Seedbed cultivator

Seedbed Cultivator: General Information

The Seedbed Cultivator is a modern farm implement used along with the plough during the stages of soil preparation and weed removal. After initial tillage using the plough the cultivator is then used to finally prepare the soil for planting. It further loosens and stires the topsoil, turning it over and burying the weeds, and prepares a smooth and perfect seedbed with symmetrical furrows.

Modern Seedbed Cultivators are very large and equipped with several rotary blades that are mounted on a wide span of steel frames which can usually be folded up and down for easy road traveling.The teeth and blades of cultivators are similar to those found in ploughs, but a primary difference between the two farm implements is that while the plough digs deeper to the soil and achieves a rougher work, the cultivator is designed to disturb only the topsoil in a specific and particular finish.

Cultivators are often pulled by tractors, and they can create a perfect seedbed several rows wide in a single pass, all ready for precision drilling.

History

The cultivator as a farm implement was slowly developed during the 19th century as farmers began to change their approach to agriculture and more special tools besides the plough were required.

While the first powered cultivators were produced in the 1920s by Howard Auto Cultivators, an Australian company founded by Arthur Clifford Howard. His invention, a powered rotary hoe with cultivator blades was a success and by the 1930s, the company was exporting cultivators worldwide.

Manufacturers today

Today, a well-known and leading producer of Seedbed Cultivators is the American company Simba, one of the largest companies in the world that specializes in tillage and cultivation equipment. While in Europe, leading companies that produces good quality cultivators are Vaderstad, a Swedish company; Lemken of Germany; and the Danish company Kongskilde.

The American company John Deere and UK Company Massey-Ferguson also produces Seedbed Cultivators besides being better known for their tractors.

Other European companies that produce cultivators and other farm implements are the French companies Agram, Abk, and Gregoire-Besson; and the Italian company Angeloni.