Never Plough Snow Under

[Sonoftheheir]

Only if you’re a millionaire

Ha, I think they are actually.

Maybe they were trying to clear the snow??

 

[Adeptandy]

Not sure what they are doing or who it is, got sent the photo this morning, the supplier wouldn’t divulge the culprit!!

I posted this the other day in T@W Its not me though

 

[rob h]

Just finishing a field we haven't been able to get finished since mid December.

 

[michael N123]

We do all the plowing in April-may when it’s warmer why do people bother threw winter ?

 

[rob h]

if you plough this ground April you cant get a seed bed it just dries out and ends up looking like brick rubble it needs time to weather

 

[Cowabunga]

It is damage to the soil biology that is the problem. Very few soil creatures can survive being frozen solid, bacteria, fungi, protazoa or nematodes will all be wiped out. In a normal British winter the top layer may freeze, but everything living below that stays above 0 degrees C will soon re-colonise the top bit when it thaws out and warms up. By ploughing down snow, the whole plough depth could become frozen and so it will take much longer for the any surviving biology to grow back. Since the invention of chemical fertilisers, farmers are not reliant on the soil biology for the major components of nutrition and so this may be no worse than ploughing in the summer when all the biology gets dehydrated to death instead.

Our grandfathers would have been highly reliant on biological nutrient cycling to feed their crops, and so the effect of ploughing down snow would have been much more noticeable to them, hence this saying from the past.

Except that in continental Europe and N America and Canada, it is far colder than here and freezes to a great depth. Yet they crop just fine.
I hear you about the mitigating effect of fertiliser though.

 

[Cowabunga]

Only thing I can think of is he’s doing some sort of calibration run
If not

Doing his PA1 PA2 exam perhaps.

 

[Rob Holmes]

Forget ploughing!!!View attachment 640222

Obviously de-icing the field!

 

[snarling bee]

Just finishing a field we haven't been able to get finished since mid December. View attachment 640328

If you had a Caterpillar on the front then you might of!!!

 

[jack6480]

 

[icanshootwell]

View attachment 640486

Not many birds following you.

 

[joe soapy]

before diesel horse power, heavy land ploughed with 9 inch furrows, left for frost to weather it.
then in spring broadcast seed by hand and lightly harrow to cover seed

 

[Old McDonald]

I thought I would have a look and see what information I had from the past, and see whether or not farmers ploughed in snow. I reckoned the best place to start was "The Diaries of William Brewis of Mitford". He was brother to an ancestor of the late Henry. Wm's spellings and grammar are repeated.

1847. Sat 2 Jan: A cold stormy day I have had four plows at work today, but we can scarcely get out at the hedges, being so hard blown full of hard snow but it is only for Turnips, which makes us not so much particular.

38th week Sep 13-19 A remarkable fine harvest. The Irish reapers have been very plentiful and the wages low viz. Men 12 shillings per week and Countrymen 15/- plenty of ragged and Lowsy Irishmen, they left our Beds in a sad state full of living vermin.

Last entry for the year:

This ends the year 1847 it has been a good Year for me, every thing of farm produce likewise Beef and Mutton have been in proportion good prices.

I assume he was not too concerned about ploughing in snow, and his Turnips must not have suffered otherwise it woould likely have been mentioned.

 

[rob h]

If you had a Caterpillar on the front then you might of!!!

Have always fancied a d6vhp. don't know how reliable they are .I've heard d5vhp have final drive problems

 

[timmyboy]

Just finishing a field we haven't been able to get finished since mid December. View attachment 640328

Proper tractor. Sweet @rob h

 

[snarling bee]

Have always fancied a d6vhp. don't know how reliable they are .I've heard d5vhp have final drive problems

I've got a 75E and 8 furrow besson for sale if that would help.

 

[rob h]

Rubber tracks only good in the dry. Nephew has a claas 45 and had to buy a track marshall 155 last year to do the ploughing. The class just sat spinning and sliding

 

[Bury the Trash]

I thought I would have a look and see what information I had from the past, and see whether or not farmers ploughed in snow. I reckoned the best place to start was "The Diaries of William Brewis of Mitford". He was brother to an ancestor of the late Henry. Wm's spellings and grammar are repeated.

1847. Sat 2 Jan: A cold stormy day I have had four plows at work today, but we can scarcely get out at the hedges, being so hard blown full of hard snow but it is only for Turnips, which makes us not so much particular.

38th week Sep 13-19 A remarkable fine harvest. The Irish reapers have been very plentiful and the wages low viz. Men 12 shillings per week and Countrymen 15/- plenty of ragged and Lowsy Irishmen, they left our Beds in a sad state full of living vermin.

Last entry for the year:

This ends the year 1847 it has been a good Year for me, every thing of farm produce likewise Beef and Mutton have been in proportion good prices.

I assume he was not too concerned about ploughing in snow, and his Turnips must not have suffered otherwise it woould likely have been mentioned.

Possibly because......
Turnips are sown later and the ground couldve quite likely been worked down awhile before that, (stale seedbed reasons etc) so the soil would get chance to dry/warm up in that longer time frame.

whereas S.Barley will need drier /warmer ground much earlier and S.Oats even before that ....


I was told not to plough it down but ive never had much occasion too as rare to have snow here and even rarer to be ploughing when its snowy ....usally wouldve been looking after livestock.on a mixed farm...and if i have ....i have never worried about it as too many other more important things to worry about

 

[Simon C]

Except that in continental Europe and N America and Canada, it is far colder than here and freezes to a great depth. Yet they crop just fine.
I hear you about the mitigating effect of fertiliser though.

Well I suppose the soil biology in these cold countries has evolved over tens of thousands of years to cope with the conditions there. In our maritime climate, we will have a completely different set of soil life which is not used to having the life frozen out of it.

 

[Simon C]

I thought I would have a look and see what information I had from the past, and see whether or not farmers ploughed in snow. I reckoned the best place to start was "The Diaries of William Brewis of Mitford". He was brother to an ancestor of the late Henry. Wm's spellings and grammar are repeated.

1847. Sat 2 Jan: A cold stormy day I have had four plows at work today, but we can scarcely get out at the hedges, being so hard blown full of hard snow but it is only for Turnips, which makes us not so much particular.

38th week Sep 13-19 A remarkable fine harvest. The Irish reapers have been very plentiful and the wages low viz. Men 12 shillings per week and Countrymen 15/- plenty of ragged and Lowsy Irishmen, they left our Beds in a sad state full of living vermin.

Last entry for the year:

This ends the year 1847 it has been a good Year for me, every thing of farm produce likewise Beef and Mutton have been in proportion good prices.

I assume he was not too concerned about ploughing in snow, and his Turnips must not have suffered otherwise it woould likely have been mentioned.

I think turnips are pretty low down on the ecological succession scale with the likes of rape , sugar beet and blackgrass, so they do not associate with mycorrhizal, or in fact need any fungi or high soil life to obtain their nutrients. They just need some bacteria around, which will be the first things to start recolonising a sterilised soil.