First tractor

   / First tractor #1  

69clone

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Joined
Oct 9, 2016
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16
Location
Woodlawn, TN
Tractor
Belarus 250as
Hi everyone I have a Belarus 250as 31hp. I'm just wondering how do you decide on what size attachments to get? Ours came with a 5ft bush hog and FEL. I bought a middle buster but have a hard time keeping traction sometimes. I am planning on a large garden and want to make sure I'm not buying something that my tractor can't handle. I would like a double plow. And or a cultivator. Just don't know if my tractor can handle a double row 5ft or only a single 5ft etc.
 
   / First tractor #2  
Might want to describe soil conditions...
 
   / First tractor
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Sorry I meant to. I live in Tennessee a little clay.
 
   / First tractor #4  
Hi everyone I have a Belarus 250as 31hp. I'm just wondering how do you decide on what size attachments to get? Ours came with a 5ft bush hog and FEL. I bought a middle buster but have a hard time keeping traction sometimes. I am planning on a large garden and want to make sure I'm not buying something that my tractor can't handle. I would like a double plow. And or a cultivator. Just don't know if my tractor can handle a double row 5ft or only a single 5ft etc.

Get all four tires filled with Rim Guard. That will add weight and traction.
 
   / First tractor #5  
TractorData.com Belarus 250AS tractor information

Your tractor is 58" wide with R1/ag tires, 31 horsepower and around 5,000 pounds.

You would be better served with a 60" wide, PTO powered roto-tiller in a garden, rather than a Moldboard Plow. Plows take many hours to learn to adjust correctly. In a garden you do not have enough space for plow trial and error. If you get a plow, you will also need a Disc Harrow to reduce the 12" to 14" plow furrows to reasonable smoothness, and Disc Harrows are less than optimum in garden situations. A roto-tiller is an all-in-one garden implement.
VIDEO: PTO tiller - YouTube


How dry was your soil when you lost traction pulling the Middle-Buster? I expect your answer will be DRY. In ag, you have to wait on Mother Nature. Even your relatively heavy tractor is going to have a hard time pulling through adobe brick. Wait on the Middle-Buster until after three to four days of steady rain, then a day or two of dry out weather.

Cultivators only penetrate 4" - 5" into the soil, so draft force resisting the tractor is not high. Your Belarus 250AS should allow you to pull a two row cultivator in moist soil. Most people using two row cultivators would be growing food for market sale, not for the table.

WHAT DIMENSIONS ARE YOU PLANNING FOR YOUR GARDEN? WHAT USE WAS MADE OF THE LAND, WHICH YOU NOW SEE AS YOUR GARDEN? PASTURE?
A 1/4 ACRE GARDEN IS ALL A FAMILY CAN MANAGE WITHOUT THE GARDEN BECOMING AN ONEROUS TASK RATHER THAN A PLEASURE.

Many would cultivate a kitchen garden with a Middle-Buster plus Roto-tiller for soil preparation, then hand tools or a small gas powered tiller, such as a Mantis, for cultivation.

LINK: 3 Pt. Hitch, Toolbar, Cultivators, Sweeps, S-Tines, Disc Hillers, & More!
 

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   / First tractor
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Thanks, yes the ground was dry couldn't tell you the last time it rained to be honest. I knew it wasn't the best condition but it was my day off and I had nothing going on.
I was able to go through it about 3" deep to get the sod out the first pass then another 4" the second pass. I stopped in to our local tractor junk yard/store the owner didn't think I had enough hp for a cultivator and recommend a roto tiller as you suggest. I was just hoping to stay alittle cheaper but I don't mind a tiller. I know some folks don't like what a tiller does to the soil. But it beats using a front tine tiller on a large garden. We have a 5-6 acre area that doesn't get used one day I would like to have the whole thing garden and sell to market/ locally. But the lands never been worked as far as I know. I would start small. I have had gardens for awhile just small scale.
 
   / First tractor #7  
Hi everyone I have a Belarus 250as 31hp. I'm just wondering how do you decide on what size attachments to get? Ours came with a 5ft bush hog and FEL. I bought a middle buster but have a hard time keeping traction sometimes. I am planning on a large garden and want to make sure I'm not buying something that my tractor can't handle. I would like a double plow. And or a cultivator. Just don't know if my tractor can handle a double row 5ft or only a single 5ft etc.


Could be the reason you're losing traction is you have down pressure on that tractor. If you lower the plow and keep trying to lower it will lift the rear tires off the ground or bend your plow. You have plenty of weight to run a bottom plow or middle buster but you'll have to learn how to use the 3pt lift.

If you pull your lever toward you the 3pt will start to lower if you want it to float (meaning no down pressure on your implement) pull the lever all the way back toward you and it will lock into position. While its locked the 3pt hitch will be free to move up or down as your plow needs. To unlock the handle just push it to raise.

If you are using a middle buster start the tractor moving and slowly pull the lever back lowering the plow until the right depth is reached. You may have to adjust your top link so the middle buster is at the right angle for digging. Hope I didn't confuse you. It's hard for me to write what I'm thinking.
 
   / First tractor #8  
I'm going to add that the only time I find a need for down pressure is while using a post hole digger. While you're using your tractor just keep in mind what can happen if you're using down pressure. If you're using a rotary cutter you have to insure the rotary cutter has a means of at least a few inches of float built into the mower. Most rotary cutters have this float built on the hitch and so do finish mowers. Plows don't have this and you'll just have to learn how to use them.

There is a way to adjust some nuts on the lift link (the arm between the rock shaft and the lift arms) to help eliminate the down pressure problems but I'll have to get a few pictures to explain it. It'll probably be tomorrow before I can get the pictures though.
 
   / First tractor
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Thanks for the response. When I hooked up my middle buster I turned the top linkage all the way in as to point the plow downwards some. I may need a shorter one though because I put it in float mode before and it barely goes under the soil. Of course I hit a rock hard in the spring because it bent the front of the plow down.
 
   / First tractor #10  
Many families do commercial market gardening on one to two acres.

Used properly roto-tillers are excellent tools. Some newbies mistakenly believe tilling until the soil is powder is a good idea, but powder soil turns to adobe brick after it is next saturated. Powder soil contains no oxygen. Only roto-till once or twice per year. You want good crumb in the soil.

I would commence composting all kitchen waste and garden waste immediately. It takes a huge amount of compost to ameliorate clay but when you commence the garden you will soon have lots of vegetation waste.

In most of Tennessee people raise scrumptious tomatoes.

Do you have an Operator's Manual for your Belarus? If you do not, and request one here, someone will likely e-mail you one.
 
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