New to plowing.

Ghoakie · Sep 14, 2010

Hello everyone. I am starting a small farm in Pennsylvania and new to farming. We are doing organic and have a problem with ragweed so I need to plow to put down a cover crop soon. Many people have suggested that I get a moldboard plow but I'm not sure what size, type and how many bottoms would be best in my situation. I will only be plowing food plots on 6 acres at first.
I have a 60hp John Deere 5400. Any advice would be helpful.

So far I have found an old full mount JD 3 bottom trip plow at a used dealer that was repainted.

Thanks

HCJtractor · Sep 14, 2010

A three bottom should be perfect for your tractor. I pull a old Ford 101 three bottom with my 70 horse Kubota, and it has no trouble. Works absolutely great. Trip bottoms are a must. Mine has shear pins which work great. I may go thru 2 or 3 pins (I use plain 3/16 grade 8 bolts) over the course of a plowing session, but my soil is rocky. Changing a pin is a 1 minute fix. Spring type trip protection may be ok also, but more complex. But I have no experience with that. Just check out the wear parts (shares, shins, moldboards) as some old plows are shot. Replacing all three can cost about $150 per bottom. Some say the old Ford 101 is hard to beat, better than a Deere, but thats only opinion. Posting a picture of the plow and its bottoms would be helpful for us to evaluate. Expect to pay $400 up to $700 for a really nice one. Oh, make sure the trip works, and it is not locked up. This is important as a plow without a good functioning trip can easily be damaged, so I learned the hard way! Loading your rear tires also helps in pulling.

Don't forget after plowing, you still must further prepare the soil with a disc or rotary tiller, and then level with some sort of drag. Hope this helps.

sweettractors · Sep 15, 2010

Something like a 3-14 bottom Ford 101 trip beam plow would work or maybe to cover the trash better a 5 disc plow that takes 30 inches at a pass. Ken Sweet