half century of progress plowing

muleman51 · Sep 1, 2019

Was the ground at the half century show like cement. I have been watching some of the videos and they were half skin plowing. My dad would have kicked my behind if I had plowed like that. There were very few that kept the plow even close to in the ground all the time.

NY 986 · Sep 1, 2019

Having been part of a tractor club that had plow days I would say that most forgot what their fathers taught them. Either that or they simply never bothered to listen. Everybody in that club had a farm background but most could never plow a proper furrow to save their life.

oliverkid · Sep 1, 2019

It was like a parking lot. The guys with the smaller light frame trip plows couldn?t do much of anything. That ground is hard to begin with and they hadn?t had much in the way of rain for a few weeks. There was dry cracks in spots you could just about stick your hand in. Turned over like cinder blocks. It really sucked disking behind them. I was pulling a kewanee 1020 disk and my first pass over I couldn?t even tell I had done anything. Worst part was if a clodd got stuck in between the blades just right it would stop the whole gang instead of crumbling. Not the most ideal conditions. You could tell the guys that thought they had a lot more tractor under them than they really did. A lot of them should have dropped a bottom and they would have done a better job. That ground separates the men from the boys.

JD Seller · Sep 1, 2019

The "Big" event plow the 20 bottom, would not even go into the ground. The manual lift plow the Case steam engine was pulling did one of the best jobs at the show. It was heavy enough to go in.

The majority of the plows there did not penetrate the hard soils. The ground was rock hard. The main trouble is 90% of the fellows there know very little about doing a good job plowing in adverse conditions. Plus they have plows that are wrong for the tractor or conditions. Many think it is a Speed pull rather than a plowing exhibit.

I would hate going to the average plow day. I always worked to do the best job possible when plowing. So trying to do that with someone else's messed up furrow to work with would be an exercise in frustration.

tomstractorsandtoys · Sep 1, 2019

The ground was very hard but many of the drivers could have benefited from reading their operators manuals and adjusting their plows. Of all the big tractors there were only about six that did a real good job. Local farmer told me that area is known for it tough ground. Tom

NY 986 · Sep 1, 2019

Some heavy ground going by your description. We have dry clods stopping disk gangs on this farm as well. Good to know how things are there.

andy r · Sep 1, 2019

I my opinion Oliver plows did the best at going into and staying in the ground. I noticed that the guys who had there plows tilted in the direction of the furrow could do a fairly good job. I think it helped the bottoms "suck" into the ground. Some of the plows just skidded along the top and served as a giant buck rake. The operators were frustrated. It was certainly a tough go. A couple guys couldn't even keep there breakaway hitches from continually tripping. It wasn't that bad two years ago. I think they were in sort of a "flash drought". From Iowa to the show both the corn and beans looked really good. I think they were able to tap deeper moisture. Great show if you have never been there!

Butch(OH) · Sep 1, 2019

While I completely agree that the bulk don't know how to set or pull the plows right there is nothing a person can do to a light plow or small tractor to make it work in the conditions they had at Rantoul this year. Thursday we watched a 1566 IHC struggle to pull 5 bottoms carrying the front end and a full rack of weights 2 foot off the ground. The rock trips were tripping and as he passed us the uprights and entire plow frame were twisting. I am certain that I could more easily plow up my driveway. 3 bottoms behind 125-150 HP would have been about right in the patch they plowed Thursday across then drive from the shellers. When they disked it a buge Case 4wd tractor was bouncing over the clods like they were rocks, unbelievable.

sourgum · Sep 1, 2019

Plows at the Half Century Show. This field had been harvested the day of or day before plowing was done.Corn was probably planted in wet soil, lucky to get the crop in. Imagine plowing under the most adverse conditions possible , different brand tractors and plows, adjusted differently, different ground speeds, different sharpness of plow shares, different weights on rear of tractor. Tractors have different hydraulic systems for the plows. They got er done under very trying conditions, hats off to the Half Century guys & gals. What an under taking for the crowd.

SVcummins · Sep 1, 2019

A little adjustment and a lot of ballast goes a long ways to keeping the plow in the ground and pulling it .

Bruce from Can. · Sep 2, 2019

Sounds like the conditions that I have at home right now. I put manure out on a hay field, then went to plough it under. The plough wouldn?t stay in the ground the whole length of the field. My plough shears were to close to wore out. I put on new shears and the plough would go in and stay in, but the tractor didn?t like it as good. Dirt rolled up in big hard clots. I think I have a real good idea what the fellas at the show were up against.

EFV · Sep 2, 2019

The 4020 in the second picture must've added weight or had better conditions plowing
by the pulling track where the photo is taken. When it was plowing on angle shaped piece
furthest away from pulling track he was carrying the front end and stopped moving with
front end in the air ! 6030T didn't seem to mind tough conditions,just lower plow in
ground and grunt. LOL Watched Earthquake and big plow on its first pass,took picture
of cracks you could easily put your hand in.

oliverkid · Sep 2, 2019

I forgot to add that the ground was so dang hard that the guys with spring reset plows would start tripping bottoms if they tried to run to fast. In a normal year most of the guys with the bigger tractors do a lot nicer job than that. The trip plows generally always struggle. August just isn?t the best time to moldboard that ground. Great for deep ripping though.

Joe Styke · Sep 2, 2019

I thought the same thing about the "sorry job" of plowing my Dad would have described the video as but if you want clay soil, gumbo or hard "white ground" come South!

Olliejunkie · Sep 2, 2019

Sounds like some of them didnt have a chance with the equipment they had and maybe some others needed some help setting their plow up and some pointers on running them. I for one dont know much about setting a plow and would appreciate any help I could get. If they didnt know what they were doing maybe someone could've helped them out.

half century of progress plowing

muleman51

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NY 986

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oliverkid

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JD Seller

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tomstractorsandtoys

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NY 986

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andy r

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Butch(OH)

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sourgum

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SVcummins

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Bruce from Can.

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EFV

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oliverkid

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Joe Styke

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Olliejunkie

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