Utility Tractor Plowing Quetions

What is the most acreage you've plowed with a MF 135, Ford 3000, Olover 550 type utility tractor? 2 or 3 bottom plow, sod or prior worked field, like a corn field?

I assume tractors like my Farmall 756 were stout enough to plow from daylight to dark, day in/out maxed - year after year.

Not sure these utilities could do that? Or could they?

Thinking about trying to plow a piece of recovered pasture this fall (assuming the rocks don't foil the effort). It's about 10 acres. I'd like to use my MF50 diesel with my 3 - 12" bottom plow. I can move up in hp to my JD or Farmall, but the MF is handy and most fuel efficient.

Utilities - will they hold-up plowing all day, day in/out for smaller acreage/farms?

your MF 50 D will work just fine. Some of the small 4wd utilities may prove to be short lived if worked hard on a moldboard plow.

I plowed 20 acres of red clay every spring for several years with my AC 160 with 2X14 plow, the tractor never knew the difference.

MF 135 has probably plowed more acres worldwide than a compact model of the same power has mowed lawns.

The mixed farms here had that size of tractor as the big tractor for years, usually 2 furrow plow, plowing sod under for small grains.

No own had "row crop" on purpose tractors here.

That's why they put the lights on the Massey. You could plow all night if you want to.

I plowed 60 acres of spring ground for oats each year with an MF 35 diesel and a 3-14" plow. The plow was too much for that tractor and I never could pull it fast enough to do a good job. I traded the 35 for a Ford 4000 and could pull that same plow at 5 mph. The soil fractured so much better at that speed. The rest of the soil prep goes so much better and smoother if you do a good job plowing.
I wouldn't hesitate to plow with your MF 50 but I'd want a two bottom plow to keep my speed up.

In 1948 there weren't any "big" tractors so many millions of acres were plowed with a Ford and 2-14s also the Ferguson.

Plowed around 50 acres per year in the "old" days with an Ford 860 with 2-14's. Alfalfa breaking that was enough and most of our mixed clay soils. In the good soils on a good year it would pull 3. Yes we plowed till midnight many nights and all day Saturdays. Never overhauled that engine, but did some work on the tranny once. Bear in mind that was our big tractor of two for a while so it did a lot of work in a summer disking, mowing hay, baling, picking, plowing. Did get a 961d in 65 but a two row mounted picker so the 860 still did the plowing.

Why wouldn't they hold up to it?

Only reason they wouldn't today is because they're old and wore out, but back when they were new...

Are you sure that MF50 is the most fuel efficient plowing, as opposed to being fuel efficient with other task? Rocks are rough too when plowing.

An old gentlemen that rides with us has his dads TO20. He claims when they got the tractor and plow new they would go 24 hours a day trading off drivers to plow 240 acres.

(quoted from post at 04:52:17 08/24/17) Are you sure that MF50 is the most fuel efficient plowing, as opposed to being fuel efficient with other task? Rocks are rough too when plowing.

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A friend has a large 400 plus HP 4X4 CaseIH. He complains to everyone who will listen about that thing sucking down 26-27 gallons a fuel an hour. But when chisel plowing he covers about 32 acres an hour. My 1206 and 4 bottom plow burns 5 gallons an hour plowing on average and I get about 5 acres an hour. My Ford 8N will sip about 10 gallons of gas plowing 6-7 acres, an all day task. SO good question.

For the OP: Unless the tractor is in poor shape why wouldn't it plow like that. Lot of small farms back in the day did all of the work with a small tractor. An AC CA, Ford N, JD M, Farmall Super C, TO-20......farmer back then did morning chores and got on the tractor. Was on that tractor barring breakdowns till evening chores then was back on that tractor well into the night. They didn't expect any better. I can still remember guys claiming that "anyone with more than 100HP was just showing off". THey were farmers and working long hours was what they did without overbuying equipment. As long as you don't have too much plow for the tractor you should be fine.

Rick

Guess you never heard of a Case LA,Oliver 99,Massey Harris 55,IH W9.Tractors like the AC WD Oliver 77,88,MH 44 were all more powerful than the N Fords.

