Midrow shank bander retrofits make low disturbance one pass seeding with anhydrous ammonia economical for two northeast Sask. producers.
Wayne Gronvold and his father Rollice have been direct seeding since 1992. They farm northeast of Tisdale on degraded black to gray clays. The seeding tool that got them into direct seeding was a Concord 12-inch spaced 4012. The packing tires were 6.5-inch bias-ply implement tires. They outfitted it with 6-inch Penetrator openers and ran seed and fertilizer down the same tube. Because of the heavy soils they farm and the adequate to more than adequate moisture usually found in this moist black soil climatic zone, they were getting away with single shooting. They were pushing the safe rates of seed placed fertilizer by applying 60 lb of actual N with oilseeds and 70 lbs with cereals.
However, they knew they were always over the limits of safe seed placed rates and not always getting on the amounts of N they wanted. It is important to emphasize that the only way these high seed placed rates worked for them is because of high seedbed utilization, soil with a heavy texture, and good moisture.
They had been researching and pricing different options for several years. They wanted NH3 nitrogen but were uneasy about placing it on 24-inch centres. After talking to enough people with experience, they became convinced that these wide centres would be no problem. The next step was the right shank and they ended up with Jim Sowa's Valley Packing midrow bander. These shanks are 1.25-inch spring steel with a "pig tail coil" at the top. They have a long 1/2-inch wide knife bolted on the bottom. The knife has a steep angle of entry into the soil. The Gronvold's set these up to cut 3/4 to 1-inch deeper than the seed opener.
Their Concord is a 4-row machine but all the seeding shanks were already set up on the back three rows. Wayne thought since the banders would be 24 inches apart, they should be able to set them all up on the front row. But he says they experienced a steep learning curve. They found plugging problems in some of their tall cereal straw. The Gronvold's straight cut a lot of their cereals and they were leaving some of their heavy stubble at 16 to 18-inches high. This heavy, tall stubble was causing problems and where it was lodged, it was even worse. It was quite obvious what they had to do. But it is still tough to shut down a seeding drill in seeding time and move half of the midrow bander shanks forward 18-inches by adding extensions on the frame. Configuring them worked except for two in the centre around the hitch. Here they used some pig tail shanks from an old John Deere cultivator. These are a little lighter and shorter but otherwise don't look a lot different than the Valley Packing shanks.
After getting past this hurdle, the Gonvold's seem to be very happy with their system. Ammonia losses are nil Wayne says. Good moisture conditions with direct seeding and moist soil being thrown around by all of the shanks has virtually eliminated any losses. There was some freezing around the knife but the build-up was never wider than 1.5 to 2-inches. The knives are narrow and don't seem to pull heavy or do a lot of soil disturbance. Wayne likes the simplicity of a knife with no moving parts and a very reasonable cost compared to the coulter systems. Their air tank is about 200 bu. When they were using all dry fertilizer they were filling every 30 acres, now they are averaging 60.
This fall the Gronvold's decided to keep stubble height at a maximum of 14-inches. Wayne suggests fine tuning residue handling at the combine, possibly even making chopper adjustments for different residue conditions throughout the harvest season. They will aggressively heavy harrow all lodged stubble from now on. They are looking at other means to trap snow. Wayne says next year they plan to cut their Penetrators down to 4-inches wide, as they don't need all that spread and draft should be reduced.
Philip Mansiere is the main manager in a multi-generational mixed farm operating in the Meskanaw area west of Melfort. This last spring he converted a model 34-38 solid hitch Bourgault Commander single shoot cultivator airseeder with mounted gang packers into a one pass seeding tool. These tillage units were manufactured as 8-inch spaced four row cultivators. Philip converted his to a 10-inch spaced seeding machine with the seed shanks at the back. He then added midrow bander shanks on 20-inch centres (side-to-side) in front of the seed shanks. Some of these he put on the old front row. The rest he placed on frame extensions ahead of the original first row. He was aiming for two rows of bander shanks that would be a reasonable distance apart (front to back). With wheels and wing bracing, the ideal configuration was not always possible. Philip used Bourgault's narrow knock-on knife as the opener for all the shanks. He shimmed the banders down with 1inch steel plate between the frame and the shank.
To make a conversion like this work, you have to be very handy and ready to spend some time in the shop. Philip even had to reposition some of the cross members in the cultivator frame to make his spacing work. A good suggestion he has is to use a laser level to check for even shank depth. Besides the shop time and supplies, expenses to this retrofit were very low. All Philip had to purchase was the knock-on knife openers, and 9 shanks and he found a dealership who sold used shanks for $50 apiece.
Residue management is going to be crucial with mid row shank banders at 10-inch spacings. The Mansiere's heavy harrowed almost everything before seeding this spring. Philip says the one field they didn't harrow was a canola field cut two feet high and they had some plugging problems. They again harrowed everything aggressively last fall. Their harvesting system does not have the best residue management equipment. They run Versatile combines with no chopper but the rotary does chew up the straw a lot. Philip says that with a good residue management system like a Redekop system, he is sure they would not be harrowing everything. They also tine harrowed behind the drill this spring to give a better field finish. They used to do this harrowing after seeding with spoons to fill in seed rows. Now with the knives Philip feels that the seed rows are filled in and they are looking at cutting out the extra harrowing to save fuel expenses.
In the past, the Mansiere's have been seeding with 2-inch spoons and mounted packers on this single shoot Bourgault air seeder. If it was a dry year they would put as much dry fertilizer with the seed as they dared and then top dress. For the wetter years they would band fertilizer in an extra pass. The move to mid row shank banding was to get down to one pass seeding and put on N without concern for seedling damage. Philip says they are very happy with the way the system worked and with the crop they produced. Draft did not seem to increase and the gang packers with narrow poly wheels do a better job in combination with the knives than with the spoon openers. The one thing he wishes he had done differently is purchase carbide tipped openers.
Dollars for large capital expenditures no longer need to be a major obstacle to keep you from getting into one pass direct seeding. Take time to look around at what you have or is available cheaply. If you have time to spend in the shop, there is probably a retrofit idea that you can put to work on your farm!