Land rollers are becoming increasingly versatile, and farmers now have another roller option.
AgShield’s new implement, which it is expected to unveil during Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon Jan. 19-21, features an innovative hydraulic folding system and an integral rodent mound-levelling blade.
It is built in working widths from 17 to 70 feet and folds to a safe 12.5 feet for transport. All hubs and tires are highway rated.
Rollers are now used extensively in corn, beans, forages, pastures and zero till fields, as well as in pulse crops.
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However, this increasing versatility can sometimes empty dealers’ lots. Rental units and custom operators are generally booked far in advance.
“There’s definitely a hole in the market,” said Gary McCrea of Ag-Shield in Benito, Man.
“There’s a number of manufacturers, but there are more users than available rollers.”
McCrea said growing numbers of BT corn and soybean acres are another reason for land rollers’ increased popularity.
“The roller is one of the most economical and efficient ways to handle those tough BT root balls,” he said.
“A special corn head with the choppers and shredders is very capital intensive and energy intensive. It’s got a lot of parts to break and it doesn’t deal with the BT root ball.”
He said a roller is cheaper to buy and more energy efficient.
“It takes about four horsepower per foot of machine and there’s very little to go wrong. A large diameter roller pushes rocks and root balls down into the ground. ”
McCrea said forage growers have also used rollers to push down rocks and smooth out rodent hills, thus reducing equipment maintenance costs while letting them cut lower. However, he added, many of these were home-built machines with 24 inch drums.
“The problem with a small drum is it just bounces over big rocks and mounds and mole hills. All of our roller drums are 42 inches in diameter, so they’ll roll over the rocks and mounds and push things down.”
McCrea said he analyzed the market carefully before deciding to build a better roller. One factor he considered is the shrinking number of forage growers.
“The remaining forage producers have big acreages and they buy big machinery. They can’t be bothered with homemade implements anymore. They’re looking for big rollers that can travel fast over the field without breaking.
“Another trend we’ve seen is ranchers buying rollers for pasture renovation. By levelling out the surface and eliminating gopher holes, they have fewer livestock injuries. The pastures are more productive and they have a higher carrying capacity.”
He said zero till farmers are also rolling their fields to create a smoother surface, which provides better germination and allows sprayers and combines to travel faster with fewer breakdowns.
McCrea said his company’s new roller is the only one that allows the operator to unfold the implement without leaving the tractor cab and backing up or driving forward. Not only is this a significant safety factor, but it also lets the rig move quicker from field to field.
The PowerFold option uses hydraulic cylinders to lift the transport wheels and reposition them 90 degrees.
While there’s nothing revolutionary about that, a special feature is the hydraulic motors that drive the transport tires forward to open the frame into the working position.
The motors drive a rotating steel cage, which automatically engages the rubber transport tire. The motor turns the cage, the cage turns the tire and the whole system rolls from transport into field position and vice versa. The PowerFold option is $2,700.
The other unique feature is the molehill leveller. Molehills, gopher mounds and other rodent earth piles cause major machinery damage for forage producers. As well, dirt in hay lowers the grade and price.
“We decided to kill two or three birds with one stone when we started designing this machine,” McCrea said.
The leveller option is only available on rollers up to 45 feet, he added. On that machine, the additional cost is $7,000.
“We raise or lower the leveller blade hydraulically. We’ll run it at three-quarters of an inch over six-inch gopher mounds and level them flat and spread the dirt in the same pass as the roller. The rollers pack the earth smooth.
“We ran the prototypes all summer, right up until the heavy snow came this winter. We were levelling frozen molehills and gopher mounds on some pretty rough forage fields.”
McCrea said he’s proud of the hydraulic simplicity. The machine requires only two hydraulic circuits for the PowerFold option. One additional hydraulic circuit is needed for the molehill leveller.
The four-way floating hitch improves ground following and reduces punishment on the tractor and operator. The front hitch has an in-field float position as standard equipment. It automatically locks up hydraulically when the machine is raised.
McCrea said the 2.5-inch shaft within each drum is a continuous piece of steel with no welds. A non-welded 2.5 inch shaft is rated stronger than a three inch welded shaft.
“On any roller, sooner or later you’ll need to replace a shaft. We’ve designed this so it lasts longer and you can install a new shaft in a couple of hours when the time comes.
“The bearings are Series 213 ductile flange units. That’s the next size up from most others rollers on the market and they’re ductile for impact resistance.”
The rollers are made of 9/16 inch steel, but 5/8 inch is available for custom operators who expect to use them more. The watertight option with three-inch fillers is available at a cost of $600 per roller.
McCrea said pricing works out to about $1,000 per foot of machine, but it’s not that simple when moving from 17 to 70 feet.
For example, the 70 foot roller sells for $69,900 and the 17 foot roller, which doesn’t require an elaborate folding system, sells for $9,900.
However, moving up just three feet in working width to the 20-foot roller will cost $17,500 because it requires the folding system.
He said the 45 foot roller is probably the most popular unit because it can be fitted with the leveller and is still manoeuverable. It sells for a basic price of $40,500. Add $2,700 for the PowerFold and $7,000 for the leveller and it pencils out to $50,200.
For more information, contact Gary McCrea at 204-539-2000 or visit www.agshield.com.
