Forges de Niaux 200 vs Ingersoll (blades for JD 50/60/90 drills)
by Matt Hagny One important reason why the Forges de Niaux 200s stay sharp longer than Ingersolls: The Niauxs start out with ~3/4" of bevel, vs ~5/8" on the Ingersolls (see photo). That’s over 1.5° smaller angle (13 vs 14.5°) at the edge, which is a significant...
read morePeer SeedXtreme bearings
by Matt Hagny One of our competitors touts their use of SeedXtreme bearings. Are they in fact better? The SeedXtreme bearing uses 6 seals per side (12 total), versus the typical 2 or 3 seals per side that are commonly used in ag bearings (such as gauge wheels and...
read moreExapta’s No-Till Seeding School: planter results
by Matt Hagny Read the full article here. Download a PDF of the...
read moreDuraLok vs competitors & OEM (firming wheels on JD 50/60/90 drills)
by Matt Hagny At Exapta, we take performance very seriously. We spend a lot of time analyzing what needs to be accomplished and how best to accomplish it. And a lot of time and $$ prototyping. We think the results speak for themselves. We have dozens of farmers who...
read moreDeere ‘Pro’-series NT drills: Worth it?
by Matt Hagny We’ve been waiting decades for Deere to come out with improvements to their 90-series no-till drill openers. Now that it’s finally happened, it’s mostly a yawn—almost everything has already been surpassed in aftermarket products. For instance, Deere is...
read moreNo-till Drill Rebuild Services
JD 50/60/90/Pro-series drill rebuilds and upgrades Don’t have the time or inclination to crawl around on your drill doing the necessary maintenance? Wanting UniForce, but hesitant to deal with the install? Give us a call, and we can recommend air drill rebuilder...
read moreCover-crop Seeding This Fall
by Matt Hagny If you don’t already have your cover-crop rye and triticale seed purchased, now is a great time to get that plan underway for when your corn crop is harvested. The benefits and management techniques I’ve written about previously here still hold. The...
read moreDrilling Wheat in Wet Conditions
by Matt Hagny Once again, it looks like much of North America’s winter wheat region will be faced with an early fall, with lots of rain—so says a forecasting service that I subscribe to and follow closely for long-range forecasts and who’ve proven remarkably accurate...
read moreKeep corn stalks standing
by Matt Hagny Following up on my Dec 2013 newsletter: To keep more corn stalks standing (thus making it easier to seed into, as well as making them last longer), it appears that one of the most effective tools is to get the head slowed down sufficiently. For instance,...
read moreCase P-500 closing arm: bushings pack with dirt
by Matt Hagny The pivots for the Case P-500 / NH 2080’s packer/closing arm have a bad tendency to pack full of dirt and stop moving, often requiring yearly removal and cleaning. Several producers have installed grease fittings to prevent this (see photo): “It seems to...
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