Great Plains Releases The Velocity, A New Hybrid Tillage Solution

Great Plains has developed a hybrid tillage solution called the Velocity. The Velocity combines some of the positive aspects of vertical tillage, while maintaining similar features of a conventional disk, resulting in a new classification in the Great Plains product line called hybrid tillage. "In the past, we've had a lot of discussions about true vertical tillage and we also manufacture conventional tillage tools, so we wanted to focus on those producers who fall somewhere in between – people who do not necessarily practice full vertical tillage or conventional tillage," said Rye DeGarmo, Vice President of Great Plains Engineering.

The Velocity is designed to bury more residue than a true vertical tillage tool like Turbo-Max®, but with shallow-concavity SpeedBlades™ on 7½" spacings. The patented SpeedBlades aggressively power through heavy residue and thoroughly mix the soil without ridging.

"It's not true vertical tillage like our Turbo-Max products – it's not straight inline blades where it just sizes residue. Instead, we consider the Velocity to be more of a hybrid because its gangs angle for better weed kill, but the soil moves more horizontally than it would with traditional vertical tillage. By keeping the blades close together, the Velocity is not quite as aggressive as a conventional disk harrow and the soil is not rolled as heavily, so it's between the conventional tillage and vertical tillage categories. It's hybrid tillage," DeGarmo says.

Engineered to run at faster speeds than a conventional disk harrow, the Velocity is designed to out-cut and out-finish competitive low-concavity, high-speed disks who classify themselves in the vertical tillage market. Hydraulic fore/aft leveling simplifies field adjustments to create a smooth finish in a variety of soil conditions. The hydraulic soil conditioner features heavy-duty 16" diameter reels with 1" rods that can withstand rocks while busting clods, leaving behind an ideal seedbed.

The Velocity also has several features for user-convenience, such as single-point depth control that lets the operator change the depth of the entire implement from one central location to maintenance-free bearings and self-sharpening SpeedBlades.

The Great Plains Velocity is ideal for producers who are looking for a hybrid tillage solution – the speed of a conventional tillage unit with some of the aspects of vertical tillage.