Ploughing new land - Besson 10 furrow set up

[KANGROW Farmer]

I'm in Russia breaking new land with 10 furrow GB wagon plough.

I bought the plough 2nd hand and imported it. It came with mixed Skimmers on.

The soil is high om 4.5 to 6.5% and as it's new land there are some tough conditions from time to time (some woody bushes to to your waist)

The mixed Skimmers gave me major issues blocking ... main due to the really high OM soils, coupled with the bushes equaled nightmare!!

Mixed Skimmers in short vegetation was workable, (locally had been to cut hay for cows over winter, therefore short grass but still high OM soils) you can see in the photos.

To solve the issue of blocking on mixed Skimmers I've bought pasture Skimmers x2 left and right to test, see photo, I was totally surprised by how big they are compared to the mixed Skimmers!!! Unfortunately, it's now winter and ground is frozen so I can not test run :-(

Question - will the pasture Skimmers allow me to plough in the areas with the woody bushes and higher grass / vegetation or small I going to face major blocking issues still?

Note: I did find that if the skimmer point where inline with plough point it would block quicker and the same if I put the Skimmer point to far forward (+1.5 inches) but if I set the Skimmer point slightly forward of the plough point, say 1 inch, this seems to lower the number of blocking occurrences!

I would like to see any photos of other pasture Skimmers in action too, if that's possible

 

[homefarm]

I think I would take off the skimmers and fit trash boards.

 

[homefarm]

Found a video with trash boards

 

[puppet]

I am no ploughman but from the pictures I would have cut the hay rather than plough it. Doubt any plough would make a good job of that.
But this time next year, Rodney........

 

[KANGROW Farmer]

Found a video with trash boards

Thank you - I will check out the trash board option, although I am dealing with heavier trash than maize stubble

 

[KANGROW Farmer]

I am no ploughman but from the pictures I would have cut the hay rather than plough it. Doubt any plough would make a good job of that.
But this time next year, Rodney........

I have a 9,000 acre program to arrange ... dealing with the hay afterwards would be an issue in itself.
I've posted the worst photos etc ... on the very tough stuff = (High OM and the wetter soil types) ... over 1,000 acres turned up nice

 

[Dead Rabbits]

Why plow the stuff with no brush? Just a burn down spray and plant. People spend decades with no till and covers to get soil looking like that and many won’t get there.

 

[KANGROW Farmer]

Why plow the stuff with no brush? Just a burn down spray and plant. People spend decades with no till and covers to get soil looking like that and many won’t get there.

I know and fully understand .... i am trying at the same time to get the strip tiller system in place and working correctly for me link = https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/strip-tilling-into-new-land.304713/#post-6679379

But if i can not get this fully working I will have to continue with the ploughing method

 

[Chae1]

I have a 9,000 acre program to arrange ... dealing with the hay afterwards would be an issue in itself.
I've posted the worst photos etc ... on the very tough stuff = (High OM and the wetter soil types) ... over 1,000 acres turned up nice

How much is an acre of new land to buy in Russia? Are there any opportunities for farmers from the east.

I'd give my left ball for 9k acres of new land.

 

[MrNoo]

Ideally you want discs on every furrow, would fold all that rubbish in a treat, cutting it as opposed to it blocking up on the standard skims.

 

[Flat 10]

I think you are doing very well. i would have flail/ mulch mowed it after glyphosate to make life easier. I think mr noo has a point about discs, wouldn't be that hard to fabricate?

 

[homefarm]

I have no experience of anything on this scale but did plough 20 acres which had been abandoned for about 30 years.
The big bushes were lifted out with a digger. We tried to plough it, but after breaking skims on roots and lots of blockages and heaps on the first acre, we just removed the remaining skims completely.
Made a much better job, not great but no more heaps or stoppages. I did think perhaps trash boards would have worked but not worth it for 20 acres.

I do not think your exiting plough will have the clearances between bodies to work with any skim or disc in these conditions.

 

[KANGROW Farmer]

How much is an acre of new land to buy in Russia? Are there any opportunities for farmers from the east.

I'd give my left ball for 9k acres of new land.

we actually have more than 9k, 9k first year ... over 25k but staging the development
the company is in a special economic development zone, which gives many taxation benefits plus more
Its the vision of the Russian government to promote economic development in the far east with its target market as Asia etc
We are only actually <50 miles from a major Chinese board crossing, therefore, all our grain/products etc will hit the major importing market and effectively it is grown on their doorstep!

 

[KANGROW Farmer]

Ideally you want discs on every furrow, would fold all that rubbish in a treat, cutting it as opposed to it blocking up on the standard skims.

So the pasture skimmer (Black skimmer in photo) still might have issues blocking ? (that is the first photo, old skimmer is the mixed skimmer)

 

[MrNoo]

It may do, best try it, there are a lot of factors that influence skim efficiency, angle, depth, sweep etc etc but they will work 10x better with a disc cutting the mat of soil vegetation.
If you have any old plough disc assemblies it maybe worth just rigging up a couple of furrows and then see how you get on. I suspect it would be an expensive job getting a full disc set from Besson to fit your plough so you'll have to fabricate some up yourself or find a plough with them already on.

 

[sodbuster2]

As the guys above have said, discs make a good job in trash combined with a plough that has big inter body and big under beam clearance. Auto reset helps with workrate/reduced downtime on unknown land too.
That said, i have had very good results with a lemken rubin running ahead of the plough on land thats been uncultivated for a while. This gives you the flexibility to plough without if trash not bad or rubin twice if really bad.

 

[Fuzzy]

So the pasture skimmer (Black skimmer in photo) still might have issues blocking ? (that is the first photo, old skimmer is the mixed skimmer)

I would use a flail or rotary mower to cut the grass and bush to make the ploughing operation easier.
Is this an operation you could carry out when ground is frozen ??

 

[Fuzzy]

 

[allicat]

If you have front linkage on your tractor and are ploughing on land how about a front press of some kind to flatten the trash away from the direction of ploughing,

 

[glasshouse]

I'm in Russia breaking new land with 10 furrow GB wagon plough.

I bought the plough 2nd hand and imported it. It came with mixed Skimmers on.

The soil is high om 4.5 to 6.5% and as it's new land there are some tough conditions from time to time (some woody bushes to to your waist)

The mixed Skimmers gave me major issues blocking ... main due to the really high OM soils, coupled with the bushes equaled nightmare!!

Mixed Skimmers in short vegetation was workable, (locally had been to cut hay for cows over winter, therefore short grass but still high OM soils) you can see in the photos.

To solve the issue of blocking on mixed Skimmers I've bought pasture Skimmers x2 left and right to test, see photo, I was totally surprised by how big they are compared to the mixed Skimmers!!! Unfortunately, it's now winter and ground is frozen so I can not test run :-(

Question - will the pasture Skimmers allow me to plough in the areas with the woody bushes and higher grass / vegetation or small I going to face major blocking issues still?

Note: I did find that if the skimmer point where inline with plough point it would block quicker and the same if I put the Skimmer point to far forward (+1.5 inches) but if I set the Skimmer point slightly forward of the plough point, say 1 inch, this seems to lower the number of blocking occurrences!

I would like to see any photos of other pasture Skimmers in action too, if that's possible

Where are you from?
Where is the land?
Needs roundup then heavy discs