Difficult Soil at Fairford,Faringdon ,Burford Ploughing Match today 30/9/17

[Pilatus]

Today I spent a very enjoyable afternoon at the F,F,B ploughing match. There looked to be plenty of soil but it looked as if was very difficult to turn over and bury the stubble ,as the soil seemed to me as a spectator to be what I would term as very "fluffy". It looked as if there was/is definitely a knack/skill to turning over and burying the stubble on the type of soil that competitors were faced with today, so much so that there looked to be some competitors with very similar ploughs on adjacent plots,but the one plot would have nearly all the trash buried and neat furrows, but the adjacent plot would have much stubble not buried and fluffy looking furrows.
Can any TFF member that has experienced the above type of soil conditions at a ploughing match,try to explain what the knack is in ploughing it ,to achieve excellent stubble burial and neat furrows .

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

,but the one plot would have nearly all the trash buried and neat furrows, but the adjacent plot would have much stubble not buried and fluffy looking furrows

the good plots will more than likely have very good genuine wear metal and boards, that is looked after very well,


the bad plots are so because of the soil sticking to the plough, repro boards, badly set plough, rust, not shined up it then dont plough and fell it over right, and once the boards and stuck with soil it then becomes like a snow plough just pushing it to the side, mixing soil and stubble together,

that type of land does stick when the moisture content is right to do so, had it been really dry , or really wet it might not of stuck, stony brash land, a light loam and bad to manage,

 

[MrNoo]

Ploughed there in the Fergie class, shocking was the result although did manage a 2nd place. I am used to brash so should have been fine there but there was a thick layer of chopped straw on the surface and quite long stubble. In the dry this would have probably turned in with the skims but this layer was a wet mat and whatever you did or tried it wouldn't skim terribly well. I found running the plough on it's tail and going flat out in 1st managed to keep the boards clean (there are very nice old boards) but no matter what any of us tried the skims wouldn't help, instead balling up all the loose straw. Most took the skims off. The chap next to me ( a miserable chap at that) had soil stuck to his boards and yet some how was getting rid of the stubble to a better degree but he was using the later MF type skim assemblies where they can be adjusted fore and aft as well as up and down.
It was an altogether depressing match, when you wish it would just be over asap and most frustrating when you know you can produce some excellent work but dont get the soil to do so. The Forrest of Arden match was exactly the same and that was a National Qualifyer where the 4 best Fergie men were at the far end of the field where you "guessed it" the soil turned off their boards a treat where the rest of us were just making up numbers.
At least at the FFF&B it was the same for all and even the Ransomes boys were having a hard lime of it and as for the High cut

 

[Martin Holden]

I'm no ploughman but "fluffy" brash is a real pain to plough or cultivate for that matter

 

[Ley253]

Having lived near by, and competed in the three Fs and a B many times, I can safely say those conditions are the usual fare offered! Its something when one of the best ploughmen in the country, cant get his plough to scour, and that was the case there.

 

[ploughmen]

you expect that type of soil at fff&b one in seven is good ground it was the same for all

 

[MrNoo]

you expect that type of soil at fff&b one in seven is good ground it was the same for all

I farm 8 miles from this years site and to be fair at least my brash would have turned off the boards. Next year it's at Brian Wallace's at Clanfield so should be some nice dirt.

 

[Ley253]

you expect that type of soil at fff&b one in seven is good ground it was the same for all

Sadly, being the same for all does nothing to make the match attractive to competitors, and as its bad so often, it builds a feeling that the organisers care little for the competitors. I would have more respect for the organisers if the held up their hands and said, "We cant find a decent site this year, so the match is cancelled".

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Next year it's at Brian Wallace's at Clanfield so should be some nice dirt.

I would rather have some nice soil

 

[Pilatus]

Sadly, being the same for all does nothing to make the match attractive to competitors, and as its bad so often, it builds a feeling that the organisers care little for the competitors. I would have more respect for the organisers if the held up their hands and said, "We cant find a decent site this year, so the match is cancelled".

With all due respect ,if from experience one knows the soil will not suit you or your plough at certain ploughing match venues you give that match a miss.
But as I am not in to match ploughing
it may not be as simple as that.
All I can say is well done to all who competed and entered in to the spirit of keeping the skill of ploughing going.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Sadly, being the same for all does nothing to make the match attractive to competitors, and as its bad so often, it builds a feeling that the organisers care little for the competitors. I would have more respect for the organisers if the held up their hands and said, "We cant find a decent site this year, so the match is cancelled".

sometimes you can only take the ground on offer, be it good or bad, and think it is good of a farmer to lend a field or 2 for a ploughing match, and to cancel for a year is not a good idea, ploughers have the choice to enter or not

 

[MrNoo]

If I'd have known it was going to be so bad I would of offered some of mine but only had 60 acres of decent ground in stubble at the time and I could guarantee it would have turned fine with very few stones (not brash but some very nice soil). Most farmers would know what their ground would be like (one would hope all!) and if it was likely to turn or not before committing said land forward for a big match like that.

 

[Ley253]

With all due respect ,if from experience one knows the soil will not suit you or your plough at certain ploughing match venues you give that match a miss.
But as I am not in to match ploughing
it may not be as simple as that.
All I can say is well done to all who competed and entered in to the spirit of keeping the skill of ploughing going.

The fact is, that many of the sites used for this event, have soil that suits no plough! There is very good ground in the area, but it seems very little is done to encourage the landowners to allow it to be used, recent sites have been little more than an insult to the competitors.
Cancellation is not good, its true, but neither is the sight of a top man(national finalist this year) who has travelled some distance struggling with unploughable land.(He is adamant that he will never attend again, and that removes most of the competition in that class). The public see this, and go home thinking the sport is populated by clowns, and wondering why they attended.

