permaculture

[<lflondon@mindspring.com>]

>>> Where does one get these devices ? How much do they cost ? do they >>> 
>>> fit on any tractor's hitch ?

three point hitch though you could fabricate a drawbar version with 2 extra 
wheels

about $500-700 per shank, extra for 3 pt hitch and toolbar + wheels from MFI

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Direct from Yeomans in Australia if you can find a way to import one :-)
-
Contact:
Yeomans Plow Co. PTY Limited
PO Box 311
Ashmore City, Qld., 4214
Telephone:  07 5571 6544
Telephone: (068) 62 1511
Fax:  07 5571 6566
yeoplow@onthenet.com.au
yeomans@onthenet.com.au

-
Or just call:
-
Market Farm Implement, in Friedens, PA, telephone 814-443-1931
Web site: http://www.marketfarm.com/

Market Farm Implement 
257 Fawn Hollow Road 
Friedens, Pa. 15541
Phone: (814)-443-1931

They offer a printed catalog by mail. If you request it they will include a 
brochure on 
Yeomans plow and attachments - this brochure if far from complete but does 
include the 
plows and points that MFI carries. I got mine in the mail yesterday. This is 
an impressive
device and well worth a market farmer or permaculture practitioner investing 
in.                                                        

From the brochure:
Yeomans Plow Co. NEWSLINE
Big-Y adjustable shank expands the range - with Bridge Lock system
Point News: They Just Got Meatier
BW-4 Batswing Point
BF-B Bull Frog - tip holder
WB-3 Wombat Point 

Yeomans RB-1 weld-on shank base
New AJ50 Adaptor - fit secondary cultivating points to Yeomans shanks
Tadpole TP-1 New tip for fighting wear problems
New Bridge Lock = super strong shanks

Yeomans YSH-1 Stealth Hiller - for all types of hilling and bed work
New SBL-2 Shin Guard - stop shank wear 
-
 For those interested in this excellent tillage device,
 MFI offers the Yeomans plow or YeomansLG shank (subsoiler
 with sweep point, sharp-edged shank around 3+ feet long and an added
 V-shaped sweep at the opposite end of the bottom of the shank from the
 point). They are having the toolbars with three point hitch fabricated here
 in the US rather than import the Yeomans version from Oz. You buy as many
 plows as you want to mount on the toolbars. It is assumed that a
 40 HP tractor may be able to pull three Y Plows - in this arrangement you
 would attach one plow in the middle of the front toolbar and the other two
 on the toolbar behind and on either side of the front plow - this allows
 rocks and sod to escape around the three plows rather than getting caught
 if the three plows were in a straight line on one bar.

 A three plow system delivered to NC is about $4000, complete.

-
And from:
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Date:         Sun, 19 May 2002 11:00:53 -0400
Sender:       Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
               <SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU>
From:         David Inglis <mhcsa@BCN.NET>
Subject:      Re: Yeomans Plow System - need U.S. supplier for thisimplement

 I have been using a Yeoman Plow for 10 years with great results. The plow
 was originally described as a subsoiler but I rarely use it as such now
 having done all the 'pioneering' work. If I use it deep it is in greenmanure
 crops so that there are roots present to follow the openings created by the
 plow.
 The design of the plow point gives it a lower angle of lift so it requires
 less draft and also mixes layers less. [ because of this it will not bury
 trash ] The power requirements I remember are 12 horse for the first shank
 and 8 for each one after. The shanks can be mounted on an old 4" chisel
 frame but I do not recommend it because the shanks are stiff and any shock
 will transfer directly to the frame. I built my own frame from one stick of
 3/8" X 4" box and still tweaked the frame when I foolishly bypassed the
 safety having run out of safety bolts.
  My biggest tractor is 25HP with 4WD and in my gravel loam soil with
 permanent beds I can plow 18" deep with 3 shanks. If I am moving into a new
 area I drop shanks until I can pull without lugging and allow the biology to
 open up the ground with the help of the plow leaving time between passes.
 The adjustable sweeps on the back of the shanks are great because you can
 run them just under the surface no matter how deep the shanks are running.
 For a lot of crops it is the only tool I use for soil prep.
 Unless they have changed the design they have an 18" and 24" shank, get the
 24". I consider the depth wheels to be essential, they transfer extra power
 to the plow.
 I started off as a 'french intensive biodynamic' kind of guy and this plow
 was the key to a twenty year quest to mechanize my deep bed formation [the
 other components being a Celli spade plow and Williams weeder which Market
 Farm also carry].

 The sun is out today but yesterday it snowed.Yow.
 David Inglis
 Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A.

-
Steve Diver offered this additional information:
-
Batswing and Wombat, names of the paraplow points that
go with Yeoman's Slipper Imp.

See picture in Mollison of cover crop roots going into the channels
created by Howard's plow; same thing for Yeoman's.

Lower horsepower per shank; biggest difference between Yeoman's
and other sub-soilers.

