This chisel has become my preferred primary tillage tool. It gives maximum flexibility, dry or wet soil. My video --Blue River 43C2 Soybeans (Certified Organic), shows this same field this year and the soybean crop which has done very well even though we have had a very dry year.

Thank you. It definitely has a place. The plow will work soil a little bit wetter...without damage. But in drier ground, the chisel is superior!

20 hp is a good generalization. For years I pulled 9 with 120 hp 😉, but our soils have good tilth, AND as a generality I run shallow as in max 8”. My newer setup is 180 hp on 9 shanks 🙂. The new sunflower is substantially heavier and allows a slightly higher speed. Here is a video of it running kzfaq.infoS3vyCHaalYQ

🙂😂

Thanks for the feedback. Yes we are blessed with relatively stone free soils. Our fields with stones we leave in permanent pasture!! We have friends in Ohio that use buckwheat. We just have not used it here on our farm. We do use oats for grain and hay. So, a big point, and perhaps I will make a video of it, is that our neighbors spend a lot of money planting a cover crop and then spray to kill it. NATURE HAS GIVEN ME A COVER CROP FOR FREE (RELATIVELY). In the field that I was tilling, there was a diversity of winter annuals, a mix of cool season grasses, and two legumes! In addition, the cows had grazed (manure) it extensively late last summer. In most farming procedures, we have done an enterprise analysis which includes goals of reduced cost, positive environmental impact, ROI, and maximum environmental (weather) flexibility.

Which part of the chisel?? The "rigid" shanks (like above) never wear out. Spring loaded shanks can wear on the pivots so that they walk around. The points/teeth last about 250 acres in my clay hill ground before I have to reverse them (they have two points). The rolling cutters on the front will run for quite awhile 2000+ acres. The rolling cutters can break if you hit an obstruction.

@@GeigerFarm You answered my question. The wear teeth. Where I am at, there is a lot of rock, mainly gravel below the topsoil. Thanks.

Oby-1 Sandy clay gravel is very hard on teeth! Most likely the soft teeth might only make 100ac. There are harder/tempered teeth, but they are much more expensive...hard to tell if worth it 🙁

There was an article in Successful Farming this winter to that effect. No-till alone was no better in building soil health than conventional till with diverse crop-rotation.

I've seen strict No-till alone not do so hot, but i've seen no-till with lots of covers in rotation build that soil health very well. Biomimicry and keeping a living root in the soil year round is a major key to excellent soil health, no-till or not.

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Organic standards require a rotation...The residue will determine the field prep. If the land has been idle, the plow is an OK option. The last video in the tillage series will be the modern/heavy field cultivator working in my chiseled ground (my preferred approach). There is cost share for organic certification and some assistance available at the FSA. There is also crop insurance available after certification. Good luck.

Tractor rates at 115 pto hp and 100 on the ground.