Plow Day

Anyone on here ever hosted one? And would you do it again? Have 80 acres on the home place to be plowed this fall. Not looking for club support, plan on taking phone #s and emails from people interested and then contact people when ready instead of setting a date now.

Thing that concerns me is the logistics of it, parking, food, bathroom facilities, have none of it on site and not sure how to handle it all.

A friend has a plow day every year for the last 5 years. He dont have any bathroom faciltys except for a wooded tract. He has a few rules but mainly we plow, He and others bring grills and cook burgers and hot dogs and everyone brings a dish to pass. Parking was never a problem. It dont cost a lot of money to rent a portable bathroom either. We all enjoy it

You should also check with your insurance agent and purhcase any additional liability insurance required for the day. A couple of hundred dollars might save the farm in case of an accident.

A little insurance and a portapot ain't bad ideas. What are the few rules you speak of? One thing I'd like to make sure of is people bringing decent equipment that can get at least 6-7" deep. This is after all still production land.

Not having a club back of you is the problem, If you had that things would be covered by the clubs insurance. No longer have the farm but when I did had one and it was organized thru one club with particapation with others that I belonged to. Parked the camper in field and used it as headquarters and bathroom was avaible if needed. Set up the grill and cooked burgers and dogs and everybody had a good time.

Was hoping not to get a club involved. Haven't been members in a long time, more bs and back slapping than anything. Problem is if someone shows up with a sick tractor, can't get it fixed, and wants to pull the plow 3 inches deep I am going to ask him to stop. Suddenly I'm the bad guy when the club says I can't invite people and then turn select ones away.

Also club wants set dates, I'm not doing that. Give me a call/email list, when I am sure I will have the corn off and trash chopped within 2 weeks then we can set a date and I will contact everyone.

Sounds like you are more interested in getting your ground plowed than hosting a fun show where people can run what they brung.

I'm all for having fun. If I wasn't I'd plow it myself, but I'm not excited about sacraficing fertility...that should be easy to understand

So far we have a range from a Cub with a mid-mount disc plow to a 4955...should be a good time

I have hosted a plow day for the last 6 years. Every year it is fun. Things I have learned are: I decide on the date 3-4 days before. (need good weather and dry soil) I have a call list, people who have participated in the past and others who have expressed interest in it. Friends tell friends. I have never advertised. A day or two before I do the lands. Plowing takes care of itself. Everybody can bring something to pass- it is a family thing. We supplyed sandwitches sometimes. we are never short of food and drinks. A deck over flatbed works great for food. We have never had a porta-potty, we plow from 1-4, if anyone needs to go, they get a golf car ride to the house. Roundiing up picnic tables is difficult, need as many chairs as possible, straw bales work too. I usually have 10-15 rigs plowing. (2-4 bottoms) ,maybe 75 people. If this is you first plow day, start small, don't invite the whole county. Do you have a couple of buddies that can help you? Can some one take charge of the food? Lat year I only plowed a round or two, spent most of the afternoon hauling kids around the field in the gator. Nice to have a shaded area for lunch. People spend most of the time talking, barely get 20 acres plowed. Never had a problem, other than the weather. That was the times I decided on a date monthes before.
Brian (MN)

I have organized a plow day for the last 6 yrs. We have the local 4-H club serve the food and drinks and they get to keep the profit for their fine work. Their kids love the experience and we don"t have to fool with food. (They make lots of money at this...good for them).

We have 4 rules: 1. All tractors are 1959 or older. 2. No tail gating. 3. No hot rodding. 4. You must have fun.

I have a master list of names, phone numbers, and addresses of drivers. We have a small meeting in Feb to go over location and who will help with parking, etc. If you don"t volunteer, we probably will draft you to help.

We average about 150 spectators. Local newspaper guy has ag background and prints a free announcement for us...and we make the front page of our weekly paper.

We don"t worry too much about plow depth....the host farmers have big equipment and work the field when we are done and you can"t tell what we did and how good or poor we did it. We have farmers waiting to be a host.

We must be doing something right....started with 7 tractors and this year we had 55 plowing and 5 more doing tillage work.

We have a professional videographer make a video and we sell it for $10 and proceeds go to local charities.

What"s funny is seeing plowers show up with their "new" old tractors...the oldest tractor leads the pack on the first round for all the photographers.

We have a great time...so much so that we are now one of the local traditions.

We charge $5 per driver and that pays for the porta potty rentals. LA in WI

Thanks LA and Brian, that's all good info. The 59 and older most certainly won't fly, considering my ride is a 72, and local gent with a 4010 already told me he was in. I'm not going to have a bottom limit either. I think we will have plenty of room.

You both gave me a few excellent ideas, thank you.