Humans have been using tillage equipment—such as ploughs, field cultivators, power harrows, and subsoilers—to prepare seedbeds for planting essentially since they began farming, first as hand tools and later in the form of animal-drawn implements.
Read More (About Tillage Equipment)Tillage equipment such as ploughs, field cultivators, power harrows, and subsoilers are used to prepare seedbeds for planting. Humans have been using tillage equipment essentially since they began farming, first as hand tools and later in the form of animal-drawn implements. Tillage implements break into and till soil in order to aerate and reduce compaction, chop and bury weeds and stover, and level fields, resulting in such benefits as enhanced root development, improved nutrient absorption, and greater yields. In addition to performing primary tillage applications like digging into, lifting up, and turning over soil to produce a roughly finished surface, tillage equipment is used for secondary tillage tasks to more finely break up the soil surface after primary tillage.
Farm & Plant has for-sale listings for a huge selection of tillage machines from numerous categories, including an Other subcategory with presses, paddock chain harrows, levelling discs, and more items that don’t neatly fit into the following subcategories.
Chisel Ploughs are a primary tillage tool that uses rigid, depth-adjustable shanks attached to a frame to rip into the soil to loosen and aerate it. Besides helping to control weeds, this can improve soil drainage and combat erosion. Depending on the model, a chisel plough may be used in combination with a harrow, finishing reel, or other attachment for enhanced residue management and soil finishing.
Disc harrows from leading manufacturers such as Amazone, Kuhn, and Väderstad are sometimes called “discs” or “disks.” They’re generally used for primary tillage but also sometimes for secondary tillage after ploughing. Using disc-shaped blades available in different sizes, weights, and spacing that are mounted to a frame pulled behind a tractor, disc harrows slice into the soil surface at adjustable depths, chop and bury weeds and crop residue, and break up clods.
Farmet, Horsch, and Kongskilde are some of the leading brands of field cultivators. Available in different working widths, these machines aerate, rotate, and pulverise soil, as well as uproot, chop, and bury weeds. Field cultivators use depth-adjustable shanks attached to a heavy-duty frame to work the soil. Depending on the model, they may be equipped with spike-tooth or tine harrows, a rolling basket, or other finishing tools.
Land rollers are secondary tillage implements pulled by a tractor that even out high spots in soil, break up clods, and push rocks into the soil. In addition to combatting moisture loss, land rollers are sometimes used prior to and after planting to promote better seed-to-soil contact. These machines may include one or more rolling drums of different weights that may have smooth, notched, or ribbed surfaces (sometimes called “Cambridge rollers”).
Mulch finishers are multitalented secondary tillage implements that save time, fuel, and money by handling several tillage jobs with one machine. Also known as “one-pass” and “land” finishers, they can disk, cultivate, and finish the soil by using discs, shanks, and a finishing attachment to slice into and mix the soil, chop and bury weeds, and level the soil surface.
Available from leading brands like Dowdeswell, Gregoire-Besson, Kuhn, and Kverneland, ploughs are primary tillage machines that slice open, lift up, and turn over soil, as well as bury weeds and crop residue and enhance drainage in colder and wetter climes where drainage is problematic. In addition to different plough types, including moldboard and chisel ploughs, you’ll find models with different working widths and that provide adjustable ploughing depths, maize skimmers, and other features.
Power harrows from leading brands like Amazone, Kuhn, Kverneland, and Maschio, use a series of vertical tines attached to a horizontal axis to till the soil into a fine tilth and distribute it across the machine’s full working width. Some models include a roller behind the tines to compact the soil. Compared to tillers and some other tillage tools, power harrows generally cause less disturbance to the soil structure, which can prevent dormant weed seeds from rising to the soil surface and hardpan conditions from forming.
Depending on the model, a row crop cultivator may be equipped with coulters, discs, knives, reversible tines or rippers, and/or other components. These machines break into and aerate the soil at adjustable depths to prepare the seedbed. In recent years, farmers have increasingly used modern row crop cultivators in conjunction with fertiliser injection, GPS, and camera-based guidance to address herbicide-resistant weeds.
Subsoilers are used to rip into the soil at a greater depth (typically up to 0.6 metres, or 2 feet) than other tillage implements, which can produce better root development and crop growth. Doing so is particularly beneficial in conditions where soil compaction is an issue. Available from Sumo, Brock AG, and other manufacturers, subsoilers use depth-adjustable shanks to rip into the soil, but may also include discs and rollers.
Farm & Plant offers a huge selection of new and used tillage equipment for sale from leading manufacturers such as Amazone, Dowdeswell, Kuhn, Kverneland, Lemken, Maschio, Simba, Väderstad, and many others.