TRACTOR PARTS Allis Chalmers Case & David Brown Farmall & International Ferguson Ford & New Holland John Deere Massey Ferguson Massey Harris Minneapolis Moline Oliver & Cockshutt Kubota / Yanmar

TRACTOR MANUALS

Allis Chalmers	Case	Farmall IH	Ford 8N,9N,2N	Ford
Ferguson	John Deere	Massey Ferguson	Minn. Moline	Oliver

Attention Forum Users: On the 28th of December 2023 at 9:00am Central Time, we will be taking the forums down for maintenance while we prepare the new forums for your use. Please click here for more information.

Implement Alley Discussion Forum

Who Plows Anymore?

Welcome Guest, Log in or Register

Author

Bill

01-21-2004 10:03:16

Report to Moderator

With no-til seemingly everywhere, I don't see a lot of folks plowing their fields like they use to. My question is - who plows anymore and why?

Some of these old tractors, Fords and Massey Fergusons for example, were plowing machines and had the weight to boot. Some of the new machines, I wonder if they are really suited for plowing, given their hp/weight ratio.

Just courious. Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Bill Smith

01-23-2004 09:59:10

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

Here in N E Kansas, plows sell pretty cheap at farm auctions. I own small acreage plus I rent a chunk of grass. I raise hay and cattle. My remaining farm ground I rent out. For a day job I work for a large farmer, 3500 acres. 3 man operation plus a 4th guy at real buisy times. Most of the ground is hill ground, and no-till is used alot. Alot of terraces and they get plowed about every 3 to 4 years to help keep them built up. That is pretty much it for the plowing. Disc and/or chisel what little bottom ground there is on a regular basis. The rest gets worked when nescisary or possible. Certainly not enough time to work all the ground.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Cliff Neubauer

01-22-2004 16:10:16

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

Around this part of SE IA there is almost no plowing done anymore and most of what is done is to take sod out. We last used our plow three years ago to clear some over grown pasture ground and I've only seen a plow used once in our neighborhood since then. We are mostly no-till on our crop acres. We will generally see a very slight yeild increase with tillage but usually not enough to pay for the tillage trip. Also since we have gone to no-till our weed pressure had dropped alot since we are no longer planting weed seeds with tillage. We have a field that has not had any tillage since '71 and it has the mellowest soil of any of our ground due to not having the soil structure damaged with tillage equipment. I know no-till doesn't work everywhere but we have been very happy with it.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

paul

01-22-2004 08:44:08

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

About 75% of the cornstalks are plowed with a regular molboard plow around my part of southern Minnesota - the rest are tilled with a DMI or chopped, disked, & chisel plowed. About 95% of the land in my county recieves fall tillage. We are just too cold & too wet & too short of a growing season to not do tillage. Would be June before we could get germination in our soils with true no-till.

--->Paul

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

del

01-22-2004 05:54:13

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

Good topic Bill. I like it when several people respond. When I started out on my own in 1970, my dad told me "You can ask 50 farmers the same question and get 50 different answers and none of them will be wrong."

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

MKinAB-plow saves $168000

01-22-2004 03:52:20

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I plow all my alfalfa/clover land and grain stubble in fall if time permits. I believe it to be better than disking or chiseling. The no-til guys around here save time but between their chemical bills and expensive equipment, I think I'm way ahead with my extra diesel bill. My nieghbor bought a new 35' JD no-til system for $170,000 and my 30' JD 9350 cost me $2000.00 at an auction. Up the road from here, an old fella who has passed away a few years ago, always plowed in a circle. The middle of the fields are missing alot of dirt which is all sittin along the fence lines. Plowing is good if you know what you're doing. MK

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Indydirtfarmer

01-22-2004 03:47:01

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I farm about 1400 acres. Most of it is no-till. I still do some plowing. We bought another farm last summer. There's 174 acres of "sod ground" that'll be turned into hay fields. They will be plowed, and soybeans grown on it this summer. Most any "new" ground I farm gets turned the first year. I also have a 40 acre alfalfa field, that's getting turned under this year. It'll be in corn this summer. Both the new farm, and that alfalfa field will get moldboard plowed this spring, then chizeled this fall. It might be years before they get anymore tillage done to them. John

