Today's Views From The Office

I started this 37A field yesterday. Caught into a limestone ledge and broke the mounting plate off the #2 beam, so spent the afternoon welding and repairing the broken beam.
Had a pretty good day today, in spite of breaking 2 new landsides. The Weise landsides seem to be brittle and break thru one of the mounting holes every time. I finished off 2 of the 3 lands even with a broken landside and missing brace on the #1 bottom. Only had 1 bout to finish it. Tomorrow morning I am going to weld up and reinforce two broken landsides making one, and see if that works.The breakage really puzzles me because the plow pulls perfectly straight as you can see in the pics. I have the hydraulic reset system pressure set as low as possible to keep the bottoms set in working position.




This field has many slopes in several directions from one end to the other.





















The farther I get down the field towards the pond the wetter it gets. Water seeps down to the ledges and then runs out of them where they outcrop from the slope. The ruts that are in one picture were made when the field was sprayed to kill the over growth.











The rain turned to snow this afternoon.
My cousin Kevin tried combining some corn yesterday, but moisture is 26-30%. Still need some good weather to dry things out. At least this year the beans are done, before snow fall. Last year we had snow on the 9th and could not get 30 plus acres of beans that would not dry down. There are still a lot of beans and corn standing in the fields around here.









Well, that's it Folks. For today anyway.---Loren

I know we have discussed this before and you guys have reasons but I just cannot understand why you are not hard=land farming that type ground. This part of the country they would put you in jail for plowing like that .

After I changed my Case plow over to hydraulic reset I had no more breakage problems. I bought the plow new as a trip plow but stuff kept breaking. I could not get the trips set right, they were either too lose or I was breaking off bottoms and moldboards. I tried to make Case take the plow back but that fell on deaf ears. Case must have had a problem with this because they came out with a program to switch the plow to hydraulic reset for $200 per bottom with the dealer doing the changeover if my memory serves me right. This was back in the late 70 s. A few years after the changeover I foolishly traded it for a Deere plow. The Case plow ran much straighter and held it s depth better than the Deere.

Perhaps you have a way to plant thru ruts from fall harvest and spraying, and a way to keep a no-till planter from plugging up in wet spots where water drains out of the ledges. Moldboard plowed ground dries out in the spring so we can do secondary tillage and have a smooth dry surface to plant on. I can't imagine trying to pick up beans on a rutted up uneven field. Some farmers have tried disc chisels but they are a disaster when working these ledges. They hook into the ledges worse than a reset plow and pull tons of stone out of the ground, plus the shanks either break or bend.---Loren

Did you buy that tractor??

I just got to say thanks for the pictures. And you sure do a nice plowing job, the beds are so even and straight.

It makes me hurt to hear about plow breakage. That sure looks like a nice plow.

As you may recall I love to plow and plow organic ground. You always get comments on your tillage practices. One thing I have noticed around here is some farmers just till the compacted headlands, rutted areas, or troublesome areas and then no-till the rest. Just a thought.

In my mind the guys that chisel plow are pretty hypocritical, wind and water erosion seems the same as moldboard plowing to me, maybe worse. Maybe some benefit to breaking the hard pan periodically. I guess if I was farming I would try and No-till what I could and till in some form only what needed it.

Thanks again. I hope my tillage thoughts do not offend.

Paul

I do love plowing when there?s a little snow on the ground even though that usually means I?ve got 3 coats and 2 pair of pants pac boots two pair of gloves trying to keep warm

I have been around every type of farming done, I think. I truly believe that there?s less wind erosion from moldboard plowing then chisel plows.
As for no-till, if you all would have run full rates it might have worked other then this year. I am like Loren, just don?t have a clue how you are going to get the combine ruts worked out. Oh yeah, you drag the chisel or rippers back out!

I've seen the crops that grow on the land that Loren is working - some of the best around. I think they may be doing something right
Pete

Looks great! Only problem is all that white stuff. Only thing like that I want to see this time of year is cotton.

The soil looks really good, and the lay of the land is beautiful.

We were Case dealers from 1932 to 1986 and I don't recall that program being offered.-
----Loren

I opened the heater valve on the engine yesterday before I started plowing. Nice and toasty in the cab, and notice that there are no obstructions to look around. HeHe---Loren

Those new tractors do have a nice view but I sure like our old tractors better . The heat would be nice though