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HOMEGROWN TECHNOLOGY SAVES Il TONS OF ANHYDROUS ANNUALLY.
Bill Butler, Sublette, IL, built his own variable-rate ammonia applicator for $6,611. "Since we no-till our beans and do only minor tillage before planting corn, this is all we need," Butler says. He farms 1,313 acres of corn and beans in northern Illinois.
He's saved 11 tons of anhydrous ammonia annually by adding a pump, cooling tower and Rawson Accu-Plant drive motor to a DMI ammonia applicator to vary its application rate (right). He keeps the ammonia in its liquid state until it enters the individual hoses to the knives by eliminating the vapor at the cooling tower.
Adding a Rawson drive varies his application rate by 32% up or down, although the orifice size limits it to...