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Dirthog

01-21-2004 23:43:15

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I recently bought a 3 bottom plow for my MF. I was wondering if maybe I did the wrong thing and should have picked up some no till equipment instead. After reading your posts I'm glad I decided to go with a plow. I can't wait till spring to give it a try.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

kyhayman

01-21-2004 19:16:38

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

Not me, at least not much. I gave up raising tobacco 5 years ago, corn the next year (I can buy it (or an equal feed) cheaper than I can grow it). For me, there is more profit in not doing it. If I go strict notil (small grain (wheat/rye/titicale) for silage with double crop soybeans for silage, back to wheat then into alfalfa or timothy it's better for my bottom line. I get better stands, own way less equipment (I rent a notil drill) and use less fuel. Chemical costs arent bad in my situation, just burn downs between crops and 2,4-D in the timothy/ Poast in the alfalfa. Seemed like it took forever to plow very mcuh ground, used lots of fuel and then I had to disc and disc and disc. I would suspect that if I took my beans to grain the yields would be lower.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Bill (ky.)

01-21-2004 19:13:55

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

In Western Kentucky most all of us tobacco farmers plow our fields. Most tractors used are 3-4 plow tractors which also are small enough to work in a tobacco field. Ripping does not turn under the growth from last season and no till tobacco does not exist in our area. I love the smell of diesel and the dirt turning over on a nice spring day. Can't wait!

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Mark in MO

01-22-2004 14:05:42

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill (ky.), 01-21-2004 19:13:55

Bill, Do you raise Flue Cured or Air Cured? All the tobacco we raise here in Missouri is Air Cured Burley. I didn't know if Flue Cured was still being raised. The "Baaker" farmers are the only ones around here that still moldboard plow. You can buy a semi-mounted 5 bottom plow cheaper that a 2 bottom 3PT.

Mark Hill
Dearborn,MO

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Bill (Ky)

01-22-2004 15:31:24

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Mark in MO, 01-22-2004 14:05:42

Mark, We don't raise any flue cured tobacco around here. The two most prominent types are dark air-cured and dark-fired. If you've ever driven through our area in the fall you'll see tobacco barns smoking. That dark-fired tobacco goes into snuff and chewing tobacco. Although there is more risk (burning a barn) and labor, it is the most profitable. Some burley is also raised here but not nearly as much as the central and eastern part of the state. Although raising tobacco has certainly gotten easier over the years, it is still a highly intensive labor crop. But, profit can be $4000 +/- an acre. We've been in the business about 25 years so I've seen a lot of changes. It can be said it is certainly an honest days work.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Mark in MO

01-23-2004 11:43:43

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill (Ky), 01-22-2004 15:31:24

Bill, I know what you mean about the labor, we always figured 400 man hours per acre. My family has raised tobacco in NW MO since they moved here in 1838. I can remember as a kid selling for $.75/lb and having to strip it in 5 grades (hand tied). Setting with an old pull type Bemus or New Idea setter. Making tobacco beds, that was like having 2 crops in one. Now all of the tobacco is stripped in 3 grades and baled. The new drop type setters are much faster and allot more comfortable. Now we use the Hydrophonic plants, much faster and no weeding or pulling plants. Since all of our tobacco is Air Cured Burley, if you see a barn smoking, they are either burning Sulphor to get rid of the Strutt or the barns on fire. HA! HA! Sorry to ramble, it's nice to chat with another tobacco farmer.
Mark

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Bill (Ky)

01-24-2004 16:46:15

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Mark in MO, 01-23-2004 11:43:43

Good to chat with you also Mark. I can identify with everything you said in your last transmission. As a matter of fact, With the information you provided, I'd guess you to be in your 40's. I did not realize tobacco was grown in NW Mo. We grow more dark-fired tobacco in my county than anywhere in the world. Take care.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Bill (Ky)

01-24-2004 16:45:19

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Mark in MO, 01-23-2004 11:43:43

