Dr. Dan Talks Agronomy

A Harrowing Experience

A slightly modified Kelly Harrow helps incorporate broadcast cover crop seed to help seed-to-soil contact. (DTN photo by Dan Davidson)

This year I vowed to get better seed-to-soil contact when planting cover crops. However, direct seeding proved too slow and tedious for the time I had to get the job done.

I ended up using a special harrow to finish up my cover crop seeding. If you've read my articles in the past, you know I like to try new things and report on them. Full disclosure: The harrow was provided to me to try this fall.

This experiment took root last winter when Dan Stahl, a Bridgewater, South Dakota, farmer, introduced me to the Australian-born Kelly Diamond Chain Harrow (www.kellyharrows.com). It's designed as a tool to manage residue, smooth the soil surface and prepare a seedbed for planting.

It struck me that the tool might work for cover crop seeding. To learn how to use the machine and make changes to its configuration, I relied on Stahl's experience, knowledge from Bill Kern, who represents Kelly in the Western Corn Belt, and Ben Hellbusch with Duo Lift Manufacturing who represents Kelly in Nebraska.

Remember the Phillips and Phoenix rolling harrows that were comprised of long chains of iron tines linked together? They rolled through the field while engaging soil and residue. The Kelly Harrow is similar with chains of small discs linked together instead of chains of tines. It's like a rolling harrow with more aggressive discs to handle residue and work the soil.

Kelly Harrows come with four types of chains, CL1 or cast steel link, CL2 or cast link cutting disc, welded disc chain (I call them blunt cast discs) and prickle chains (most similar to Phillips and Phoenix chains). Each chain plays a different role and can be replaced.

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I tested a 30-foot demo unit configured with CL2 chains. I hooked it up to a John Deere 4630 turning out 190 horsepower with duals and incorporated broadcasted cover crop seed (55 to 60 pounds per acre) on bean stubble. I realized two things almost immediately: I couldn't pull the rig at speed (6 to 8 mph) and the CL2s designed to work cornstalks were too aggressive in bean stubble to retain most of the residue on the surface.

After running a few acres, I decided the system needed further tweaks and called Bill Kern to request different chains for the rear. He promised to have welded disk chains delivered. In the meantime, Dan Stahl advised me to drop the rear CL2 chains and run without them. That single CL2 chain configuration was a temporary fix over the weekend. I could pull it at speed and incorporate seed in both bean stubble and cornstalks, but the soil surface wasn't smooth and residue was left a bit lumpy.

Ben and Dave Hellbusch and I then installed a set of welded chains on the rear and ran it on bean stubble and cornstalks to incorporate seed. I could pull it at speed and the blunt cast discs did firm down the residue and soil, but I didn't feel it tied the residue down enough, nor did it leave it evenly distributed after the passage of the CL2 discs in the front.

Next, I tried their heavy-duty prickle chain. We dropped the welded disc chain and installed the prickle chain on the rear and ran it on bean stubble and cornstalks.

Success! I could pull at a speed of 7 to 8 mph and the implement did a very nice job working the surface, incorporating seeding, tying the residue down and evenly distributing residue across the surface. If there were any lumps or piles of residue, it was from the back of the combine. I felt this combination of the CL2 in the front and prickle chain in the rear was the perfect combination for incorporating seed and processing the residue and soil surface while leaving residue on the surface and tying it down. I anticipate easy planting next spring with elimination of row unit chatter, common in long-term no-till fields.

The chain tweaking came at a time cost. It took two people three hours to remove and install the different chains and we did it two times.

After covering some 500 acres with the Kelly Harrow, I realized I could broadcast and incorporate seed in half the time as drilling. It would be even better if I could install a seed box as a way to air seed with the harrow. That would make it a one-pass operation by eliminating the broadcast pass and allow seeding of at least 80 acres on a seed fill.

So what was seed emergence like? The acres I drilled came up in rows, evenly and in about 10 days. Broadcast and incorporated seed came up unevenly in about 20 days. Things evened out after 25 to 30 days -- the fields incorporated by the harrow filled in and looked like the drilled with a smidgen less growth.

My recommendation to Shane Kelly, president and owner of Kelly Manufacturing, was to somehow configure the rear of the Harrow with a roller to firm up the soil for better seed-to-soil contact and quicker germination. For fall-planted covers, that is important.

The Kelly Harrow currently comes in working widths from 20 to 65 feet. It could be characterized, in my opinion, as a vertical tillage unit. Cost is similar to other vertical tillage units, or about $2,000 a foot, depending on configuration. The 30-foot unit I tried this fall has a price tag of about $60,000 in its original configuration.

The original manufacturers of the Phoenix and Phillips harrow are no longer in business. However, Kelley Manufacturing, a Georgia-based firm that is not related to the Kelly Harrow I'm writing about here, still markets the Phillips harrow (http://www.kelleymfg.com).

If you've tried some innovative way to plant cover crops, I'd like to hear about your experience.

Dan Davidson can be reached at djdavidson@agwrite.com

(PS/GH/AG)

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