Saskatchewan farmer, Dwayne Woolhouse, chops off tall-growing weeds above crops with his home-built 23-ft. "weed whacker" that mounts on the front of his self-propelled swather. He says it works so well it mulches up the weeds before they hit the ground.

"It's most effective on wild oats and wild mustard just as they are starting to head out because they usually extend above the crop canopy," Woolhouse says. "By using tillage and post-emergent harrowing as added weed control, you can have pretty impressive results."

The Assiniboia, Sask., farmer invented the machine because he couldn't find anything else that would control weeds at such a late stage, and he farms organically so he couldn't use chemicals.

Woolhouse says he based his idea on a hand-held Weed Eater.

He first bought a used swather table at a wrecking yard and cut off everything except a steel beam that attaches to the front of his swather power unit. Then Woolhouse mounted nine rotating horizontal steel rods (made from cold-rolled steel) under the beam and hung a 6-in. length of fine chain from the end of each strap. Each "blade" is fitted with a pulley that's belt-driven off the swather driveshaft.

He used the system during the 1999 crop season with good results. This year, he has been experimenting with various types of chain, as well as the strongest commercial weed whip nylon line. He has found that the nylon line outlasted any chain and says that the best overall results might be with no hanging chain or line at all because there's less maintenance required. He has found that the rods need to be at least 3 ft. long for the best results.

"Woolhouse can remove the Weed Whacker and install his regular swather table in about 10 minutes.

"Before I designed this unit, I tried using a swather to cut off the tops of the weeds in the same way, but it didn't work. The swather leaves rows of material that you cut off, it won't cut as close to the crop, and it doesn't cut as clean or as fast," he says.

Woolhouse has applied for a patent for his Weed Whacker but says he's too busy to manufacture it himself. Instead, he would consider a partnership.