Let's say you had 40-50 acres of food plots to put in. For those that put in 20+ acres.... What do you consider the essential pieces of equipment you have for putting in large food plots - Considering time management?

Don't just say... "Disc". What disk do you have and why do you like it? Does it cut one pass or two, etc.? 3-point or hydraulic?

3-point Sprayer... How big? Boom or Boomless? Why? Would you rather have a UTV sprayer which would be a lot of 40 acres but maybe still manageable? Faster to go back and re-fill for sure.

Drag.. piece of chain link fence with some old tires on it or a nice chain harrow?

Cultipacker?

PTO driven Tiller? How slow is it really? Will 1 pass really get it done?

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I'm just interested in what others are using.... why you like it and does it save time?

I typically just disc, spread seed and disc to cover. Simple, effective and minimal passes with equipment. I'm curious as to what others are doing and not spending 5-6 weekends out there going around in circles with a 4 foot disc on a 30hp tractor.

If I had that much to plant. I would invest in the biggest grain drill I had tractor to pull. I would want a drill that drilled seed and fertilizer. Grain drills are pricey but worth it if you plant a lot. They are much more efficient so you use less seed and fertilizer.

Is this just for deer or also growing crops?

toothdoc - Deer

Snuffy - good call on grain drill. Expensive but you can rent as well. Still going to need to bush hog and poison

On tractors and implements bigger equals better for large acerage. Don’t worry about getting fancy, just get big stuff. As far as a sprayer, boomless is the only way to go for plots.

No till drill & boom type sprayer. Boomless sprayers creates drift and are inefficient

10-12' Great Plains no till drill. NOT a haybuster. 30' 150 gal sprayer on quick hitch. 15' batwing. 100hp tractor. That's about all you'd need.

I agree with 257......If you're only planting winter plots then I don't know if I'd even buy a drill. That's a lot of cost for just planting cereal grains and such. I'd definitely want one for summer plots though.

The biggest and heaviest equipment you can afford. Make sure you can haul it back and forth it needed. Some of that big equipment will need a large hauling outfit and may not be road legal. Eight feet width and under. All implements should be three point hitch instead of drag type. Not all plots will be large enough to maneuver drag type implements around in. Again all this depends on your budget.

Tilling just seems slow because of the speed you drive. One pass will be enough for some plots. If you spray to kill the vegetation, one pass with a tiller will be enough. Look out for stumps.

And rocks

Disagree, I used a 10 foot wheel disk on plots as small as 1/2 acre . Draw bar pulled tillage equipment does a much better job than 3 point. The amount of acreage the OP wants to plant 8 foot , 3 pt equipment would be inadequate IMO.

I did 75-80 acres of great plots with an 85hp tractor, 10ft disk, 250 gallon sprayer, 10 ft Great Plains drill, occasionally used a whirlybird spreader and cultipacker.

Wish there was a “good” market for that service. Using the right equipment and knowledge, it’s pretty dang easy.

I plant about 30-35 acres a year in 3 states combined. Most of my stuff is 8ft so I can haul it. I have a 8’ hydraulic disc, 150 boomless sprayer, 12’ batwing, 8’ cultipacker, and a 7’ tiller. I also have an Adams buggy and a JD 7300 4 row vaccum planter. Thinking about buying a drill but haven’t yet.

If money is not an impediment, definitely do this. It'll save you a bunch of time, and have pretty plots. Spray, then plant after bus hogging. We can't all be rich like 257 though

Hell I didn't say I get any of these much. It's just a wish list. You'll get there faster than me

We plant about 30 acres a year on our place.

100hp tractor
bat wing bush hog
12' disk that is heavy as hell. One pass usually gets it.
250 gal boomless sprayer
12' cultipacker (one of the best investments)

we rent the seed buggy when we buy the seed from WMS. they mix the seed and fertilizer together in the buggy, spread it out and then cultipack.

If one goes out with that exact shopping list looking to buy new, what would that tab run?
"If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it" Yup it's true for me.

The reason I am asking this is... I am about to upgrade one tractor to something around 100hp that will still get around in the woods. I'm thinking about a 90's vintage Deere 6400. I think that size is about max I can get around with and those were simple tractors which is what I'm all about. I wrench on them myself where possible. I've got most of the equipment suggested just need to upgrade a few pieces maybe one size larger i.e. I'd like to go 12' on a drill. I will probably also look around for a Deere 750 drill that needs to be rebuilt.

I was just curious if anyone else was in the same situation and had suggestions.... or if I was overlooking anything. I appreciate the replies fellas.

750 drills are good too. I like the 6400's were solid tractors

Drills are so fast that a good 10’ (Great Plains) is all you need. It’s much more maneuverable, safer to road, less expensive to buy & maintain. I plant several hundred acs a year with a 10’ drill. A 12’ drill is actually about 15’ wide and dangerous on the highway

I've got a 7' Great Plains that I will keep. For the record I don't love it. I don't think small drills like that do a great job they just aren't heavy enough in the fall when the ground is hard, etc. You can mitigate that obviously but if I have to plant on a certain weekend that's when I have to do it. I haven't had any disastrous results but I can't say I'm convinced there is any magic.

Is your 7’ a pull type or 3pt? I really like my 1006 NT pull type. It weighs over 4300# empty and has weight brackets that I’ve never used. Ground penetration has never been a problem

Anybody has a 10 or 8' they run across or know one for sale let me know. I'm in the market