>>> Where does one get these devices ? How much do they cost ? do they >>> fit on any tractor's hitch ? three point hitch though you could fabricate a drawbar version with 2 extra wheels about $500-700 per shank, extra for 3 pt hitch and toolbar + wheels from MFI - Direct from Yeomans in Australia if you can find a way to import one :-) - Contact: Yeomans Plow Co. PTY Limited PO Box 311 Ashmore City, Qld., 4214 Telephone: 07 5571 6544 Telephone: (068) 62 1511 Fax: 07 5571 6566 yeoplow@onthenet.com.au yeomans@onthenet.com.au - Or just call: - Market Farm Implement, in Friedens, PA, telephone 814-443-1931 Web site: http://www.marketfarm.com/ Market Farm Implement 257 Fawn Hollow Road Friedens, Pa. 15541 Phone: (814)-443-1931 They offer a printed catalog by mail. If you request it they will include a brochure on Yeomans plow and attachments - this brochure if far from complete but does include the plows and points that MFI carries. I got mine in the mail yesterday. This is an impressive device and well worth a market farmer or permaculture practitioner investing in. From the brochure: Yeomans Plow Co. NEWSLINE Big-Y adjustable shank expands the range - with Bridge Lock system Point News: They Just Got Meatier BW-4 Batswing Point BF-B Bull Frog - tip holder WB-3 Wombat Point Yeomans RB-1 weld-on shank base New AJ50 Adaptor - fit secondary cultivating points to Yeomans shanks Tadpole TP-1 New tip for fighting wear problems New Bridge Lock = super strong shanks Yeomans YSH-1 Stealth Hiller - for all types of hilling and bed work New SBL-2 Shin Guard - stop shank wear - For those interested in this excellent tillage device, MFI offers the Yeomans plow or YeomansLG shank (subsoiler with sweep point, sharp-edged shank around 3+ feet long and an added V-shaped sweep at the opposite end of the bottom of the shank from the point). They are having the toolbars with three point hitch fabricated here in the US rather than import the Yeomans version from Oz. You buy as many plows as you want to mount on the toolbars. It is assumed that a 40 HP tractor may be able to pull three Y Plows - in this arrangement you would attach one plow in the middle of the front toolbar and the other two on the toolbar behind and on either side of the front plow - this allows rocks and sod to escape around the three plows rather than getting caught if the three plows were in a straight line on one bar. A three plow system delivered to NC is about $4000, complete. - And from: - Date: Sun, 19 May 2002 11:00:53 -0400 Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: David Inglis Subject: Re: Yeomans Plow System - need U.S. supplier for thisimplement I have been using a Yeoman Plow for 10 years with great results. The plow was originally described as a subsoiler but I rarely use it as such now having done all the 'pioneering' work. If I use it deep it is in greenmanure crops so that there are roots present to follow the openings created by the plow. The design of the plow point gives it a lower angle of lift so it requires less draft and also mixes layers less. [ because of this it will not bury trash ] The power requirements I remember are 12 horse for the first shank and 8 for each one after. The shanks can be mounted on an old 4" chisel frame but I do not recommend it because the shanks are stiff and any shock will transfer directly to the frame. I built my own frame from one stick of 3/8" X 4" box and still tweaked the frame when I foolishly bypassed the safety having run out of safety bolts. My biggest tractor is 25HP with 4WD and in my gravel loam soil with permanent beds I can plow 18" deep with 3 shanks. If I am moving into a new area I drop shanks until I can pull without lugging and allow the biology to open up the ground with the help of the plow leaving time between passes. The adjustable sweeps on the back of the shanks are great because you can run them just under the surface no matter how deep the shanks are running. For a lot of crops it is the only tool I use for soil prep. Unless they have changed the design they have an 18" and 24" shank, get the 24". I consider the depth wheels to be essential, they transfer extra power to the plow. I started off as a 'french intensive biodynamic' kind of guy and this plow was the key to a twenty year quest to mechanize my deep bed formation [the other components being a Celli spade plow and Williams weeder which Market Farm also carry]. The sun is out today but yesterday it snowed.Yow. David Inglis Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A. - Steve Diver offered this additional information: - Batswing and Wombat, names of the paraplow points that go with Yeoman's Slipper Imp. See picture in Mollison of cover crop roots going into the channels created by Howard's plow; same thing for Yeoman's. Lower horsepower per shank; biggest difference between Yeoman's and other sub-soilers. Paraplow points, I think Yeoman's featuerd these long before U.S. sub-soiler manufacturers