Good to chat with you also Mark. I can idnetify with everything you said in your last transmission. As a matter of fact, With the information you provided, I'd guess you to be in your 40's. I did not realize tobacco was grown in NW Mo. We grow more dark-fired tobacco in my county than anywhere in the world. Take care.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

larry h

01-21-2004 18:48:12

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

we are in ky and plow for profit it will almost always out yield the chemical costs will more than pay for the ground working and the planters cost 25% of the no till we just like farming for profit instead of speed

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Larry806

01-21-2004 18:36:12

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I plow about 200 acres a year I farm a little over 100 organic & we no till our beans but I plow all the wheat stubble I plowed a farm we just rented this year that had been no till for 11 years it was like plowing the road

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

MD Karl

01-21-2004 18:02:33

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

We still do a lot of plowing here in northeast Ohio. There a quite a few dairy farms around and they end up plowing under alfalfa for corn ground. There are quite a few that chisel plow and some no till. I also live amongst a lot of Amish farmers and they all plow. There is nothing like turning the soil over. I think it is my favorite task to do on the farm. I have a 1951 Farmall MD and I pull 3 14" bottoms with it. We only have 40 acres on our farm so me and some friends last spring did some plowing for some other farmers. That was a lot of fun. We used old tractors to plow but I have noticed quite a few newer tractors that still get hitched up to the plow.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

jim

01-21-2004 17:21:25

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I've farmed the hard clay soils here in Southern Ontario for close to 50 yrs. Over that time,I've seen the "experts" recommend leaving the mouldboard plow in the fence corner in defference to many new "systems" of tillage.Within a few years, these same "experts" seem to come up with a "revision" to their new methods and recommend returning to the humble plow. This has happened several times (roughly every 10yrs or so). At present, we do no-till oats along with timothy/alfalfa into soy stubble, mainly for weed control, but plow everything else.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

JD 5020 guy

01-21-2004 14:18:43

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I farm in Montana and have no-till and conventional till. About 1,000 acres of my crop land is hilly. I no-till my hills because of erosion. Plus it is hard on the tractors to summerfallow the hills. I also 600 acres of flat clay land no-till that gets gets really hard in the summer. I use conventional till on the rest. I did experiment with no-tilling the rest of my farmland. But its more expensive than conventional till. Plus I have had only one year where my no-till out yielded my conventional till. The rest of the years my conventional till has yielded more than the no-till.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Tim(nj)

01-21-2004 14:00:04

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I still plow some ground. Tried the NRCS method of adding organic content to the soil by planting cover crops, spraying them, then no-tilling a cash crop in. No good. What I ended up with was hard-packed clay with a layer of organic slime on top, lots of insect and fungal pressure. The clay has to be broken and the organic matter has to be mixed in to do any good. NRCS doesn't see it that way. So I don't get as much farmer welfare. I'd rather make my money by being productive on my acreage instead of waiting for a government check anyway.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Tom Brown

01-21-2004 17:40:21

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Tim(nj), 01-21-2004 14:00:04

I agree also Tim. We have a 70 a. vegetable farm in W. OH and we plow 90% and chisel 10%. Your right about the organic buildup in the top layer of the soil causing insect and fungal problems. We have soil ranging from clay loams to HEL sands.We counter erosian by using sod strips perpindicular to the slope and use these strips for isle ways. I dropped out of the farm welfare system 3 yr. ago when they wanted to impose punitive fines on me for growing less grain and more veggies. The grain farmers in our area notill 50-60% with most of the balance being chiseled or offset disc. The driving force behind notill is the hard fact that the vast majority of us farmers need to work off farm to support our families due to the extreme financial squeeze caused by the imput costs ALLWAYS going up and commodity prices doing the opposite. That means that we all need to do more in less time..... .. consequently notill and roundup ready "everything". Please don't get me wrong, I'm not slighting anyone.... we are all paddling the same boat, just with differant oars.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Stan - Florida

01-21-2004 15:19:49

Report to Moderator

Re: Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Tim(nj), 01-21-2004 14:00:04

Tim,

Your posts are quite interesting. I'm an old (gone from farming for 45 years) Indiana farm boy. I've seen a lot of the country, and seen a lot of different methods of farming. I particularly liked your thoughts on another post about making a living on 300 acres as opposed to the guys that pay the big cash rents out west to get big and get rich (I agree - it doesn't work).

