IT WAS an easy answer for Mullewa farmers Rodney and Andrew Messina.
The question, posed by the writer, focused on ripping at 850 millimetres (32 inches) and a simple, “Why?”.
In a flash Rodney had his iPhone out flicking through photos and pointing to last year’s 60 hectare cropping trials.
“We ripped to a depth of 700mm (28in) as a trial and got a response (about 200 kilograms a hectare) on a mild finish,” Rodney said.
“That was on country that had been mouldboarded and then two years ago we Heliripped it.
“The Heliripper had leading tines going in to 500mm (20in) with the rear legs going to 700mm.
“It was a bit of a surprise how quickly it was re-compacting at the 500mmm level and we could see the sort of wave effect in the crops.
“Where crops roots had got down to 700mm the plants were higher than the ones only reaching the 500mm depth.
“So it got us thinking about going deeper, hence this year’s trials, which will be a bit of a tell tale.
“We used a Nufab Hydramax at 800mm (30in) with three new legs at the rear digging to 850mm,” Rodney said.
“We started on January 8 and blew a gearbox so that held us up for awhile and it got drier.
“But on the red country where the longer legs went, you could see moisture was being pulled up.”
Rodney and Andrew already are planning next year to continue what is best described as a process.
Depending on soil conditions, they will use the Hydramax, equipped with the new longer legs, to rip mainly loam and sandy country.
The Hydramax has a working width of six metres (20ft) with 11 legs spaced at 500mm (20in) and Rodney’s only worry is pulling it equipped with 11 longer legs and working at 850mm.
Additionally, the brothers are also employing the Hydramax to renovate and compact controlled traffic lines.
“We did some work this year ripping at 30 degrees off the centre of the lines,” Andrew said.
“Our traffic lines were rutting pretty badly causing some bogging.
“So we ripped on the angle and the crumbler roller behind the Hydramax levelled the lines and packed them down a bit.
“When I took the sprayer out, it was amazing how good a job had been done because the ride was a lot smoother.
“So any ripping we do from now on will be done on 30 degrees to get that renovation and levelling.”
The Messinas also were impressed with the tungsten hard-facing on the points and shin guards.
“We’ve done about 4000ha and there’s hardly any signs of wear,” Rodney said.
“That includes 2000ha of red country that had never been ripped.”
The brothers used a Steiger Quadtrac with power ratings between 373-410 kilowatts (500-550 horsepower), working at 6.5 kilometres an hour and using 20 litres a hectare of fuel.
According to Nufab principal Peter Nunn, increasing anecdotal evidence and a few trials have shown the deeper you rip the more soil fracturing occurs.
While going deeper is a slower process, most of his clients are buying the six metre bar with the option for the frame to accept wings at a later date.
“The intention is to fit wings to cover a 12m (40ft) cut when they come back to rip for the second time,” Peter said.
“By that time, the bar should be easier to pull.”
Peter also said that the introduction of the shallow leading tine ripper is allowing farmers to either rip deeper with the same tractor horsepower or “ultra deep rip” to a desired depth using less fuel.
