How deep do you guys plow??

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

I have a IH 1206D and I am in New Mexico. Upper and middle Rio Grande valley. I have a 16" 3 bottom rollover. I see this same tractor on youtube pulling 7 or 9 bottoms and going like its backside is on fire. How deep are you guys plowing back there? I am usually down around 16 to 20 inches in what we call chalice you all may call it clay, (leave out the loam) and it is working the dickens out my machine. The turbo is blowing, the rpm is up and every once in a while I have to grab the TA. I am in Low 3rd. My tires are loaded along with 600Lbs. on each wheel and 1000Lbs. of what we call satchel weights on the front. Thanks. Just curious. LarryT
1206 plowing

RedRoundhead · Oct 11, 2011

Are you teasing us?

I go for 6 - 8" deep. You are running way too deep as far as I am concerned.

But, I may be wrong. I am sure some other fellows will chime in soon.

Best of luck1

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

No not kidding. Thats the only way we can get through the clay and get tillable soil to the top. The depth that we rip is often as deep as 30 inches.

the tractor vet · Oct 11, 2011

8-10 inches in N E Ohio and your scratchen the yellow clay any deeper we would have to get a permit for strip mining coal . We do deep rip to break the hard pan or plow sole at 14-16 inches . Now east of where i am farming over on my uncles old place we would plow that at 12 inches for taters but that soil was alot more sandy .

Leroy · Oct 11, 2011

What kind of bottoms do you have on that plow? The only 16" bottoms I have ever seen 12" would be very deep for them, a 16" bottom is designed for use at 8" deep but will work at up to 10", if you have a deep tillage bottom ad about 2" to those depths, 10" normal but could get by at 12" with max at 14". The only deep tillage bottoms I ever seen were on a MF 14" plow that I had and we had to go deeper with that plow than we liked or it would not work.

DeltaRed · Oct 11, 2011

No,Larry is not kidding.here in the irrigated Uncompaghre Valley,I plow 10-12"deep in our"'dobe" soil.Some guys plow deeper than that.I pull 4x16(Ford #145 2way/onland hitch) in 3rd gear with a 1256.

sflem849 · Oct 11, 2011

WOW! How can you even get a plow that deep!?!

I have heard from the old timers that your max depth if half the plow width. ie 16" plow is 8" max depth, 14" plow is 7" max depth

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

They call them deep till, but they are a full 16" This is a MF 55 plow. Mater of fact I just changed the points on it. I just bought it and the sheers were worn clear into the supports.

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

No pictures but it looks like me. If the mold board is above the landside level, your too damn shallow. lol.

RedRoundhead · Oct 11, 2011

Holy mackerel, THAT is deep! I only rip/sub once every couple years, and the neighbor gets hired for that. He has the big stuff to do it with. I only plow hay under. Everything else gets either the chisel or one pass tool.

DeltaRed · Oct 11, 2011

Larry,is the 55 plow the one that rolls when you lift it?Isn't it kinda light for a 1206?I would think a #57 would more in line for a 1206.I started farming in'78 with a JD 730Diesel and a MF #55(3x14)plow.

Absent Minded Farmer · Oct 11, 2011

6" - 8" Any deeper & I'll start sucking up the best sandbox sand you ever did see.

Mike

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

It is but I discovered that it is rated for up to 125hp and even came originally with 2 sets of pins. one class II and another set of class III. The top link is actually machined for a cat III link. When they sold the original plow they provided a cat III to cat II bushing for the top link bores.

KIP in MX · Oct 11, 2011

Don't feel bad, we pulled a 3-16 JD825 roll over with a 4010 in 2nd gear in the Pecos valley and it was all it wanted in our caliche. Neighbor put an M&W turbo on his 4020 and tried a 4 bottom, but went back to three. The first 4 bottom plows I saw was being pulled with success was by a new 1206, then a JD demo 4520. We plowed as deep as you (cotton, alfalfa mostly).

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

Matter of fact I picked this plow up in your country. I got it from Varner up in Delta. Drove right through Montrose and had lunch at a little cafe on the west side of the road. Good grub, cheep price, good conversation and company.

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

Alfalfa for the most part here. Some permanent pasture and grass. Hows your water situation over there?

Anonymous-0 · Oct 11, 2011

Learn something new everyday. I thought everyone plowed about 8" deep. I didn't know they made plows that could go 18" to 25" deep. The last 15 years we farmed was no-till in Indiana.

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

I wish we had that luxury here. A fellow down the road bought one of those no till planters and broke the hell out of it in the first field he dropped into.

DeltaRed · Oct 11, 2011

Hey Kip,where is the Pecos Valley?Texas?

DeltaRed · Oct 11, 2011

I would like to go to notill.but we have to bury the trash in order for the water to run-that means plow,work ground(several times),land plane,make 'water marks',plant crop,irrigate...