Dad farmed 145 acres with one Farmall H and a 2 bottom plow. When us boys got big enough to run a tractor we picked up the neighbor's farm and got an IH 240 with 2x14's. We now had 285 acres to play on. Dad would have to make us quit after dark so we would be rested for the next day of school. Now days most of the younger people have the mentality that they have to have the biggest and newest equipment or the job can't be done. I say if you have the time, enjoy the farming experience with your Massey. It also gives you time to think about life and clear your mind. Have fun.

Utility tractors were in many cases almost the same as the row crop version like my Oliver 1600 Utility is basically the same tractor as the 1600 RC.The larger wheel diameter gives the
Row Crop tractors an advantage in the traction area though.

Tractors earlier and less stout than those used to run around the clock plowing in some places to get a crop in. And many row crop tractors share the same driveline as their utility counterparts so no reason they won't take it

It won't bother the tractor a all. No drive train difference between "utility" and "row crop" versions of the same make and model. That said, in our heavy clay you'd never pull a 3 bottom anything. You might pull a 2-12, maybe a 2-14 if the moisture was right, 2-10's if it was real dry.

Using those narrow bottom plows will not stress the little Massey but it will be a while before you get the job done. For myself I would prefer a two bottom 14 or 16 inch plow as I would be working closer to the power and the furrows would be neater. You would cover the same ground as with the little 3 bottoms. Those little Massey tractors are hard to beat. I have stated before that the best small utility tractor ever built was the MF model 35 diesel. Just saying.

i dont doubt that ,,. we did the same thing with massey 3/14s behind a 430 case diesel , from
67-80 ,,.before we went full no til

You may be confused between Utility and Compact. A 50 HP Compact will not do the work a 50 HP Utility will. When I try to get 50HP of work out of our 50HP 4WD Compact, I start breaking things. The Utility is much heavier built. Your only problem will be the smaller rubber.

Bill

If you have a plow that is properly sized for the tractor it will work fine. Implement dealers used to like to sell big iron, so they'd sell the largest plow a tractor could pull and extra weights so a tractor would lug in a low gear with a lot of smoke and tire slippage (10 to 20 percent tire slippage instead of 5 to 10 percent). You could actually get more done on less fuel with a smaller plow moving at 5+ MPH with half the tire slippage, but that was far less impressive than pulling the bigger plow.

Often it comes down to estimating how much time you have to complete a job and then using equipment that can get the job done in that amount of time. A rough guide for how many acres can be covered per hour is:
"Width in feet" multiplied by "Speed in miles per hour" divided by ten = acres per hour. (use actual ground speed allowing for tire slippage) This works out to roughly 70 percent efficiency, tillage efficiency will be a little better than 70 percent, harvest and planting will be below 70 percent efficiency.

If your MF135 can pull 3-12 plow at 3.5 MPH actual ground speed:
(3 bottoms x 12 inches/12 inches per foot) X 3.5 MPH divided by 10 = 1.05 or about 1 acre per hour. 10 acre divided by 1 acre per hour = 10 hours to plow your 10 acre field.

If your 756 can pull a 4-16 plow at 4.5 MPH:
(4 bottoms x 16 inches/12 inches per foot) X 4.5 MPH divided by 10 = 2.4 acres per hour. 10 acres divided by 2.4 acre per hour = 4.2 hours

If you really want to, you could calculate the cost of fuel saved using the smaller tractor verses your additional labor cost, but if you enjoy the extra seat time plowing, it does not matter. Have fun!

Those 3 models listed are well proven tough machines ! I'd not give it a second thought as long as they were not worn out. And if they are worn out you will find out fast when you start working them hard.

If they only turned over about an acre an hour it would have taken them ten 24 hour days to get that job done, if the weather cooperated.

Back in the day (early 70s) we plowed a couple of hundred acres with a Fordson Dexta, a WD and a Ford 6000 Commander. When the weather was good we went around the clock until it was done. I remember following my younger brother on the 6000 around the field in the WD, in the night, with the muffler glowing red. The Dexta was more the utility tractor but it did its share of plowing, especially when we had enough operators.

Had an uncle who farmed 80 acres with an Oliver Super 55. Only tractor he had. He pulled 3x14s with it. Another uncle farmed 60 acres with a Massey 35,then a Ford 3000 with a two bottom plow. Never saw a problem with any of it.