Rebuilding a disc drill can be a substantial undertaking, both in time and money.
One popular line, the John Deere 1890-1895 units, can handle a lot of acres before their discs and hubs are done, but after that their future is often forfeit.
Saskatchewan seeding equipment builder Kim Hartman liked the Deere 1890-1895 units and figured that a lot of producers did as well, but they might be thinking of parking their worn tools and buying new ones when the time came.
“But that is a lot of money. Especially the way the farm economy is right now. We took our under-cut disc system and explored upgrading the older 90-95s with it. It works just fine,” said the Elrose, Sask., owner of K-Hart Industries at Saskatoon’s Crop Production Show.
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The under-cut disc operates at an angle to the soil’s surface, opening the soil with less tearing and easier closing, often reducing the hair-pinning that disc drills are known for, especially in heavy cereal stubble conditions.
“There are a lot of those machines out there in North America, it seemed like a problem in search of a solution,” said Hartman.
Hartman’s design retains the spring or hydraulic opener down-pressure system and the rest of the drill’s frame, adding a new trailing arm, the K-Hart heavy duty hub bearing and the disc system. It costs about $900 per unit.
