Hyd Vari width plough draft and work quality

[Flat 10]

As above how do these vary on a 'standard' hyd variwidth plough? Do they adjust from 12-20 inches typically. And how does the draft required vary? You can nearly double the width like that but does it require double the power. And how does the quality of work vary ? I guess you can't push the width out on heavy land? Never used one and interested to hear. I know they add weight and complexity and cost to a plough but interested on the above points.

 

[Steevo]

Are we talking fixed width vs hydraulic variwidth?

 

[yellowbelly]

To a ploughing purist, a plough body will only plough properly when the depth of ploughing is roughly two thirds of the width of the furrow.

Having said that, from a commercial point of view, the hydraulic vari-width has made life so much easier for the ploughman.

• when trash is a problem, you can 'open it up a bit' to get more clearance, to let it flow through better.
• if the land wheel is leaving that unsightly 'shiney furrow', you can split it between two furrows, so that it's not so obvious.
• when that 'strong bit' is making your front furrow 'pull a bit wide', you can keep it straight by narrowing it up a bit.
• you can plough wider going downhill - making use of that free gravity!
• finishing up to dyke braes/hedges is so much easier
• plus a load of other stuff I just can't think of at the moment.

On tractors with 18"-20" tyres, 12" work is not practical as you're squashing the last furrow, you'd only go that narrow if you'd miss judged your finish!

On really light land, ploughing at 20" doesn't turn the furrow 'properly' - especially if you're not using a wide enough share (14",16" and 18" available in the days when I did a fair bit of ploughing).
But, for commercial purposes, it's quite acceptable and with a bit of speed you can get a 'fair bit wapped over' very quickly. We found 18" shares were best for most places we went.

On strong land (depending on conditions) going too wide can leave 'lumps like 'osses 'eads'. I used to reckon 16" was enough. If you're pulling a press, you can set the width so that 2 or 3 rings (depending on your press) are running on each furrow.

They're heavy (especially if, like us, you have auto-reset too), the hydraulic memory boxes are not cheap when they go wrong, expensive to buy and subject to a fair bit of wear with all that opening up and shutting down at every end. But having said that, once you've had one, you wouldn't want to go back.

 

[Steevo]

Guys here were running the plough maxed out at 20” at times, partly to push the trash through (3’ high charlock across the field).

Impressed me they could run a 20” wide furrow at only 6” depth.

 

[Steevo]

6 furrows running 20” wide soon covers some ground at 6-7mph too!

 

[KB6930]

To a ploughing purist, a plough body will only plough properly when the depth of ploughing is roughly two thirds of the width of the furrow.

Having said that, from a commercial point of view, the hydraulic vari-width has made life so much easier for the ploughman.

• when trash is a problem, you can 'open it up a bit' to get more clearance, to let it flow through better.
• if the land wheel is leaving that unsightly 'shiney furrow', you can split it between two furrows, so that it's not so obvious.
• when that 'strong bit' is making your front furrow 'pull a bit wide', you can keep it straight by narrowing it up a bit.
• you can plough wider going downhill - making use of that free gravity!
• finishing up to dyke braes/hedges is so much easier
• plus a load of other stuff I just can't think of at the moment.

On tractors with 18"-20" tyres, 12" work is not practical as you're squashing the last furrow, you'd only go that narrow if you'd miss judged your finish!

On really light land, ploughing at 20" doesn't turn the furrow 'properly' - especially if you're not using a wide enough share (14",16" and 18" available in the days when I did a fair bit of ploughing).
But, for commercial purposes, it's quite acceptable and with a bit of speed you can get a 'fair bit wapped over' very quickly. We found 18" shares were best for most places we went.

On strong land (depending on conditions) going too wide can leave 'lumps like 'osses 'eads'. I used to reckon 16" was enough. If you're pulling a press, you can set the width so that 2 or 3 rings (depending on your press) are running on each furrow.

