What is "heavy" land?

[Dukes Fit]

Quite often read descriptions of ground being described as "heavy" but somebodies idea of heavy ground might be the lightest that another farms.

I thought I'd post some pics of our heavy land that I been ploughing the last two days for comparison.

The last picture is where the back tyre of the tractor disappeared into a wet hole and it then filled itself in again when I backed out. You certainly wouldn't stand on it.

 

[Yale]

Looks heavy to me,probably mid range and some will be like brick clay.

 

[PSQ]

Nice MEDIUM soil that ? .

Have you tried a slatted board on it?

 

[curlietailz]

this is probably our Middle ground just we are ploughing it now.

 

[steveR]

I have seen the description that "heavy" land, is ground that was not ploughed in WW2, as the local Ag committees knew it was unfarmable for arable...

 

[76masseyman]

I consider anything you can, or dare plough, isn’t heavy.

 

[Dukes Fit]

Looks heavy to me,probably mid range and some will be like brick clay.

It's near pure clay.

My daughter made a model for school out of it and it dried rock hard without going in the oven.

 

[Alwaysinit]

It's near pure clay.

My daughter made a model for school out of it and it dried rock hard without going in the oven.

What do you use to make a seed bed out of it?
I have some ground like that which bakes hard if left too long and i stilll work it with a powerharrow but always interested how others work it.

 

[Dukes Fit]

@Alwaysinit Same field two years ago and this is the 2nd pass of the power harrow

 

[Dukes Fit]

Nice MEDIUM soil that ? .

Have you tried a slatted board on it?

Not really, our ground runs from clay like this to sandy loam at the other end of the farm then higher up the hill it's medium loam with the highest field shallow over bedrock so it has to work in all soils

 

[yellow belly]

If you could plough land and plant a crop after 23 September then it is not heavy land

my unploughed land is now looking dryer than any time since 23 September

 

[John Slejpner]

That is a geeat set of photos reminding me not to feel guilty about the fact i have no intention of going near my heavy land before Monday.
On monday i will probably try something and think "wednesday at the earliest"

 

[Wombat]

First thing is to define what’s not heavy

If it grows, roots, potatoes, carrots or maize then it’s not heavy

 

[KB6930]

If you can plough it 8 to 9 inch deep with an auto reset kv without extra springs it's not that heavy

 

[neilo]

First thing is to define what’s not heavy

If it grows, roots, potatoes, carrots or maize then it’s not heavy

Heavy ground will grow those crops ok, it’s just harvesting might be a problem.

 

[Boomerang]

Quite often read descriptions of ground being described as "heavy" but somebodies idea of heavy ground might be the lightest that another farms.

I thought I'd post some pics of our heavy land that I been ploughing the last two days for comparison.

The last picture is where the back tyre of the tractor disappeared into a wet hole and it then filled itself in again when I backed out. You certainly wouldn't stand on it.

I'd consider that heavy . What do you grow on it ?
Is min till an option , when you plough up crap like that you've then got spend£££ bashing hello out of it and the equipment to get it down to something

 

[spin cycle]

i always thought the expressions light,medium ,heavy was a reflection of the 'wt' on the plough mould board........i reckon if you can walk over a drilled field at field capacity it's light....if you can walk but quite a lot of soil sticks to your boots...it's medium.....if you get about 3 yards and your boots are caked in soil that impedes you...thats heavy

 

[Exfarmer]

Only farmers in Bedfordshire and Warwickshire are qualified to answer this although some south Essex come close.

 

[spin cycle]

Only farmers in Bedfordshire and Warwickshire are qualified to answer this although some south Essex come close.

parts of worcestershire to

 

[Fish]

Only farmers in Bedfordshire and Warwickshire are qualified to answer this although some south Essex come close.

Na, Warwickshire clay is light compared to some of the evil stuff north of York