Paraplow points, I think Yeoman's featuerd these long before
U.S. sub-soiler manufacturers picked up on this concept.

-
And from: http://www.regional.org.au/au/roc/1984/roc198477.htm
-
BUNYIP SLIPPER IMP
by Ken Yeomans 
Parkes Industries Pty Ltd, 70-82 Close Street Parkes, NSW 2870

Yeomans (Bunyip) Slipper Imp with Shakaerator is a machine of great strength 
that successfully harnesses 
the amazing force of powered vibration to work the earth -r for grain crops, 
row crops, mulch forming, 
soil development and pasture improvement.

Conventionally shaped shanks and digging points compact the earth tighter 
immediately prior to contacting it.

The wombat slippers and shanks penetrate readily with a narrow point and flat 
angle, then splits and shatters 
the earth upwards. The vibrations from the Shakaerator greatly amplify this 
upwards split-and- shatter action. 
In shallow cultivation with the wide batswing slippers the vibrations flatten 
out horizontally and the fin 
dislodges the soil from the roots to greatly assist weed kill.

The draft reducing effect of the vibration from the Shakaerator is often 
clearly evidenced in deep cultivation 
when wheelslip occurs and the tractor stops if the Shakaerator is turned off.

The wombat slippers can be reversed (turned upside down). This feature 
overcomes the common problem of the 
undersurface of the digging point wearing to a convex shape and causing the 
point to ride up out of the ground. 
The thicker the leading tip the greater the problem. The inversion of the 
slipper produces a new cutting angle 
which readily penetrates the hardest of earths.

One of the primary objectives of the design of the wombats (digging points) 
had been to provide for a type of 
aeration of the soil and subsoil (the A and B horizon) that would most 
closely replicate the intimate capillary 
aeration that naturally occurs in deep fertile (living) soil.

It is not desirable to leave pockets of air in the soil. Plant roots will not 
readily cross an air gap. If it 
is more than 10mm the root will die back and send a branch root around the 
air space. Smaller air spaces can 
have a similar effect.

The Yeomans Slipper Imp has the right combination of shank and slipper 
designs, with the trembling shudder of 
powered vibration to produce mechanically a unique capillary type of aeration 
which is both intimate and complete. 
In many conditions there may be no apparent surface disturbance, yet the 
earth has been penetrated, split, 
fractured upwards, vibrated, aerated and returned almost to its original 
place.

Walking on the cultivated soil feels like a thick pile carpet.

The conversion of subsoil into deep fertile soil with the Slipper Imp is not 
a "once over" affair. It is a logical 
and progressive process, which continues for three consecutive years or more 
before the deep new soil assumes a strong
degree of permanence. Correct management of the pasture plants and especially 
the control of the growth and decay 
cycle of the root systems is vital.

THE YEOMANS SLIPPER PLOW  GIVES YOU LOW HORSEPOWER SUB SOIL AERATION
- The super strong breakthrough in shank design gives you earth moving type 
ripping with super low horse-power. 
- Models from 5 Shank 3-point linkage through to 31 Shank folding wing. 
- The unique splitter fin on each Slipper point lifts and cracks the soil 
ahead of the shank.
- The Yeomans Slipper plow gives you deep ripping to aerate and develop deep 
soils and keeps 
  your top soil on the top where it belongs.
- There is no inversion of topsoil and subsoil.
- The Yeomans Slipper plow will aerate, sweeten and deepen your soil. The 
Shakearator for smaller models
  produces powered vibration, assisting cracking of hard soils and saves on 
fuel and tyre wear.

For information on improving your soil with Yeomans deep ripping send for 
P.A. Yeoman's Farm Manual.

And from the catalog:
Yeomans Plow Co. NEWSLINE
Big-Y adjustable shank expands the range - with Bridge Lock system
Point News: They Just Got Meatier
BW-4 Batswing Point
BF-B Bull Frog - tip holder
WB-3 Wombat Point 

Yeomans RB-1 weld-on shank base
New AJ50 Adaptor - fit secondary cultivating points to Yeomans shanks
Tadpole TP-1 New tip for fighting wear problems
New Bridge Lock = super strong shanks

Yeomans YSH-1 Stealth Hiller - for all types of hilling and bed work
New SBL-2 Shin Guard - stop shank wear 


<><><><><><><><>

I recommend a two implement system for market farming or permaculture that 
includes:

1) Yeomans Plow system

2) a two-gang (two three-disc gangs mounted on a toolbar, one gang on each 
end - adjustable 5 different ways), 
three point hitch set of 1-hill hilling discs (I can supply contact 
information for the company that made 
mine if anyone is interested) $550.00 delivered.

Use the Yeomans plow in the late Fall, possibly again in the Spring; follow 
up with bed preparation
with the hilling discs (set discs to widest point to create the widest, 
highest hill possible - plant directly 
into these hills or combine two hills into one for extra bed width.

-- 
L.F.London 
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech