A compact tillage implement has a frame supported by front and rear frame wheels. A front rank is mounted to the frame between the wheels with respect to a direction of travel to move a front plurality of tools with respect to the frame from a retracted orientation to an extended orientation. A rear rank is mounted to the frame between the wheels with respect to the direction travel to move a rear plurality of tools with respect to the frame from a retracted orientation to an extended orientation. The rear rank is spaced behind the front rank along a reference line. The front and rear plurality of tools are movable with respect to the frame independently of the other of the front and rear plurality of tools while the frame is in working orientation in which the frame is at a substantially fixed pitch with respect to the ground.

A compact tillage implement has a frame supported by front and rear frame wheels. A front rank is mounted to the frame between the wheels with respect to a direction of travel to move a front plurality of tools with respect to the frame from a retracted orientation to an extended orientation. A rear rank is mounted to the frame between the wheels with respect to the direction travel to move a rear plurality of tools with respect to the frame from a retracted orientation to an extended orientation. The rear rank is spaced behind the front rank along a reference line. The front and rear plurality of tools are movable with respect to the frame independently of the other of the front and rear plurality of tools while the frame is in working orientation in which the frame is at a substantially fixed pitch with respect to the ground.

An agricultural tillage implement including a carriage frame assembly and pull hitch towed by a tractor and forward and aft secondary frames supported by the carriage frame assembly. The forward and aft secondary frames mount gangs of disk blades for tilling the soil. The secondary frames establish a plane and the aft secondary frame is connected to the carriage frame assembly at a greater distance from the plane than the forward secondary frame so that the depth of penetration of the disk blades is uniform during field operation. The tillage implement has outboard wing sections pivotally connected to the secondary frames and annular shims are provided to establish the wing sections and secondary frames in common plane during field operation, the annular shim being rotatable about central axis to present a common surface to the implements irrespective of the orientation of the shims.

An implement for preparing a seed bed has a front row of vertical discs, followed by three rows of shanks, followed by harrows and then rolling baskets. A hydraulic cylinder is mounted between each shank and the implement frame and exerts a constant selected trip bias force on the shanks that is adjustable up to 1300 pounds. The implement frame is configured such that a total weight on the wheels when the ground engaging tools are in the raised transport position is greater than about 850 pounds per foot of width of the implement frame. The implement is towed at speeds of at least seven miles per hour with the shanks penetrating the soil to a depth of three inches or more. Residue is cut and buried and the field surface left firm and smooth.

A tillage implement comprising a frame operably supporting tillage tools, and a soil monitoring system comprising instrumentation operably supported from the frame and disposed to detect soil criteria before, after, or before and after the soil is tilled by the tillage tools. The soil criteria detected is at least one of surface residue criteria, soil clod size criteria and soil shatter criteria.

An agricultural tillage implement has a vertical tillage section and an aerating section behind the vertical tillage section, each extending substantially perpendicular to the pull direction of the implement. Individual vertical tillage elements, such as disc blades, can be indexed with individual rotary tine assemblies of the aerator section so that discrete holes formed by the aerator section are positioned between substantially continuous slits formed by the vertical tillage section. A ground deposit system is provided for depositing a component on the ground and may be configured for conducting and depositing a granular component, such as seeds, fertilizers, minerals or the like, or liquid components, such as liquid manure.

An agricultural tillage implement has a vertical tillage section and an aerating section behind the vertical tillage section, each extending substantially perpendicular to the pull direction of the implement. Individual vertical tillage elements, such as disc blades, can be indexed with individual rotary tine assemblies of the aerator section so that discrete holes formed by the aerator section are positioned between substantially continuous slits formed by the vertical tillage section. A ground deposit system is provided for depositing a component on the ground and may be configured for conducting and depositing a granular component, such as seeds, fertilizers, minerals or the like, or liquid components, such as liquid manure.

An agricultural tillage implement has a vertical tillage section and an aerating section behind the vertical tillage section, each extending substantially perpendicular to the pull direction of the implement. Individual vertical tillage elements, such as disc blades, can be indexed with individual rotary tine assemblies of the aerator section so that discrete holes formed by the aerator section are positioned between substantially continuous slits formed by the vertical tillage section. Rolling baskets can be provided behind the aerator section for further soil conditioning.

A tillage implement comprising a frame operably supporting tillage tools, and a soil monitoring system comprising instrumentation operably supported from the frame and disposed to detect soil criteria before, after, or before and after the soil is tilled by the tillage tools. The soil criteria detected is at least one of surface residue criteria, soil clod size criteria, and soil shatter criteria.

A disk harrow having a carriage frame and diverging forward and rear secondary frames extending laterally with respect to a travel direction. Gangs of disk blades are connected to and supported by the secondary frames. A portion of the outermost portion of the forward secondary frame is articulated relative to the remainder of the frames and has a ground support wheel allowing its height to be independently controlled relative to the remainder of the secondary frames.