Sunday, March 18, 2012

Time to sow alfalfa!

Endgate seeder: : a seeding machine attached to the rear of a wagon or truck and used to broadcast seeds.

Though I don't have a picture of my neighbor's endgate seeder wagon that I have used a couple of times over the years, here is a similar one and one with more paint that's for sure.  These have been used for decades and I estimate my neighbor's has probably been used on his farm for 50 years.
 
However, this is 2012 and when a farmer has better options why not right?  This is my friend, Scott's, Cat MT 765B track tractor and Chandler 10 ton fertilizer spreader.  This spreader is built more for fertilizer and lime but worked for seeding oats/alfalfa too.
 This shows the alfalfa seed being delivered to the spreader wheels.  And of course every endgate seeder has a rider and a driver so I am taking these pictures on the fly while seeding.  Scott was laughing about the fact every seeder no matter how technologically advanced has a rider in the wagon.  We were unsure whether the seed was being spread because the setting on the computer was much, much lower than any other normal setting.

2 comments:

  1. After posting this Sarah commented that this is an enthralling post and almost nobody reads our blog for my farm updates. I apologize to any annoyed readers. -Dan-

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  2. While I don't usually read your blog for farm updates, I still found it very educational. Thanks for teaching this city girl something about farm life. :) Erin

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