 

[Bruce Almighty]

The Forrest of Arden match was exactly the same and that was a National Qualifyer where the 4 best Fergie men were at the far end of the field where you "guessed it" the soil turned off their boards a treat where the rest of us were just making up numbers.

Chris your comments concern me as we were the hosts for this year's Forest of Arden.
I would suggest that the 4 best Fergie men being at the far end of the field was purely coincidental, but I will ask questions if you would like to tell me more.
I did the marking out on the Sunday before the match & as host I know that the land in that field is consistent. We have plenty of land that isn't.
I agree the land is fluffy - as it was over the hedge at last year's Warwick vintage, but that was on wheat stubble.
This year it was rape stubble and the rape had been subsoiled in, so not likely to be tight / firm. Had August & September been dry, that land would have been rock hard. We purposely sprayed the volunteer rape to prevent it sucking the moisture out of the land. If we'd known what the weather was going to do, we could have just topped it & saved the spraying expense.
Another advantage of this site is that it coped with the wet weather. Imagine what a mess the car park would have been on heavy land - the match would probably have been cancelled.
My son ploughed in the U26 class, he found that rolling the plot with his tyres firmed the ground & made the furrows turn much better

 

[Ley253]

sometimes you can only take the ground on offer, be it good or bad, and think it is good of a farmer to lend a field or 2 for a ploughing match, and to cancel for a year is not a good idea, ploughers have the choice to enter or not

Thats true John, but only locals know how bad these sites really are, its no accident that the same man has won the world style class for many years, he is the only real competitor there, all the others go ABF!(anywhere but filkins!)

 

[Bruce Almighty]

Thats true John, but only locals know how bad these sites really are, its no accident that the same man has won the world style class for many years, he is the only real competitor there, all the others go ABF!(anywhere but filkins!)

Same man won the Forest

 

[Ley253]

Same man won the Forest

yes, and was 2nd at trumpet and made the plough off again this year. He is above average, thats for sure, but the three fs and a b has become his pension!
If the land is ok next year, I may well join him at Clanfield, have a spare date due to the constant unpunished handling which went on at Yeovil! No point in going there again.

 

[MrNoo]

Chris your comments concern me as we were the hosts for this year's Forest of Arden.
I would suggest that the 4 best Fergie men being at the far end of the field was purely coincidental, but I will ask questions if you would like to tell me more.
I did the marking out on the Sunday before the match & as host I know that the land in that field is consistent. We have plenty of land that isn't.
I agree the land is fluffy - as it was over the hedge at last year's Warwick vintage, but that was on wheat stubble.
This year it was rape stubble and the rape had been subsoiled in, so not likely to be tight / firm. Had August & September been dry, that land would have been rock hard. We purposely sprayed the volunteer rape to prevent it sucking the moisture out of the land. If we'd known what the weather was going to do, we could have just topped it & saved the spraying expense.
Another advantage of this site is that it coped with the wet weather. Imagine what a mess the car park would have been on heavy land - the match would probably have been cancelled.
My son ploughed in the U26 class, he found that rolling the plot with his tyres firmed the ground & made the furrows turn much better

No I am fine Bruce with it! I very much doubt I would have beaten them anyway!! I ploughed the Warwick match and it was fine. I guess it was just a combination of enough moisture etc to make it stick, we get it here on our brash. Agreed re the wet weather, I managed to get out without a tow. Rolling the plot would indeed have worked!
Being the host, what do you do to get the field all level again, i.e. clear up the mess?? PH level then plough through the lot? Only am interested as toying with having a charity day here next season but had a chap do a practice plot in one of my fields several years ago and can still feel where his finish's were every time I spray that field.

 

[Pennine Ploughing]

Being the host, what do you do to get the field all level again, i.e. clear up the mess?? PH level then plough through the lot? Only am interested as toying with having a charity day here next season but had a chap do a practice plot in one of my fields several years ago and can still feel where his finish's were every time I spray that field.

mark out 90 degrees to team lines,
have ploughing match,
then we have a set of discs, first off lightly plough the finishes back in, then run the discs up the finishes, best to put a chain on instead of a top link, run the chain a little longer than should be, and carry it on the draft, this will pull more soil in to the finish than throw out, on high starts, let the draft in this will give the front more bite and throw more soil away from the crown, in both cases a good turn of speed is better, an after the above plough again as normal same way as tram lines, it levels up very good,

most clubs just leave it, and let farmer sort it out,

 

[Bruce Almighty]

No I am fine Bruce with it! I very much doubt I would have beaten them anyway!! I ploughed the Warwick match and it was fine. I guess it was just a combination of enough moisture etc to make it stick, we get it here on our brash. Agreed re the wet weather, I managed to get out without a tow. Rolling the plot would indeed have worked!
Being the host, what do you do to get the field all level again, i.e. clear up the mess?? PH level then plough through the lot? Only am interested as toying with having a charity day here next season but had a chap do a practice plot in one of my fields several years ago and can still feel where his finish's were every time I spray that field.

The Magic tool is a Tanco Grubba Level, Dad bought it new in 1984.
The blade between the tines & crumbler is on a ram so you can pull furrows in easily.
After the Forest, we ploughed the remaining stubble between the plots, then we "Tanco'd" all the finishes.
Then we ploughed the ends & Tanco'd the remaining furrows
We drilled the field the opposite way to usual, so tramlines are same direction as plot finishes