flywheel
Member
- Location
- wae up north
Do you have a plough because if you do it would be your guide to what size hp tractor you need?
What tractor for ploughing 15 acres?
- Thread starter tommydog
- Start date
- Location
- Co antrim
If your wantin to plough and wantin to go for an older type tractor then get a massey as they have the best draught control. Id say the like of a 575/590 or a 290 would suit you down to a tee. They will have enough grunt and lift to do the type of jobs your wantin to do,they have decent enough cabs to protect against the elements and they have powersteering which if you ever want a loader is a must. There small enough to be nimble, easy worked on and be plenty of people in local vintage clubs with plenty of knowledge about them, parts are readily available and arent extortion and most importantly they arent a mega expensive collectors item so reasonable purchase price
Get a decent tractor with 4wd and a cab. You’ll never loose and probably go up in price, nice 7740 Ford would suit nicely and only appreciate. And you’ll have some comfort and not sicken yourself in a couple of years. Plenty of good ploughs about at sales, good 3furrow will be a lot cheaper than 4 or 5s and perfect size.
You have to have a Quad trac, discorden and 8metre Vaddy drill. With a fastrac, 18ton Bailey trailer and state of the art drier. With a Volvo shovel to load wagons with. This is bare Minimum for 15 acres I'd say
. Might pay to have something like a puma cvx on hire at busy times aswell just in case .On a more serious note a 10 series ford would be a nice machine.
ShooTa
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire - In the vale of Clwyd!
The five principles of soil health are:
- Limited disturbance. Limit mechanical, chemical, and physical disturbance of soil. Tillage destroys soil structure.It is constantly tearing apart the “house” that nature builds to protect the living organisms in the soil that create natural soil fertility. Soil structure includes aggregates and pore spaces (openings that allow water to infiltrate the soil). The result of tillage is soil erosion, the wasting of a precious natural resource. Synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides all have negative impacts on life in the soil as well.
- Armor. Keep soil covered at all times. This is a critical step toward rebuilding soil health. Bare soil is an anomaly—nature always works to cover soil. Providing a natural “coat of armor” protects soil from wind and water erosion while providing food and habitat for macro- and microorganisms. It will also prevent moisture evaporation and germination of weed seeds.
- Diversity. Strive for diversity of both plant and animal species. Where in nature does one find monocultures? Only where humans have put them! When I look out over a stretch of native prairie, one of the first things I notice is the incredible diversity. Grasses, forbs, legumes, and shrubs all live and thrive in harmony with each other.Think of what each of these species has to offer. Some have shallow
Armoring the soil is one way to be resilient. The armor is the residue from a previous cover crop and a cash grain crop is growing through the armor. Photo curtesy of Gabe Brown.
roots, some deep, some fibrous, some tap. Some are high-carbon, some are low-carbon, some are legumes. Each of them plays a role in maintaining soil health. Diversity enhances ecosystem function. - Living roots. Maintain a living root in soil as long as possible throughout the year. Take a walk in the spring and you will see green plants poking their way through the last of the snow. Follow the same path in late fall or early winter and you will still see green, growing plants, which is a sign of living roots. Those living roots are feeding soil biology by providing its basic food source: carbon. This biology, in turn, fuels the nutrient cycle that feeds plants. Where I live in central North Dakota, we typically get our last spring frost around mid-May and our first fall frost around mid-September. I used to think those 120 days were my whole growing season. How wrong I was. We now plant fall-seeded biennials that continue growing into early winter and break dormancy earlier in the spring, thus feeding soil organisms at a time when the cropland used to lie idle.
- Integrated animals. Nature does not function without animals. It is that simple. Integrating livestock onto an operation provides many benefits. The major benefit is that the grazing of plants stimulates the plants to pump more carbon into the soil. This drives nutrient cycling by feeding biology. Of course, it also has a major, positive impact on climate change by cycling more carbon out of the atmosphere and putting it into the soil. And if you want a healthy, functioning ecosystem on your farm or ranch, you must provide a home and habitat for not only farm animals but also pollinators, predator insects, earthworms, and all of the microbiology that drive ecosystem function.
ill just leave this here........ it may aid your decision making.
My drill I use on 150 acres cost £190 17 yrs ago
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
Get the biggest tractor you can afford--70hp+ a decent plough-- 3 or 4 furrow reversible, a power harrow, a combine drill, a combine harvester and a flail hedge trimmer.
This will allow you to look after your own place in a few hours.
Then you can spend the rest of your time doing tractor work for local farmers for £15.00-£20.00/hr and really pee off the local contractors.
On the other hand you could pay a local farmer to do your ploughing (contractors will overcharge on what they consider to be "small" work) while you buy an old MF 35 or 135 to do the cultivations. These tractors are virtually indestructible (which is why most of the third world still use them) and increase in value rather than decrease-Take a look at the "Classics" section
This will allow you to look after your own place in a few hours.
Then you can spend the rest of your time doing tractor work for local farmers for £15.00-£20.00/hr and really pee off the local contractors.
On the other hand you could pay a local farmer to do your ploughing (contractors will overcharge on what they consider to be "small" work) while you buy an old MF 35 or 135 to do the cultivations. These tractors are virtually indestructible (which is why most of the third world still use them) and increase in value rather than decrease-Take a look at the "Classics" section
GOODYSMATE
Member
- Location
- suffolk
That 4610 in above post would do the job nice looking tractor allow you would have to fit twin beacons on it to do the job properly 
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
I have a ransomes tsr300 4f reversible plough for sale
Would suit a classic 80hp tractor a treat
Would suit a classic 80hp tractor a treat
2wheels
Member
- Location
- aberdeenshire
would a classic 80hp tractor lift it?
Boohoo
Member
- Location
- Newtownabbey
Last edited:
You seem to have a very different philosophy. Out of interest what machinery do you use and what do you grow?
Suffolk Serf
Member
- Location
- Bury/Thetford
Surely it depends on how long you want to mess about doing the job?
davidroberts30
Member
- Location
- pembrokeshire
Used to use it on a 7745 zetor
ShooTa
Member
- Location
- Denbighshire - In the vale of Clwyd!
Grass only here - ford4000 and a compact (dual forestry use) as steep ground - but im small acreage so use contractors when i need to. ill let others eat the depreciation.
Cowabunga
Member
- Location
- Ceredigion,Wales
Depreciation? What depreciation? Low hour tractors kept for five years or more tend to depreciate very little, if any. Buy a five year old popular model and it may even appreciate rather than depreciate. The depreciation, if any, is in any case likely to be tiny.
- Location
- South west
With 15 Acres, grow Grass, let the ground for sheep keep, and take 1 or 2 crops of hay off it for horses etc. Can get as much enjoyment from Harrowing, rolling, top dressing, mowing, tedding, rowing up, and finally putting some string around it!
- Location
- Darlington
POWER STEERING is a must. thank me later .
- Location
- South Lanarkshire
Should have added to my previous post once I’d finished ploughing cage wheels on 3000 and 4 leaf diamond harrows double run up down across every angle possible till it was worked Oh them were the days