Whitetail deer Food Plot Equipment

[Wolc123]

What do have and what do you use it for ?  What do you like/dislike about it ?  What did it cost ? 
 

I have been putting in food plots for almost (40) years and have acquired a decent collection of stuff.  
 

I started this thread today, because the weather looks like it’s going to be favorable  and I should be able to get a good number  of plots completed by sunset.  

Edited August 5, 2023 by Wolc123

[Buckmaster7600]

The only food plot specific tool I have is my sprayer I built it to do 4 rows of corn/beans. Everything else that I have is leftover from the families  farming days or stuff I also use for my haying/cattle business. 
 

Some of the stuff I use for food plots are 5,3 and 2 bottom plows, disks 12ft pull behind and an 8ft 3pt. 2 chisel plows, a 6ft rototiller,  a grain drill, 4 and 2 row corn planters and a couple 3pt spreaders

 

I have a pretty good deal going with a local small farmer so I keep my hay fields in a very good rotation with corn but I often end up fitting the soil for them to plant corn on otherwise I wouldn’t have a use for the “bigger” equipment as my biggest plots are 2/3 acres. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Buckmaster7600

[Wolc123]

11 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

The only food plot specific tool I have is my sprayer I built it to do 4 rows of corn/beans. Everything else that I have is leftover from the families  farming days or stuff I also use for my haying/cattle business. 
 

Some of the stuff I use for food plots are 5,3 and 2 bottom plows, disks 12ft pull behind and an 8ft 3pt. 2 chisel plows, a 6ft rototiller,  a grain drill, 4 and 2 row corn planters and a couple 3pt spreaders

I started out similarly on a farm has been in our family since the early 1800’s, when my great great grandfather purchased 40 acres from the Holland land company.  There were cattle here from then, until my grandfather passed in 1981. 
 

I started out using his old equipment.  That included the first tractor on the place,  a 1950 John Deere model M, which he bought new (at the urging of grandma), after dad was nearly killed when he was a baby, by a runaway team of draft horses.  
 

My dad still has that tractor, but he hasn’t tried to start it in about 10 years.  He and mom took it over to her old (larger) family homestead farm (on the opposite diagonal corner of wmu 9F from our place) when they  moved over there about 25 years ago.  

He said grandpa bought it because it was the cheapest of the three “big ones” in the area at the time.  There was also  (2) IH dealers (their comparable model C cost a little more), and a Ford dealer.  Those were the most expensive back then and only the rich folks could afford their model 8n.  

 

I put in my first foodplots (white clover), using that old John Deere and it’s mounted 2 x 12” plow.  It also had mounted single row cultivators which worked very well (I liked them way better than the “cultivision” setup that I used for many years later on my first Farmall Cub.  
 

The only piece of grandpas old equipment, that I still use,  is the bearing frame ends from an old wood roller that he used behind his three section drag.  I used those to replace busted ones on an old 8 ft cultipacker that I rebuilt.  

[Robhuntandfish]

Most of my equipment is determination but we do have a 4 wheeler, brush hog, an ATV tiller and two hand rakes.  

[mowin]

I had a set of 6' 3pt discs, a tow behind sprayer, and a 12v seeded.  

Sold the discs and sprayer this spring. Farm owner plants rye for his distillery in September, and after harvesting the crops puts in a mix of clover.  Ya, the are larger fields, that make it more challenging during archery season, but I like the challenge. 

[Robhuntandfish]

So question to the equipment guys.....do disks build up with grass and sod at all?  The tiller we have is difficult to use cause you have to keep lifting and cleaning it up.  It's heavy with cement blocks on it and we have to do it a couple hundred times.  Would a disker work better at that? 

[mowin]

10 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

So question to the equipment guys.....do disks build up with grass and sod at all?  The tiller we have is difficult to use cause you have to keep lifting and cleaning it up.  It's heavy with cement blocks on it and we have to do it a couple hundred times.  Would a disker work better at that? 

I mowed my plots before disking. Never had issues.  

This plot was about a acre, and hadn't been plowed or tilled in 30 yrs. Just baled every yr. I waiting for it to be baled, then disked. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by mowin

[Otto]

My equipment is a 38hp tractor, a 6’ disc, ATV mounted boom sprayer dedicated to weed control, an ATV tow behind spreader for large seed and/or fertilizer, and a hand held Earthway spreader for the tiny seeds.  I’ll also use the 8’ flail mower to keep the plots trimmed later on.  

I’m looking for a 1 or 2 bottom plow to add to the mix, just to get a little better depth on the ground and to get the old grass and weeds under the ground to rot away quicker.  The disc only chews up 3 or 4’ which is usually plenty, but I have to deal with a lot of heavy grass  which does clog up in the disc sometimes.  

