Hi Mike,

We were just running 6000 for a short distance to see if we could keep it in the slot and covered in the corn stalks with minimal disturbance. This customer normally applies a lot less. And yes this was sow manure as I understand it.

Keeping a full tank and 6 row/30" bar like this running straight enough so you could plant on these strips with a 12 row planter would be a real challenge on all but the flattest ground. I don't care whose guidance system you have, on any sort of side slope that tank is going to draft downhill.

That is why re want to be able to vary the amount of row cleaning from plantable cleared strip to almost no disturbance.  This customer is strip tilling with our Pluribus. I'll add a picture of his strips into bean stubble.

The 6000 is NOT a strip till machine. It does NOT work the ground other than to open a slot with its 20" single angle disc blade. It is a fertilizer coulter. It can be used in the fall, spring preplant or side dress.  I have some folks that want to put down anhydrous with the 6000 directly under where the seed will be then come in in the spring with the Pluribus strip till unit over the top just ahead of the planter.

It wasn't just on Buffalo Ridge you needed every heat unit this past season!  Even in the cornstalks it looks like the 6000 will cut the residue and get it down with just a bit of black soil showing and should help the spring strip till with Pluribus work even better in many northern areas or the no till work a bit better in milder climate areas.

OR just put manure on at an angle without much disturbance of the corn residue cover...whatever you want to do. It seems to handle the manure pretty well though with a 3" tube at 7-8 mph. Here is a picture of fall stripped beans stubble alongside the hog barns. Fall strip till seems to be gaining momentum here. It provides that black strip for you with some indexed fertilizer to boot.

Even though the manure slots appear black in the photos above they are NOT "WORKED" they are just cleared of residue. The very wet soils underneath makes them appear worked but they are just a closed slot with manure in it. Very different from the Pluribus strips shown here in the same type soils.

The strips pictured below were maybe a 1/2 mile from the 3rd picture above. The 3rd one above has a LOT of residue, both this years 30" strip tilled bean stubble and lots of older corn stalks too. That is why we wanted to see if we could go through this mass of material and still get the manure on without plugging up. It does look like we can do that in this early run.

Again the photo below is NOT manure and NOT 6000 just shown to contrast strip till and manure placement on the same farm. These strips are WORKED. The 6000 slots are NOT worked.

Jim at Dawn

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IMG_2203_Fall_strips_into_bean_stubble _sw_MN_112109.JPG (85KB - 112 downloads)