Hello all, I'm new to the website and tractors so please bear with me. I just moved my recently started family last year to a nice little piece of farmland in east-central indiana. The soil seems nice and rich although a bit rocky and I'm ready to dig in. Soon after we moved in I bought a mid 1950s Ford 850 and a land pride finishing mower to maintain the yard which have both done well. This year I'm wanting to do a large garden, and hopefully in the future some small scale farming wheat, corn, etc. Just some of the staples mainly for personal and livestock consumption, and perhaps a little extra for friends and family that sort of thing. I'm hoping to get some advice on the proper combination of implements for breaking or re-breaking in the land. The place had been deserted and what was once tilled soil turned into meadow, and the garden I'm planning to locate in a portion of the maintaned yard. With my small tractor and soil, whats going to get the job done right? One other limiting factor might be the fact that I'm not rich, so I can really only afford the essentials.
Advice on getting started
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Soundguy
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plan on some kind of turning plow, or even middle buster if on a tight budget, then a disc harrow... depending on what you grow, you may or may not need a spring tooth harrow.. sometimes also called a chissle point cultivator, depending on actual design and your row spacing.
your 850 will pull a good sized disc.. 6' dual ganged. get the heavy box frame if you can afford it.. if you can't, then the angle iron frame with some logs or blocks on it for ballast. a moldboard plow will be nice.. i'd stick to a 2-12 bottom.. you have the hp for a small 3.. but if it's hardpan rocky soil.. 2 will get you there and cheaper.. and if that's more $$ than you want to spend, then a single bottom, or a middle buster with a wide head. after plowing.. then disc it.
other implements you may find usefull on a farm might be a boom pole to lift things with your 3pt.
if you ever deal with a driveway then an angle blade may come in handy. if you need to rip areas or move dirt, a box blade with scarifire teeth will help.. so will a slip scoop.
the plow/disc will be your immediate purchase concerns if you want to garden.
soundguy
your 850 will pull a good sized disc.. 6' dual ganged. get the heavy box frame if you can afford it.. if you can't, then the angle iron frame with some logs or blocks on it for ballast. a moldboard plow will be nice.. i'd stick to a 2-12 bottom.. you have the hp for a small 3.. but if it's hardpan rocky soil.. 2 will get you there and cheaper.. and if that's more $$ than you want to spend, then a single bottom, or a middle buster with a wide head. after plowing.. then disc it.
other implements you may find usefull on a farm might be a boom pole to lift things with your 3pt.
if you ever deal with a driveway then an angle blade may come in handy. if you need to rip areas or move dirt, a box blade with scarifire teeth will help.. so will a slip scoop.
the plow/disc will be your immediate purchase concerns if you want to garden.
soundguy
Villengineer
Gold Member
soundguy did a pretty good job covering the implements. I would suggest 1 thing before you buy all this though, especially if you don't want to soak a bunch of money into it right away. This first year, consider borrowing, renting, or paying someone else to get your garden prepped. Make sure you really want a big garden. I till gardens for people in all different situations and sometimes a garden big enough to justify owning a plow and disc is bigger than you can realistically keep up with. Especially, if you do something else full time and have a young family. It's not uncommon for my customers to change the size of their garden from year to year as they discover what they really can manage. Several of my customers are real farmers, so it's not always an know-how thing.
For reference, I live in near I-70 in western OH, so our soils are probably relatively similar. I have a JD 770 compact and a '58 861 and I use a rototiller behind the 770 to do all the "garden" work. Use Round-up on the the area you want your garden. In sod, I can usually get a workable garden in a couple passes of the tiller. If you keep up with the garden, the following year it will be much nicer. The 861 is really too fast to use the tiller to it's full advantage. For field work that difference in speed is a huge advantage when coupled with a plow and disc.
For reference, I live in near I-70 in western OH, so our soils are probably relatively similar. I have a JD 770 compact and a '58 861 and I use a rototiller behind the 770 to do all the "garden" work. Use Round-up on the the area you want your garden. In sod, I can usually get a workable garden in a couple passes of the tiller. If you keep up with the garden, the following year it will be much nicer. The 861 is really too fast to use the tiller to it's full advantage. For field work that difference in speed is a huge advantage when coupled with a plow and disc.
TripleR
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Sure can't beat the information provided so far. I farmed with tractors very similar to yours and used the equipment mentioned by Soundguy. When we quit farming, we kept the implements and even an old 600 Ford bought new in the 50's. The old equipment is getting harder to find, but you may run upon it reasonably priced if you keep looking.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Great, thanks for the feedback everyone. The plow and disc sounds just right, because/and in regards to your comments Villengineer I know someone who has what I believe is a 6' foot disc harrow which according to him he doesn't use. I know he'll let me borrow it, but maybe he'd even let it go cheap. He also has a furrowing plow he said he'd let me use. Its pretty narrow so I don't know if it could replace a 2 bottom moldboard, but do you guys have an opinion on them? Also on the plow, if I go looking is there any brand I should keep an eye out for in particular? A manufacturer that is less expensive but still high quality perhaps?
Soundguy
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- RK 55HC,ym1700, NH7610S, Ford 8N, 2N, NAA, 660, 850 x2, 541, 950, 941D, 951, 2000, 3000, 4000, 4600, 5000, 740, IH 'C' 'H', CUB, John Deere 'B', allis 'G', case VAC
the older plows like dearborn and fergusion are very good. the newer TSC made ones are not as good.. looking at the frames I've seen bent ones.. etc. still any is better than none..
2 bottom good plows around here go for around 200$
that plow and disc you can get.. if cheap.. that seems to fit your budget issue you mentioned. cheap implements are hard to pass up!
soundguy
2 bottom good plows around here go for around 200$
that plow and disc you can get.. if cheap.. that seems to fit your budget issue you mentioned. cheap implements are hard to pass up!
soundguy
Soundguy
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the 850 will pull a 2-14 fine.. some difference.. I'm not sure I would call it significant.. but there is difference for sure.
soundguy
soundguy
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Around here the hobby deer hunters have bought up the small disc's and plows for food plots. Rarely do you see one for that price anymore.
Verticaltrx
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I have a similar but slightly smaller Ford NAA and do similar work to what you are describing. I use a 2-14" bottom plow that has spring trip bottoms, which are great for rocky ground. If you hit a large rock, stump, etc the plow bottom swings up out of the way so you don't bend anything. Once it trips you just lift it up and the bottom resets. This feature isn't a must (and is pretty hard to find in a small plow) but makes it nice if you do much plowing in rocky ground.
I also use a small 6'10" tandem disc harrow, it's a lighter weight angle iron type which I got because I found it used for really good price. For heavy work I add weight to it, but the light weight can also be good for some situations, like gently scuffing up pasture for over-seeding.
A spring tooth or spike tooth harrow is also nice to have, the one I use is a 16' wide spike tooth drag harrow. It really helps to break up clods after discing, and is also good for incorporating seed if you don't have a cultipacker. It can detach in the middle so you can use one 8' side for smaller jobs.
I also use a small 6'10" tandem disc harrow, it's a lighter weight angle iron type which I got because I found it used for really good price. For heavy work I add weight to it, but the light weight can also be good for some situations, like gently scuffing up pasture for over-seeding.
A spring tooth or spike tooth harrow is also nice to have, the one I use is a 16' wide spike tooth drag harrow. It really helps to break up clods after discing, and is also good for incorporating seed if you don't have a cultipacker. It can detach in the middle so you can use one 8' side for smaller jobs.
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