Case IH donates field cultivator to Iowa State University

AMES, Iowa – Does putting in the time and effort in the spring to change out old sweeps on field cultivators for new ones lead to increased yields in the fall? Thanks to support from Case IH, researchers at Iowa State University are working on a project to answer that question.

Case IH recently donated a new Case IH Tiger-Mate 255 field cultivator to Iowa State’s Research Farms. The donation came about because of a tillage study being conducted by Mehari Tekeste, associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, in partnership with Case IH and Agrisolutions Corp.

Tekeste is in year two of a three-year project looking at how standard versus CADEN Edge coated field cultivator sweeps impact yield in corn fields. Over the last few years, with funding from Iowa State’s Center for Industrial Research and Service and Agrisolutions Corp., the researchers used an indoor circular soil bin to study accelerated wear characteristics of the CADEN Edge coated and standard cultivator sweeps. This year’s field study considers the data collected by three sensors on the cultivator, relating to the depth of the sweeps and their interaction with the soil as the cultivator passes through the field. Variations in the depth, soil conditions and tool wear life can impact overall seed bed uniformity.

“We saw the value of changing out old sweeps for new wear-resistance coated ones in the lab, and now we want to see if we get the same results in our field studies,” Tekeste said. “Based on our research, we want to convey that information to growers so they can make informed decisions when it comes to tillage practices on their farms.”

In addition to the research study, the field cultivator has been used as a teaching tool for Iowa State students in two classes involving agricultural machinery. Last spring, the students saw first-hand how an agronomically designed tillage tool like the Tiger-Mate 255 field cultivator can impact the agronomic principals in field study research.

Kent Berns, superintendent of Iowa State’s Research Farms, also will use the cultivator on other research projects at the Curtiss Farm and other field plots near campus.

“I have always been impressed with the performance and productivity of the Case IH tillage implements used in our research plots,” Berns said. “The Tiger-Mate 255 leaves a uniform seedbed, and it is capable of dispensing the heavy and uneven levels of residue that we see in research plots.”

About Case IH

Case IH is global leader in agricultural equipment, committed to collaborating with its customers to develop the most powerful, productive and reliable equipment designed to meet today’s agricultural challenges. The company’s history dates back more than 175 years and it has a presence in 160 countries around the world.