FTLComm - Tisdale - April 3, 2000

The cultivator is essentially a modification of the primary farm tillage implement of the eighteenth century, the plow. But few concepts have been carried to the length that has seen this basic elementary piece of farm machinery altered to become the Swiss -Army-Knife of agriculture. When you see one of these monsters being hauled down the road or sitting folded up they are of course impressive but equally confusing as to their function and utilisation. So when I spotted one hitched to a new tractor behind John Bob Farm Equipment last night in its work configuration I thought it would be appropriate to show you it in a way that would let you explore its intracacies. On the right is a QuickTime VR Object, sixteen images blended together so that you can place your mouse on the picture and move around the set up to look at it from various angles. The harsh light of 7:20 PM last night moves you past the details and lets you focus on the underlying complexity.

This machine can be used to just work up the land, inject fertiliser into the soil, plant seeds, pack the field to reduce wind soil erosion. In most cases all of those functions are completed in a single pass with the grain tank/air seeder rolling along behind and perhaps even an anhydrous amonia tank on wheels behind that. This particular impliment is manufactured at St. Brieux, West of Melfort and is perhaps the very best manufacturer of this equipment today. With a tank on back this unit would cost your bank $150,000.

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