Grain Drills For Sale in United Kingdom

Prior to the introduction of the seed drill, planting seeds was done manually. This was extremely labour-intensive and also inefficient, as hand planting rarely achieved an ideal seed distribution. This in turn led to wasteful planting and low productivity. Jethro Tull is famously credited with inventing the seed drill, although there is plenty of evidence that ancient Sumerian farmers were using a single-tube drill thousands of years ago and Chinese planters had a multi-tube drill. The benefits of using a seed drill are quite dramatic. It precisely positions the seed and then covers it, resulting in ideally spaced and protected seeds. This can boost crop yield ratios by up to nine times.

The history of the seed drill goes back to Babylonia in 1,500 BC, when the single-tube seed drill was first used. By 200 BC, Chinese farmers were using iron multi-tube seed drills, an invention that is thought to have contributed to China’s ability to create an efficient agricultural system that could support a large population.

It may be that contact between Europe and China was responsible for introducing the seed drill into Europe. The first European example was patented in Venice in 1566, and another seed drill was described in some detail by a Bolognese writer in 1602. The basic design of these drills was then refined by Jethro Tull in 1701.

The technology got more sophisticated over the next few hundred years and seed drills got bigger, but the basic operation remained essentially the same. These basic units were able to be drawn by a single horse and they were still being used in the 1930s. The advent of the tractor resulted in a step change in seed drills, and the units became far more efficient and larger still.

Further improvements followed, with units developed that could allow seed drilling without any tilling. This is a useful technique where soils are prone to erosion and moisture loss, helping the soil to remain in place until the germinating seed’s roots can provide an anchor.

The seed drill allows farmers to place the seeds precisely in the furrow and at a depth which ensures that the seed is protected from birds and frost and will not germinate too late or too early. Behind the drills, metal discs move earth from the sides of the furrow to cover the seed. The combination seed drill further enhances productivity by allowing the farmer to combine planting with other activities.

The seed drill can be combined with a harrow to prepare the ground and then carry out the seeding in a single pass. Combination seed drills can also be used together with a rotary cultivator, a roller or disc coulters to achieve similar single-pass operations and productivity gains.

The combination drill is a relatively intricate piece of equipment and buying a used example requires careful inspection. It should be ascertained that it will operate well with the chosen tractor and with other implements. A visual inspection is useful, but a full trial is a far more effective way of ensuring that all is well.