Coulter Cart For Planters, Drills

Coulter Cart for Planters, Drills PLANTING EQUIPMENT Drills (19) 16-2-25 "Our new coulter cart lets you convert your conventional pull-type planter or end wheel drill to `zone till' in minutes, allowing you to plant almost any kind of crop into undisturbed residue without investing in a new planter or an expensive no-till drill," say Ray and Allen Rawson, Farwell, Mich. The Rawsons are fanner-manufacturers who have been selling a one-pass zone-till planting system for several years that consists of a pair of fluted coulters mounted on a toolbar at the front of a planter. The new coulter cart simply moves Rawsons' zone till equipment from the planter onto an independent cart. It's equipped with a self-contained 750-gal. tank and ground driven pump, as well as a rear-mounted hitch that hooks up to planter or grain drill drawbar. "Other coulter carts are designed only for mounted planters and drills," says Ray. "We've had a tremendous amount of interest from farmers who want to use their conventional drills to no-till soybeans directly into corn stalks. The cart is designed so the row units on your planter or drill will follow exactly in the tilled zone created by the cart's coulters. Our coulter cart is built rugged to take the abuse of tillage and can handle the tank's weight without compacting soil. If you already use our coulters on your planter you can buy just the cart frame and mount the coulters on it. Another ad-vantage is that the cart eliminates the need to mount saddle tanks on your tractor." The "zone till" system includes a pair of 2-in. fluted coulters, one mounted on each side of the row. One coulter is positioned a few inches ahead of the other. The two coulters till a strip 6 in. wide through other-wise undisturbed residue. The lead coulter removes some of the residue from the tilled zone which allows soil in the zone to warm up faster and helps insure better soil-to-seed contact for quicker emergence and a better stand. The rest of theresidueis incorporated into the zone to help control soil erosion. A third coulter can be mounted in front of the other two, positioned midway between them and a little deeper to increase root penetration if soil compaction is a problem. The system lets you apply liquid or dry fertilizer at the same time without knives to help eliminate plugging. A 28% nitrogen solution can be injected behind one coulter. Dry fertilizer can be applied next to the other coulter, mixing it into soil near the row. The cart can also be used to side dress corn with 28% nitrogen. Available in 4 to 8-row sizes. A basic 6-row cart frame sells for $3,900. A complete system including three coulters per row, tank, pump, fertilizer placement units, and monitor sells for $10,300. Contact FARM SHOW Followup, Rawson Farms, 7413 North Nottawa Road, Farwell, Mich. 48622 (ph 517 588-2230).

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