The Creation of the “Stomper”
The idea of the stomper began in 1989 and has gone through multiple iterations and trial and error to create the best possible machine that we know today. Each element that has been modified or included was factored in from experience in our own farm.
Our Milestones
The creation of the stomper was built through hard work, experimentation, and a lot of patience. The timeline below illustrates some of the milestones and steps we took to reach the final, most effective design.
The First Design.
We built steel wheels with straight angles to adapt to a John Deere 180 hp tractor that we had in the yard. We were given an opportunity to experiment on a local ranch consisting of 2000 acres. It took all winter to finish the job with trial and error getting stuck many times. We finally finished the stomping job and learned a lot to improve the design.
Beginning the iterative process.
After seeing areas for improvements, we began with the front roller - incorporating front wheel assist and the chevron pattern of the Stomper wheels that would be integral to our later designs.
Progression.
Our second design worked great but the wheels were too enclosed, so when designing our third stomper, we opened up the wheels so water could flow better. We also built larger diameter wheels and changed the degree of angle irons in our chevron pattern. We created a different mechanism on the front wheel to alleviate some remaining problems in steering.
Struggling.
These tractors had their place in light soil, but we felt it wasn't heavy enough to do a good job when only one tractor was stomping. Thus, on the fourth iteration we decided to go back to straight angles to be more aggressive turning the rice straw and we placed these wheels on a John Deere 4960, yet still not perfect.
Choosing the right tractor.
The 4960 tractor had high maintenance issues due to the mechanical front end and the 3 point apparatus. Finally we created our final wheel design and trailer to be placed on a CASE 9380/9390 tractor. We chose this tractor because of the outboard planetarys for height and clearance, the Cummins motor, and a power shift transmission
The final designs.
In Stompers 6, 7, 8 and 9 we adapted the wheels and fine-tuned the pull roller to provide equal stomping in the field. When the technology for GPS driven tractors entered the farming world, we adapted the 9380's and 90's with the GPS guided system.
Where the creation has taken us…and what it has taught us.
As we reach our 35th anniversary of stomping, we continue to stomp our own fields and firmly believe it provides nutrients for the soil and ease of planting in the spring. We have eliminated many steps during spring planting. The discoveries that we have made while stomping have not only enabled us to rid the straw, but have created better yields, quicker ground preparation and allowed us to save money. We have found that if we eliminate all straw residue in the fall, we are able to plant using one tool in the spring. We continue to experiment and learn. Over the past several years we have chopped the straw, chiseled the straw, and then stomped the straw. This allows us to dry out the stubble directly after harvest, rid the tinge of green, and allow faster decomposition when incorporating the straw into the soil. Thus in the spring, we have found very little or no straw residue. If the moisture in the soil is properly managed you can enter the ground earlier than usual in the spring. We utilize a John Deere 2210 46 foot cultivator with 200 pound trip on shank pulled by a 470 Row Quad to allow us to cover the ground in 3 passes, then on the final 4th pass we place the 4 Bar Spring Tynes into the ground creating a smooth furrowed seed bed in which we can apply fertilizer. This has allowed us to eliminate disking and landplaning and still maintain an average of 95-100+ cwt dry per acre.
We wouldn’t be here without you.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers for their loyalty to use our services to rid their rice straw. We have always taken great pride in providing quality work with great care to leave a minimal footprint on their fields. While perhaps stomping is not a miracle worker during wet harvests, and the tractors won't hold up in all rutted fields, we have found that it is beneficial every fall to rid straw residue, keep nutrients in the soil, and allow ease of planting the following year.
