Mechanical Weed Control Field Day comes to WI

WAUKESHA - The 3rd annual Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day is the country’s  largest event devoted to mechanical weed control and its coming to Wisconsin on Sept. 18 at Gwenyn Hill Farm, W294 N130 Bryn Dr., Waukesha, Wis.

This field day promises to not only give you several, hundred-dollar ideas to improve your weed control, but visitors will spend time with growers of vegetable and row-crops from all over the Midwest sharing ideas and strategies.

This year’s Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day is an ideal opportunity for farmers to learn about weeding tools and techniques, including camera and precision guidance. This year’s event will continue the strong focus on vegetable and specialty-crop machines, but new this year is a row-crop section – with its own weeding tool companies, round-table topics, and field demonstrations.

The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with the morning Expo period providing an opportunity to meet with many manufacturers of weeding machines as well as meeting with all the growers in attendance. University weed scientists from surrounding states will share their research and other companies from allied trades will be in attendance, such as mechanical transplanters and plastic mulch.

Round-table discussions, each moderated by an experienced farmer, will also be offered in the morning, and you can attend just those that sound helpful to your farm. The Walk-Behind Alley features demonstrations of walk-behind tractors and implements both new and old.

In the afternoon, participants will follow tractors out to the demonstration field, where corn, beets and broccoli have been planted especially for the demonstrations. Myriad cultivators and cultivating tractors will be demonstrated in the field and explained by manufacturers. These demonstrations will show how the machines should be mounted and properly adjusted, and will help farmers visualize how the implements can work on their own farms to increase efficiency and productivity.

Row-crop tools in the demonstration include the Treffler Harrow, Einbock Harrow, KULT-Kress 6-row cultivator with finger weeders and camera guidance, Einbock Chop-Star cultivator with finger weeders and camera guidance, and Hatzenbichler cultivator with camera-guidance. Demonstrations will be held in 5’’ corn.   

Vegetable tools demonstrated include the Tilmor Tractor and their basket weeder, parallel-unit cultivator and other tools, Steketee parallel units of side-knives and finger weeders mounted on an Allis-G, Treffler harrow, a variety of KULT-Kress belly-mounted and rear-mounted steerable tools, Mechanical Transplanter Co. with their transplanting machine and plastic layer, several types of cultivating tractors, as well as a variety of weeding machines brought to the field day from all over the Midwest by farmers in attendance. And, for the first time in the US, see Japanese cultivators!

Cost of the field day is $40 before Aug. 24 and $50 afterwards, and include meals. For information and to register visit https://bit.ly/2XIaqKv. Those registering by mail should send their check to: The Land Connection, Attn: Mallory Krieger, 206 N. Randolph St., Suite 400, Champaign, IL 61820

Anyone interested in bringing a cultivator to the field day should contact Sam Hitchcock Tilton at 414-213-5337.