Installing Field Tile When it is so Dry?
Saturday afternoon my cousin Chad stopped by as I was working over a field getting it ready to plant beans. I could have had the field planted Tuesday but I was waiting for a neighbor to come with a big four wheel drive tractor and tile plow. Mark got there Friday morning and by Saturday afternoon he had all the tile lines installed. Chad said why are you spending all that money on tile drainage when it is so dry?
Chad of course new the answer, he is a farmer and knows the value of tile drainage in our heavy clay loam soils. Actually it was an ideal time to install tile drainage this spring because it was dry. Two years ago when Mark and I installed tile it was really wet. We had to put a big front wheel assist tractor in front of the four wheel drive on the tile plow to pull it. It was nice not to have to contend with mud and all the clods from tiling a wet field.
In addition we have seen it many times when we have a dry spell in Minnesota. You are hoping for rain because it is really dry. It seems it just cannot rain. Then, it begins to rain and cannot stop until you received 3 or 4 inches. That is when the money spent on tile will begin to pay for itself! It is amazing the technology we have now on the tile plows and tractors.
When Mark would get to the end of one tile line the tractor would drive itself exactly over 100 feet for the next line. Then the computer and laser on the tile plow would survey the next line as he drove back to the main. Everything is exactly on grade with the right fall to the water would run downhill to the mail and outlet at the drainage ditch.
6 Minnesota Motorcycle Photos from the Minnesota Historical Society