Perfecta Cultivator vs. Woods Disc: Early Tillage Showdown at Our Organic Farm Pulled By Case 284D
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- This year our cover crop did not do well compared to the previous two years. There are many reasons for that including the strange hot fall, early freezes and warm winter but it afforded us an opportunity to test whether the perfecta or disc could do well for early tillage this year.
Our tractor is too small to use the perfecta reliably. I have to manage the depth during the pull with the 3pt hitch to avoid getting stuck. It is a fairly heavy implement for its intended use. Overall, I wish I could use it more because it does a great job in breaking up the compaction and smoothing out the beds.
The Woods Disc is very handy for secondary tillage but I wish it was a bit. I usually have to use the rototiller first before the disc is viable. Looking back with what I know now.. I would buy the bigger disc or find one that is bigger.
Overall these implements did a fairly similar job but I preferred the perfecta at this stage. It is just very hard to maneuver with our tractor and would be much easier with 20-30 more HP.
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what does it cost for the cultivator
Run the disk 1/2 lapped then the perfecta full width. Set a 3pt. depth for both, it will help with level and consistency.
I found this video while searching for info on Perfecta cultivators and it was very interesting. But your tractor is also interesting. It’s not a Case - it’s an International (pre-Case merger) built by Komatsu in Japan. Rare and hard to get parts for (maybe you’ve found that out already😊). It’s nice to see one still being used. Thanks.
This was a very interesting comment and led me down a rabbit hole because the tractor was always referred to as the case IH 284d.
Apparently the company that owned Case bought selected agricultural assets from IH when they were going out of business right at the point this tractor was made 1984-1985.
I am going to look at the documentation (which isn't much) and see if anything says case IH on it or not.
Also we use those titles for TH-cam search optimization and try and fit as many relevant search terms into it for more people to find the videos haha.
Thanks for the comment.. I hope the video helped. Let me know if you want any more information on the perfecta.
I’m not sure how it was presented to you when sold, but the perfecta is not made to be a primary implement. It’s made to run behind a disk and leave a perfect seedbed. As long as you don’t have a ton of residue it will work but not do the best job. I’ve sold unverferth for over 15 years if I can help you with any setup tips or anything I’d be glad to.
It wasn't presented to me in any way! We used it extensively at my mentors farm for secondary tillage. I have seen and heard of people using it for primary tillage and decided to try it out this season since my cover crop did not grow very thick last fall.
That's essentially how i have used it at two farms. Plow/Disc, perfecta, then either spader or a rototiller before planting if needed.
Thanks for the comment!
Have you ever seen a no-till drill used to plant seed? I watch a lot of videos on farming for wildlife habitat improvement and I see guys using these no-till drills that are able to plant seeds without disturbing the soil. They plant right through the cover crop and then manually terminate the cover crop by crimping it, which creates a mulch layer as well as puts nutrients back into the soil without disturbing it. Not sure if that could apply to your farming needs.
Yup. They are mainly for planting field crops or cover crops though. My mentors were apart of some trials at rodale institute when they were running their business out of there and said they would never plant vegetables into a crimped cover crop again. Was very difficult to manage and harvest at that point.
There is active development of no-till veg equipment and cover crop crimpers for smaller scale but unfortunately it is not lucrative enough to draw a lot of investment into making and developing the equipment.
There is so much that goes into the soil health talk and the tillage discussion to really type about. It's all fascinating stuff but can be misleading to think no till is the best possible way for every situation.
The bottom line is that vegetables are the least sustainable thing to grow and trying to mimic a forest soil when all our crops are bred for pure sun doesn't add up haha.
I wish we could have a perennial orchard with native grasses in between that animals could move through and graze! That's a long way off so we sell veggies now to keep investing in the property long term.