Disc plow?

   / Disc plow? #1  

flusher

Super Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
7,555
Location
Sacramento
Tractor
Getting old. Sold the ranch. Sold the tractors. Moved back to the city.
I stumbled across this attachment while trying to find out something about the old 6-ft offset drag disc that I got from my neighbor.

Has anyone out there used a disc plow? What advantages, if any, does it have vs other types of ploe (mouldboard, chisel, etc)?
 
   / Disc plow? #2  
They are turning plows, and generally were attached to sulkeys during the horse drawn area. They were popular in places where the soil was less rocky.
 
   / Disc plow? #3  
They work well for turning under stubble as they will cover more width than a plow for the same amount of drawbar HP. They also work well for breaking up turned sod.

The discs were usually larger than those of a regular disc. In some places they were preferable to the disc till tractors with lots of HP arrived.:D
 
   / Disc plow? #4  
There's a great deal of confusion between offset disc's, disc tillers, and disc plows.

Offset disc's are a Vee-shaped disc, and not the double chevron shape of a standard disc harrow. Generally, they're very heavy, with wider spacing between blades, and made for primary tillage, generally around stumps, roots' rocks, or rough ground where a conventional plow would struggle. Sometimes an offset disc is referred to as a bog disc or a bush & bog disc. They were intended for clearing ground where heavy roots existed, or to aerify muddy ground.

Disc tillers were a rarity in most areas. They were primarily used in wheat country. They had large disc blades, but were arrainged in a single row, usually angling back away from the tractor. They were used to turn under crop stubble and residue. They required less HP per foot than a moldboard plow of the same width. Sometimes they were used AFTER a moldboard plow as a first pass before finishing with a conventional disc. They were good at breaking up turned sod when used in that fashion. A disc tiller usually didn't work the soil nearly as deep as a disc plow.

A disc plow is a primary tillage tool. They took a LITTLE less hp per foot than a moldboard plow, but not significantly less. They were good at dealing with sod, heavy soils, and burying heavy crop residue. They worked better in some soils than others. The disc that did the plowing was usually quite a bit larger diameter than the blades on a disc tiller.
 
   / Disc plow? #5  
Code:
Disc tillers were a rarity in most areas.

Actually they were very common in some areas where large acreages were involved. In these areas discs were a rarity till tractors with well over 100 HP became common. They started to fall out of use in the 60's with the advent of articulated tractors.
 
   / Disc plow?
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Thanks to all for the info. It cleared up a lot of my confusion regarding varieties of disc implements.

On the same subject, I'm reading a book by Tim Egan entitled "The Worst Hard Time". It's a history of the 1930s Dust Bowl region. According to Egan the farmers in that region were able to plow under millions of acres of native grass in less than a decade because of two things: better tractors (e.g. Fordsons) and something called a "one-way disc plow".

Anyone out there have a photo of such an implement?
 
   / Disc plow? #7  
I've seen nice disc plows for an allis G or an IH cub.. both were probably bigger plows thamn either could pull had they been normal moldboard plows..e tc... were mid mount as well.

soundguy
 
   / Disc plow? #8  
Code:
http://www.krauseco.com/about.htm

Some information on the history of the disc plow. In our locality they were referred to as Tillers.

About the largest I saw would have been around 12 feet. Out International H pulled a 6 foot one as did the Allis B. We had a small farm of only 1/2 a section.
 
   / Disc plow?
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Egon said:
Code:
http://www.krauseco.com/about.htm

Some information on the history of the disc plow. In our locality they were referred to as Tillers.

About the largest I saw would have been around 12 feet. Out International H pulled a 6 foot one as did the Allis B. We had a small farm of only 1/2 a section.

Thanks for the info. At 100 acres per day per tractor I can see how millions of acres of prarie could be plowed in a few years. That gives me a lot more respect for those little (comparatively speaking) 1920s vintage tractors like the Fordson.
 
   / Disc plow? #10  
100 acres per day per tractor is a touch of overstatement for the days of the Tiller.:D :D

Fordsons were not really the tractor of choice in the area I was familiar with.:D :D
 
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

2021 Ver-Mac PCMS-3812 Solar S/A Towable Trailer Message Board (A49461)
2021 Ver-Mac...
2011 FREIGHTLINER CASCADIA (A50854)
2011 FREIGHTLINER...
2017 JOHN DEERE  30G (A50854)
2017 JOHN DEERE...
2004 Chevrolet C5500 Shuttle Bus (A50323)
2004 Chevrolet...
2012 MITSUBISHI FUSO SINGLE AXLE DUMP TRUCK (A51222)
2012 MITSUBISHI...
2003 Pierce Fire Truck (A50323)
2003 Pierce Fire...
 
Top