HamishMacCheap
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2024
- Messages
- 95
- Location
- South Carolina
- Tractor
- John Deere 3043, Kubota LX2610SU, Kubota L3302
I think frequently about how to do a better/more efficient job in food plot preparations. I use a chisel plow (scarifier in local terms) to break up the soil before using a disc harrow. Since the ground is red clay, it can be exceptionally difficult to break up when the ground is hard as a cast iron skillet in the summer. Also, using the chisel plow leaves clumps of dirt, some large, which require repeated passes with a disc harrow to break up.
I am giving thought to the use of a moldboard plow/bottom plow but even though I have many hours using tractors and implements, I have zero experience using a bottom plow.
I would probably use a John Deere 3043D tractor (gear transmission, 4WD, ballast in the rear tires and suitcase weights on the front) for use with a plow. The 3043D is probably somewhere above 40 HP, maybe 41 or 42. A second option is a Kubota L3302 about the same tractor as the 3043D but probably around 31 or so HP.
My desire is to turn the soil so that when I run a disc harrow over the food plots, I get the best seed bed before planting. I guess this is generally everyone's intent when they use a plow. I think less than five or so acres of food plots is a reasonable estimate.
Will either tractor pull a two bottom plow? Would a large single bottom plow be more practical than a smaller two bottom plow? I don't know how to size plows, advice on that would be very helpful.
Please include in any responses things which I have not thought to ask, which are probably more than a few.
Thanks in advance for guidance.
Hamish
I am giving thought to the use of a moldboard plow/bottom plow but even though I have many hours using tractors and implements, I have zero experience using a bottom plow.
I would probably use a John Deere 3043D tractor (gear transmission, 4WD, ballast in the rear tires and suitcase weights on the front) for use with a plow. The 3043D is probably somewhere above 40 HP, maybe 41 or 42. A second option is a Kubota L3302 about the same tractor as the 3043D but probably around 31 or so HP.
My desire is to turn the soil so that when I run a disc harrow over the food plots, I get the best seed bed before planting. I guess this is generally everyone's intent when they use a plow. I think less than five or so acres of food plots is a reasonable estimate.
Will either tractor pull a two bottom plow? Would a large single bottom plow be more practical than a smaller two bottom plow? I don't know how to size plows, advice on that would be very helpful.
Please include in any responses things which I have not thought to ask, which are probably more than a few.
Thanks in advance for guidance.
Hamish
