Which disc for me?

[Barry Bowen]

3 PT discs do the worst job of working the ground! If you want the convenience for handling the equipment you are going to give up the effectiveness of it. Transport disc do the better job. An off set disc will work the ground the most, it is almost like pulling a rolling plow. Personally you could not give me another 3 pt disc even if you paid me to take it.

 

[R W]

I agree with Barry Bowen. Would not entertain the the idea of owning a 3pt set of discs,
you will find the the trailing type far more convenient especially if fitted with hydraulics.

 

[HCJtractor]

My opinion is that food plots and farming are two different applications. I don't know about what type of food plots you have or what you want to plant, but I plant about 25 various sized plots on my 300 acres. Some are rectangular and as big as 300 yds. x 100 yd. But most are smaller, and most are narrow,say 20 yards wide. I have to traverse tight woods roads to get to my plots and some of the narrow ones create problems turning around at the ends. And let's face it, food plots are not designed for maximum yield like farming, but simply to get an eddible crop to hold wildlife and supplement their nutrition. They don't have to be perfect to still work. The big wide discs may work great on open farmland, but would never work for me. I could not even get those big implements to where I need them.

I use a 20" x 20 disc (3 pt. type) behind my 70 horse Kubota. It is an 8' wide model. Even at that width, I have to be really careful not to snag a tree in using it. It's easy to hang it on a tree and break a disc or bend the shaft (done that several times). I would get the heaviest one you can find.

I learned this year that by plowing the plots first with a good bottom plow (I use a 3 bottom Ford) it greatly speeds up the process. One pass with the plow and then later come back and make 3 or 4 passes with the disk. I then use a homemade drag harrow to level things out. Works great. I broadcast the seed but a grain drill would be nice, but not necessary.

I think deer are much more comfortable in small narrow plots is tight places than big open fields. Now if you live in big agricultural areas where the deer are accustomed to feeding in the open, maybe the big wide pull disks would be great, but here in S.C. our deer will not be seen in open fields after daylight, so the small plots / planted shooting lanes work much better in my opinion.

 

[jeff9366]

You might want to loosen the 3pt lift arm stabilisers in the field, to make it seek its own line of traction, instead of pushing your tractor straight ahead when you steer.

With a floating top link pin, and the 3pt stabilisers loose, it should behave as a pull type and require the same hp. When you constrain it to run straight behind the tractor, it cant compensate the lateral forces between the front and rear disks so you'll be forcing it out of its natural path, causing the increase of power requirement: the same as a poorly setup moldboard plough.

HELPFUL INFORMATION. THANK YOU FOR POSTING.