Tillage For Zero-Till Farming

Tillage For Zero-Till Farming NO-TILL EQUIPMENT No-Till Equipment It s virtually impossible to plug it up and it won t bunch up residue What s more it s totally unaffected by stones says Phil O Grady sales manager for Salford Farm Machinery about the company s new Residue Tillage Specialist RTS that s designed for a variety of field applications     The RTS has been produced for three years and used in Ontario Manitoba the Midwest U S and even Australia O Grady says it s great for zero-tillers but has also been an improvement over cultivating in conventional tillage No-till or reduced tillage operations have improved their seed-to-soil contact by using RTS for tilling the top two or three inches of the seedbed and at the same time it successfully manages an unlimited amount of crop residue      We designed its individually-mounted spring coulters with a 1 1/8-in wound coil to provide their own obstacle protection for stones says O Grady They don t pull up stones like a lot of other systems and the coulter has no linkage or moving parts in the mounting assembly so there s nothing to wear out It s proving to be the longest lasting individual coulter ever developed     The implement carries 5 to 6 ranks of these wavy residue coulters at 7-in spacings and has standard harrows at the back which provide superb residue spreading and field leveling ability To further crush and break down the residue the RTS offers an optional roller behind the harrows     Standard coulters have a 17 1/2-in dia with a 1 3/4-in wave but options include a 17 1/2-in coulter with a 3/4-in wave and a 20-in coulter with a 2 1/4-in wave     The various RTS models range in width from 12 to 50 ft with smaller ones being single-fold wing up design The 41 and 50-ft units are bifold models     According to O Grady a key benefit to the system is that the faster you go the better it works Recommended field operating speeds are 8 to 12 mph At those speeds the implement requires 8 to 10 hp per foot     Another big advantage of the RTS unit is that it allows farmers to work in wetter soil conditions than normal due to the fact that the coulters don t ball up with mud the way cultivator shanks do They throw up soil so it will air out and dry      In a wet season it allows you to plant earlier and in a cool season it warms the soil O Grady says     The unit sells for about $1 900 per foot and the company welcomes dealer inquiries     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Salford Farm Machinery Phil O Grady R R #1 Salford Ont Canada N0J 1W0 ph 519 485-1293; fax 519 485-1311; sales@salfordmachine com; www salfordmachine com

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