System Eliminates Center Pivot Ruts

System Eliminates Center Pivot Ruts IRRIGATION Acessories Here s a new way to get rid of ruts in your center pivot irrigated fields The Pivot Jetter from Adam Kerns Construction is an after-market offset secondary pivot point that allows the pivot wheels to move out of a track to fresh ground before ruts are created A center pivot is just a heavy machine full of water moving over ground that is wet constantly beating down the same track says Kerns The Pivot Jetter allows the wheels to move in a fresh track As they do they push dirt back into the first track filling it in as the center pivot travels Kerns farms under center pivots is a Reinke irrigation dealer and services irrigation equipment He knows the problems involved firsthand When a customer challenged him to come up with a solution to the rut problem he worked with his brother Nathan an engineer to do so What they devised was a secondary pivot point installed between the primary OEM installed pivot point and the pivot boom Normally the boom pivots on the primary pivot point as it travels If the operator locks the primary pivot point and unlocks the secondary the natural movement of the center pivot offsets the wheel tracks away from or toward the pivot center explains Kerns Once the desired track position has been reached the secondary is locked in place and the primary is again unlocked Before a rut is established the process is repeated Kerns acknowledges that other ideas have been tried and used to limited success Boom backs spray water behind the system so wheels are running on dry ground Bigger wider and high flotation tires even tracks have all been tried Some such as high flotation tires put extra stress on gearboxes and overload drive motors says Kerns Ours doesn t do that plus it can be used as much or as little as the soil type requires He emphasizes that even with the Pivot Jetter if the rut gets too deep before changing the track it can damage the machine when you do Kerns notes that some soils may require frequent track changing while others less so We have some soils that take a couple of years before the wheels break through to make ruts but once through it s a full-time job to keep the pivot moving he says With the Pivot Jetter we can offset tracks at harvest when we till the field and run for another year without a problem Kerns tested his prototype design this past season with excellent results He hopes Reinke Mfg will purchase rights for the device If not he plans to manufacture and market the Pivot Jetter himself He estimates a price of about $3 200 depending on the price of steel hot dip galvanizing and other factors Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Adam Kerns Construction 46196 School House Rd Haines Ore 97833 ph 541 910-8420; agcontracting@hotmail com

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