"I built this 20-ft. grain drill with all new materials for about 1/4 the cost of a comparable new unit. And it's got features you can't find on any commercial drill," says Russ Bomesberger, Onaka, S. Dak., who spent the better part of a winter putting together his state-of-the-art grain drill. Its key features, in addition to cost savings, are strength and outstanding trash clearance.

The heavy-duty drill is equipped to band fertilizer and "cold flow" liquified anhydrous with the seed. Big hoppers on each 10-ft. drill hold 40 bu. apiece for a total of 80 bu. A 48-gal. liquid phosphorous tank mounts in back and the drill pulls a 1,500 gal. anhydrous tank. A minimum 180-hp tractor is required to pull it.

"I used all the best ideas I could find on commercial machines and combined them with the features I wanted. This will be the third season I've used it and while there's nothing major I would change, I'm always modifying it in small ways," says Bomesberger, who also built his own corn planter from scratch.

Each 10-ft. drill section is fitted with 12 shanks staggered in three rows front to back. There's 30 in. of clearance between each row and diagonally there's 36 in. of clearance between each shank.

Each shank is fitted with a front tube that puts down straight nitrogen at 82% (liquified anhydrous) and a center tube that lays down the phosphorous. Both are-placed 3 to 4 in. deep. A cover plate at the rear of the shank seals up the fertilizer furrow.

A pair of seed tubes plants the crop in paired rows about 3 in. to either side of the shank. There's about 7 in. between each set of paired rows. A row of pneumatic packer tires -- one tire per paired row -- follow at the rear of the drill.

"Seeding two rows per shank eliminates half of the shanks that would normally be required. And I'm able to get fertilizer in a band that's readily available to seedlings," says Bomesberger.

He used heavy 1/4-in. walled steel tubing to build the drill (most commercial units use 3/16-in.). The shanks, which all mount on parallel linkages to seed at a uniform depth across the width of the drill, feature spring trip reset mechanisms allowing the drill to easily handle rocks and other obstacles. There's room for a row of no-till coulters but Bomesberger says the heavy drill penetrates so well coulters haven't been needed. The drill is fitted with its own fill auger so it can be serviced by any truck.