[ZAG]

We have a JD tractor with the disk and york rake attachment. Once disked and seeded then we run the rake over to attempt to smooth out the surface.

We have a pull behind (4wheeler) spreader for lime and fert then a couple hand held bag spreaders for the actual seed. At some point a cultipacker is in need. 

[Wolc123]

1 hour ago, Robhuntandfish said:

So question to the equipment guys.....do disks build up with grass and sod at all?  The tiller we have is difficult to use cause you have to keep lifting and cleaning it up.  It's heavy with cement blocks on it and we have to do it a couple hundred times.  Would a disker work better at that? 

The better ones have “cleaners” between the disks and do not.  They also clean out the mud, if you get into wet spots.  Most of the small stuff made these days is crap though, and doesn’t have them.  
 

I also can’t stand 3-point disks.  The 3-point hitch was the worst thing that ever happened to the disk.  One of the prettiest sights, that I can remember on our farm,  was my old 1951 Ford/Ferguson 3-pont disk leaving in the bed of a Craigslist shoppers pickup truck.  
 

Eventually, I got another one (I gave my father in law  $200 for his old one when he moved up to the mountains) because neighbors were always asking me to do small  jobs (gardens etc) for them and I didn’t want complaints from the Highway department for scratching up the road with my pull-type. 
 

I still hate it and I only use it if I absolutely have to drive the tractor down the road.  A pull type disk will do the same job using half the fuel and taking half the number of passes, with the same horsepower.  That’s why I hate 3-point disks.  

If you zoom in you might be able to make out the cleaners on this old Bissel 6 ft pull-type that I keep over at my parents place.  
 

A guy dragged that  one out by the road, around the corner from our place, about 20 years ago.  I think my dad gave him $ 100 for it.  It is a bit undersized for his 20 hp John Deere M, but just right for my 10 hp Farmall Cub.  
 

The Bissells are my second favorite pull-type disks.  They are extremely well made and long lasting.  I like my old JD 8-footer (lower photo) a little better because I can completely control it and adjust it with a rope from my tractor.  That one is just the right size fit my 27 hp Ford 8n, but undersized for my 43 hp JD 4120.  

You got to get off the seat and do the adjusting with the big hand wheel on the front of the Bissels.  
 

A big advantage of using “undersized” tractor drawn tools on food plots is that they work well in less than ideal soil conditions.  While the 3-point hitch was the worst thing to ever happen to a disk, 4wd tractors was the best thing, when it comes to saving fuel.  
 

For that reason, I use my “oversized” 4wd tractor most of the time on the disk.  The soil conditions are seldom if ever ideal, when I am working it. 
 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Wolc123

[Bucksnbows]

My buddy added a Kubota tractor last summer to his new farm near Garrattsville and this year the new tiller. The drag harrow is mine, but I leave it up there. I also own the yellow disc harrow behind the quad which I will sell since my buddy bought the Kubota attachment from Brush Hog. 

[Buckmaster7600]

2 hours ago, Wolc123 said:

The better ones have “cleaners” between the disks and do not.  They also clean out the mud, if you get into wet spots.  Most of the small stuff made these days is crap though, and doesn’t have them.  
 

I also can’t stand 3-point disks.  The 3-point hitch was the worst thing that ever happened to the disk.  One of the prettiest sights, that I can remember on our farm,  was my old 1951 Ford/Ferguson 3-pont disk leaving in the bed of a Craigslist shoppers pickup truck.  
 

Eventually, I got another one (I gave my father in law  $200 for his old one when he moved up to the mountains) because neighbors were always asking me to do small  jobs (gardens etc) for them and I didn’t want complaints from the Highway department for scratching up the road with my pull-type. 
 

I still hate it and I only use it if I absolutely have to drive the tractor down the road.  A pull type disk will do the same job using half the fuel and taking half the number of passes, with the same horsepower.  That’s why I hate 3-point disks.  

If you zoom in you might be able to make out the cleaners on this old Bissel 6 ft pull-type that I keep over at my parents place.  
 

A guy dragged that  one out by the road, around the corner from our place, about 20 years ago.  I think my dad gave him $ 100 for it.  It is a bit undersized for his 20 hp John Deere M, but just right for my 10 hp Farmall Cub.  
 

The Bissells are my second favorite pull-type disks.  They are extremely well made and long lasting.  I like my old JD 8-footer (lower photo) a little better because I can completely control it and adjust it with a rope from my tractor.  That one is just the right size fit my 27 hp Ford 8n, but undersized for my 43 hp JD 4120.  

