Something I don't understand about applications of below 40hp tractors

[ptsg]

The guy on that B7000 machine doubles the weight. It bottoms out in the rut because it doesn't have the ground clearance. It is also 4WD which makes big difference. Not only that, but that's not a field he is plowing...its a garden.

The B6000 is a field, but he is only plowing 1 row at maybe 12 inch depth. If you have an acre or 2 its fine. If you have 20...the planting season will be over before you finish.

I can use a shovel to dig a lake....it just takes alot longer.

Point is: It can and will do it. Obviously you won't work an huge field with a 12 or 14 HP tractor.

Lots of vegetable farmers use these smaller tractors on their farms, specially on their greenhouses due to the small size.

 

[Learning2Tractor]

The guy on that B7000 machine doubles the weight. It bottoms out in the rut because it doesn't have the ground clearance. It is also 4WD which makes big difference. Not only that, but that's not a field he is plowing...its a garden.

The B6000 is a field, but he is only plowing 1 row at maybe 12 inch depth. If you have an acre or 2 its fine. If you have 20...the planting season will be over before you finish.

I can use a shovel to dig a lake....it just takes alot longer.

Mine is 1 acre but raw.

 

[Jchonline]

Mine is 1 acre but raw.

Well maybe it will work then!

 

[jeff9366]

Well maybe it will work then!

You will never be wrong with that wording.

 

[jeff9366]

I know you told me most of this in my other thread, but I'm unsure what kind of tractor you're telling me would be appropriate other than the walk behind.

Perhaps that is because:

Your location, therefore your conditions in a broad stroke, are unknown.

Near me in central Florida, for instance, it would be easy to have your one acre contract plowed for roots, 7" deep, with a 4,000 to 5,000 pound bare weight tractor for $400.00. (($200 transportation and set up, $200 for plowing.))

If you add your LOCATION to your T-B-N PROFILE, so your location shows with every post your author, you will receive responses germane to your operating conditions.

1. Click on your "illuminated" screen name in upper right corner.

2. Click on SETTINGS in drop down box.

3. On left side of screen, click on ACCOUNT DETAILS.

4. Scroll down to LOCATION.


A 4-WD compact tractor with a bare tractor weight of at least 2,700 pounds will pull a single bottom turning plow through almost any moist soil, including sod, which has been first mowed VERY SHORT or previously killed with Roundup/Glycophosphate. Plow will sever tree roots up to 1" if roots are not too concentrated.

Bare tractor weight is a tractor specification easily found in sales brochures and web sites, readily comparable across tractor brands and tractor models, new and used.

BUY ENOUGH TRACTOR​

 

[MossRoad]

Perhaps that is because:

1) Your location, therefore your conditions in a broad stroke, are unknown.

…

This is silly. In my county alone, there are over 55 different soil types. Those soil types have sub-types, that end up being over 165 different soil types.

On my own property of just 20 acres, there are about a dozen, with up to 4 variations in slope on a few of them, making close to 20 different soil types.

Please stop harping on people to share their location if they don’t want to. It’s only use is tell what football team they might be close to.

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_MANUSCRIPTS/indiana/IN141/0/St_Joseph_IN.pdf

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

The fundamental importance of TRACTOR WEIGHT eludes many tractor shoppers. Tractor capability is more closely correlated to tractor weight than any other single (1) specification.

The compact tractor era functionally began when Henry Ford licensed Harry Ferguson's tractor and Three Point Hitch design in 1939. The tractor industry uniformly adopted the Three Point Hitch after 1955, when Ferguson's patents began to expire and his tractor and Three Point Hitch design were available to industry participants besides Ford open source.

Ford's first Ferguson TPH tractor:

Ford 9N​

1939 - 1942

N Series

Utility tractor

Ford 9N Power
Drawbar (claimed):	12.68 hp 9.5 kW
Belt (claimed):	20.29 hp 15.1 kW
Plows:	2 (14-inch)
Drawbar (tested):	16.31 hp 12.2 kW
Engine (net):	23.56 hp 17.6 kW

Ford 9N Weight
Shipping:	2140 lbs 970 kg
Operating:	2900 lbs 1315 kg
Ballasted:	3375 lbs 1530 kg

Mechanical
Chassis:	2WD
Steering:	manual
Cab:	Open operator station
Transmission:	3-speed

Lots of grain threshers and (laundry) washing machines were run off the Ford 9N PTOs. Ford tractors often preceded grid electrical power on the farm by years.

Horses and mules continued to be used regularly on USA farms right through the 1950s.

I was born in 69 and remember my papaw making a garden with a horse. He had an old Allis Chalmers hand crank drag type tractor later, but still used the horse until it died of old age. Tough life back in them days, 20 miles from town in Louisiana. Had an old 53 ford 250 flatbed with a flat head. 62 Fairlane to church on Sunday. It'd be parked all week covered in old blankets so the sun wouldn't fade the paint.

 

[BnRidge]

I read you don't plough with any tractor under 40hp. At least maybe not on a new unworked field. Don't know if that's right, but it is what I have been reading on more than one site.

I would say they are wrong. Who would say something like that. On this place, there are several plowshares from an 1880s Oliver walking plow, and they all look pretty worn to me. And if the land was virgin prairie, back in the day there were only a few around here who had breaking plows to get land opened up. If the unworked field is that rough, or bound with sod, get someone in to work it first.

 

[milkman636]

I briefly had a 1971 vintage 12 hp sears air-cooled, gasoline-powered garden tractor that would pull a single bottom plow. The matching sears plow was equipped with a coulter to cut the sod and a wheel to control depth. That setup probably didn’t weigh over 900 lbs.

Its important in plowing to get an implement sized to match the tractor, and having it setup and adjusted so that it will pull straight and level in the furrow. When it’s right the point will plunge into the ground and sod will start rolling off at 4-5 mph. Big roots or rocks can stop a small tractor in a hurry though, so knowing the shear bolts or trip mechanism on the plow are correct become important too.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I briefly had a 1971 vintage 12 hp sears air-cooled, gasoline-powered garden tractor that would pull a single bottom plow. The matching sears plow was equipped with a coulter to cut the sod and a wheel to control depth. That setup probably didn’t weigh over 900 lbs.

Its important in plowing to get an implement sized to match the tractor, and having it setup and adjusted so that it will pull straight and level in the furrow. When it’s right the point will plunge into the ground and sod will start rolling off at 4-5 mph. Big roots or rocks can stop a small tractor in a hurry though, so knowing the shear bolts or trip mechanism on the plow are correct become important too.

I think mine was 10 HP. Had a starter generator on it. Manual lift for the break plow. It was a sears suburban tractor.