BRANDON – When Walter and Betty Schoenhofer first brought their Technotill packing system to farm shows a decade ago, many producers figured packing with a flat steel plate instead of a round wheel was bizarre.
Bizarre or not, this spring nearly 1,000 prairie farms will be seeded with the Technotill packer system.
The original packers are still in the field and working as intended but the latest generation of Technotills are stimulating even greater interest.
The road has been rough.
In October 2004, as the Schoenhofers were preparing for the Red Deer Agri-Trade show, Walter died unexpectedly and the world stood still for Betty and son Colin. They had much heavier matters on their minds than running a business or attending a trade show.
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Despite the personal loss, support from their customers convinced them to stick with the Red Deer show. That decision led them into a series of events that saw them not only continue the business but also make major changes to the product.
“Walter had already started working on a new design, but he didn’t get very far before he died,” Betty said.
“With all this encouragement and help we were getting, Colin and I decided to evaluate the whole packer system and examine some of our initial assumptions. It gave us the chance to apply what we had learned from our customers since 1999.”
The next spring, Betty and Colin went out on service calls Walter had previously made, which drove home the need for a redesign.
“Every time there was a problem, it was always one of two things: it was installed wrong or adjusted wrong,” she said.
“Once the installation and adjustment were correct, people were very happy with the product. It was clear to us that the new design had to address both issues.”
She said their biggest improvement was the packer frame. They had been having problems with metal fatigue and breaking. As well, the original design was creating installation problems for farmers.
“People just weren’t sure if they had installed it right or not.”
The new frame is considerably stronger and more streamlined. It fits on any 50 degree shank, with just one hole for the top shank bolt and a slot for the bottom shank bolt.
“We also examined how our thinking had evolved on the thickness of the pack. Walter had initially thought the plate should replicate wheel packers, and that’s a much thicker pack.
“But our customers began saying they only needed a small amount of soil in the furrow with this system, from a quarter to a half-inch at the very maximum. So with the new system, we put less soil into the furrow.”
Along with that change, they simplified how the operator sets the pack. Instead of the original pin system, the new Technotill has a threaded rod with a nut at the top end. The rod is wrapped in the spring.
“We changed the pitch on the spring so there’s more travel. It’s a heavier wire, so it doesn’t need to be compressed as much to achieve the same pressure. I know these little things don’t sound like much, but it was all very significant in making the packer more durable, easier to install and more convenient to adjust.
Another company, REM Manufacturing in Swift Current, Sask., helped with the spring issues.
“We don’t get calls about those two problems anymore.”
They have also paid attention to the openers, which were originally Atom Jets.
“Their single shoot opener is excellent, but more recently we started getting requests for a narrow low disturbance knock-on. So Walter designed a seed boot that attaches permanently to the shank. He picked the Bourgault Tillage Tools Speed Loc Adapter because it’s so reliable.”
He also designed a narrow knife to fit the Bourgault adapter, which Atom Jet built for them. That’s where they were at in October 2004 when Walter died.
Schoenhofer said she was almost ready to have the new openers built in 2005 when she discovered a ¾ inch wide knife that was the same length and the same orientation as Walter’s design.
It was a standard Bourgault Tillage Tool opener that was readily available and became available on Technotill in 2005.
“That opener works really well, even direct seeding into sod. We had one customer last year direct seed canola into heavy sod, and he got an excellent stand.”
The Schoenhofers continue to explore new designs.
“Dutch Industries has a vertical series they built a few years ago, and we’ve found they work well in our system, so we’re starting to work with Dutch. Plus we’re experimenting with some new designs of our own right now,” she said.
“If any of those look promising, we’ll get them built and out on some farms for testing this spring.”
For more information, contact Betty Schoenhofer at 780-352-9890 or visit www.technotill.com.
