SharkTooth® Finger Wheel

John Simon farms a small acreage near the Rock River in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Where large-scale producers saw land with little potential for profitability, John was ready for the challenge. With the right management plan, his acreage is reaching its potential.

Part of that management plan was making the switch to no-till. With no-till came the challenges of residue management, and for that,John trusts the SharkTooth^® wheels from Yetter. "The SharkTooth wheels clear a perfect path—I don’t even need a coulter."

John’s SharkTooth wheels are mounted to Yetter 2967 Pin Adjust Residue Managers on a John Deere six-row 7200 planter. The SharkTooth wheels replaced the standard finger wheels.

John finds the SharkTooth wheels can handle a wide range of situations. "When I switched to 30-inch row beans, I used the SharkTooth wheels. They never plugged, and they moved just the trash, even in my hilly sections.

"We can’t no-till near the river," John continued. "Where we plow, we get root balls, and the SharkTooth handles those as well."

 John, also a salesman of seed for cover crops, recommends the SharkTooth wheels to his customers. "They operate as advertised and have been very durable."

Adding SharkTooth^® wheels to his residue manager made a world of difference to Paul Butler.

Paul's fields, which he plants half in beans and half in corn, grew too weedy over the winter to run straight wheels through each spring. "The weeds would just wrap around other wheels, and I had to stop every couple hours to clean them out," Paul said. That changed when Paul added the SharkTooth wheels. He liked the heavy-duty construction of the Yetter units and also was attracted to its competitive pricing.

Now, he can run his residue manager quickly to prepare the 400 acres in his no-till operation. "After I put on the SharkTooth wheels, I didn't stop once. They saved me a significant amount of time."

Gary Kunde searched for the best residue manager to handle several thousand acres of beans and narrow-row corn, including some continuous corn. He found it in Yetter Manufacturing's Narrow Row Residue Managers with optional SharkTooth^® wheels. "Twenty-inch rows mean we achieve more plants per acre, but it also means we have more residue to plant into," said Gary. "The Yetter SharkTooth wheels caught my eye because they self-clean as well as move residue.

"Our goal is to get seed in a precise location," Gary continued. "The Yetter residue managers work the way we want them to and do not interfere with planter performance." Although Gary had to make modifications to accommodate his Great Plains 24-row planter, he still has adequate adjustment. Yetter engineers have been in contact with Gary to learn from his modifications and have added a new feature from Gary's wish list—flotation ability—to the newest Narrow Row models.

Kevin Keopp is one of a growing number of producers switching to twin-row corn. "Kinze just started building twin-row planters," said Kevin. "Not too long ago, machines for twin rows had to be custom built."

Kevin did customize his Kinze 3600 16/32 planter to handle minimum tillage in a twin-row system using Yetter SharkTooth^® residue managers. First, a set of double-wheel residue managers slices through and moves stalks to the left and right. Next, a single-wheel SharkTooth residue manager cleans the space 7.5 inches to the left, clearing the path for the twin row of seeds to be planted.

"I chose Yetter because they had durable product, and I wanted the SharkTooth," said Kevin. "They cut right through the trash—that's the most exciting part. I can see it slicing straight through at about five miles an hour." Kevin is also pleased with the SharkTooth residue manager's lack of soil disruption. "I don't run coulters because they pull up too much damp soil. In Minnesota, we're on the damper side anyway, but the SharkTooth leaves us with dry soil to work with and gets me in the field as early as possible."

Vance Johnson saw great results this year with the Yetter 2967 residue managers and optional SharkTooth^® wheels. The combination attachment worked with his planter and powered through tough corn residue so he could plant 360 acres of sugar beets and 330 acres of soybeans. "I absolutely love them," said Vance. "The teeth slice the stalks and keep rolling. They don't push root balls in front of the planter, and I don't have to stop moving to unplug the residue from the teeth."

