“With our equipment, we’re looking at maybe 5 or 6 feet, if that. Along with Amazone of Germany, which builds the Catros, and Poettinger of Austria, that offers the Terradisc, Horsch Anderson, a German-American company that builds the Joker, is introducing compact disc tillage to North American farmers.Īccording to Hughes, the reference to “compact disc” comes from the shorter “contour depth” of the implement compared to most conventional discs. The concept and design of compact discs originated in Europe and they have been used extensively on European farms for a decade or more, according to Jeremy Hughes of Horsch Anderson. As such, the equipment is reportedly also effective at incorporating fertilizer. The construction and design of these units vary somewhat by brand, but each are designed to chop crop residue and cover it with some soil to enhance its decomposition. When you get beyond the differences in terminology, neither dealers nor manufacturers disagree about the equipment’s potential for improving the farmer’s tillage efficiency or increasing dealers’ sales. “It’s a one-pass residue management system that falls ‘loosely’ under the category of vertical tillage,” he says, “except it isn’t vertical because you have one disc coming in at a 17 degree angle and another movable disc opposing it at a 14 degree angle.”Ĭory Weiss, who is an ag salesman for McFarlanes in Sauk City, Wis., says, “It isn’t vertical, it’s basically horizontal because the concave discs move the soil sideways where vertical tillage basically works it vertically.” Incorporated, the North American importer of Amazone machinery, offers this middle-of-the road definition. I think ‘compact disc’ is a good way to describe it,” Laethem says.ĭave Flowers of Flowers Equipment, a distributor for A.M.S. It also thoroughly mixes the top 2 or 3 inches of soil, and you can run it deeper if you want. This equipment cuts stalks and thoroughly levels the soil. But it doesn’t move dirt left and right the way a compact disc does. “To me, vertical tillage equipment has coulters, runs straight and cuts stalks and a slot in the ground. On the other hand, Mike Laethem, co-owner of Farm Depot in Caro, Mich., prefers that the compact disc not be mistaken for vertical tillage. Actually the gentleman who invented it probably nailed it the best and he called it a ‘no-tiller’s tiller.’ It’s a real shallow working, high-speed tool.” It’s more of a ‘high speed minimum-till’ tool. “I can understand why you might look at it and say it’s just a little disc, but it’s a whole lot more than that. “It’s more of a vertical tillage tool,” he says. These implements are also effective for incorporating fertilizer.īut Tom Wald of Butler Machinery in Bismarck, N.D., isn’t in the camp that calls it that. It also levels the soil and prepares it for seeding. The compact discs that are being introduced to the North American market are designed to size crop residue and mix it with soil to speed its decomposition. The manufacturers Farm Equipment spoke with generically refer to it as a “compact disc.” They may not agree on what to call this new implement, but the dealers who are already carrying it do agree that what it’s bringing to the farm field will likely make it the next big thing in tillage equipment.
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