Anyone Plow With A Double Middle Buster?

[Utopia Texas]

My family did most of the work here on the farm in the last 45 years using small 20 HP to 40 HP tractors to do work that really required larger machines, but all was done well just taking a lot more time. I have a large field I need to plow soon and then level out with a disc and then tooth harrow. I have recently upgraded to a 75 HP NH and was wondering how well it might pull a 2 plow middle buster rather than a single plow. Any advice with a double plow or is the work similar? I have looked on line locally for new and used double middle buster plows and have had no luck so far. Down here they appear to be as rare as hens teeth!

 

[Big Barn]

Your farm history is similar to mine. However I am not familiar with 'double midde buster' Could you describe it? Perhaps I know it as something else.

Terry

 

[HEC]

I pull a 3 bottom plow with a 57 HP tractor with no problem . I will have to put it in 4wd if the ground is a little wet or going slightly up hill as I'm using r4 tires. I don't know about the middle buster thing , I can't imagine it would roll the sod over but don't know .

 

[Big Barn]

We were able to pull a 4 x16" roll-over (two way) plow with a FWA 75HP tractor with no problems.

Terry

 

[Big Barn]

I pull a 3 bottom plow with a 57 HP tractor with no problem . I will have to put it in 4wd if the ground is a little wet or going slightly up hill as I'm using r4 tires. I don't know about the middle buster thing , I can't imagine it would roll the sod over but don't know .

Just googled middle buster. It's actually what I thought it was. We used to use them for hilling up potatoes at one time. You are right. Not very effective for primary tillage.

Terry

 

[Utopia Texas]

What we call a middle buster plow is not like a mole board plow that turns the soil over in one direction/side, rather the middle buster creates a furrow in the center and throws soil both right and left of center. Our soil is River bottom soil that is a sandy loam with no clay so a middle buster plow easily throws soil in both directions with very few clods if any depending on how wet the soil might be when plowing.

 

[sixdogs]

I have used one through five middle busters but never as primary tillage. In clay they would likely do a poor job plus compact too much. A moldboard plow would be OK but a hefty chisel plow with twisted shovels or even straight ripper type "shovels" would work fine. They do a great job, leave a good amount of trash on the surface and don't compact very much.

I could see middle busters as a secondary tool to hold already worked soil over the winter. That's what I used mine for.

 

[Big Barn]

What we call a middle buster plow is not like a mole board plow that turns the soil over in one direction/side, rather the middle buster creates a furrow in the center and throws soil both right and left of center. Our soil is River bottom soil that is a sandy loam with no clay so a middle buster plow easily throws soil in both directions with very few clods if any depending on how wet the soil might be when plowing.

Yes, but you would end up with multiple furrows. If your sandy loam is relatively 'clean', and don't need to turn over sod (which a moldboard plow would accomplish) then just use a disc harrow. If you feel you need deeper tillage to facilitate better drainage or for deep root crops then you could use a chisel plow. A disc plow if you can find one big enough to utilize your 75 HP would also work well. Not to be confused with a disc harrow. The disc plow utilizes a large( 24"+) diameter angled disc to replace the moldboard of a conventional plow. Typically a 30-40 HP tractor could pull a 3 bottom DISC plow in lighter soils.

Terry

 

[bcp]

Double middle buster implement? Something like this?



Or on a tool bar like this?



Bruce

 

[Baby Grand]

Double middle buster implement? Something like this?

View attachment 403417

Or on a tool bar like this?

View attachment 403418

Bruce

That's what I though UT was talkin' 'bout.
Should have no problem pulling either with his NH.

 

[Utopia Texas]

I like the way his set up is adjustable for different tire widths...

 

[SandburRanch]

The Lister or Middlebuster was used almost exclusively in early days for planting row crops as in corn, milo etc. Cultivation being possible up to a certain size of the plants preserved moisture, covered small weeds to their death and at the same time filled soil in around the plants.



