permaculture

[Claude William Genest <genest@pivot.net>]

Darren,

Good lord !
Listen - If you ever give a workshop on all this, sign me up !

Claude


On Tuesday, May 18, 2004, at 06:49 AM, <darren@permaculture.biz> wrote:

> Hello Lawrence ,
>
> I trust that this greets you and all well. I’m out on a job with some
> time tonight to write for a change. Here goes…
>
> When I started keyline plow contracting in 1994 I had a 5 shank twin
> beam Wallace Plow that I bought off a local dairy farmer. I had just
> helped design a rural primary school on 30 acres and pattern ploughed
> the pasture areas and ripped the perimeter as preparation for a now
> thriving native shelterbelt. I did all of this with a borrowed grey
> fergie (20hp!). Interestingly this wallace plow  had a mechanism that
> connected to the depth wheels and caused the plow to rise and fall as 
> it
> when along – remarkably similar to a Michael Jackson dancing technique
> as it “grooved” its way through the ground. In the PDM the method of
> using a wallace plow is clearly described. The concord (winged keel
> even) shaped point has a high surface area and has a deliterous 
> sheening
> effect on soils. The sheer pin design however is the greatest
> limitation. Basically a mild steel 3/8” bolt. Even the pissant fergie
> broke them in moist sandy loam.  I ended up donating this machine to 
> the
> Permaculture Institute when they where in Tyalgum.
>
> Wallace plow frames are 4” and strong - yeomans shanks fit straight 
> onto
> them. My main client inherited a 7 shank Wallace Plow when he bought 
> the
> place. We oxy cut off the wallace shank braces and bought three 22”
> yeomans slipper imp shanks (new 3 tonne breakout oyster clamp type).
> This frame is the same width as the single beam yeomans 3SB. Works
> behind a 2wd 45hp Zetor 5211 no worries. There is a neat and effective
> roller on this plow too – it’s a wallace original. I think Geoff 
> Wallace
> is still alive – he is apparenty a fascinating bloke though now must be
> quite elderly. Bill and I often talk about  him and the wild stuff he
> used to get up to on his farm in the Kiewa Valley here in Victoria.
>
> I then got a (still have) 3SB (single beam) keyline plow with three 22”
> shear bolt type shanks (the original slipper imp shank design) and
> ploughed many many hectares of differing ground with a dry hired 43hp
> Case 1190 (2wd). Those three shanks were ground engaged to between
> 6-14”, relative to a determination of soil textural conditions.
>
> The plow was set up with fluted coulters (about 24” I think - 
> swivelling
> type – designed for keyline “curves” – reducing the “tearing” effect of
> rigid coulters when engaged in turns ) that did a great job of
> minimising surface distrubance in existing pasture. The use of coulters
> noticably reduces the torque required to pull the implement. About 
> 15-20
> hp per shank is what is prescribed from Yeomans.
>
> I also had a set of “Shankpot Seeders” –  these were based on older
> style seed boxes and were pretty average when sowing into existing
> pasture – unless you lightly harrowed after your pass. I haven’t tried
> them in fully cultivated ground. In fact I haven’t used them for about 
> 8
> years I reckon – my sowing technology has since moved on (I now use a 
> 3m
> trailing disc seeder behind our diesel Landrover Discovery). A friend 
> of
> mine who has a 5SU (Twin beam 3PL 5 26” shank) was inspired by some 
> work
> I did retrofitting the coulter assemblies ( I’ll describe that work
> later) and was able to use the seedbox to direct sow native trees and
> shrubs.
>
> Repeat plowing meant I was going deeper and trash clearance became an
> issue so I invested in 3 new 26” yeomans shanks (4-6 tonne breakout
> force shearpins). These shanks not only afforded the clearance I needed
> but also opened up the ability to rip as deep as some bulldozers with
> only 45hp (when engaged as a single shank). My tree crop ground
> preparation business arose from this single purchase.
>
> These new shanks have two notched tool grooves longitudinally forged
> into the shank. Yeomans have a series of implements that can be 
> attached
> thru the adjustable cocks comb assembly that wedges onto the shank. One
> is the weed knives. These are set just below the surface to cut thru 
> the
> roots of vegetation to effect plant mortality. Very effective for weed
> management in horticulture and any row crop preparation and 
> maintenance.
> Another attachment is the hillers. These have two 18” x 12” x ¼” steel
> boards per shank and are designed for secondary cultivation for row 
> crop
> preparation. I determined that removing each of the outside boards off
> each assembly would enable me to rip and create a single tree crop 
> mound
> in one pass. I used this method for a couple of years. Yeomans also 
> have
> a fertiliser boot and others as well. I have built a couple of pipe
> layers as well (25mm and 75mm) enabling me to bury pipe between 13mm 
> and
> 50mm behind the 22” or 26” shanks. I also enabled a wire spinner 
> mounted
> onto the plow frame to feed the rolls of pipe whilst laying.
>
> Looking at an old Yeomans booklet  was a case study of a Lely power
> harrow mounted behind a 3SB. A double bearing block mounted in the plow
> frame headstock joined two PTO shafts from tractor to power harrow.
> Yeomans produce a very simple couping that mounts a 3PL implement onto 
> a
> 4” tool bar and enables devices such as power harrows, rotary hoes,
> spreaders, rotary drainers and planters etc. to be operated whilst
> subsoiling. I was inspired to join a 1m rotary hoe and another
> (detachable) 4” tool bar behind the rotary hoe with single offset 28”
> discs (modified from yeomans coulter assemblies). This contraption (as
> my grandad called it) produced a cultivated and mounded single pass 
> tree
> crop row ready to plant in one pass using a 50hp tractor. My dad and I
