Whistler
Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire
We are looking to change our plough. There seems to be alot with slatted mouldboards. What are the pro and cons of them?
TIA
TIA
Slatted vs solid mouldboards
- Thread starter Whistler
- Start date
Midnight plough boy
Member
- Location
- Hertfordshire
Pro’s - soil breaks up more potentially reducing cultivations.
Con’s - they’re heavier, stones and flints can get trapped in them, they don’t turn the furrow over and bury the top as well as a conventional mould board, so if looking to plough down blackgrass seed a conventional would be better.
Con’s - they’re heavier, stones and flints can get trapped in them, they don’t turn the furrow over and bury the top as well as a conventional mould board, so if looking to plough down blackgrass seed a conventional would be better.
Modern slatted bodies have moved on from those of years ago, most manufacturers versions now have just as much turn on them as a solid board. They no longer throw the soil how the older ones used to.
We found that slats took less pulling than solid boards so fuel usage was lower and despite being on stoney soil the only time stones got jammed was when the slats were incredibly worn.
Ploughs are definitely heavier with slats but not massively so and the initial cost when new is slightly higher. You definitely do not throw as much metal in the scrap bin with slats though due to being able to change the parts that wear the most separately.
We found that slats took less pulling than solid boards so fuel usage was lower and despite being on stoney soil the only time stones got jammed was when the slats were incredibly worn.
Ploughs are definitely heavier with slats but not massively so and the initial cost when new is slightly higher. You definitely do not throw as much metal in the scrap bin with slats though due to being able to change the parts that wear the most separately.
Horn&corn
Member
If your ground is sticky buy slats. If it doesn’t stick to boards then buy buy solid boards
If your plough reliably runs clean I'd stay solid.
Slats are a big help in muffly soil but not 100%, but wearing parts/slats are pretty expensive compared to a solid board.
I actually don't think slats pull any easier than a clean UCN body, because they tend to bully their way through the soil instead of gliding through it.
Slats are a big help in muffly soil but not 100%, but wearing parts/slats are pretty expensive compared to a solid board.
I actually don't think slats pull any easier than a clean UCN body, because they tend to bully their way through the soil instead of gliding through it.
I've got a lot of experience of kv slats
They're worse to pull than a solid board . Wear out quicker in places but you don't have to change the whole thing.
They leave the ploughing looser which is good and bad at the same time depending on weather.
They'll turn over absolutely anything 100% properly and I'd say bury the top even better than a solid board due to more turn on it so are better at throwing stuff up steep ground .
They leave a wider hole to drive in so are good with 710 tyres
They're worse to pull than a solid board . Wear out quicker in places but you don't have to change the whole thing.
They leave the ploughing looser which is good and bad at the same time depending on weather.
They'll turn over absolutely anything 100% properly and I'd say bury the top even better than a solid board due to more turn on it so are better at throwing stuff up steep ground .
They leave a wider hole to drive in so are good with 710 tyres
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Anyone else tried KV no 38 bodies?
Heard there meant to clean better than 28s.
Fed up of trying to get my 28s to clean. Be glad when press is on again.
Heard there meant to clean better than 28s.
Fed up of trying to get my 28s to clean. Be glad when press is on again.
Are they not just a deeper 28 ?
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Not entirely sure. Was speaking to a neighbour who has fitted them and was happy with them.
Had Lemkens with slats for 18 years.
Leaving it looser is only downside I have found.
No Grain+Fert drill so broadcast spring barley fert on the ploughing before sowing & spreader leaves deeper wheel tracks than neighbours with solid boards that turn it down tighter.
Got a mix of clay which it breaks up better than solid boards and lighter fluffy stuff that can stick on solids.
Never ever had a stone jam in the slats in all that time.
When it's very wet the soft ploughing takes in more water we used to have 1 slatted and 1 boarded and in a wet season the 10 furs behind the slatted took more drying than the boards .
- Location
- Yorks
Heavy soil sticks worse to full boards (at least ours does).
Fraserb
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders
We've 2 kuhn ploughs, one with slats one solid and when we're running together you can't tell the difference between them, slats run clean for longer in light fluffy going but getting odd stone jammed in them.
- Location
- Co antrim
Im no expert but iv a plough with plastic boards, our soil is very hard to get to run clean on normal boards to the point some fields are impossible, i didnt want slats as ut soaks in to much water in our wet ni climate so i looked at the plastic. I have them 2 years now and have never had to scrape the boards of soil. Wev plenty of stones aswel which so far hasnt been a problem. So for any1 dealing with sticky soil id reccommend them, there pretty popular in new zealand and iirc @Finn farmer has them
Slightly off topic. Had three lemken ploughs in the past (20+ years ago), despite regular greasing the legs would go slack after a few years. Is this still the case or have they solved that problem now?
Fraserb
Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders
Our 5 furrow from 95 you could tighten the bolts the legs pivoted on, the 7 furrow from 2006 you couldnt which seemed a step backwards.
The kv has plastic inserts between the slats to stop it wearing the head away and they fairly wore out so I'd imagine plastic boards would just disappear in our range of soil and stone
- Location
- LINCOLNSHIRE/KENYA
We used to use plastic liners on our Dowdeswell ploughs they just bolted onto the mouldboards and were ok but probably not as good as the full plastic. We now have slatted boards and I see no issues with them but if you don’t have non flowing soils there’s no point in anything other than solid boards.
Finn farmer
Member
Yes we do have plastic boards, so far so good. We've had them since 2015 and they'll work on every soil we've had to throw at them (clay, peat, chernozem, sand, sandy dirt etc.) and have managed even the really stony ground. We're still on the set that came with the plough and have run through 4 sets of wearing parts during that time. And they're a fair bit lighter, if they were on steel boards our 5610 MF probably wouldn't been able to lift them (or atleast lift them comfortably).