Find A Dealer

Reduced Tillage Row Crop System

Our Approach To Conservation Tillage

Stale Seedbed? Reduced Tillage? If you are looking for new solutions to old challenges in cotton and other row crop production, we might just have the answers you are looking for.

Bigham Brothers has developed a system approach to row crop management during the dormant (Fall to Spring) production season. It has proven successful in reducing passes through the field and preparing ground for maximum production. The Reduced Tillage Row Crop System also allows flexibility to make minor or drastic modifications to equipment or timing of operations to suit your individual needs, soils and crops whether in conventional, minimum or conservation tillage modes.

We've outlined several steps in the process:

Fall

1. Shred Stalks with Flail Shredder

Cylinder and knife configuration can deliver tremendous knife tip speed. This speed combined with complementary stalk knife tip options will shred stalks down to a manageable condition.

After the crop is harvested, a flail shredder may be used to cut stalks into a manageable condition. Flail shredders provide superior cutting action in heavy residue. Cut residue will protect the soil surface against erosion. In many cases, this practice is currently or will be required to comply with conservation programs.

Flail shredders may be equipped as three point, semi-mount or pull type packages. Models are available in complementary cutting widths. Specific knife options and rotor speeds equip shredders for optimum performance.

Flail shredders may be purchased from a variety of vendors.

Winter

2. Deep Tillage with Bigham Brothers Paratill^® or TerraTill^®

Front coulter slices through the heaviest residue. Patented Leg design loosens the bed for a perfect root environment. Will not mix topsoil with subsoil. Rear Furrowers bed ground so the stale seedbed may be maintained in the same area.

The Paratill^® is the cornerstone of the Reduced Tillage Row Crop System. It breaks up compaction without destroying soil structure. The patented legs, bent at a 45 degree angle, lift subsoil, allow it to fracture under the natural planes of weakness and settle. This loosening encourages root development, enhances moisture absorption and improves soil drainage. The gentle lifting action will not mix topsoil with subsoil, create clods, bury residue or make additional tillage trips necessary.

Gaining quite a reputation in row crop country, particularly in the Delta, the Paratill^® has provided substantial yield increases with a reduction of required tillage passes. The Paratill^® has been called the "Cotton Plow" because of its popularity with cotton farmers, but it also gives other row-crop producers similar, substantial gains in productivity.

The Paratill^® is available in four through twelve leg models. In row crop operations, most are set up for zone loosening and are equipped with rear furrowers to designate crop and traffic zones.

3. Rebed with Bigham Brothers Disc Bedder

Heavy disk gangs feature three bearings per housing, 20" 6 ga. 18" 7 ga. fluted blades. Height adjustable feature lets you set units deeper behind the tractor tires on stale seedbed rows.

Bigham Brothers' Disc Bedder reshapes beds and forms consistent twin rows for typical six, eight, ten or twelve row patterns. The Disc Bedder pulls easier and can be operated at higher speeds than a conventional middlebuster type lister.

Disc Bedders are available on rigid or folding frames up to 42'. Configuration of gangs on double bar frame provides exceptional soil and trash flow and extends flexibility in changing gang spacing.

Spring

4. Prepare Seedbeds with Bigham Brothers PrepMaster^®

The PrepMaster^® executes several operations critical to planting in one field pass. Front sweep and chopper cut stalks into small pieces, distribute the buried stalks and knock down the crown of the bed. Center basket with spiral blade incorporates chemicals and conditions the top of the bed. Rear roller flattens and firms the seedbed.

There is often a limited window of opportunity to get crops planted with the proper moisture conditions. The PrepMaster^® process prepares the soil for planting and eliminates scheduling problems for multiple pass field operations between seasonal rains. This tool effectively bands chemical in the crop area. The practice of banding herbicides as opposed to broadcast application can substantially reduce production costs and keep herbicide run-off to a minimum.

Summary

The Reduced Tillage Row Crop System is complete from harvest to planting. Stalks are shredded in the fall. Over the winter the remaining stalk and root system decompose and become brittle enough to work into small pieces that can be incorporated into the seedbed. Deep tillage with the Paratill^® prepares a loose subsoil environment for crop root development. Reshaping beds with a disc bedder matches up twin rows and refines the contour of the bed. Prepmaster^® completes the cycle, forming a perfect seedbed with herbicide banded down the tops of beds.

Bigham Brothers developed this system with a great deal of input from producers whose primary objective is to reduce the number of passes through the field. We have worked to combine operations wherever possible and still get cotton ground properly prepared.

The Reduced Tillage Row Crop System is easily modified to fit your specific guidelines. The component nature of our equipment allows adding or subtracting pieces and parts of changing the row spacing. We feel it is the most flexible system of farm equipment available and has been specifically designed with row crop production in mind.

Please contact us if you would like more information on the Reduced Tillage Row Crop System or any items in our complete line of equipment. We will be happy to discuss the system or send information to you.

For information on the benefits of a reduced tillage arrangement, see our publication "Why Use Conservation Tillage?"

Go back to our Home Page | Contact us: - Send us a note, locate your nearest dealer, ask us a question or get more information on our products.