New Paxton Plow Co DT7 chisel plough, used for the first time in Mingenew Western Australia, and it's heavier and stronger than before.
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The Paxton Plow DT7 chisel plough is sturdier than SR Series
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Prone to hardpans, Mingenew’s compressed yellow sand-over-clay, effects root development, moisture uptake and yields requiring farmers to deep-rip the land in order to combat the problem.
Asked by a local farmer to develop a sturdier plough with longer tines, and a better underframe clearance to combat blockages and tough terrain, in response Paxton Plow Co. came up with the DT7 series chisel plough.
Paxton Plow Co.’s Wade Smith says DT7 Series development showed how company was successfully locally engineering and building machines for local Australian conditions.
“The plow’s weight and strength are built into the frame and the dual wheels have been specified to carry that weight easily,” Smith says.
“The tines, while based on the principles used in the SR Series plow tines, have a modified trip-head design and more material in the top half of the shank. This is where their strength to handle depths up to 750mm comes from – 250mm more than the 500mm the well-respected SR Series is designed for.”
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The DT7 chisel plough is capable of depths of 750mm
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Set to work at a farm in Mingenew, the farm owner says the new Paxton Plow DT7 plough has overcome issues 30 years old.
“We’ve been deep ripping for 30 years and we’ve always had issues with other machines, mainly blockage problems because the tines were too short and the frame clearance was inadequate,” says the owner.
“While some people say after you’ve ripped two or three times the going gets easier but that isn’t our experience here.
“Sometimes it’s easy and other years it’s like pulling the ripper through concrete, so, you don’t know what it will be like and you need a pretty robust machine for the hard years,” the farm owner adds.
In saying that, Paxton Plow Co. says the new DT7 plough is heavier and stronger than its SR Series plough brothers with the DT7 plough capable of working as deep as 750mm. The farm’s usual deep-ripping and spade cultivation program reaches down to about 350mm, which is then followed by direct drilling.
With previous ploughs unable to break though the tough hardpans of Mingenew, the farm operator was happy with the performance of the DT7 series plough.
“A test run showed it went into the ground like it was supposed to and did what it was supposed to – perfectly satisfactory,” the Mingenew operator says.
The Paxton Plow DT7 will truly get to work next autumn, preparing ground for the 2018 crop of lupins, wheat and canola and are scheduled for appearances at upcoming major field days.