REGINA – While it may sound like a conflict of interest to have tillage equipment for zero till farmers, that’s exactly how Phil O’Grady describes the Salford RTS (residue tillage specialist) implement.
“The objective is to keep as much trash on the surface as possible, but still do a little tillage to the soil in the seeding zone,” said O’Grady, national sales manager of Salford Farm Machinery, based in Salford, Ont.
“It’s the third full year of production for the machine. The team at our company created a machine that would improve no-till or reduced tillage seeding conditions. The machine would manage the residue and lightly do some shallow tillage in the seeding zone, so when you went in with reduced or no-till seeding equipment, you’d have better seed to soil contact.”
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O’Grady said the idea with the RTS is to run it over the field, then seed shortly afterward.
In some cases, both machines are in the field on the same day. Other times, the drill goes in within two or three days of the RTS, depending on soil moisture conditions.
O’Grady said the machine has individually mounted spring coulters, with an inch and one-eighth wound coil, to provide their own obstacle protection for stones. It’s a coulter with no linkage or moving parts in the mounting assembly, so there’s nothing to wear out.
“The bearing system is something we’ve designed, a double ball bearing system with a double seal. It’s proving to be the longest lasting individual coulter that anyone has developed. The wavy residue coulters are at a seven-inch spacing across the machine, with five to six ranks of them. This machine will go through any amount of residue. It’s not possible to plug it or bunch residue up.”
Harrows at the back are standard and O’Grady said they are an important part of the concept because they provide the residue spreading ability.
“Your coulters are going to cut and size, plus loosen the dirt. Then the harrow levels. It’s adjustable for any residue and soil conditions. You can get more levelling action if you need it, to fill in ruts or in high residue conditions. In heavy chaff windrows, you can run through with the RTS and it will pull them apart, so you don’t have that cool, wet soil below it.
“An optional roller behind the harrows will give one more crush to the residue, so it breaks down quicker. It tucks it into the soil and helps level the soil.”
The standard coulters have a 17.5 inch diameter with a 1.75 inch wave. Options include a 17.5 inch coulter with a 0.75 inch wave and a 20 inch with a 2.25 inch wave.
Models range from 12 to 50 feet wide. The 41 foot and 50 foot are bifold models. The smaller ones have a single-fold wing up design.
“Typically, maximum operating depth is in the two to three inch range. You’re just trying to be in your seedbed zone. There’s no reason to push it drastically deeper than that. You’re cutting, and loosening the top layer (of soil), so when you’re putting seed down, you’ve got better seed to soil contact,” said O’Grady.
After the RTS machine makes a pass over the land, “it’s loose, with the residue evenly spread out. An important point of the machine is that the faster you go, the better it works.
“We’re recommending operating speeds of eight to 12 mph field operation. Even at those high speeds, the RTS leaves your fields level and can help to level if you’ve left some ruts with harvest equipment the previous year,” he said.
“Stones don’t affect the machine whatsoever, even at those high speeds, because of the individual spring protection. It doesn’t pull up stones like a lot of other machines.”
O’Grady said the RTS implement requires from eight to 10 hp per foot because of the speed factor. It fits in a wide range of applications.
“We’ve shipped into Australia, into the dryland wheat farming areas. We see a lot of potential in those areas. It can function in a conventional system like a field cultivator, but you’ve got everyone in between, (including) those trying to do no-till and leave as much residue on the surface as possible,” he said.
“We’re more corn and soybean based in our crops here in southern Ontario, but there’s a fair bit of winter wheat and some cereal crops grown as well.
The machine seems to show a good response, even in direct seeding cereals in our soil types, which tend to be heavy, cool and wet because of our humid climate.
“In wetter soil conditions, you can go in, get the soil airing out and drying up with this tool, as opposed to waiting for it to do it on its own. In a wet season, it allows you to plant sooner. In a cool season, it warms the soil. It gives the seedlings a better seedbed to start off in.”
O’Grady said the company tried the RTS machine in wheat and barley, and a little bit in Ontario canola fields.
“For most crops, you can see visible results running the RTS ahead of direct seeding equipment (compared to direct seeding equipment alone). That’s what pays for that extra operation.”
Salford unveiled the RTS to western Canadian farmers recently at the Farm Progress Show in Regina. He said there was a lot of curiosity, because nobody had ever seen anything like it.
“There was the question, ‘What the heck is that?’ When you talk about the issues, they’d say, ‘Well that could work’. That’s the response we’ve had with it in all areas that we went,” said O’Grady.
He said the first benefit they see is the ability to get into wetter soils and quickly get them fit for planting. The first couple of machines sold into Manitoba were for that reason. With tractor flotation, with RTS, the fields would look different and farmers could think about planting. Leaving it for Mother Nature meant waiting a couple of days and it would rain again.
O’Grady said in Manitoba, in the extreme wet conditions, they’re pulling 30 foot machines. In typical conditions, with the horsepower available, they’d easily be pulling 41 foot machines.
“What we talk to producers about is don’t get it oversized. Be able to pull it fast, all the time, in all your conditions. A 30-foot machine at 10 or 11 miles an hour is easily doing 45 acre per hour. It equates more typically to what they’d expect from a 50 foot cultivator.”
O’Grady thinks there’s a fit for the RTS in Western Canada.
“I think there will be applications for it in Western Canada. Not every year and every situation would warrant it, but it seems to do so many things and you can do it rapidly because of the high speed.”
The RTS machine retails for about $1,900 a foot. O’Grady said he’s had some inquiries since the show and he’s looking at setting up some western Canadian dealers.
Farmers can contact O’Grady at 905-377-5660 or the company website at www.salfordmachine.com.
