715 quadtrac spotted

[Bermuda_Ken]

3 hours ago, SDman said:

Just curious....but how old is the "Black Knight" Steiger? The reason I ask is that it doesn't look like it has the new independent suspension track system that came out as an option on Quadtracs this spring. We sold a couple with it...definitely makes for a much smoother ride. I guess if its just going to be displayed somewhere you probably don't care about ride quality.

This black repaint version was one of the first 715's made/sold.  He really wanted #1 but that didn't happen...

[Big Bud guy]

1 hour ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

A 24R30 planter can be operated for a fraction of what it takes to run the same size 7.5” drill in our experience and do a much better job in almost any condition here. 

I didn't know soybeans were still planted with drills to start with

[dale560]

7 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

A 24R30 planter can be operated for a fraction of what it takes to run the same size 7.5” drill in our experience and do a much better job in almost any condition here. 

We were not soybean producers up here until about 20 years ago. They were seeded east of us in the red river valley. We were wheat farms with barley,oats and sunflowers maybe. Then soybeans became a very good companion crop with wheat. And most people are transitioning to big planters for soybeans. But they do better here on 20 inch rows with the shorter growing season and rainfall. So if you raise corn or sunflowers yet you need two planters or a inter plant 15 inch.

[SDman]

TBH with you guys, I would bet somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 of our soybean acres are still planted with single-disc air seeders. Most air seeders here are either 7.5" or 10" spacing....what they will do is use only one set of openers for 15" or 20" row soybeans. They refer to this as "split-ranking" since only one rank of discs is being used at a time. Many of these guys still plant some wheat, although our wheat acres have declined drastically over the years. So just about everybody still has an air seeder(or more than one). Some operations will run both corn planters and air seeders for planting soybeans, too. Just depends on the conditions Mother Nature gives you to operate with. Air seeder proponents like the convenience of fewer fillups while covering a lot of acres, and they also like the quicker shading of the ground as well between the rows.

The question of rowed soybeans vs. solid-seeded soybeans is a lot like tow-between(TBT) or tow-behind(TBH) air carts for air seeders....you can ask 100 farmers what's better and you will probably get a 50/50 split for answers....and you will find each side defends their way as the better way to do it. That's why they make air seeders and planters, and TBT and TBH air carts as well.

[acem]

Drilled beans do well here on the right ground but you need more seed because of lesser emergence than a corn/cotton planter.

If the ground is wet you need beds which don't work so well with drills unless they are specially adapted.

[acem]

On 7/25/2025 at 3:56 PM, DT361 said:

Awww....

And here I thought I'd be seeing something like this!

I was expecting the same 

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

9 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

I didn't know soybeans were still planted with drills to start with

Very few here. We still run a drill in soybeans sometimes, but only because we need the drill for cereals as well. If all I had was beans, I wouldn’t own a drill. 

[SDman]

21 hours ago, Dirt_Floor_Poor said:

Very few here. We still run a drill in soybeans sometimes, but only because we need the drill for cereals as well. If all I had was beans, I wouldn’t own a drill. 

I'm sure you have milo/grain sorghum raised in your area. Does anybody plant that with an air seeder in your area? I would say that a majority of milo is planted with a planter, but there are some around here that plant it with an air seeder. You need some really fine rollers as you are just planting a few pounds/acre, but it does work.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

1 hour ago, SDman said:

I'm sure you have milo/grain sorghum raised in your area. Does anybody plant that with an air seeder in your area? I would say that a majority of milo is planted with a planter, but there are some around here that plant it with an air seeder. You need some really fine rollers as you are just planting a few pounds/acre, but it does work.

There is not much Milo here anymore. Back when there used to be some and before vacuum planters had totally taken over, we used to plant it with Kinze brush meters. They worked really well for that. There are quite a few soybean special 15” air drills around. I had one years ago, but I just didn’t like the job it did compared to the planter. I did plant some Milo with it in some river bottom that flooded all the time. It was a Deere and had a ground drive variable gear box for population control. With the population monitor I didn’t have any trouble getting on what I wanted just using the same rollers we used for beans on 100 acres or so. Years and years ago we used to put duct tape over every other row in the box drill to cut the rate, but still usually ended up getting too much on. 

[Guest]

On 7/26/2025 at 4:56 PM, 1967806 said:

They must have won the lottery or something. Would be nice to see their collection. Just think what some of them would be worth today of they would have started collecting new models in 1964 until present starting with the 06 series.  

I'm the grandson of the farmer that owns this black Quadtrac 715. We have many more tractors in the collection; however, most of them we won't ever use in the fields, if you were wondering. I am pretty sure my grandpa would love to have you come check out the collection sometime; please contact me if you would like to discuss this more. I am not guaranteeing that you will be able to.