Readers may remember the “double-barrel” baler article published in this periodical last year (The Mt. Pony Special - Double-barrel baler), where two small-square balers were joined to speed up output by one operator.

But this was not the first time Mt. Pony Farms had combined two pieces of equipment to improve efficiency. In the ’80s, they built the first arch hitch, allowing one operator to pull two hay rakes.

A steering axle and hydraulic cylinder controlled windrow size and placement. Today’s article describes a continuation of this innovative pattern following a similar motivation, where an uncle and nephew team up to join two no-till drills into one unit.

Mt. Pony Farms consists of 2,000 owned and rented acres in the Northern Piedmont of Virginia, Culpeper County. Brothers Rusty, Bill and John Inskeep run the farm, and each specialize in different areas of operation. In the end, they all work together to improve efficiency and timing and are leading farmers in Virginia.

The average rainfall is 36 inches per year, and the region is known for deep and productive red clay soils. Horse hay (timothy and orchardgrass), straw and grains – including corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and grain sorghum – are grown on Mt. Pony Farms. A poultry litter brokerage and custom work complete the Mt. Pony Farms business, supported by 1.5 additional employees.

Rusty and Paul Inskeep, uncle and nephew, respectively, work well together as they are motivated to improve farm efficiency and have a common understanding of and interest in equipment. Just as in the double-barrel baler, Paul played a big role with his computer-aided drafting (CAD) skills in the design of key components needed to make the folding drill function.

The folding drill unit is 26 feet wide, combining two drills into one unit. They started with two John Deere 1590 no-till drills – and quickly learned they had a problem. If you know how to read equipment numbers, you already have added 15 to 15 (width of each drill), and this does not equal 26. With the design they planned to use, 4 feet had to be removed to allow the unit to fold down to transport width.

They designed and made decisions about the hitch to carry the combined weight of the two drills and the hinges allowing the unit to fold. Hydraulic cylinders provide the muscle and needed reach for folding.

These custom hinges are the heart of the whole machine, according to Rusty. A normal hinge pivots only 90 degrees, but these hinges allow 180 degrees of horizontal movement and 2 feet of travel (1 foot up or down). The outside units float with the rise and fall of the land, and monitors keep track of seed flow.

The hinges are a special case and are the reason this unit works. Paul designed them in pieces, laying out each component using CAD and then sending the plans to a machine shop for cutting by waterjet. Tolerances were so close (0.003 to 0.005 inch) that welding must take place in a very strategic manner to avoid distortion.

Paul says welding is not normally used when tolerances are so close for this reason. Jigs were incorporated to help prevent distortion during assembly, and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding also aided in precision. The design incorporated a four-bar link to allow the hinge to pivot 180 degrees. Material used in construction was carbon steel with some alloys, with thickness from 1 inch down to a half-inch.

Rusty developed the original idea to combine two units, and with Paul’s design skills, they put the plan into practice. They split one machine in half, removing 4 feet from its overall width, as explained. They attached the two outside sections with custom hinges following Paul’s design.

A load-carrying steel truss pierces the center-section seed box, transferring weight to the four rear wheels. The hitch and weight transfer truss and hinges were designed using CAD, which allowed for multiple iterations to avoid mistakes in construction. Dolly wheels support the two outside sections and pivot during folding.

The final assembly was first tested to plant soybeans in 2014, then small grain and hay crops that fall. It found work again in the spring of 2015 and is now awaiting fall planting.

With limits on labor and the need to be efficient, joining two units into one functional piece of equipment allows Mt. Pony Farms to produce more work from one operator and one tractor while increasing overall output compared to two single units.

The folding drill followed the double-barrel baler, which followed the double-rake hitch in a successful pursuit of efficiency found in each new unit produced while the older generation has learned to listen.

As is the case on most farms, it comes naturally and is often a requirement of the farming occupation to engineer, design, modify and build better equipment. While this is a story of innovation and equipment design, just as importantly it is a story of two generations of thinking and doing – two generations of smarts, hard work and inventive uses of technology and skill coming together in a modern-day improvement.  FG

PHOTO 1: Mt. Pony Farms: Innovating a conjoined drill

PHOTO 2: The Mt. Pony Farms drill is folded into transport position.

PHOTO 3: Paul Inskeep designed this four-bar link that enables this hinge to move 180 degrees.

PHOTO 4: The weight-bearing hitch enables load transfer to the rear tires.

PHOTO 5: Four heavy-duty rear tires receive weight transferred by the hitch. Photos courtesy of Carl Stafford.