be on a new one .
 

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