Elmer Friesen from Altona, Man., was one of the first farmers in Western Canada to try a Salford RTS machine.
He used one in the fall of 2004 to chop corn stalks and this spring to prepare his land for seeding.
“It’s a unique looking tool. It’s a machine with a set of coulters instead of cultivator shanks. They run in the dirt and, with speed, they’ll kick up some dirt and throw it around. They chop up trash quite well,” said Friesen.
“It’s a nice tool for spring preparation. Let’s say your soil is a little on the wet side, it doesn’t ball up with mud balls the way your cultivator will. It throws it up, and a harrow and packer behind it levels it off. In a couple of hours you can go out and seed.”
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Friesen believes the RTS will suit certain situations in Western Canada especially in areas where there are a lot of specialty crops grown.
“I’m in the Red River Valley and it’s very well suited for us out here,” he said.
“It’s probably not something that would be in the total air seeder part (of the West), where they air seed, spray and harvest. This is for the more intense areas.”
Friesen grows a lot of edible beans. The implement seems to work for his bean land, and for corn fields as well.
“In our part of the world we do a lot of row crop where we come in with planters. It worked very well for them. It’s a different style (of tillage) especially when it’s wet. A cultivator will drag through and push dirt together to make mud balls.
“This does not do that. It leaves a very nice seedbed in the back. It’s different and it does work.
“I was very pleased with it. It’s doing very well for the company in the United States and I can see it doing well here.”
