CORN GROWERS CAN THANK YEARS OF AGRONOMIC ADVANCES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT of high-yielding hybrids with strong stalks that resist drought, wind and numerous pests.
     While use of these hybrids under high fertility programs and plant populations can generate tremendous yields, they also generate large amounts of seemingly indestructible crop residue for growers to deal with after harvest.
     "With corn that yields 200 to 250 bushels per acre, there's a lot more trash in the fields to deal with and it can be a real challenge some years," says Ed Mason of Ft. Branch, Indiana, who farms 1,300 acres, including 900 acres of corn. Mason, like many growers in the Corn Belt, found he was spending more time unclogging plugged discs and shredders and dealing with tougher, rougher fields in the fall and the spring.

So what was the answer to Mason's problem?

     "I was using an older unit that just wasn't able to handle the trash we had, so we tried a new Dominator Tillage System last fall on 100 acres of corn stubble and the difference was remarkable," says Mason. "The Dominator did a much better job of cutting the trash into smaller pieces and burying it than anything I've ever used. We could set it at a 12-inch cutting depth and run it at a faster pace."
     Mason also noticed that in the fields tilled with the Dominator last fall, he had a much smoother seedbed this spring to work with. "We made one pass with a field cultivator and planted. It made both the fall tillage and spring planting much easier and faster."
     The Dominator Tillage System, manufactured by Krause Corporation, is one of the newest combination implements on the market designed to provide improved crop residue management, soil fracture and mixing, seedbed conditioning and field leveling. These are all tasks that would traditionally have been done with several types of equipment requiring more time and trips across the fields.
     Curt Davis, who led the Krause Dominator development team, says that plan genetics and agronomic conditions in the field have changed drastically in the last 10 to 15 years, requiring equipment manufacturers to develop new tools that are more effective and efficient under these conditions. "We had to take a fresh new look at the tillage practices of growers today to uncover what their true needs were," explains Davis.
     "We found that growers wanted equipment that provided improvements in three areas: crop residue cutting and burying; soil fracture and mixing; and field leveling and clod-size uniformity for better seedbed preparation," Davis adds. "Our goal was to take a clean-sheet approach and design and produce an innovative tillage system that would address all three needs of corn growers for the future."

Designed to Be Different

     From the very beginning, Davis says the Dominator was designed to be different and more effective while still using many of the same tillage mechanics. According to Davis, it performs multiple tasks, operates at a high speed and reduces the plugging and rough-field conditions common after the use of traditional equipment.
     Krause credits the large 25-inch diameter coulters on 9-inch spacing for the effectiveness of the Dominator to cut crop residue length by up to 35 percent. In addition, the exclusive Residue Manager option positions stalks laterally in front of the coulter to reduce stalk length by an additional 25 percent.
     The middle components of the Dominator manage soil tilth with several shank and point options and configurations, depending on the soil conditions and tillage needs of each grower. These shank options include parabolic deep tillage shanks or heavy-duty chisel shanks on two ranks at 18-inch spacing for maximum soil fracture and nonstop operation in heavy residue.
     The rear of the Dominator is comprised of a hydraulically adjustable disc conditioner system that utilizes two rows of 24-inch disc blades on individual Rock-Flex mounts to reduce clod size and level the field. Davis says the Dominator has several attachment options and comes in four widths, from a 12-ft. rigid model to a 21-ft. folding model, depending on the size needs of growers.

Soil Leveling and Conditioning Benefits

     Larry Sonne who farms 800 acres of corn near Charles City, Iowa, says the soil leveling and conditioning benefits of the Dominator are a significant improvement over older tillage technology. "Taking care of crop residue has a huge impact on field conditions, plugging of equipment and how fast you can operate your equipment to get the work done," Sonne says.
     "We tried the Dominator on 130 acres under some very wet and cold conditions to see how it would perform and I should have used it on all our fields. We could run it at about seven miles per hour with excellent results and no plugging. Even my wife noticed how smooth fields were in the spring when she drove the pickup over them."

Economic Advantages

     Davis explains that some growers are finding they can eliminate use of a flail shredder or stalk chopper in the fall or a pass with a field cultivator or disc in the spring for seedbed prep because of the Dominator. Krause estimates the cost savings at approximately $6 to $10 per acre per trip in addition to the possibility of fewer field passes, saving the use what could be considerable time during the busy planting and harvest seasons.
     Both time and money are big factors when you're managing thousands of acres of corn, says Junior Frische of Dalhart, Texas, who has used a 15-ft. Dominator for two years on 5,000 acres of corn. "Having fields in better shape in the fall saves us a lot of time and extra trips, in addition to the general improvement in field condition," Frische says.
     "Our fields have a variety of soils from clay loam to sand and the Dominator adjusts to the trash and soil conditions with no problem," Frische adds. "More importantly, it handles cooler and wetter soils better than most equipment, which lets us get into the fields earlier in the day and stay longer at night." In Frische's experience, "It's a very flexible and effective one-pass tool that fits our soil conditions and practices very well."
     The Dominator is yet another example of the advancements in technology that can be made as manufacturers take farmers' evaluations of their own needs into account in new product development.