When it comes to strip-tilling effectively, Tony and Doug Anderson benefit from both farming and equipment dealer experience. Besides farming 2,500 acres, the brothers own Anderson Equipment, a shortline dealership selling planting and tillage equipment at Washington Court House, Ohio.

Tony Anderson recalls his great uncle quipping, “Boys, you never have time to do it right the first time, but you always have time to go back and do it again.” The message to Tony and his brother Doug was to take time to do the job right the first time.

That’s still the Anderson attitude today. As equipment dealers, the brothers learned the dos and don’ts of strip-till equipment by first testing the practice on their own acreage near Mt. Sterling, Ohio.

The brothers tried strip-tilling because they were searching for a way to make no-till corn work in their operation. No-till corn had not been successful with their poorly drained, lighter clay loams. Doug classifies the area’s soils as LGC (low grade concrete).

Start Simple

The brothers went straight from chiseling to strip-tilling. In 1999, the brothers started strip-tilling with Remlinger row units mounted on a 12-row Kinze planter frame. Today, they use a DMI Nutri-Till 5310 equipped with 24-inch straight coulters, mole knives and firming/rolling baskets to clear a 10- to 12-inch-wide strip.

“The results have been excellent and we’re saving time in the spring,” Doug says. “In the fall, we prepare a miniature seedbed 
for corn and then in the spring maximum effort can be spent …