[Andy Carson]

I really like these row cleaners Tim. There are several videos of them in action on youtube, demonstrating how they deal with trash. Some of the fields on the videos look like mine did last year, so I think this is the right tool. So, I suppose I am making something different again… Good thing I like making things!

[Andy Carson]

This is an old one row horse drawn lister corn planter… I think it still uses a hoe, but I would guess the weight would help deal with trash a little better. I suppose I could be convinced to ride instead of walk… Has anyone used one of these?

[Andy Carson]

George,
I have tried a regular chain run underneath sled runners and bridle chains. The Bridle chains work much better. They dig in better, the sled tracks better, and they don’t catch up on rocks or deadfall like my chain used to. I have a somewhat different way of attaching the bridle chain than Carl does, but the concept is similar… Reguardless of how you put it together, an important factor is having some way of releasing the chain when it is pulled tight.

[Andy Carson]

The main and (cover) crops in the rotation are Corn (oats/turnip) to Sunflowers (clover) to Buckwheat (rye) to Pumpkin (oats) to Peas (clover) then back to corn. Buckwheat is a recent addition because my wife wants to keep bees, and I am very happy to have a crop that I can broadcast, is good for the soil, and produces a crop (honey) that I am more confident will sell. I am not sure how fast sunflower stalks degrade, but I am hoping it won’t be worse than corn. I am adamant that the corn stalks themselves will be removed from the field for feed/bedding, but will still probably have substantial residue to deal with. Sunflower follows corn, as I have read sunflowers are lighter feeders. I expect the trashiest field will be after the corn and sunflower, but that will be in buckwheat and I can broadcast that.

[Andy Carson]

Yes, I was shooting for less disturbance so will probably have some residue to deal with… I suppose that puts me back in the camp of using a planter that can deal with it. I suspect this means disc openers and some weight? Probably easiest to start with a tractor type in that case and adapt it to be pulled by my horse. Man, I think every tool I’m going to be using next year is going to adapted, invented, or fussed with in some respect. Maybe that’s normal, but it makes me a little nervous. I suppose everything will go really good or really bad. 🙂

I guess another way of saying this is. How well does a Planet jr deal with some residue?

[Andy Carson]

Thanks again Erika. I wasn’t really that worried about the pumpkins anyway, as they are spaced so far apart. I thought a little bit about the spacer mechanism on the #4. If I understand the mechanism of the spacer correctly, it is probably easy to get some (like 2-4) seeds to drop at an even spacing it will probably be hard to get one (and only one) seed to drop every time. This is my main concern with the corn and sunflowers. Maybe I would be more likely to get the seeds spread out in a nice line if the slot/hole is just right and I keep my forward speed constant without using the spacer function. I have to say, the whole idea of metering seeds by simply adjusting hole size is not really that appealing to me. This was my main gripe with my broadcast seeder, that seemed to really dump seed when I was going slow and was too light when I was going fast. Perhaps this is a bigger problem with broadcast seeders than with Planet jr types??? Perhaps I just need to learn to walk the same speed all this time??? I googled up a Jang seeder in my research, and although I haven’t seen one personally, but they look much more heavy duty than an earthway and have a mechanism that at least appears to singulate the seed reguardless of forward speed. Does anyone have any experience with or opinions about these? I am not opposed to a Planet jr, but just want to investigate options…

PS. Erika, you mentioned your fiance liked to use the earthway for peas and beans. Maybe the earthway metering system is better for larger seeds???

[Andy Carson]

Thanks Erika,
It was actually the lack of a spacer device (or at least one I could understand immediately) that was the primary thing I didn’t like about the planet jr mechanism. I wasn’t aware that there was another type… The old 1910 type sounds just right.