Tell us some more about your operation, please. South Jersey? Vegetables? Labor intensive?

Answer by e-mail if you wish.

Best regards,

Stan Huff
Melbourne, FL

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

We Do

01-21-2004 12:57:02

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

Around my area here in Central Minnesota, everyone is a Dairy Farmer w/ 200-300 acres. Every farmer w/ in a 20 mile radius of me uses a regular moldboard plow on nearly all their ground, and whatever is not moldboarded, is chisle plowed. Seems to work well in our black clay.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

del

01-21-2004 12:48:19

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

We don't plow. We do try to deep rip with a three shank ripper, disc some ground and use an aer way ahead of the planter or drill. Most of our ground is classified HEL( highly erodible land ) and the soil conservation people don't like moldbroad plowing. Our operation is limited on time since I work full time. I can spray 50 to 60 acres a day with our old sprayer, then come back in few days and plant that ground. We do our oun spraying but hire fertilizer and lime custom spread. None of our equipement is big or new. I go after equipement that is to big for the small part timer and to small for the full time farmer. Plans right now are 180 acres of beans, 45 acres of corn and 25 acres of oats along with 25 acres of wheat,all no-tilled.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

ShepFL

01-21-2004 12:26:03

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

I am by no means a big time farmer but for my efforts I use convential tillage. Two reasons:
a) I like to do it (ALOT)
b) Fuel is cheaper then no-till implements

Here in N. FL the useable soil is shallow so we have to be careful with depth. I find plowing very enjoyable and I like the look of a plowed field! Some of the big time boys do the no-till but then they more pressure to double crop and eek out a living. Me, I just run (or attempt to run) a U-Pick operation and planted pines.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

VADAVE

01-21-2004 11:28:02

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

It depends on where you are at, in some locales no-till has completely taken over in others moldboarding is 100%. Here in Virginia just south of D.C. we can double crop. When you plant wheat immediately after corn there is so much material on the ground that it is hard to get the seed in contact with the soil without plowing. I tried chisel plowingbut that was unsuccessful as the fodder was still on the surface and would plug up the disc. Recently the ag research station has had some success no-tilling wheat behind corn with a heavy drill. The local conservation office will rent one of these drills so I thought I would try this. Another thing that is important in this area is compaction. The research station recommends that we subsoil or v-rip every third year. This really does require a heavy tractor and some horsepower, stated to be about 30 hp per shank. Haven't tried this yet but will so. I think my Oliver 1855 will pull a 3 shank.
Sorry I rambled on.

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

Michael Soldan

01-21-2004 10:56:05

Report to Moderator

Re: Who Plows Anymore? in reply to Bill, 01-21-2004 10:03:16

Bill, where I live in southern Ontario we have a lot of heavy loam soils. We grow a lot of corn, soys and grain crops. I percieve that we plow as much as we always did but no till is used. It depends on the application. Most guys take off soys and then no till in wheat or winter barley, but corn is usually plowed down to turn the stalks and trash under. Turning under the residue of the corn crop helps to add humus to the loam soils. Plowing down corn residue is still as popular as always, I do see guys plow down soy fields as well. We always used to one way disc our wheat stubble after the crop had been off for a while, this got rid of any weeds coming up. then later into the fall we plowed the stubble down, some now spray for weeds and no till in canola but that's not the majority. Judging by the number of plows (new and used) at machinery dealers around southern Ontario I would say that plowing is alive and well and a thriving trade for machinery dealers. Overrum plows were made right here in Exeter by Kongskilde and are a popular plow, sold throughout north America. I don't think that "no till" has caught on with everyone and with every application. Soils vary so vastly across north America plains, praries and glacial valleys that different methods of agriculture, different crops and new genetic technology will likely keep swords in plowshare form!....Mike in Exeter Ontario

[Log in to Reply] [No Email]

[Options] [Printer Friendly] [Posting Help] [Return to Forum] [Log in to Reply]

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]

Home | Forums

Copyright © 1997-2023 Yesterday's Tractor Co.
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy

TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters

Website Accessibility Policy