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- Vertical tillage machine built in Carthage
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- Cultivator retrofitted with vertical tillage coulters
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- 55 VTAs on cultivator base
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- Cultivator converted in just 5 hours
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- VTAs leave 94% residue cover
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- Yetter VTAs in action
The 3rd 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.