[Andy Carson]

I am also very thankful for all the wonderful friends that I have made on this site. The sharing and preservation of knowledge (as well as the creation of new knowledge) that this site allows is a very important thing and I am proud to take part in it. I hope everyone has a great xmas. I keep going out in the snow without enough clothes on and I caught a cold that is putting a damper on my holiday season…

[Andy Carson]

I use a run-in as well. When I built it, I sloped the ground slightly for drainage towards a drainage ditch (actually, most of the slope was natural). Then I put down a thin layer of gravel, filled the drainage ditch with gravel, and put my bedding on top. I have been using mostly “straw” for bedding (actually I have been scavenging alot of dried up ornamental grass that the previous owners of my house planted as bedding). My mare is “clean” and urinates in the paddock, but my gelding pees in the run-in all the time. No problem, though, because it runs down through the straw easily, through the gravel, and out the drain area. Not that I can really see it run out, but I surmise this is what is going on. Do your stall mats allow urine to drain through? What is under them? Do you really need them?

[Andy Carson]

I have read the jacks are not appropriate as guards too, and from seeing some young ones play, I can definately believe it. They bite each other very very hard! I would also not think a mammoth would be a good guard anyway. I am sure there are exceptions, but the ones I was around were pretty much to opposite of “quick and alert.” I think standard or large standard donkeys would be much better guards… I was never really interested in keeping a jack, but I can tell you that from what I have seen these mare breeding jacks are separated from (and treated differently than) other donkeys from weaning age onward. It seems like an involved process both from the point of view of how the jack is kept and how the breeding itself is done. The jacks that end up breeding well command pretty respectable prices though and undeniably useful animals. I put on a link that describes some management and breeding practices. Again, I have not experience with this, but it is fascinating nonetheless.

http://research.vet.upenn.edu/Portals/49/How%20to%20manage%20jacks%20to%20breed%20mares.pdf

[Andy Carson]

Sorry to hear about the diagnosis. The work she was doing was impressive for a sighted horse, much less one that can’t see… Did the vet speculate about further loss of sight or give you any tips on things you can do to stop/slow the process?

[Andy Carson]

Thanks Tim. Thats a good idea with the wider wheels, and it might solve a half inch of my “too deep” coulter issue. I also played with the idea of putting a couple spring tines on outriggers at the rear of this implement, which could act the keep the implement upright and control depth. In the end, I thought I would at least try it with the handles alone as I was worried that too much stability might interfer with maneuverability (If I actually have any maneuverability to lose). The handles alone seem to work with so many other implements (plows, harrow, etc), but these implements don’t weigh 400+ lbs… Of course they usually only have one front wheel too. Another thing that seems to help stability (at least in the garage) is moving some weight from the front to the back. You have less leverage, but it has a more immediate “feel” and this might help too… These are all things that I will have to try when the ground is not frozen and I can see how it feels.

[Andy Carson]

I have decided to call this thing a coultervator. It’s going to be hard to test it with the snow flying like it is now. So that’s a 20 inch coulter, followed by 3 c-shank cultivator tines with 4 inch sweeps. There is about 300 pounds of concrete blocks attached to the front via a length of all thread that is threaded through the blocks. There is room to add more weight if I need it, but I’m hoping I don’t… My biggest concern is the placement of the two wheels in the front. Yes, I put two up there instead of one, mostly because handling that 300 lbs can be tough. Even with the two wheels, it’s not too hard to tilt the implement left and right to facilitate some steering because the handles are so far away from the weight and have good leverage, and because the wheels aren’t too far apart. I am trying to strike a balance between stability and maneuverability with this wheel placement, which can only be a guess without trying it. I am also a little concerned about the height of the coulter wheel, which ended up about an inch lower than I had wanted it (I’m still not sure how that happened). This might not be a problem at all, as I can see an advantage to having the coulter run an inch deeper than the sweeps.

[Andy Carson]

Looks great! Have your horses been in a D-ring harness before? Did they take to it right away?

[Andy Carson]

Mitch brings up an interesting point that may (perhaps) be a downside. It is possible (probably even likely) that politicians would make statements that assurt that they “support animal powered agriculture,” while also also supporting laws that make the use of animal power less practical or difficult for various reasons. If confronted on these “anti-animal power” laws, the politicians might say “Well, I signed the resolution supporting animal power” and hide thier true intent. I doubt this downside is important right now, but might be in the future. I personally think visibility is a good thing, even if these resolutions are not linked to any concrete benefits.

It’s great, by the way, that we have someone so interested in doing something real politically. Keep up the good work and thanks again for keeping us informed.

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