Yetter VTAs leave 94% residue cover

Vertical tillage machine built in Carthage

Cultivator retrofitted with vertical tillage coulters

55 VTAs on cultivator base

Cultivator converted in just 5 hours

VTAs leave 94% residue cover

Yetter VTAs in action

The 3^rd annual Hancock County Conservation Tillage Field Day was held Sept. 21 just north of Carthage, Illinois. Yetter partnered with the John Deere dealership in Carthage—

Martin, Kroencke, and Sullivan—to convert an used field cultivator to a vertical tillage machine using Yetter Vertical Tillage Attachments.

Sounds like a big job, but it actually took only two people less than five hours to create this whole new machine. The guys removed 55 shovels from the John Deere 2210 cultivator and replaced them with 55 of our VTAs.

The new tool hit the ground running right away—we demoed it for the crowd a few days later. The VTA sized the corn residue to about 6 inches—a good size to allow some breakdown over the winter months. And we left just a little soil on top of the residue to prevent it from blowing away.

We did a residue count and the cover left was 94%. That’s good enough to satisfy most dedicated no-tillers. And the light tillage will prove to be a great decision in the spring when it’s time to plant.

This demo really showed that retrofitting unused tools is a cost-effective option for growers looking to add conservation tillage tools to their lineup. Building a VTA machine like this may be a good idea to consider if you’re looking for a way to get some tillage done this fall after harvest . . .yes, I know, harvest is early this year. But this demo showed how quickly you could have a new VTA tool ready to go!

Check back again—we plan to add some more in-field action from the toolbar with Yetter VTAs.

Clearing the way

Yetter residue managers create clean rows

Planting into residue in North Dakota

Yetter Floating Residue Managers on John Deere air seeder

Yetter residue managers at work in wheat stubble

Planting 5,000 acres of soybeans in North Dakota

Clearing the way to plant soybeans

When we visited this grower in Rugby, North Dakota, the weather was great—a nice change from a wet spring! The moisture level was good (it had been a tad bit wet). Overall, it was fantastic weather for planting. But I did notice . . . it’s pretty windy in North Dakota!

We watched the grower seed wheat into soybean stubble with the Yetter 2966 Floating Residue Managers on a John Deere air seeder. The setup was a great option to move the residue out of the way, clearing a path for his disc opener.

He ran the 2966 on 5,000 acres. The producer does grow some other small grains, but sticks to mostly durum and soybeans.

Another grower in the same area used this Yetter 2966 and air-seeder setup to move corn stalk, soybean, and wheat stubble from the seed row when planting soybeans and other small grains. We appreciated our customer’s willingness to go out of his way and spend some time talking to us!

Both customers were very happy how the residue managers worked and were very impressed with the stands they got from using the residue managers . . . the region saw some of the best stands they have seen in many years, maybe ever. 

Doing double-duty

Fertilizing, clearing residue, and planting simultaneously

Yetter units on John Deere planter

Combo units from Yetter do two jobs at once

An Illinois corn and popcorn grower used 2962 Row Unit Mounted Double Disc Fertilizer Openers and added optional Screw Adjust Floating Residue Managers to clear residue and place fertilizer off the side of the row. When I got there, it was raining a little, but the ground was just about perfect for planting. The grower had just finished up with a corn field, so I helped clean out his boxes and fill them with popcorn seed.

The 2962 design allows for both depth and distance adjustment . . .  made it easy for the grower to get his desired placement. The units were mounted on his 16-row, 1770NT John Deere planter and the fertilizer coulters were set to place the product 2 inches deep and 2 inches off the row.

He was very pleased with the units and how they cleared the residue.

Tough residue management for narrow rows

Yetter residue managers at work in Illinois

Residue managers move clods for planting

TITAN™ Residue Managers on John Deere planter

This grower from West Central Illinois used 2967-013 TITAN™ Residue Managers on a 36-row 20-inch John Deere planter. He used them to move the residue and kick dirt clods out from in front of his disc openers. He used to plant corn in the river bottoms of Illinois.

This customer practices mostly conventional till, so he really used the residue managers to kick the clods out of the way to prep an even seed bed. While I was there, the grower was about half done with corn planting, and was covering ground quickly.

2987 Magnum side-dressing NH3

For side-dressing NH3 into corn ground, this producer chose a 2987 Magnum. It was end of June when I went to Western Kansas to get these pics and video, which was a little late in the season compared to past years—the weather had been very wet. The grower was almost done side-dressing  . . . had already done around 4000 acres.

The Magnum units were mounted on a 62 ½ foot toolbar. This grower applied 75 pounds of NH3 on 30-inch centers. Because the Magnums have a single-disc design and low draft requirement, the growers were able to run at 9 mph.

Another grower used 2987 Magnums to side-dress 1,000 acres of corn in West-Central Illinois. His nutrient mix called for 100 pounds of NH3 applied on 60-inch centers. He was able to apply at 8 to 9 mph. Despite the late date because of all the rain, he said the units performed very well.

The ground seemed kind of wet, but everything was still sealing well.

A third producer in ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­from Central Illinois used 2987 Magnums to side-dress NH3 on his corn. He was happy to be able to run at 9 mph while putting down between 100 to 150 pounds of nitrogen on 60-inch centers. ­­­­

Floating residue managers with SharkTooth wheels

This Yetter grower installed 2967-097 Short Version TITAN™ Residue Managers with SharkTooth and Floater wheels. The units were used on Case 1250, 24-row planters. These units adjust from the side without tools.

The pics show planting beans into corn stalks at 8 mph. The weather had been wet, but these planting conditions were pretty good. As you can see, the residue managers were set perfectly—just moving residue, no dirt!

The grower was pleased how the units moved the residue while planting corn and beans into no-till and strip-till fields.

This grower’s planting setup also included a great timesaver—the new Yetter 1310 Maximizer Conveyor—to fill both Case planters. The power of this conveyor really helped speed up the refill process . . . from the time we pulled up to the planter until the time we drove away was less than 15 minutes. The grower got along very well with the new Maximizer model.

This video I took shows him filling the 1250 early in the season.