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Iffin you want to drill: A drill is a planter. It has a hopper, seed dispenser, chute to get the seed to the soil openers, soil openers, and soil smoothers. It is a drag implement that is ground driven. No PTO, no hydraulics. Some come with fertilizer dispensers. 1.The hopper is a box for inputting the seed. If you're lucky, there will still be instructions inside as to planting rate and settings for the seed of choice. Problems are usually rust. There is a little stirrer in there to keep the seed from packing that may or may not be intact. I don't need it for wheat, oats, and sorghum hay. 2. The seed dispenser is a gear sort of thing that you can increase or decrease the area (of) allowing for variations in seed size and planting rates. It is on the bottom of the hopper and is chain driven from the wheels. The seeds load up in it's teeth, and it rolls out the desired density. 3. Chute is nothing more than a flexible tube that insures that the seed falling from the dispenser falls where you want it....behind the soil opener(s). 4. Soil openers are merely one or 2 discs which make a small furrow in the soil for the seed. These are spring mounted with a variable tensioner for different depths on different soils. 5. Smoother is merely a chain with a couple of large rings on it that bounce around behind where the seed dropped to slap a little dirt over the seed.
----- --- Purchase price varies as does quality. Mines a 12 footer and paid $600 for it. I like the Deere as it has a galvanized hopper and it doesn't rust. All the ground opener wheels need to be present and turn freely. The chutes need to be intact and all there. There is a trip mechanism that raises the planters for transport which should be operable. Maintenance: Keep dry and clean up after planting. No seed left in hopper or dispenser. keep cutters and other moving parts greased or oiled (chains). It will sit outside if necessary but under a shed is always better. Some in my area use the fertilizer spreader that their fertilizer comes in, to spread their seed, but it is haphazard and you have no real control on quality of stand. You can tell the ones that use it by the quality (lack thereof) of their stand. HTH Mark
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