Weight of '60s Deeres on Vegetable Farms

Anonymous-0 · Feb 21, 2012

Will the relatively heavy weight of John Deere tractors from the 1960s (i.e. 2510, 3010, 3020, etc) be detrimental to the soil on a vegetable farm in the Southern USA? Is a newer, smaller tractor (<60 horse) in order to prevent so compaction? I have experience with the older ones, and I like them much better, but I do not know if this would be an issue. Any help would be much appreciated.

rustred · Feb 21, 2012

have you thought about tire width?

ChrisinMO · Feb 21, 2012

We raise a market garden every year. We use an Allis D17 and D19 for working the soil. I've often been tempted to buy a smaller tractor which is lighter and not as thirsty. However, these tractors are already paid for, which is more important. All of our growing is done in permanent beds. As long as the tires stay off the beds, no compaction there. Our beds are 100 feet long, but they would be longer if the field would allow it.

Christopher

NY 986 · Feb 21, 2012

There is a substantial amount of vegetable farming done around the Finger Lakes region here. There really does not seem to be a preference in terms of row crop tractors. You are just as apt to see a 10 or 20 series row crop at work as you will see a Ford N series for example. As others have stated tire width, tread design, and ballast will have the largest bearing on the issue of compaction. There may be university or tire company studies done in your area that may aid in choosing tires.

Bob Bancroft · Feb 21, 2012

Condition of the ground (too wet) and what the tractor is doing(pulling a heavy load and spinning) are more important than tractor size.
I would go with whatever tractor you are comfortable with and is affordable, and just work the ground correctly.
You don't typically have to deal with too much moisture anyhow do you?

Mike (WA) · Feb 21, 2012

Japanese and Filipino farmers around Tacoma, Washington usually had 6 or so identical tractors, either Farmall Super A's or Allis G's, with various implements mounted, so they weren't changing them all the time. Most also had one tractor of 35 or 40 HP, for primary tillage.

Farms were generally 20 to 30 acres, and they made a living on them, and put their kids through college. That may have been a mistake- most of the kids became rocket scientists and just came to the farm to visit- and after folks died, sold the farms for 20 or 30 thousand an acre, and now are covered with apartments.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 21, 2012

Them new ones sure can reduce the weight of your wallet!

buickanddeere · Feb 21, 2012

While total weight and drawbar pull do affect ground compaction.
4WD vs 2WD all other factors identical will compact the soil less with heavy draft loads.
Lowering the tire pressures to reduce the pounds per square inch is the quickest and most cost effective route.

Ken Macfarlane · Feb 21, 2012

Around here, the availability of creeper gears seems to be the biggest factor in veggie tractor selection.

NY 986 · Feb 21, 2012

Yep, for some of the vegetable farms that was maybe the most important factor. Lot's of IH Hydros sold here back in the day with 656's and 1066's the biggest sellers. It was a big deal when Deere came out with their 15 speed powershift when the 50 series was introduced in 1983. Deere made immediate inroads in the vegetable tractor market as IH's future became iffy then.

Tony in Mass. · Feb 21, 2012

That's funny! The guy that bought my Allis CA said he really didn't need the manual, he had several manuals- for the 3 other CA's they already had! But wanted to know if I had any Allis Gee's, they only had 2 or 3 'good ones'. I only ever saw 2 G's in my life! As the AC fleet grows, the company's green monster stable will shrink. But everyone needs to have one beast for the heavy tilling, as light as possible and taking as many square inches as possible, in the right soil conditions, I don't think it will ruin a place. If compaction gets noticable, hey that is what subsoilers are for.

Mike (WA) · Feb 21, 2012

Yeah, I was talking to one of the Super A guys, and he said they used to kid the G guys about their funny looking little tractors. But when everybody started selling out to the developers, the G guys were getting $3,000+ for their tractors, and the Super A's were bringing about a thousand. He said "They sure got the last laugh!"

NY 986 · Feb 21, 2012

I should note for my previous response (below) I am discussing mostly smaller operations where the above response I am pretty much talking sizable commercial producers. Not only did Deere's 50 series prove useful for specialized operations but they soon took the place of the more general purpose (tillage) tractors on the same farms. Farms that Deere products had a very minimal presence on previously.

Traditional Farmer · Feb 21, 2012

I have a Hines tractor with hydrostatic drive best
vegetable tractor I have ever used including the AC G it was patterned after.I use the bigger farm tractors to chisel plow and first tilling then the Hines and garden tractors for everything else.

fixerupper · Feb 21, 2012

Right on! Work the soil wet and it'll be packed for the rest of the year. Doesn't matter what the tractor size is. Jim

Weight of '60s Deeres on Vegetable Farms

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

rustred

Well-known Member

ChrisinMO

Member

NY 986

Well-known Member

Bob Bancroft

Well-known Member

Mike (WA)

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

buickanddeere

Well-known Member

Ken Macfarlane

Well-known Member

NY 986

Well-known Member

Tony in Mass.

Well-known Member

Mike (WA)

Well-known Member

NY 986

Well-known Member

Traditional Farmer

Well-known Member

fixerupper

Well-known Member

Similar threads