Moving the earth for good reasons
The benefits of sub-soiling and soil aeration are well known, not least their ability to create vertical fissures that help water and nutrients penetrate to plants roots, so helping increase production.
Subsoiling offers improved drainage and creates healthier soil conditions with increased worm activity, ultimately resulting in higher yields.
Many subsoilers tend to leave an uneven surface and are often unable to go deep enough to penetrate the compacted pan layer to achieve the required results. Alpego claims its Super Craker overcomes this problem with specially designed legs that enter the ground surface at an optimal angle, allowing the machine to penetrate through the compacted pan layer to depths of up to 600mm, while breaking the pan with minimal mixing of the subsoil into the upper soil profile.
Alpego says the profile of the soil is left in a way that in a dry season the moisture stored deep down can move freely up the soil profile to the plant, and yet in a wet season the opposite occurs with the excess moisture freely draining away, resulting in higher cropping yields in all seasons.
The machine should prove to be popular with contractors and maize growers looking to improve crops suffering from soil compaction.
Made from Swedish high tensile rated steel in the construction and cast-iron clamps to fix the legs to the frame, three models are offered from 3 to 5m working width, suitable for tractors 100 to 500hp.
A choice of shear-bolt or hydraulic auto-reset systems protect the rig from stones and trash.
The 500mm or 600mm legs allow the user to work at different compaction depths, and a Franter double-spike rear roller crushes clods left on the surface, leaving a level and semi-cultivated finish ready for the next pass before final planting, while also helping to conserve moisture.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird…
OPINION: Synlait's financial woes won’t be going away anytime soon.