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“Right-Size” Equipment Built To Match Needs
With small farm equipment hard to find and expensive to buy, Ben and Emily Jackle prefer to “right-size” what’s available. With 12 of their 32 acres in organic certified specialty crops, they don’t need an 8-row planter, cultivator or transplanter. However, they’ve figured out how to cut down the toolbars and set aside
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“Right-Size” Equipment Built To Match Needs CULTIVATORS With small farm equipment hard to find and expensive to buy Ben and Emily Jackle prefer to “right-size” what’s available With 12 of their 32 acres in organic certified specialty crops they don’t need an 8-row planter cultivator or transplanter However they’ve figured out how to cut down the toolbars and set aside extra components “Adapting large equipment bridges the gap between small and large-scale vegetable farming ” says Ben Jackle Mile Creek Farm “Instead of buying a large-scale tine weeder we buy the spring-loaded tines and mount them to a homemade frame ” Jackle advises never throwing away old 3-pt hitches He notes that they come in handy for mounting a tine weeder frame or other shop-made toolbars such as his pre bedder with 2 sets of disk blades set at an angle to rough out beds or a shaper pan to flatten them Large-scale equipment isn’t all that gets modified Jackle really likes his old Allis Chalmers G for cultivation However rather than changing cultivator shanks he modified the G so he can easily swap out the toolbars “We have a whole series of toolbars with various cultivation tools on them ” says Jackle “We also redesigned the old Planter Jr from a belly mount to a 3-pt frame with guide wheels to keep it in place on the bed We still get the precision of the belly mount without the tight space for mounting it ” Even small changes can save time and energy adds Jackle While he didn’t modify his used 10-ft disc sections or hitch he did make changes to the wing adjustor “I welded some nuts on the screw-type adjustor ” says Jackle “They allow me to use a battery-powered impact wrench to adjust the wing angles ” Jackle advises others to hack their own equipment “Don’t be afraid to change things ” he says “The way things become really useful is to make them easy to use ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mile Creek Farm 10786 Mile Rd New Lebanon Ohio 45345 ph 937 687-8762; www milecreekfarm com
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