"You can run it at speeds up to 12 mph and do a great job working up the seedbed," says Lee Roy Douglas, Douglas Welding & Machine, Inc., Kipp, Kan., about the new 30-ft. folding rotary harrow he introduced at the recent 3-I show near Great Bend, Kan.

Rotary harrows have been on the market for years but Douglas says his is the first to have more than one wheel and the first to fold for transport.

The new unit has three non-powered rotating wheels, two in front and one in back. The perimeter of each wheel is equipped with 9-in. long, replaceable steel spikes spaced 10 in. apart. Spikes also mount on six spokes that radiate outward from the wheel hub. Depth is controlled by hydraulically raising or lowering a pair of carrier wheels.

"It's great for seedbed preparation and other jobs, such as tilling weeds out of recently seeded alfalfa," says Douglas. "It works better than a conventional harrow because the spikes are constantly moving instead of being dragged in a straight line. As a result they disturb more ground and have a much better chance of killing weeds. Each wheel has 70 spikes so they really chew up the ground. It'll pulverize gopher mounds. You can let the wheels down as little as one inch or lift them up all the way and put the entire weight of the machine on the ground. When you sink the rings into the ground it'll pull dirt along which you can use to fill in low spots.

"One farmer used the machine to reseed his CRP ground. He burned the vegetation first, then broadcast seed and used the harrow to mix the seed into the soil. The machine can even be used on milo and corn stalks without plugging up. The key is to run the machine level so that all three wheels keep turning. It doesn't work well on hilly ground, however. 

"To replace the spikes all you do is pull a pin and drop the old spike out, then pin the new one in," says Douglas.

Douglas says he got the idea for the 3-wheel model after repairing a commercial single wheel model for area farmers. "The spikes on that machine are welded on so if they break you have to weld new ones on. Farmers kept telling me they wished they had a bigger, heavier-built model with the capability to control depth. The rings on my wheels are made from 1 1/2-in. wide, 3-in. high, 3/16-in. thick rectangular steel tubing that's been rolled into a circle so they'll take a lot of abuse. It's built heavy -- all the wheels turn on 4,500-lb. spindles and hubs.

"My machine does pull surprisingly hard because it moves a lot of dirt. It takes a tractor with at least 125 hp to pull my 30-ft. model. I also make a 22-ft. model that can be pulled by a smaller tractor."