Tilling rates per hour

bdog · Mar 25, 2005

I have never used a 3pt tiller before but am picking up a 72" tiller on monday. I have a field that has been disced every year and needs to be worked up again. I do not own a disc anymore as I sold it with old tractor(it was too big) and am thinking of using the tiller. The field is 10 acres and we have no rocks. Heck you can dig 20 feet here and not hit a rock. I know there are a lot of variables but how fast can I expect to till assuming I don't need perfect results just those similar to running a disc over it. 1 acre an hour? 2 acres an hour? 2 hours an acre? I have no idea and am just trying to decide if I should tackle it as my first tilling job or if I should buy a small disc.

DUMBDOG · Mar 25, 2005

To do a decent job of tilling, the ground speed would be two mph. At two miles per hour, six foot tiller, this would work out to be 1.45 acres per hour. This does not take into account turning around at the ends.

Last year I tilled a 40 acre field at less than speed and with a sixty inch tiller, took about sixty hours.

DaMadman · Mar 25, 2005

Just throwing out a wild guess judging on experience with OTHER implements but I would bet you could till and acre in an hour with a 72 inch tiller as long as you weren't trying to (as you said) get perfect result or go full depth. Now I could be wrong but I am sure that someone with more experience will confirm or deny, but that would be my guess

Indydirtfarmer · Mar 26, 2005

We grow several acres of sweetcorn, a few acres of greenbeans, and a BIG family garden every year. (corn and beans are sold) For the last 20 years, it gets worked up with a tiller. For a long time, we did it with an 80" Howard Rotovator on the rear of a 130 HP Deere 4440. 2-1/2 acres an hour wasn't impossible. (And that was tilling DEEP)

For the last 2 years, I've used a 72" King Kutter tiller I bought at auction. I use it on the rear of a 60 HP Deere 2440. (It's a TON easier to haul around from the farm to the house) I average about an acres and a quarter an hour, without pushing things.

Just a guess, but with your conditions, your intended "end results", and all other factors, I'd figure on 1 to 1-1/4 acres per hour.

Theowegian · Mar 26, 2005

So, how does tilling compare to discing, using the same width?

I would think that the disc would be twice as fast?
dwight

DUMBDOG · Mar 26, 2005

Using a disc would be faster, however the final results would not be as good. To do the job right with a disc, you would first plow, then disc. The total time would be the same, but you would have to go over the ground twice and you still would not have the nice finished look of a good tilling.