A Western Canadian equipment manufacturer is taking the land-roller, increasingly used to push stones into the ground and flatten soil ridges to make harvest easier, and adding several other functions to accomplish more with each pass.
Ag Shield Manufacturing added a leveling blade on the front of its roller for removing mole hills and small mounds, and is now selling units with Technik or Valmar seeding kits, primarily for use on hay, pasture and cover crop land.
“If you look at how people make a lawn, they always make it flat and black — that’s what the blade does. Then they put down the seed — that’s what the seeder does between the blade and the roller, and then after that the roller comes along. We do that whole lawn process at about four miles an hour,” explains co-owner Tom McCrea in the video below, filmed at the ’16 Farm Progress Show in Regina.
Removing mole hills in forages keeps disc cutter knives sharp and dirt out of feed, he notes.
In situations where leveling isn’t needed, producers just use the seeding unit to spread vetches, radishes and rye, while the roller ensures the seed comes in contact with the soil, explains McCrea.
The Benito, Manitoba-based company makes the rollers in widths ranging from seven to 70 feet, with the blade and seeder options on units up to 52 feet wide.
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