I grew up in town in a house that sat on a 50-foot lot, so naturally I make that comparison when looking at Great Plains Mfg.'s new  50-foot-wide 3S-5000 grain drill, the Salina, Kan., machinery company's new addition for 2013.

The 3S-5000 comes equipped with seed boxes that hold 3.2 bushels-per-foot for a total of 149 bushels of seed wheat fully loaded. The boxes also can be split to allow for dry fertilizer application at planting.

The three-section 3S-5000 grain drill from Great Plains features contour-hugging engineering and the ability to seed 25-30 acres per hour.

The big drill is made up of three box sections, each with two sub-frames which flex independently on a line through the axles to follow the field contour and keep either the '00' or "00HD" (options) openers aligned for the best seed placement. Ballast and hydraulics maintain an operator-set down-pressure on the openers at all time.

Row spacing can be set at 6-, 7.5-, or 10-inches, and heavy-duty hydraulic cylinders make folding the drill into a 15-foot package for transport a "from the cab" proposition. Optional equipment allows the 3S-5000 to handle small seed for clover, alfalfa and ryegrass work, and another option includes a 400-gallon fertilizer tank.

Walking around the machine, I couldn't help but think of my dad's house and 50-foot lot, and how he had farmed with two-row equipment early in his life … and this machine can run 25 to 30 acres an hour.

MSRP on the 3S-5000 begins at $95,589. More information is available at: www.greatplainsmfg.com.