With a narrowing window of time to get crops planted, you can't afford for planters to sit in fields on sunny days waiting for seed. Seed tenders keep planters rolling by efficiently moving bulk amounts of seed. Here are six questions you need to answer before you buy a new seed tender.
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1. What type of planter do you use?
Answering this question will help determine the unit capacity as well as the unload range you need.
"Depending on the population, 100 units will plant approximately 220 to 250 acres of corn," says Shawn Gerdeman, Unverferth. "That will satisfy planting needs for the day if you have a 16-row planter. If you have a 24- or 36-row planter, you may be able to achieve 300 to 400 acres per day, and you'll need 200 units or more."
If you are filling an individual box planter, you will want to know the range the tender will load, says Ron Neustaeter, Convey-All. Some seed tenders only have the necessary reach to fill a 12-row, 30-inch planter. If you have a larger box planter and want to unload without moving, make sure the unload range is adequate for planter size.
If you have a central-fill planter, you will want augers or conveyors that are at least 21 feet long.
2. Do you have more corn or soybean acres?
Bulk-box units tend to work better for corn planting because you can carry more varieties. You can normally choose between a two- or four-box unit. New this year, Meridian introduced a Titan seed tender that will allow you to hold up to six bulk boxes and a total of 300 units of seed.
While bulk-box units are what most producers use now for seed corn, this could be changing.
"In the past, most seed corn came in boxes, and you could buy soybeans in bulk," says Neustaeter. "But I believe the corn market is changing as far as being able to purchase bulk seed. Everybody has a different preference depending on what they are planting."
For crops planted at higher populations with fewer varieties (such as soybeans and wheat), bulk seed tenders are used more frequently. Bulk tenders typically have two compartments, although commercial models will have more.
Capacity size ranges from about 100 units to more than 1,000. Again, look at your planter, population rate, and how many acres you can plant in a day to choose the correct size.
Also, take a look at the split between your corn and soybean acres to see if a bulk box or bulk tender is a better option. If you run two planters, you'll most likely want one of each.
3. How quickly do you want to move seed?
Seed tenders are available with augers or belt conveyors. Belt conveyors tend to unload more gently and at faster rates than augers because of the way they handle seed. For noncommercial units, unload rates range from 10 bushels per minute up to 45 bushels per minute.
More and more seed tenders are available with a self-load feature that makes it easy to move seed into the tender. Manufacturers have also expanded the abilities of self-load conveyors.
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Unverferth had customers asking for the ability to pull seed from a hopper trailer, so the company came out with the . This seed tender has an intake conveyor, so it can self-fill directly from a grain trailer.
"It adds more value to a self-loading feature when you can get under a semitrailer," explains Gerdeman.
Meridian's new Seed Express 400 has a 24-foot conveyor that isn't part of the body of the tender. The conveyor can be used to unload and fill the tender. It can also be used independently to unload from wagons or bins into semitrailers.
"The most important thing with seed tender technology is how quick you can get loaded and back to planting," says Randy Riecks, Meridian. "Sometimes you only have a couple of days for that window of opportunity." Wireless remotes provide another way to accelerate the process.
Most manufacturers offer wireless remotes, either as a standard feature on larger units or as an option. The controls on these remotes can include turning the conveyor on and off, raising and lowering the conveyor, opening and closing the doors, starting and stopping the engine, adjusting engine throttle, swinging the conveyor, monitoring the scale indicator, and putting the conveyor into a self-loading position.
Options like Unverferth's T&G Applicator speed up seed tending by metering a specific amount of talc and graphite during the unloading process.
If you'd like your seed tender to double as a weigh wagon in the fall, you'll also want to look at a scale package. With some scale packages, you have the ability to program how much seed you'd like to load into each seed box. The conveyor will automatically shut off at that weight.
4. Do you want to haul fertilizer?
Most standard seed tenders aren't made to haul fertilizer.
"A fertilizer tender needs to be more durable and made from stainless steel," explains Gerdeman. "With the corrosive nature of fertilizer, it can dry out ordinary rubber components, and it's tough on seed belts."
Larger seed tenders with multiple compartments have stainless steel options if you'd like the ability to haul seed and fertilizer.
5. How will you haul the seed tender?
You can choose to purchase a seed tender with or without a trailer. Most of the time it makes sense to buy the trailer, unless you have an extra trailer available or want to haul other inputs.
"We sell the most seed tenders without trailers in certain regions of the Corn Belt," says Riecks. "Sometimes if farmers have a lot of corn acres, they'll put a box tender on a flatbed trailer and fertilizer, as well."
6. How much are you willing to spend?
Prices vary greatly depending on the size and features. Smaller seed tenders run from about $10,000 to $25,000. You can purchase large seed tenders with all the bells and whistles ranging from $40,000 to $60,000 and up for commercial units.
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