Well, Fer Phooie!

[Allan in NE]

Not a cloud in the sky and we're on generator this morning.

Somebody must have slipped off the road and hit a trasformer. :>(

Allan

 

[Dave from MN]

Say Allan, this is a bit OT from your post, but which Model IH feild cultivators were the better ones. My future tillage practice is gonna be hit it once with a feild cultivator to work the ground and work in the chicken manure, then plant. Thanks

 

[DAVID in WALES]

Hey Allan,
Remember some years ago whilst working for the plough manufacturer an Irish guy coming into the yard and asking if anyone wanted to buy a generator like that one. Only problem was it came complete with the traffic lights from the road works he had stolen it from ! LoL
David

 

[Allan in NE]

Boy, I dunno Dave.

I use this Vibra Shank 45 and just absolutely love the thing 'cause it is 9" duckfeet on 6" centers and really does a sweet job.

However, if you are planning to do the trash farming thing, just don't think this is the machine for you. There's not enough ground clearance and it will ball/plug up with any tall stuff of about 10-12".

Maybe somebody else will chime in here that farms that way. I sure don't know.

Allan

 

[philcaseinWPA]

Hey Allan,

I'm not familiar with what exactly field cultivating is. How deep do you go? Is it like running a spring tooth or cultimulcher after tillage? Do you plant afterward or is more finnish work done? I've seen the term and the equipment at various places but don't know just what it's purpose is. Is it some type of minimal tillage or like chisel plowing? I don't like sounding dumb but my curiosity has gotten the better of my pride.

Phil

 

[Allan in NE]

What the heck ya talkin' about? Not a dumb question at all.

Field cultivators do the same job as a spring tooth only with a better weed kill because they use duck-feet instead of bull-tongues.

Where they really shine tho, is when incorporating pre-emergent chemicals because of the way that they really "mix" the soil.

I wouldn't want to plant behind one tho. They leave the surface way too rough for my liking; however, they do keep the soil from blowing.

I just use this thing to kill weeds and to get a deep cut for mid-season summer fallow.

Allan

 

[philcaseinWPA]

Thanks for the info Allan. With a rig that wide one pass out and another back and my little patches would be done. With all my hills I don't like to plow much more than 12 36" rows wide. Even on the little flat ground I have I use this spacing most of the time because it works well with my sprayers etc.

Phil

 

[Steven f/AZ]

This is what we use to use for field cultivating (summer fallow) we call it a chisel-plow with 12" spacing and sweeps... we usually have plenty of trash and the vibra-shank on 9" spacing would plug up - we also have a vibra-shank that is on 12" spacing.

 

[paul]

'Round here most have a 2-3 bar harrow bolted on the back, to leave a level seed bed.

Used to be here in the clay of the north we plowed in fall, spring disked 2-3 times, harrowed 1-2 times, planted, then harrowed before the crop broke out of the ground. This is in corn & beans.

Now, chisel plow (many different names for that), then field cultivate once in spring, plant, & that is it.

Me, I molboard plow the cornstalks. I haven't touched the bean stubble the last 2 years.

In spring I field cultivate one time (with an old 22' 45 Vibrashank like Allan shows - mine has 3 bar springtooth on it) and plant. I typically alternate corn & soybeans year to year.

A lot less fuel used than in old days.

The 45 does have difficulty with bean stubble when the beans were good.

I have chopped cornstalks, chisel plowed in fall, then ran the 45 Vibrashank one time in spring & planted. This was on a very small 5 acre plot. I don't know that the 45 could handle the cornstalk trash on a big acreage this way.

The new 4500 and up field cultivators have a lot more spacing between rows, and will have 4, sometimes 5 rows of sweeps to put more distance between each shank. They can really handle the trash.

All it takes is $$$$.

--->Paul

 

[BobHnwOh]

Yup,you need a Remlinger harrow on that thang!!Bob. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank">

</a>

 

[Don Hopf]

Most of the Northern Black Hills in South Dakota didn't have power because of an ultralight that crashed into a Black Hills power substation.
power outage

 

[Bob Kerr]

My power went off yesterday twice. Only for a second or two , but enough to screw up all the clocks in the house. I got them all reset, and 15 min later it went off again. If it keeps this up, I am going to get out the old wind up mantle clock that keeps me awake all night, hehehehe!

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hey Dave, We are really liking a Quinstar Fallowmaster sweep plow now sold by Orthman. Goes thru lots of trash and even takes down big weeds if they get away from you. Like it much better than old ones with low clearance shanks and 3 bars with 18" sweeps and weed rake dragging harrows.
Fallowmaster