> built it in the shed one day and I called it the Dojo after Joe my dad
> and Doherty. We shared the idea and quite a few took up the concept off
> there own back.
>
> A couple of years later we got a bigger rotary hoe (1.5m) modified into
> a bedformer which is what we now mostly use as its so effective.  This
> produces a remarkably well formed mound much better than with discs. I
> had made a set of mounding discs (28” scalloped) which I still use in
> rough terrain not suited to powered cultivators.
>
> There are a few different types of points. There is the standard 3
> finned wombat point. Then there are the replaceable leap frog points
> that attach into the bull frog point mounts. These are effective though
> they are bulkier in size and require more horsepower. My favorite of
> all, though I have never used cause its too pretty, is the batwing
> point. This is designed for deep krasnozems – cotton soils up north –
> not the stuff I get into. All soils have differing rates of abrasion 
> and
> this directly influences the wearing of points. You find this out 
> pretty
> early when you are contracting. We discovered the use of hardfacing 
> with
> special welding rods. We also found that bronzing on tungsten tips onto
> the wombat points was very effective though the brittle tungsten was
> liable to chip off in rocky conditions. These days we tungsten tip the
> point and then have  “TACA” weld applied to the the length of the 3
> point fins. This process runs a course of weld that includes random
> small chips of tungsten  mixed in with the weld material. This is cheap
> (AUD$50/three points) and fantastically effective and enables, with
> maintainance refacing, a point to have a very long life at well below
> replacement cost (up to three TACA applications).
>
> Generally my approach is to plow soils to just below the pan after the
> site had been softened by rain. Often below hardpans are heavier soil
> textures that have higher moisture retention capacity but are anaerobic
> – the intent of keyline plow use is to build soil out of this stuff by
> accessing it to air, water and light – all of which support aerobic
> biological processes – as that occurs in untreated soils in the top
> 3-6”. Yeomans process is to create soil so it is an energy sink (water,
> minerals, biota, carbon)
> The Keyline soil building process requires a cycle of plow – rest –
> growth - pulse graze/slash/mulch – plant cull/root shedding - rest –
> plow (in between previous cut lines and progressively deeper) – repeat
> over a couple of seasons until you have achieved an appropriate soil
> depth. With any subsequent pass the previous subsoiling makes it easier
> to plow with again a reduced horsepower requirement – traction however
> is another matter and continuing the use of tractors in this size range
> (2-3 tonne) is advisable. The weight of such a unit (3SB) is around
> 700kg so smaller tractor hydraulics capacity and resultant poor
> stability can become dangerous.
>
> Pattern cultivation is easily applied without too much worrying about
> surveying mapping, and levelling equipment. Simply the method is thus:
> with any primary cultivation (driving across the slope as in contour
> ploughing) the ideal is to fall (gently) out to ridges from gullies and
> rise into gullies from ridges. On ridge faces (convex landform) keep it
> level. This pattern enables runoff to be diverted to ridges away from
> gullies. You can use apply this principle in any scale landscape – it 
> is
> a very effective universal technique at dispersing runoff water (or
> irrigation flow) more evenly over a landscape.To enact the technique
> with an implement I use what is called the “seat of the pants” method.
> The load on the tractor noticably increases when you rise on a slope 
> and
> conversely decreases when you fall indicating elevational changes that
> you can easily follow. On the contour and you’re in between.  When
> you’re comfortable with the tractor this is dead easy. The effect looks
> like a rounded herringbone quite visibly patterning the landscape. Once
> established conduct all vehicle operations following these lines. We
> often establish wide spaced rows of trees with pasture and the effect 
> is
> functionally and aesthetically wonderful. We also employ the technique
> for forestry and other tree crops to increase the effectiveness of
> available rainfall increasing growth and the range of species
> appropriate to a site.
>
> As for speed don’t go over medium to fast walking pace – otherwise you
> glaze (sheening) soils as you go through – which has negative effect.
> Its slow work so best to multiply the passes by hanging more off the 
> end
> if you can.
>
> Glad to take the bait on the keyline stuff – been very busy with a few
> special projects (locally and in Vietnam) with a sprinkling of teaching
> but I always keep an eye on the digests. Keyline is obviously a passion
> of mine that I can’t resist on responding to where raised. Thanks for
> keeping the forum happening and look forward to talking more about
> keyline applications and implications and keyline plow use.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Yours and Growing,
>
> Darren J. Doherty
> Applied Diploma of Permaculture Design, (Education, Site Design, System
> Establishment & Implementation) Permaculture Institute (1995)
> Permaculture Design Certificate, Permaculture Institute (1993, 1995,
> 2001)
> Whole Farm Planning Certificate (Train the Trainer), University of
> Melbourne (1995)
> permaculture designer @ permaculture.biz
> a. 103 Casey St, East Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 3550
> p. 613 5444 1068
> f. 613 5444 0621
> m. 0148 254 605
> e.  <mailto:darren@permaculture.biz> darren@permaculture.biz
> w.  <http://www.permaculture.biz> www.permaculture.biz
>
>
>
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