Crow Foot vs Standard Packer

[Joel Sanderson]

What were crow foot cultipackers developed for? Would a crow foot be good behind a drill? What's the difference between that and a regular cultipacker? I know how they're made
differently--what I'm asking is how differently do the two types work? Thanks.

Joel.

 

[Leroy]

I have no idea if you have a cristing over type of soil or not. If yours does not crust you would not notice much difference. Soil around me crusts so hard a rotary hoe at times will not penetrate it. The crow foot packs the soil leaving just a bit of loose on top where a regular packs the top down and just a bit of rain makes a hard crust. That is why some packers had a sprocket type wheel that ran loose between the packer wheels. And behing a drill that would be great, packs the seed in without the crust potential the plant has to lift and break through. If you have wind erosion the wind can pick up soil easier as surface is not packed as hard. Hope this answers your question.

 

[rdandersom]

Often a crowfoot packer is used on freshly plowed ground to break up lumps before they have a chance to dry out and harden if you are spring plowing.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

We used to have a few of them. We only knew of them as Brillion "plow packers". We pulled them behind moldboard plows. They would pick away at any lumps left on the surface. For a time used ones were easy to find, and cheap. Good thing, because in our rocky soil, wheels were breaking often.
Then came the "buster bar", a simpler arrangement, with about the same effect.

 

[Joel Sanderson]

This is great information. Thank you.

 

[fastfarmall]

That sounds like the same type of soil my neighbor Max has, he pulled a crow foot behind his IHC press drill, it would crust also, but that crow foot packer would leave big punch marks, like cow hoof's almost, in the soil, but if he could get it up, he would raise a good crop!