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Bret: When I hear someone saying a certain brand of plow pulls hard, my first reaction, "He's someone who doesn't know how to set that particular plow." He may get along fine with another brand. Another factor, and I've gone to a quite few plow days, clinics, etc., and it will just surprise you how many lifelong farmers don't know how to set a plow. I was very lucky, my dad and a neighbor, who's farm I bought were both championship plowmem. I learned a lot from those two guys. I had another neighbor up the road, a bachelor and very particular farmer. He used to say it wasn't hard to tell the two farmers on each side of his farm were related to each other, you could tell by the mess they made plowing. They farmed all the years I did and they never improved. A community group talked the bachelor into hosting a first ever for the area plowing match. I didn't compete due to other commitments, and my bachelor friend decided since he was hosting, that would take his time, and he felt as a host, best not to compete. I saw him two days later, asked how the plowing match went. His reaction, "My farm will never be the same again, it will take me 20 years to get it level." Sad but this scenario is not uncommon. My dad always said if he couldn't drive his 59 Chevy Impalla at 50 mph across any hayfield, someone screwed up on tillage, and most likely the guilty party was the plowman. I think dad would be awfully disappointed if he wre alive today. I've done a lot of custom work, seen a tremendous amout of rough land. In 1978 I bought a new combine, 16' floating cutter bar and automatic header height control, those don't made a great bulldozer blade. After two years I just refused to combine 75% of all fields in the area. If you drive the county roads today, just slow down and watch that guy making 4 to 7 mph doing any job with a tractor. If he's being tossed around, you know someone is a poor plowman. I equate good plowing to grading a gravel road, you've got to cut it to a smooth under surface, then spread the loose material. Come tillage time go for a drive on a country road, count the percentage of tractor operators having smooth ride in relation those having a rough ride. The numbers will alarm you. I've done it in several provinces and states, figures don't change a lot from place to place. Plain and simple, 80% of farmers don't know how to plow properly, and most of it is right in plow settings.
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