Married with 3 children, 1 boy and 2 girls. My dad started farming in 1968 and I rented my first quarter in 1994. The farm has grown to about 8000 acres, 14000 head feedlot capacity as well as 60 000 chickens. We are currently in transition stage with the next generation entering the farming scene.

We started direct seeding in 1997 and bought our first low disturbance seeding tool in 1998.
Currently seeding with a John Deere P556 and Bourgault 3320
Our yields are considerably higher in drought years compared to earlier droughts when we used conventional tillage.
The biggest use of tillage on our farm is for manure incorporation and occasionally to eliminate ruts in wet years.
If we apply over 30 tonnes per acre it often needs working to get proper seed to soil contact.
With a drier bias the last 3 years we have almost quit using tillage other than to breakup up roadways and are using a heavy harrow instead to level manure.
Our primary tillage tool is a 40‘ Bourgault 360. It has a row of coulters on 12” spacing, 3 rows of shanks with 3” carbide tips, 3 bar heavy harrow and a rolling basket.
It does a really good job of levelling and some incorporation while leaving about 75% undisturbed soil and some stubble standing.
We like the flexibility of the 360 as we can use various combinations of coulters, tips and harrows.
We have used the coulters to cut pea stubble so the airdrill could get through.