Field Cultivator “Root Rake”

Field Cultivator “Root Rake” CULTIVATORS Curt Forde Viroqua Wis had to clear off a small 1-acre field that was covered with 6 to 8-ft tall sapling trees He knocked the trees down with a heavy disk and then ran back over the trees several times cutting the saplings into 2 to 4-ft long sticks “We wanted to use the field for small test plots and it would have taken many hours to clear the sticks and roots off the field by hand ” says Forde That’s when he got the idea of using a 12-ft wide IH Vibra-Shank field cultivator that was sitting unused on the farm with many of its shanks missing All the front shanks had been removed to mount on other cultivators leaving 7 shanks on the back bar spaced 20 in apart “I removed the shovels from the shanks and added 2 shanks between the center 3 shanks creating 10-in spacing to catch smaller sticks “Then we ran back and forth across the field dragging loads of sticks to the edge of the field and lifting the cultivator to dump them off The 10-in spaced shanks worked okay but made it a little more difficult to dump the sticks If I did it again I think I’d space the shanks 15 in apart ” notes Forde He’s thought about making a rock rake with the same design spacing the Vibra shanks about 4 in apart to pull rocks to the edge of the field for easier removal Contact: FARM SHOW Followup C J Forde Profit Organics P O Box 141 Viroqua Wis 54665 ph 608 606-0810; www profitorganics com

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