John Deere Africa | Soil Preparation

Hello and welcome to African Farming. We are back at Onewa Farms, which is situated outside of Tarleton. Now, if you guys remember, Eric Mwani had a lot of challenges in the previous season. However, preparations for the next season are on the way. I'm with Zabien de Vere from John Deere, and him and I are going to be talking about preparation of the soil before planting. Zabian, welcome.

Thank you, Toby. It's nice to be back.

So, Zabian, why is the combination between the tractor and the implement important?

Toby, it's all about the optimal use of the tractor because tractors come out in different kilowatts. So for you to have the right implement for the right kilowatts will ensure that you use the tractor optimally. And no wastage or otherwise, you can damage the tractor if your implement is too big and you don't have enough kilowatts on your tractor. So that's why you have to have the right combination on the two.

So we're talking about preparing the soil before planting. So what is the first thing that I need to do?

The first thing you need to do is you have to identify your soil. But what happens over time with your lands is you get a plow bank. So it's very important for farmers to know that every three to four years, you have to rip your soil. What happens is, when you rip, you break the plow bank so that your water can filtrate and you have more moisture in the soil. That also helps the roots to penetrate better with your planting season.

Now, let's talk about ripping. When do I rip? Do I rip after I started harvesting or when?

In the beginning of your season, if you're done harvesting this year, next year, the first thing you want to do is you want to rip your soil when you know you started building up a plow bank in your soil.

Now, let's talk more about the ripper. Take me through the process of why this ripper and this tractor work together and also the safety aspects of it.

Yeah, you know, you always need to check how. How many times does your ripper have in order to make sure that you have the right kilowatts in your tractor. And in a soil like here on Eric's farm, you don't want to go deeper than 300 with your ripping because he's mostly a vegetable farmer. But in areas where you plant maize and stuff, you want to go deeper. And it's always important to make sure that everything is proper intact, because this is a heavy equipment that can really damage Your tractor or the safety of your workers and people working with it. It's very important to make sure that it's right.

So take me through one or two of the safety aspects before I even start operating this machine.

The first thing you have to do is you have to go look at your machine and then make sure that it's hooked properly, set it, balance it, and then just do a trial to see if everything is intact. Because what can happen if one of your three links is not properly correct? It can break the other two. Same with your tines. Your tines need to be properly adjusted. All your screws and everything must be fixed in order to make sure that no damage first of all, and safety for the person operating the thing.

So I know that soil that has been ripped actually helps absorb water more than soil that hasn't been ripped. Is this correct?

Yeah, because what happens is you build up a flow plow bank over the years. Hence it's important to do it at least every three or four years, depending on your rainfall and your area. So what you then need to do is you need to break that plow bank because water can't filtrate more than that. And also it's important for the roots because root then penetrates where the soil is ripped. So now when you get dry spells, then the water goes down into the soil and then it keeps the moisture longer in your field before you start.

With the ripping process. Does the soil need to have moisture on it or can I just soma rip?

Ideally, you would want the soil to have moisture, but it depends where you are in the season. Because some farmers at the end of planting season, they directly do the ripping. Other people wait for pre season the next year and then they start ripping. But you can't always wait for the rain because the rain might come too late and then your preparation will be under pressure. So in an instance like this, you can see that it's a bit dry. But depending on when his planting season is, he needs to start ripping. It's just going to be more costly now and more strain on the implement.

Okay, Xavian. So I have my ripper and my tractor.

What now? Okay, tell me what now is important. You may need to make sure that your ripper is balanced, it's properly hooked, and that it all tines go in together. So you start by looking at your three point hitch.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Three point hitch? You mean those three things right there?

Yes, there's your top link and that's your lifting arms at the bottom. If those things are not balanced. This thing can cost you a lot of diesel or you can even break it. So if all tines are not going at the same time into the soil, there might be strain on one or two of them and also it will put strain tractor because now it pulls skew. So it's important to make sure that this thing is so correct that it must be out, it must be in by centimeters or millimeters, even for fuel consumption and for optimal use of both the tractor and the implement.

And lastly, where do I set this thing? Do I set it on the land or do I set it in a surface which is actually straight?

Now you come to the field, you stand on a straight surface and you have your guy on the tractor and then you start leveling it. So you start with your top link and you make sure that your two your lifting arms are at the same level.

Thank you so much for watching African Farming. We will see you again next time. And remember, we farm better together.

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