Plowing with a 30 Hp Compact tractor with or without FEL

[Soundguy]

Soil condition and proper adjustment of the plow seem to be the key factors for me.
My 42 Ford 2N plows very nicely with a Howse single 14".
We have Silty basalt clay loam..(RED)
Even in a given field the soil varies enough that the tractor will work very hard in one zone and purr along in another.
I don't recall my front wheels ever getting light while plowing.
I have hit hardpan spots and had the tires claw for traction a bit.
But set the plow up just the tiniest bit out of whack and you are in for a fight.
Moisture is a biggy!

A single bottom 14" probably isn't enough to ge the front end light.. even in hard soil.. that's a 2-14 tractor or a 1-16.. etc.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

Yes Farmer you are right. The four or five bottom draw bar pull did go out of fashion and rather quickly too.

It coincided with the changes in tillage practice that were enabled by the larger tractors coming on the market. Farmers quickly switched to cultivators or discs for working the land. This equipment reduced erosion and helped maintain moisture content of the soil. The attachments were much too large for three point application.

Now for the area of which I am familiar; the farmlands of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which do add up to considerable acreage for most people. When still plowing the three point hitch tractors were not large enough for the four bottom standard plough, disc plough or cultivator most were using. The winter snows also required a larger tractor. This was in days before four wheel drive/assist and it was only the larger tractors that could make their way through the snow.

Haying methods also changed switching from the tractor drawn sickle mower[very few were three point mowers] to self propelled swathers with crimpers and the large bales. All this required machinery that did not fit the three point profile. Prior to the large bales many farmers used a Farmhand to stack hay and then a stack mover to bring it to the feed lot. Again this required a large tractor. Those requiring silage also need the PTO shaft horse power of larger tractors.

Most farmers ground or chopped their own grain for cattle feed. Again lots of horse power was required for this operation.

So, in this area, there were smaller tractors but the main tillage harvesting tractor was larger than the three point ones on the market. By the time these got larger the tilling practices changed and tractors also got larger.

Perhaps the biggest boon to Farmers in this area was the advent of hydraulics!

Now; I haven't had the opportunity to see millions of tractors nor even to drive very many, but I was cognisant of what was going on in the farming community with which I was familiar.

 

[Toolguy]

Egon, Your history of farming practices in areas of large acreage is well stated.

For the smaller farms of the 30s, 40s and 50s a tractor with a 2 or 3 bottom 3pth plow was a very good option. Those guys were not hobby farmers. They had to make a living off the land so good and cheap equipment was necessary.

In the 40s and 50s my father worked on and managed a 580 acre dairy farm in southeast Michigan that was owned as an investment by an engineer at Ford Motor Company. Needless to say, most of the equipment that they used was Ford. At one time they had four 9N tractors and in the spring they would have all of them in the fields at the same time pulling 2 bottom plows. That got the job done but was very labor intensive. In the early 50s' they bought a brand new D4 Caterpillar tractor and a 5 bottom John Deere trailer plow. After that, two men working in shifts could keep that rig going 20 hours a day and do more work than those 4 smaller tractors. It was also a much better tractor to work the ground with as it had very low ground compaction and could pull 4 times the equipment of a 9N. In the mid 50s they upgraded all of the equipment to the new 600, 800 and 900 series fords. I grew up during that period and had a lot of fun doing a man's work on a tractor when I was not in school.

In the early 60s they bought a new 6000 Ford and a 5 bottom semi-mounted plow. The cat still got used for field work but did less plowing. Soon after that the owner of the farm decided to sell the farm and retire. My dad bought some of the equipment, including the Cat, and our family moved to our own farm where my dad and brother still live today.

The point of my rambling is just to say, and I agree with you, that while every type of tractor and equipment had it's place back in the day, little is relevant now. Things have changed. A man that just wants to plant a few food plots to feed the wild animals in the area does not need to do everything in accordance to standard farming practices of years ago. Who cares if he has draft control on the 3PTH or not. Nor does it matter if he wants to use a trailer plow. I am sure he is not going to spend a lot of money to get the perfect setup for the job. As I said in my previous post, a B7800 4WD Kubota will pull a 2 X 12 plow without a sweat. Others may disagree but I speak from experience. I am always amazed at how these threads get hijacked and so far off topic that they are not even relevant to the original poster's question. Good luck, Barneyhunts, I hope you get your ground planted and the deer get fat.