You got to get off the seat and do the adjusting with the big hand wheel on the front of the Bissels.  
 

A big advantage of using “undersized” tractor drawn tools on food plots is that they work well in less than ideal soil conditions.  While the 3-point hitch was the worst thing to ever happen to a disk, 4wd tractors was the best thing, when it comes to saving fuel.  
 

For that reason, I use my “oversized” 4wd tractor most of the time on the disk.  The soil conditions are seldom if ever ideal, when I am working it. 
 

 

I absolutely hate my bigger pull behind disks, it’s more modern than what you show and has hydraulic cylinders on the wheel axle. My 3pt model is an older bushhog brand and is very heavy, my 60hp 4wd JD will lift the front tires off the ground if I don’t fill the bucket with a scoop of sand. It pulls hard but does an awesome job even on sod!

[Wolc123]

2 hours ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I absolutely hate my bigger pull behind disks, it’s more modern than what you show and has hydraulic cylinders on the wheel axle. My 3pt model is an older bushhog brand and is very heavy, my 60hp 4wd JD will lift the front tires off the ground if I don’t fill the bucket with a scoop of sand. It pulls hard but does an awesome job even on sod!

My father in law had a larger (maybe 12 ft) JD pull-type transport disk like that, with an axle and hydraulic cylinders, and it worked very good.  He never used his little 6 ft 3-point one, after he got that.  
 

He had a 40ish hp JD Compact tractor and a 100ish hp JD cab tractor (both 2wd’s with R1 tires) at his old place in WNY.  
He couldn’t set the big disk at the most aggressive angle, with the smaller tractor, but it was way undersized for the larger one.  

He sold both of those  tractors and the large disk when he moved.   Now he’s got a couple tractors up there, on the NW corner of the Adirondack park, a 4wd   Kubota compact with a loader, about 50 hp old 2wd Ford of about the same or slightly more hp (model 4000 industrial).  
 

I was thinking of taking his old 6 ft 3 pt disk up there, to try a little food plotting.  I brought him an old 3 point finish mower, that he’s been using to mow the meadow, behind an old rifle range.
 

 The deer were really liking that mowed grass, when I was up there hunting last October.  I passed on a little spike buck, munching on mowed grass with my 30/3o, as I was sitting on a chair right next to that mower, on opening day of gun up there last year.   A few days before, I had spooked a group of a dozen or more deer out of there in the dark, when I tried sneaking around them with my ML.  

 

I’m sure that, as soon as I take that little disk up there, someone would want me to do a job where I could use it at home.   Since the deer up there seem quite content with just the mowed weeds, I think I’ll leave it at that.  

Edited August 5, 2023 by Wolc123

[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, Bucksnbows said:

My buddy added a Kubota tractor last summer to his new farm near Garrattsville and this year the new tiller. The drag harrow is mine, but I leave it up there. I also own the yellow disc harrow behind the quad which I will sell since my buddy bought the Kubota attachment from Brush Hog. 

IMG_4831.mov

How's that discer work on the ATV?  Doesn't just jam up and float from all the grass and sod?  

[Wolc123]

I used my oldest and my newest food plotting equipment today.  The bearing frame ends on that cultipacker are all that remains of my grandfather’s old farming equipment on his old farm.   I traded an old neighbor a case of Genny cream-ale pounders for the rest of, what was once an 8 footer, about 30 years ago.  
 

If I remember correctly, that case cost me $ 16.  It had a couple busted iron wheels besides the broken bearing frames.  I scrapped those, cut it down to 7 ft wide, and replaced the frames.  I made new bearings from pt 4x4’s.   In my opinion, only a Bush hog exceeds a cultipacker for importance, when it comes to food plotting.  
 

The power unit is my newest, a 10 hp 1957 Farmall Cub, that I picked up for $783.17 at a silent auction at work last fall.  It hadn’t ran in at least 10 years.  I took it to the best Farmall mechanic in the area, who charged me $445 to change all the fluids, carburetor, radiator hoses, plugs, wires and belts, and get it running like new.  

I thought he undercharged me, so I gave him $460. He also let me borrow his trailer with winch to pick it up and to take it home.  It didn’t have a drawbar on it, but came with a “like new” snowplow.   I found a used drawbar on e-bay for $200 shipped.  
 

I have about $1500 into it but it is definitely the best “puller” I have used on that cultipacker.  They don’t take much power, so pulling them with larger tractors just wastes fuel.  
Sometimes, “smaller is better”.  Like when you want to fit it in the bed of your pickup: 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Wolc123