Unlike many pieces of farm equipment, a sprayer is not something that Dad or Granddad absolutely had to buy. When spraying became common to cropping operations, there was an opportunity to outsource it to a custom applicator and avoid tying up the capital and adding to the responsibilities of the already over-worked farmer.

Kenny Holsing faced a bit of a quandary. The De Witt, Neb., no-tiller needed a combine upgrade, yet he hoped to gradually ease back a bit. “I’m getting close to retirement,” Holsing says, “and I have only about 400 acres.”

They say necessity is the mother of invention. For Paul Lanpher, a persistent desire for equipment that simply worked better on his farm led him to develop equipment designed for his no-till operation. It’s a desire that he dreamed up about 7 years ago. And after several modifications and updates, Lanpher is excited about his strip-till Dream Machine.

When the Tru-Vee type planters were first introduced, the opener discs were designed to make a V-shaped furrow in loose, tilled soil to create a prime environment for proper seed placement. As time progressed, farming practices began to move away from total tillage to minimum-till and today’s highly popular no-till.

Greg Simpson has seen the big mistakes and speaks from experience when offering advice to no-tillers considering buying a sprayer. "The main thing is to ask yourself what your needs are. If you see a sprayer you like, ask yourself if the wheel spacings are right. Are the nozzle spacings right? Is the clearance what you need? Those are the kinds of things that should determine which sprayer you buy"; he says.

Strolling through his dealer’s lot, Paul Butler had his eye on a new no-till planter. But, no matter how hard he pushed the pencil, he couldn’t justify the purchase. “A new model with the features I wanted was going to cost $28,000 to $32,000,” Butler says. “I couldn’t afford that expense.”