Originally, Vance attached his Yetter 2967 residue managers and SharkTooth wheels to a 12-row planter. When he upgraded to a 24-row unit, he did not want to leave his Yetter tools behind. Vance replaced half the managers that came on the new planter with his Yetter combination. "I had nothing but trouble with the new planter's original residue managers, but the SharkTooth wheels worked perfectly," said Vance. "I plan on ordering 12 more this winter so I can upgrade my entire planter."

Vance originally picked Yetter products because he knew the company was associated with residue management and had a good reputation. He did not test the product beforehand, but took a "gamble" because he liked the backwards-angled tooth design. "I didn't think they would clog like spoke-wheel designs," Vance said.

Vance also said his gamble paid off: "I'm going to get my money's worth out of these!"

Brandon Wilson knows cotton. He helps farm over 12,000 acres of it for AMD Farms. He also knows that Yetter SharkTooth^® wheels coupled with 2967 residue managers are a powerful tool for dealing with the trash left behind after a crop. He appreciates the tools' heavy frames. "We run six John Deere 1720 12-row planters. They each handle about 2,000 acres a season, and the Yetter units run the entire time without any problems," said Brandon.

Brandon credits the SharkTooth wheels with enabling no-tillage in AMD's operation. "It's so much simpler, and we don't have the costs associated with conventional tillage. Their impact has been 100%—I would not be able to plant the way I do without them."

Mike Marquardt purchased Yetter 2967 residue managers with the Screw Adjust feature, setback kits, and SharkTooth^® wheels for his John Deere 1750 6-row planter. The setback kits made it possible for Mike to continue using his frame-mounted coulters. "Without the kit, my coulters would have been too close to my row cleaners.

"The screw adjust is a pretty nice feature," continued Mike. "All you have to do is get your socket out and fit it."

Mike's Yetter SharkTooth wheels also contributed to improved planting. "They make a nice, clear path." The combination of new Yetter equipment has Mike anticipating solid yields in spite of an unusually dry growing season. "I had a better stand this year, and I will definitely keep using the tools."

Steve Fulling has used the same Yetter adjustable residue managers for 12 years. Even though Steve does not farm a lot of acres and plants into tool-friendly clay soil, he has been impressed with their longevity. "They've been trouble-free," he said. "I didn't even have them apart until last year when I replaced the spiders and bearings."

Steve's residue managers are attached to a six-row John Deere 7000 series planter-an older model that still works well. He began the search for row-cleaners to add to his unit, and finding a tool that worked with his planter was important. After researching a competitor's option and finding they required the removal of his coulters, Steve heard about SharkTooth^® wheels from a Yetter representative. "The SharkTooth wheels were a good fit," said Steve.

Steve no-tills and has planted into just about everything—corn-on-corn, corn-on-beans, beans-on-corn, and beans-on-wheat—with his Yetter residue managers. His SharkTooth wheels have performed well in corn-on-corn and corn-on-beans.

"I was never disappointed," Steve said. "I have always been pleased with the quality products Yetter puts out. You may pay a little more in the beginning, but the heavy-duty construction means you aren't welding when you should be planting," Steve commented.

"The residue managers from Yetter Manufacturing worked extremely well. I had gone through the field with a chisel plow and went back to break up clods and heavy trash using the SharkTooth^® wheels. No matter how heavy the trash got, there was no balling up behind the wheels. I know these products saved my neighbor a pass with the chisel plow and possibly two additional passes through the field, and I will save money because I will save a pass in the spring. I am always very satisfied with any equipment I get from Yetter."

"My fertilizer dealer suggested I add Yetter SharkTooth^® wheels to my DMI toolbar to move residue and prepare for corn-on-corn application. They not only threw corn residue out of the way, but were a huge asset on soybean stubble as well. They left a nice black strip to plant into next year."

"Farmers who have been running chisel plows want to be able to succeed in corn-on-corn with no tillage, and this prompted us to look at an anhydrous toolbar that could get through residue. We turned to Yetter Manufacturing's SharkTooth^® wheels. The results satisfied even our most particular producer. We were pleased with the toolbar's handling and the outcome from the SharkTooth residue managers in both corn and soybean residue."