They're heavy (especially if, like us, you have auto-reset too), the hydraulic memory boxes are not cheap when they go wrong, expensive to buy and subject to a fair bit of wear with all that opening up and shutting down at every end. But having said that, once you've had one, you wouldn't want to go back.

I can plough at 12 or 20 inch with 710 tyres without squashing the last furrow as the width your ploughing at has nothing to do with the width of the hole your tyre runs in .

The power requirements are definitely more the wider you go the same goes for traction but that said if you're struggling at 16 inch you can pull it in narrow and get going easier.
The same goes for in really light land the can trail you can plough wider to get more pressure on the boards to keep it moving and I'm heavy stuff close it up so the slabs aren't as big to break down

Once you've had one you'll never go back

 

[nick...]

Most people are only browning it over these days as it gets rolled and combi drilled soon after.i like to do a decent job but allways done better leaving late ploughed land for beet as I’d look at it all winter.still aim to do a good job now for autumn drilling but allways roll as soon as I’ve finished.on furrow widths I’ve never gone bigger than 14 inches.have tried 16 on my previous Kuhn on h4 boards and my current Kuhn on LB bodies but they don’t do not do a job I’m happy with.ive no idea how they go at 18/20 inches but no doubt some are doing so

Nick...

 

[MrNoo]

Kuhn on H4's here, find it does the best job at around 14" but do open it up in light going, also close it down to 12-13" in clay. I tend to overwinter it and like to get it turned over nicely. Would never go back to fixed.

 

[Exfarmer]

I did quite abit of ploughing for a friend with Vari width. Being tradtitional he had never opened it past 14, it went 12 -20.
relevation to me and soon got it working fairly wide when I could, but found on his land 18 was plenty. As others say you need to keep the speed up on better land as you will get horses heads in tough going or just drop the width.
fantastic ploughing headlands and straightening up up a bend

 

[D14]

As above how do these vary on a 'standard' hyd variwidth plough? Do they adjust from 12-20 inches typically. And how does the draft required vary? You can nearly double the width like that but does it require double the power. And how does the quality of work vary ? I guess you can't push the width out on heavy land? Never used one and interested to hear. I know they add weight and complexity and cost to a plough but interested on the above points.

We find 6f opened right out needs 50hp more than when shut up to maintain forward speed and depth.

 

[ploughman1963]

As I have to point out to some drivers - variwidth allows you to narrow your ploughing to suit the conditions at times not just plough max width

 

[Two Tone]

I have returned to a plough based system 3 times in my farming career and I doubt there will be a 4th.
The reason being Blackgrass control.But you have to plough properly to gain that advantage.
Vari-width is the most important tool on the plough to make it do the job properly on different soil types.
You must make absolutely sure that the skimmers are set properly to put all the soil surface in the bottom of the previous furrow and not up the sloping sides of it. The only way to do this is correct forward speed and furrow width.
Getting that balance right is essential.
I find that in reasonable conditions, ploughing a wider furrow does not use that much more power. The thing that saps most power is the sheering action of each body. Therefore using a 5 furrow plough set at wider furrow widths uses much less power that a 6 furrow plough set at narrower width.
Generally, to get that topsoil and its Blackgrass seeds in the bottom of the furrow (where 70% of its germination will die over the next 12 months), the faster you can pull the plough, the wider furrows need setting.

It isn’t a case of Browning it over, it is about getting an immediate 70%reduction in the Blackgrass burden.
Therefore achieving much higher yields and vastly less use of herbicides. The cost savings of which, vastly outweigh the extra cost and time of ploughing.

 

[jh.]

I find share size affects a lot.

Too wide it undercuts and will bulldoze furrow over rather than roll it , this also affects the skimmer as the soil flow is no longer smooth.

Saying that I try and run wider shares to scrape out furrow bottom for the bigger tyres but sometimes find they need cut down to increase the hindge point so worst of to evils .

 

[Still Farming]

Easy -narrow front furrow ,less draft, operate spool, wider front furrow, more draft.
Tyre and setting track width etc all to take into account too.