Cultivator Shoes For Tine Harrows

Cultivator Shoes for Tine Harrows CULTIVATORS Cultivators (58C) 11-4-4 Canadian farmer Garnet Kyle converted his 80-ft. tine harrow into a light-duty cultivator by bolting 2-in. mini-cultivator "shoes" to each tine. The converted harrow takes a lot less power to pull than a regular field cultivator but kills weeds and volunteer crops better than harrows alone. "I save time. I can travel the field once now, instead of the two or three times needed with 3/8-in. dia. tines," says the Dominion City, Manitoba, farmer. Turned upside down, the 2-in. wide attachments Kyle invented become field packers. "There are 32 shoes on 5 ft. of harrow. So I get overcoverage. On our heavy soil, the attachments pack more than several passes over with harrows," says Kyle, noting that once packed with the mini-attachments, the soil is left grooved and slightly lumpy for better resistance to wind erosion. On 80 ft. of harrow, there are 512 tines. The mini-attachments sell for $1.25 apiece (U.S.), so a farmer can equip 80 ft. for about $650. The attachments are made of tempered steel for long life and bolt to the tine with a set-screw. Kyle farms heavy clay soil in the Red River Valley, near the U.S.-Canadian border. He's worked more than 4,000 acres with a set of mini-attachments and says he's seen "no noticeable wear". But he cautions that farmers with abrasive soil, such as sandy loams, should use the attachments "sparingly". Depth of the mini-cultivator shoes can be set anywhere up and down the length of the tines. "Mounted 2 in. from the end of the tine, the attachment skims the soil to break the crust. Mounted near the end of the tine, the mini-attachment works underground almost as deep as the tine would normally go. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mini-Cultivator Attachment, Grainews, Box 6600, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 3A7 Canada (ph 204 944-5568).

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