There’s nothing quite like demo plots — where else will you find head to head comparisons of one variety or practice compared against its neighbour? The trouble with plots, though, is that you only usually see them once and then have to wait for data months later to find out what the real difference was… Read More
Category: Tillage
As the snow finally melts in Ontario, cash crop farmers have a lot to do in a short window. There’s still plenty of corn out there and lots of unfinished tillage work. In this episode of the Ontario Agronomy Geeks podcast, Bernard Tobin talks strategy with agronomist Mervyn Erb of Agri-Solve Inc. — what should… Read More
As the snow slowly recedes and farmers are itching to get the clover on (but not N yet, please!), now is a great time of year to make assessments on the condition the seedbed left by fall field work. You can learn a lot taking the time now to tour your fields, eye up some… Read More
First, a confession: I love plowing. Growing up, fall plowing was always one of my favourite chores, and I’ve still got the trophies I won in various county plowing matches as a teenager. Even now, few things give me as much satisfaction as an arrow-straight, neatly-turned set of furrows. It makes me a dinosaur, I… Read More
Lemken’s Heliodor (a compact disc harrow designed to clean up plowed ground) has been manufactured in Europe for over a decade, and has recently been introduced to North America to help with residue management and seedbed preparation. With a three-point hitch linkage available in up to 6m (20′) working widths, the Heliodor’s relatively light-weight means… Read More
Yes, compaction happens. You know that, I know that. But we in Canada are ever so fortunate because while compaction does happen, Mother Nature, at her cruelest -30 degree C self, actually helps us battle it with our wicked Prairie freeze-thaw cycle. Right? Well, yes, but a more resounding no, actually. Marla Riekman, land management… Read More
Farmers can look forward to a new LEMKEN compact-disc for the 2014 growing season, as the company rolls out the Rubin 12 compact-disc harrow for primary tillage applications. Designed to work at depths of 5 to 8 inches, the Rubin 12 delivers intensive, uniform mixing and crumbling in one pass – even in very heavy… Read More
As corn and soybeans move west and north through the prairies, the interest in equipment that departs from the typical drill grows substantially. As western Canadian farmers are learning, it’s not just the planter that makes a big difference to corn yields; seed bed prep and fertilizer placement can be much different versus these same… Read More
Perhaps you’ve seen a Case IH Tiger tillage implement hard at work in the field. After all, the series has been around since the late ’70s, and the Ecolo Tiger 875 is the eighth generation of this combination tillage implement. Each generation seeks to improve off the one before to better meet the needs of… Read More
While it may not be the go-to piece of equipment every year, the moldboard plow can still accomplish what other implements cannot in certain circumstances. The plow’s reputation has taken a few knocks, but with careful planning and judicious use, farmers can minimize the risk of plow pan and organic matter losses and put this… Read More
Every action on or in the soil profile has an impact on moisture moving up or down. Some passes and implement choices can have a positive impact on water infiltration, but not all do. Understanding how tillage implements impact water movement is one topic that Salford Machinery is exploring at their research site in the… Read More
While it would be unreasonable to expect them to come with bottle openers (for shame!), the modern tillage implement should be a multi-use tool, says Keith Belt, of Salford. RealAgriculture.com’s Bernard Tobin caught up with Belt at the Farm Progress Show this last August to talk tillage and tillage implements. In the video below, Belt… Read More
Hands down, the one-pass seedbed prep demo was the most popular event at this year’s Outdoor Farm Show held at Woodstock, Ont. Farmers by the hundreds eagerly followed behind each implement, kicking soil and evaluating the job of over 20 conservation-minded tillage units. The sheer volume of farmers present speaks to farmers’ interest and, dare… Read More
It’s time once again for the least serious 10 minutes in ag news! And this time the RealAgriculture production team has gone above and beyond the call of duty and put together a truly entertaining package of highlights from Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show. In this mostly-not-serious edition of Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Shaun Haney and… Read More
Farmers tend to get itchy in the spring and fall when it comes to tillage. Some joke about needless recreational tillage that just occupies a farm’s boredom. Below is acute video addressing the serious disease called “restless tillage syndrome.” Enjoy and happy harvest!!! If you cannot see the above embedded video, CLICK HERE