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

I have one field up on the west side that is a sandbox. No hummus at all. Have to irrigate weekly just to keep a little moisture in it.

LarryT · Oct 11, 2011

Hummmmm. What does strip mining worth? Present price per ton on coal??? Is it harder than farming?

KIP in MX · Oct 11, 2011

Pecos valley runs along the river from eastern NM down into west TX. I am from just a few miles southeast of Roswell, NM. Alot of big dairies and pecan orchards there now.

BillyinStoughton · Oct 12, 2011

The old farmer's saying and from the an old IH #8 operators manual I have...they suggest and estimated depth of half the width of the bottom. 16" bottom in your case makes for an estimated plowing depth of 8" give or take.

Plowing as deep as you are not only would you wear the landslide and share...but also the moldboard. I've never heard of anyone plowing so deep without a chisel plow. These things can be pretty regional though.

Billy

chevytaHOE5674 · Oct 12, 2011

Plow about 7-9" deep. Any deeper and you would just flip up the heavy red clay that is only good for making pottery haha.

Don656 · Oct 12, 2011

I just finished plowing 17 acres in south central ohio. I plowed 8 to 10 inches deep, using a john deere 555H trailer plow hooked to a 656 Gas Farmall. I have liquid ballast in the tires, plus two sets of wheel weights on each rear wheel and dual wheels on the land side of the tractor. I figure the tractor weighs approx. 8,500 lbs. the way I have it set up. I plowed in 2nd gear and had to pull the TA in a lot of spots. Have a lot of clay ground. One spot pulls so hard that the landsides can't hold the plow from moving sideways.

dhermesc · Oct 12, 2011

I love to see a picture of the plow that is going 20" deep.

JRSutton · Oct 12, 2011

20 inches!? 30 inches???!!!

Man, it must be nice not to have rocks.

You couldn't get more than 2 feet at 30 inches around here. (MA) Can't even imagine what it must be like being able to do a whole field like that.

Even when you remove the rocks, more just keep bubbling up every time the ground freezes.

IH fan · Oct 12, 2011

I got in a big argument on here one time as I said it depended on the soil, part of the country and the crop as to how deep you needed to plow. The "now deceased and well respected old fellow" I was arguing with said you needed to plow (I think) a foot deep, and that was it!! I still think I was right, and you can see from the various answers here that is exactly what is happening in different places. I was raised in NE Iowa, and we plowed about 8" deep most of the time. I have worked for farmers/ranchers in SD and Kansas and it even depended on the crop... wheat stubble was about 7-8" deep and irrigated corn ground was about 10". I never heard of 18-20", but for some locations it doesn't surprise me, other than I didn't know they made multi-bottom plows that would plow that deep. I have seen single bottom plows that construction companies used, but not farm plows.

Dean Olson · Oct 12, 2011

My Super C with C-20 2-14"plow will only go about 6" deep before I run out of traction. My 300 with a 211 2-14" will go about 10".

I plow about 1/2 acre of garden and 6" plowing depth has been fine for several years. I just got the 300 so will see how things grow with 10" turned over. I suspect that it will make no difference.

IHCPloughman · Oct 13, 2011

(quoted from post at 21:52:53 10/12/11) I got in a big argument on here one time as I said it depended on the soil, part of the country and the crop as to how deep you needed to plow.

That's a good point. The old guys here really get their shorts in a bunch over some things.

I found an old South Dakota Extension Service publication that collected data over 30 years and simply correlated plowing depth to crop yield. Across all crops, 6"-8" produced the best yield. So, in my book, plowing deeper than 8" is a waste of money: gas and lost yield....in eastern South Dakota anyway.

Click to expand...

millman52 · Oct 13, 2011

It's been many years since I worked on a dairy operation in southwestern VA. I pulled a 7 bottom 16" trailer with a IH 1086 turbo, dual wheel & a full rack of weight on the front 8-10" deep, 3rd hi on TA. have to jerk the TA to low side once in a while as there were a few bands of clay in some of the fields.

John_PA · Oct 14, 2011

Every time I plow that deep, she...

nevermind...

joking...

That is insanely deep, I would be ripping out telephone lines and gas lines going that deep.

IH fan · Oct 14, 2011

(quoted from post at 08:51:19 10/13/11)

(quoted from post at 21:52:53 10/12/11) I got in a big argument on here one time as I said it depended on the soil, part of the country and the crop as to how deep you needed to plow.

That's a good point. The old guys here really get their shorts in a bunch over some things.

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm getting to be an "old guy" myself . As it turned out, the guy had (I think) cancer and was close to death at the time and understandably a little more testy. Made me feel kind of bad about the arguement, but maybe he had always been near the same location all his life and maybe that's what was required there and he must have thought that was the only way to do it.

Click to expand...

How deep do you guys plow??

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Similar threads