Word Origin

noun
1.
Also called lister plow, middlebreaker, middlebuster. a plow with a double moldboard, used to prepare the ground for planting by producing furrows and ridges.
2.
Also called lister planter, lister drill. a lister plow fitted with attachments for dropping and covering seeds.

 

[Fossil Farm]

Like sixdogs says, a chisel plow would fit the conditions just fine. They are heavy duty, easy to find and easy to get parts. For that size tractor, I would think a double or triple middle buster might become bent quite easily. Most middle busters are Cat 1 that I have seen. Your tractor is at least a Cat 2. If you have hydraulic ports on your tractor, a chisel on wheels (transport chisel) would work very well.

 

[FredH]

You could just make a ripper , with box blade ripper's , like I did , ( actually mine is converted from a double gang pull disk frame that was later converted to a single gang 3 point disk ) . I do have very clay type soil , Make 1 pass around perimeter of fence to break soil , then 2 passes with my KK 6'5 disk . This gives me a 8' to 10' wide fire break around West , South , and East sides of Property .

It is nothing fancy , but it works .




Fred H.

 

[motownbrowne]

Pulling 2 middle busters with a 75hp tractor seems like a waste of time to me. The photo of the three on the toolbar earlier in the thread looks like they are mounted on a <50hp 2wd Ford. With that much HP, you should be able to till a lot more land per swath than with 2 middle busters. Something like a 8' or 10' chisel plow, or 10-14' disc I'd think, though admittedly that's bigger scale than I'm used to, so I don't really know what the limits would be.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Yes, a 75hp tractor will pull a lot more than a 2 bottom middle buster.

The question is why are you wanting to break up the soil with a middle buster? Or am I misinterpreting your question?

A chisel plow is the right tool to break up the soil with, then a disc harrow to kill the vegetation and smooth it out somewhat. Then a harrow if you still have clods that need to be broken up. And, finally, the middle buster to create the hills and furrows for planting.

 

[bcp]

About two horsepower for two furrows:



or lots more:


Bruce

 

[sixdogs]

For the record, a 75HP 4WD tractor that weighs 8,000 lbs and excellent tire tread will pretty much pull an 8 shank chisel plow. 7 shanks would pull better.

 

[flusher]

My family did most of the work here on the farm in the last 45 years using small 20 HP to 40 HP tractors to do work that really required larger machines, but all was done well just taking a lot more time. I have a large field I need to plow soon and then level out with a disc and then tooth harrow. I have recently upgraded to a 75 HP NH and was wondering how well it might pull a 2 plow middle buster rather than a single plow. Any advice with a double plow or is the work similar? I have looked on line locally for new and used double middle buster plows and have had no luck so far. Down here they appear to be as rare as hens teeth!

What kind of soil are we talking about here? How deep is the good topsoil?

For example, the good soil on my 10 acre place is only about 5" deep. Not deep enough for a moldboard plow which will just flip the soil and move the clay to the surface burying the good soil. So I use an offset disc for primary tillage followed by a tandem disk/drag harrow combination to bust up the clods and smooth the surface for planting.

 

[Utopia Texas]

This is a 45 year old pecan orchard with 850 foot irrigated rows 50 feet apart. Over the years the 50 foot open areas between each row of pecans has become uneven, slightly rutted and full of small divits where mowing has become tiresome bouncing up and down while mowing. The orchard is in the front of our property and folks drive through it to get to our house so I keep it more "park like" and manicured. From everyone's posts I gather my offset disc harrow weighted down might do the job quite well without plowing first. My new tractor.....T4.75.... Weighs considerably more than my other tractors and has a air ride seat so it will probably do just fine as far as ride. The problem with buying a new tractor in the Winter is that I do not have much to use it for right now whereas in the warmer parts of the year I'll add about 250 hours to the meter each year. I only need to break the soil up about 3" down and then smooth out so maybe the plow would be a bit extreme.