What size HP for a 3 furrow land plow

[rasorbackq]

Looking at a 3 furrow land plow Its an old Massey Fergus plow with 3 point hitch. Was wondering what Hp is required to move it along?

[Ed of all trades]

Depends on how big it is. If it is a 16" plow or 12" makes a lot of difference. Measure how wide a bite each plow will take.

[Ted Summey]

The type of soil will matter too. Heavier soil=more hp needed.

[oldnslo]

Lot of factors to figure:
Like Ed stated width of the bottoms
Type of ground
Depth you want to plow: Usually no more than half the plow width.

Weight of tractor and tire type is probably one of the major factors. I used to pull 3 -14s pull type with a 5600 Ford with R1 Ag tires which I believe is around 50-55 HP & weighed around 7000 - 7500 lbs. Seems like a lot of the newer tractors are light for their HP

Example JD 5065E 2WD 4600 lbs JD 5065M 2WD 6300 lbs

MF 4608 4WD 6063 lbs MF 2625 2WD 5250 lbs

All of the above tractors are in the 65 HP engine 55 HP PTO range

[rasorbackq]

Will
have to check out the bite of the plow.

[buickanddeere]

3x16 will stop a 8000lb 55HP tractor in heavy dry clay ploughing 8" deep.
3x16 in damp sand will pull easy with a 25 HP 4000lb tractor.

[allen in texas]

A (very) general rule of thumb is one hp per inch of cut. 3x16= 48 HP. 2x16=32 HP, 3x14 = 42 HP etc. It's a starting place. I pull three 14 inch bottoms with a 50 hp at the PTO tractor. Yes it will vary with your soil type, moisture, what's growing on it etc.
You can remove the rear bottom if you can't pull it as a three. What tractor do you have?

[Gale Hawkins]

A (very) general rule of thumb is one hp per inch of cut. 3x16= 48 HP. 2x16=32 HP, 3x14 = 42 HP etc. It's a starting place. I pull three 14 inch bottoms with a 50 hp at the PTO tractor. Yes it will vary with your soil type, moisture, what's growing on it etc.
You can remove the rear bottom if you can't pull it as a three. What tractor do you have?

2x on that rule of thumb from my experience.

[Ed of all trades]

All good advice, even from one field to the next it can make a huge difference in hp needed to pull a plow. In the middle of our farm was a small field that was what the old timers called pushy. It was hard as a rock or sticky so that it built up on the plow and you were plowing with a dirt surfaced plow. many times both hard and pushy a the same time just in different places in the same 7 ac field. But remember this was a bad case and we plowed with a two bottom 16" with a ford jubilee, 32 hp. that fits with Allen's rule of thumb. One thing for sure if you go out to plow with not enough tractor it turns a smile upside down real fast.

[Ted Summey]

Ed of All Trades, seems like our farm is the opposite of the one you describe. Most of ours is heavy clay but we do have a couple of small places that turn easily (light color and light soil). Our MF135 and Kubota MX5100 pull two 14s okay. In a pinch even the old Farmall will pull he same plow in previously worked land.