What Plough

[warksfarmer]

@warksfarmer ploughs some horrible looking stuff.

Re learning ploughing technique as it appears nobody knows how to do it properly.

 

[snarling bee]

Very similar here and we've gone with a KV 6f onland/infurrow 300 headstock with 28 bodies on a Fendt 724. Done a bit this spring and we ended up in the furrow as we couldn't sort the gps for onland out. Went deep at 14 inches and set the furrow width as narrow as we could whilst still allowing the soil to flow. Generally very happy with what it did so the plan is now 14 inches deep this year, then 10-11 inches deep next year and finally 7-8 inches deep in year three by which time we have fully inverted the whole workable profile. At that point we'll park it up hopefully for 6 years by which time any BG seeds will have been under for 6-9 years.

Don't underestimate the time it takes to plough properly though! its a slow old job at 5-6km/hr. 20l/hr fuel and the tractor was working quite hard due to the depth we were at.

Do you seriously plough at 14" deep? surely 8-10 would be plenty. If we plough at any more than 7 we bring up subsoil.

A Besson No 6 body did at great job with us on demo last year. I prefer Naud, but you cant get them anymore.

 

[APJ]

Kuhn 153 is a very capable plough they will invert most things very well, they are a strong well built plough, probably best with six furrows in land at 14inch width furrows.

 

[warksfarmer]

Do you seriously plough at 14" deep? surely 8-10 would be plenty. If we plough at any more than 7 we bring up subsoil.

A Besson No 6 body did at great job with us on demo last year. I prefer Naud, but you cant get them anymore.

Yes going 14 this year, 10-11 next year and 8-9 the year after to fully invert everything we’ve mixed up doing min till!.

Our fault entirely but at least we know we’ve messed up!

 

[Green oak]

 

[principal skinner]

Yes going 14 this year, 10-11 next year and 8-9 the year after to fully invert everything we’ve mixed up doing min till!.

Our fault entirely but at least we know we’ve messed up!

Will be interesting to see if that works out, I personally have my doubts and would plough it once deep then only work the top four/six inches for the foreseeable.

 

[franklin]

Can't beat blacking over some ex rape land; grinding it down asap with a strong piwer Harrow; rolling it; pellet it; walk away and come back in October. It's getting the power Harrow through between the butter and the concrete phase that's the trouble here.

 

[ploughman1963]

We have had Pottinger, Rabe and Kuhn ploughs here on demo this spring - all on slats - definitely going back to saltted bodies. The Kuhn slats left the best ploughing and the work they left was easiest to drill into. Pottinger and Kuhn skimmers were both very effective at low and high speed.

 

[Feldspar]

Can only see the need for really deep ploughing if there's an identified layer of compaction. To bury black-grass down you don't need to go that deep.

 

[Feldspar]

Can't beat blacking over some ex rape land; grinding it down asap with a strong piwer Harrow; rolling it; pellet it; walk away and come back in October. It's getting the power Harrow through between the butter and the concrete phase that's the trouble here.

What about a heavy press (like a Cousins Type 28) instead of the p/h for the first time through? That or give a wet-dry cycle before doing anything.

 

[ollie989898]

Can only see the need for really deep ploughing if there's an identified layer of compaction. To bury black-grass down you don't need to go that deep.

Around here 14 inches would bring up a lot of fairly hideous 'soil' and bury the most fertile stuff. I think it might look impressive but you would rue the day you did it.

 

[Feldspar]

Around here 14 inches would bring up a lot of fairly hideous 'soil' and bury the most fertile stuff. I think it might look impressive but you would rue the day you did it.

We run out of topsoil normally at 8 inches. I get very cross if we go deeper than that because, as you say, you're just diluting your best soil.

 

[franklin]

What about a heavy press (like a Cousins Type 28) instead of the p/h for the first time through? That or give a wet-dry cycle before doing anything.

I only have a cast ring press with leading tynes. And that doesnt do a good enough job. By the time I have done it once, then weather, then do it again it may as well be power harrowed and put to bed. Time of year when it is dry enough for ploughing properly doesnt allow it to wet enough during a rain - it bakes too quickly which is fine if I were leaving it for spring. Wetting and drying works so much better on the harrowed and rolled ground and lets me drill straight in to a lovely considolidated, fine seedbed.

This year the land ploughed later still benefitted from a quick power harrowing before winter. I was worried it wouldnt take the weather but in the end it was all pudding, but at least the power harrowed pudding dried enough on top to drill into with some patience.

 

[Henry B]

If I caught anyone ploughing my ground 14" deep I would shoot them.

 

[Robigus]

i have about 400 acres I want to plough this summer on bad BG fields that have never been ploughed before (or not for a long time) and havnt yet come into our double spring crop followed by beans. Where I had a contractor do some a couple of years ago on some seriously bad fields it has worked well as a reset and the winter wheat should zero till well into the beans (following spring barley into the plough).
We are on hanslope clay which can plough okay if done properly which in the past we tried to use massive great 8-9 furrow things on crawlers and it didn't go very well. I have a fendt 724 so a 6 furrow on land. What bodies? I'm told UCNs at 14inch will be best? Are there decent second hand ploughs about as ploughing is not in the long term plan just a reset so I don't want to spends enourmous amounts.
Thanks in advance and sorry to my worms!

The UCN is a lovely body and it was developed by Ransoms at Ipswich for our type of soils. The downside is that it leaves a very narrow furrow bottom to suit the tyres they were using back then. Get your dad a 165 and a three furrow reversible he should be able to do 400 acres with that, just don't tell him I suggested it.

 

[ajd132]

The UCN is a lovely body and it was developed by Ransoms at Ipswich for our type of soils. The downside is that it leaves a very narrow furrow bottom to suit the tyres they were using back then. Get your dad a 165 and a three furrow reversible he should be able to do 400 acres with that, just don't tell him I suggested it.

I havnt told him about this plan yet!
Will ucns on a 6 furrow on land plough work? This is what pip is getting excited about. Obviously I hate ploughing so this is all abit grim but needs must sometime, one reset then crack on from there!

 

[Robigus]

I don't know much about on-land ploughing but I can't see a reason why it wouldn't work.
We've had various ploughs over the years but the modern body that our late ploughman rated was the Overum XL.

 

[bankrupt]

nobody knows how to do it properly.

Don't blame the drivers, warksfarmer, it's the ploughs.

How many even have a full set of discs, these days?

 

[Clive]

Around here 14 inches would bring up a lot of fairly hideous 'soil' and bury the most fertile stuff. I think it might look impressive but you would rue the day you did it.

You would be quarrying stone on some of my ground and ripping up drains on the rest of it !

 

[MrNoo]

You would be quarrying stone on some of my ground and ripping up drains on the rest of it !

You wouldn't get it in deeper than 6" here in most places as you'd be on solid limestone!!!
I think as said above, decent narrow furrows with the skims set properly, went and bought a Kuhn last year, 5 furrow ran that at 12" furrows and it did a lovely job, when going deeper I opened it out to 14" but a mile better than my old KV.