picked up on this concept. - And from: http://www.regional.org.au/au/roc/1984/roc198477.htm - BUNYIP SLIPPER IMP by Ken Yeomans Parkes Industries Pty Ltd, 70-82 Close Street Parkes, NSW 2870 Yeomans (Bunyip) Slipper Imp with Shakaerator is a machine of great strength that successfully harnesses the amazing force of powered vibration to work the earth -r for grain crops, row crops, mulch forming, soil development and pasture improvement. Conventionally shaped shanks and digging points compact the earth tighter immediately prior to contacting it. The wombat slippers and shanks penetrate readily with a narrow point and flat angle, then splits and shatters the earth upwards. The vibrations from the Shakaerator greatly amplify this upwards split-and- shatter action. In shallow cultivation with the wide batswing slippers the vibrations flatten out horizontally and the fin dislodges the soil from the roots to greatly assist weed kill. The draft reducing effect of the vibration from the Shakaerator is often clearly evidenced in deep cultivation when wheelslip occurs and the tractor stops if the Shakaerator is turned off. The wombat slippers can be reversed (turned upside down). This feature overcomes the common problem of the undersurface of the digging point wearing to a convex shape and causing the point to ride up out of the ground. The thicker the leading tip the greater the problem. The inversion of the slipper produces a new cutting angle which readily penetrates the hardest of earths. One of the primary objectives of the design of the wombats (digging points) had been to provide for a type of aeration of the soil and subsoil (the A and B horizon) that would most closely replicate the intimate capillary aeration that naturally occurs in deep fertile (living) soil. It is not desirable to leave pockets of air in the soil. Plant roots will not readily cross an air gap. If it is more than 10mm the root will die back and send a branch root around the air space. Smaller air spaces can have a similar effect. The Yeomans Slipper Imp has the right combination of shank and slipper designs, with the trembling shudder of powered vibration to produce mechanically a unique capillary type of aeration which is both intimate and complete. In many conditions there may be no apparent surface disturbance, yet the earth has been penetrated, split, fractured upwards, vibrated, aerated and returned almost to its original place. Walking on the cultivated soil feels like a thick pile carpet. The conversion of subsoil into deep fertile soil with the Slipper Imp is not a "once over" affair. It is a logical and progressive process, which continues for three consecutive years or more before the deep new soil assumes a strong degree of permanence. Correct management of the pasture plants and especially the control of the growth and decay cycle of the root systems is vital. THE YEOMANS SLIPPER PLOW GIVES YOU LOW HORSEPOWER SUB SOIL AERATION - The super strong breakthrough in shank design gives you earth moving type ripping with super low horse-power. - Models from 5 Shank 3-point linkage through to 31 Shank folding wing. - The unique splitter fin on each Slipper point lifts and cracks the soil ahead of the shank. - The Yeomans Slipper plow gives you deep ripping to aerate and develop deep soils and keeps your top soil on the top where it belongs. - There is no inversion of topsoil and subsoil. - The Yeomans Slipper plow will aerate, sweeten and deepen your soil. The Shakearator for smaller models produces powered vibration, assisting cracking of hard soils and saves on fuel and tyre wear. For information on improving your soil with Yeomans deep ripping send for P.A. Yeoman's Farm Manual. And from the catalog: Yeomans Plow Co. NEWSLINE Big-Y adjustable shank expands the range - with Bridge Lock system Point News: They Just Got Meatier BW-4 Batswing Point BF-B Bull Frog - tip holder WB-3 Wombat Point Yeomans RB-1 weld-on shank base New AJ50 Adaptor - fit secondary cultivating points to Yeomans shanks Tadpole TP-1 New tip for fighting wear problems New Bridge Lock = super strong shanks Yeomans YSH-1 Stealth Hiller - for all types of hilling and bed work New SBL-2 Shin Guard - stop shank wear <><><><><><><><> I recommend a two implement system for market farming or permaculture that includes: 1) Yeomans Plow system 2) a two-gang (two three-disc gangs mounted on a toolbar, one gang on each end - adjustable 5 different ways), three point hitch set of 1-hill hilling discs (I can supply contact information for the company that made mine if anyone is interested) $550.00 delivered. Use the Yeomans plow in the late Fall, possibly again in the Spring; follow up with bed preparation with the hilling discs (set discs to widest point to create the widest, highest hill possible - plant directly into these hills or combine two hills into one for extra bed width. -- L.F.London http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech