On 9/20/03 2:01 AM, in article ,
"BGGS" wrote:

Thanks for that, Dean.
Do you ever hear of anyone using the "Sweet plough"? ("Sweet plow"?)
It was developed with the intention of skimming the roots off the weeds but
leaving the surface detritus (litter) untouched to prevent erosion. It helps
to preserve the soil structure by leaving the roots from the previous crop
in situ.
It consists of a pair of wings (horizontal blades) attached to the vertical
blade.
Always thought it a damn good idea, but like all good ideas.....
"Roundup ready" soybeans sound like a Monsanto GM product. There's
tremendous opposition to them here in the UK. I've never seen so many people
so highly motivated.
Barley is very important here. Wonderful crop.
Thanks
BG.

There's a variety of schemes.

http://www.cedarmeadowfarm.com/TFSArticle05.html

These choppers were used years ago. They're getting more popular again
for corn and soybean farmers. The practice here is to chop the stalks with
one tractor and then plant right away with another tractor.
There are a variety of no till or ridge till units that can mount directly
in front of the planter unit. That allows one operator to do the planting.
One uses a vertical disc followed by a horizontal one to clear the top of
the ridge. Others use two discs angled just slightly off the vertical. The
trash is just pushed off the top of the ridge. Hiniker and Buffalo are two
brand names of these units. I think Buffalo (Fleisher Manufacturing) was
the first with the no/ridge till units.
No till drills are also getting more popular for soybeans. There isn't
much wheat, oats or barley in my area so I can't say what current practices
are for those crops.
Wheat farmers in dryer areas used something called a rod weeder. I don't
remember what they looked like. There's also something called a duckfoot.
That's just a rig with very wide sweeps. Think of a horizontal V pulled
just below the soil surface. I think the open end of the V was maybe 3'
wide.
I tried to find some pictures of this stuff but a brief search didn't
turn up any good ones. There's all kinds of information on ridge till and
no till farming practices from the University of Nebraska and similar
institutions in the U.S.

Dean




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