This is the second installment of farmer Jason Carter laying out his tools and method to manually calibrate a grain drill for multi-species cover crops. In this post, Carter lays out the preliminary tools and steps to prepare for multi-species grain drill calibration.
The tools required for this process are a jack, measuring tape, a scale that will measure in grams, and a vessel of some kind to collect the seed in and weigh.
“The jack needs to be big enough to raise the drill up at the drive tire,” says Carter. “To find the drive tire on the drill, first locate the transmission and then you can follow the chain down to the axle. The chain will be connected to the axle and the chain will turn, going to the transmission, and that's how you can determine which one is the drive tire.”
The first step in calibrating the drill is to find the circumference of the drive tire in feet. Carter uses the jack to lift the drill until the drive tire clears the ground, and then measures the circumference with the measuring tape.
“In this case the circumference of my tire is exactly eight feet. Next we need to determine our row spacing. This drill is seven and a half inch spacing, most drills are seven and a half inch spacing or ten inch spacing.”
Stick around for the following blogs, where Carter breaks down his tried-and-true process that he has been using for years to calibrate his grain drill.
To watch the full "How To Calibrate A Grain Drill" Series CLICK HERE
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