The best seedbed comes with tillage, but excessive tillage costs farmers money, and can reduce yield and increase erosion. This year, Ag in Motion™ will demonstrate equipment to get the optimum seedbed with the least tillage.
“We are giving our exhibitors a unique opportunity,” says Ag in Motion Demonstration Co-ordinator Paul Roper. “The One Pass Seedbed Preparation demonstrationis like an open-ended question that they can answer with whichever piece of equipment THEY feel is best.”
The audience will hear about each piece of equipment’s unique features and benefits before they head down the field. Here’s a preview of some of the diverse options that attendees can expect to see in the field this year.
Bednar Farm Machinery — Bednar SwifterDisc XE 12000
The Bednar Swifter Disc is a short disc cultivator which was developed for uniform cultivation to maximize the mixing quality of soil and plant residue, creating a consistent material with plant residue decomposing quickly and evenly. All of this occurs at high operating speeds, which have a positive impact on the tilling quality. This compact cultivator is particularly suitable for shallow tillage with intensive soil mixing. By placing the discs on flexible rubber segments, the uneven terrain is tracked and the Twin-Disc system guarantees an excellent material quantity. Superior tillage quality is ensured with the aggressive A-discs, which function at high operating speeds. The SwifterDisc provides fast and affordable soil cultivation. The time spent tilling fields is significantly shortened and the overall costs of cultivation and fuel are reduced.
Bourgault Industries Ltd. — SPS 360 Soil Prep System
The Bourgault SPS 360 Soil Prep System prepares a field for seeding by distributing and incorporating heavy straw, while also breaking up clumps and re-levelling and firming the soil. The strong frame is weighted for effective and consistent penetration through heavy straw and hard soils. This machine effectively sizes residue.Heavy-duty hydraulic trip springs ensure consistent penetration. The harrow sections are arranged in 4 ft. to 8 ft. sections with parallel linkage harrow arm mounts. The SPS 360 is available with 3-bar heavyduty harrows, or 4-bar standard harrows. Rolling baskets level and firm the soil surface. The convenient hydraulic control provides down force adjustment in the field, as well as full retraction when the baskets are not required. The SPS360 is available in both 40′ and 50′ operating widths.
Farmet — Farmet Softer 8
The Softer 26 ft. high speed disk-cultivator harrow provides high utilization of the field, better water penetration, good incorporation of organic material and helps to warm the soil in the spring. The machine hails as being European built, featuring ultra-high strength steel technology, with the advantage of a strong North American dealer network with good service and easy access to parts.
The Softer is available from 9 ft. to 36 ft. discs are full hydraulic adjustable and the machine boasts being easy to pull at a working speed of 3 to 12 m.p.h. The double rollers make it ideal for compression and leveling.
GBC equipment— Kelly Diamond Harrow
The Kelly Diamond Harrow is quickly becoming the tillage tool that farmers need with these very wet spring conditions. The 45 ft. Canadian Combo requires less horsepower than competitive machines and maintenance is very low. The Harrow is available in various sizes and configurations to match your conditions.
Landoll Corporation — Landoll HSL 7833
The Landoll HSL 7833 is designed to be easy to use and maintain while still operating at speeds from 7 to 10 m.p.h. The aggressive angle of the blade will fracture the entire soil profile so that when you dig behind the HSL you won’t find ridges and valleys like behind other machines. The HSL is available with three different packer options for different types of soil. The HSL offers a floating hitch design which allows the unit to pull straight, even in rolling ground. The wings feature a live hydraulic system to transfer weight from the centre frame to the wings while still allowing the wings to float. Depth control and frame levelling are easy to adjust with the two depth control cranks located near the centre of the machine.
Rite Way Mfg. Co. Ltd. — Rite Way ONE-Till
The Rite Way ONE-Till provides everything you would expect in a high-speed disk, including long-life bearings, independent disks, low maintenance and simple depth adjustments. Plus, ONE-Till has key features that separate it from the pack.
The most significant of these key features is the parallel link system that controls the depth of the disks. With this system, the disc sections move up and down evenly, ensuring equal disk penetration front to back, regardless of the depth setting. The parallel links are also able to pull the disks high into the air to clear obstacles and float through mud with ease, even though the ONE-TILL is among the heaviest high speed machines on the market.
Versatile — Viking Vertical Tillage
These heavy-duty machines are designed to run 8 to 10 m.p.h., so they need to be tough and durable to stand up and weight is needed to keep them in the ground. The adjustable gang angle makes the Viking truly multi-season and multi-crop capable. SoilRazor ‘stay sharp’ blades mean they can be configured to suit any farming operation in any region of the country with any kind of residue challenge. This machine can be set to run ultra-shallow for growers who want to leave some stubble standing, to a 5″ depth to eliminate tire ruts or to run in residue. A choice of rear attachments include rolling baskets to level the field, 3-bar harrows to spread and level residue behind the machine or a plain 4×4 mounting bar to install the after-market attachment of your choice.
LEMKEN — RUBIN 9
Single pass operations are LEMKEN’s trademark because their tillage tools always leave a seed-ready field behind. The RUBIN 9 is a versatile tool that is adapted to work in the fall as well as in the spring. It comes in a variety of models and mixes perfectly at different working depths. It’s compact, but has large clearances for the residue flow.
LEMKEN offers seven different rollers for the RUBIN and 6 mm thick discs to last longer and that are sharpened inside for better penetration and cutting. This machine offers uniform cutting at shallow working depth as the discs are assembled on a solid arm that moves upwards as opposed to laterally. The patented tine harrows are key features for crumbling and perfect mixing. Depth and leveling are both fully hydraulically adjustable from the tractor and while working.
See all of these pieces of equipment, plus pieces from Salford and Amazone (Mid-Plains) in action at Ag in Motion. With the playing field wide open forall types of tillage, the One Pass Seedbed Preparation demo will answer the burning question of how to make the best seedbed with just one pass.
