Larry Paltzer no-tills in the Corn Belt. He’s plagued with wet soils that stay wet, even with no-till. After going to several roundtables, classrooms and general sessions at the National No-Tillage Conference, he was trying to decide if his operation could afford a Phillips Rotary Harrow.

Good thing he wasn’t too hasty about his decision. During the Friday evening banquet, this Omra, Wis., no-tiller was called to win the use of a Phillips Rotary Harrow for 1 year. Donated by Precision Metal Fabricating for the first time in Des Moines, Iowa, it was presented by company president Loren Katzenberger.

Designed to help conserve moisture, the Phillips Rotary Harrow aerates wet fields for earlier planting, exposes weeds for better kill, helps retain trash, levels surfaces and a multitude of other benefits.

Precision Metal Fabricating, Ltd. 240—103rd St. E., 
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada S7N 1Y7. Phone: (800) 667-6845.

Plus, More Prizes.

Throughout the conference, a number of other valuable prizes were presented by several companies and No-Till Farmer. Here’s a quick look at the winners.

Computrol Planter Monitor/Controller.

David Wipf of LaMoure, N.D., walked away with a Big John Computrol Planter Monitor/Controller unit for use on a no-till planter for 1 year. He also won a free professional seed meter calibration for his no-till planter.

The no-till monitor and controller will allow Wipf to keep an accurate watch on seed spacing and population for each row. It also offers an automatic herbicide control and is GPS compatible.

Fulk Agri Services, 13245 Running Horse Road, 
Platte City, MO 64079. Phone: (816) 858-5836.

Land Measuring Tool.

John Lambert, Jr. of Trempealeau, Wis., won his choice of a 5- or 10-foot circumference land measuring wheel donated by the Gandy Company.

Gandy Co., 528 Gandrud Road, Owatonna, MN 55060. Phone: (507) 451-5430 or (800) 443-2476.

Martin Row Cleaners.

Jason Wayne of Downsville, Wis., had lady luck on his side when he won a set of up to 12 Martin Row Cleaners, which come in three basic models featuring left and right wheels. The heavy-duty row cleaners use tapered bearing hubs and are designed for the most severe no-tilling conditions.

Martin Industries, LLC, 206 Elk Fork Road, Elkton, KY 42220. Phone: (502) 265-5817 or (800) 366-5817.

Closing Wheel Arm Pivot Kit.

Ivan Ball of Donnellson, Iowa held the winning ticket for this valuable prize from R K Products. These pivot kits (16 in all) are especially designed for John Deere drills. The kit improves no-till drill performance by forcing the closing wheel to track properly. Wheel bouncing is reduced, further improving performance and reducing wheel bearing loads.

R K Products, Inc., 3802 Jean Street, East Moline, IL 61244. Phone: (800) 580-6818 or (309) 792-1927.

Rebounders For No-Till Drill Or Planter. This generous prize went to not one but four lucky no-tillers. They were Mandi Ferleyko of Melville, Saskatchewan; John Vogel of Sioux City, Iowa; Doug Caffrey of Thornton, Iowa; and Don Sleik of Winneconne, Wis. The easy-to-install rebounders are adjustable and flexible, providing optimum positioning in the seed trench. The 4 rows of seed firming devices will fit either a no-till drill or planter.

Schaffert Manufacturing Co., Rural Route 1, Box 157, 
Indianola, NE 69034. Phone (800) 382-2607 or (308) 364-2607.

Roundup Ultra Dry Herbicide.

One box of 23 pounds of Roundup Ultra Dry Herbicide went to each of three winners. They were Ed Mies of Loami, Ill.; Darryl Hegemann of Howells, Neb.; and Ernie Waldner of Iroquois, S.D. The herbicide is similar to the Roundup Ultra Herbicide, a product that’s familiar to many no-tillers.

Monsanto, 800 N. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63141. Phone: (314) 694-1000.

Bovine Block Adhesive.

Don Sleik from Winneconne, Wis., won two tubes of Bovi-Bond, a new adhesive for gluing blocks to bovine hooves recently released by Vettec, Inc. And it’s a good thing, too—Slick runs a large-scale dairy business in addition to his no-till operation. Designed to set up in 30 seconds, the adhesive allows the rebuilding of dairy and beef cattle hoof problems. The prize also includes a bag of tips and an application gun.

Vettec, Inc. 600 E. Hueneme Road, Oxnard, CA 93033. Phone: (800) 483-8832.

2001 National No-Tillage Conference Registration.

Four attendees won free registration to next January’s ninth annual National No-Tillage Conference being held in Cincinnati, Ohio, from January 10 to 13, 2001.

The name of Allen Verell of Jackson, Tenn., was drawn from among attendees serving as moderators for the 80 No-Till Roundtable Sessions. Jeff Humphreys from Odell, Neb., had his name drawn from among 715 attendees at the conference, winning at the same time free hotel costs for next year’s conference at the Omni Netherland Hotel in Cincinnati. Other winners were Allen Berry from Nauvoo, Ill., who found a special no-till information slip in his bag, and Clinton Phillips from Rossville, Ill., whose name was drawn among attendees who filled out surveys.

No-Till Farmer, P.O. Box 624, Brookfield, WI 53008-0624. Phone: (800) 645-8455 or (262) 782-4480.