Yesterday in the field...Pics

I don't want to hear any smart remarks about my plowin', but I got to spend a little time yesterday playing in the dirt. I plow very little and am self taught. My son couldn't wait to come help...

Pics aren't the best, it was strating to get dark and my phone doesn't take the best pics in the world.









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don't look too bad for sod. If you can see every 3rd
furrow something is not adjusted quite right. But it
must be pretty close. I don't see much grass
showing.

Plowing looks good to me. The plow might not be level side to side. but not bad.

Hard to do much better than that, in sod. Sure beats my early attempts (and probably even some of my more recent ones). Nice job.

And nice to see the enthusiastic helper!

looking pretty good
think that you might need to move the right tires out another 2" or so
however maybe just need to run the rightside a little deeper
good luck
Ron

Pretty good for beginner.
Look at where the first board is throwing the soil. On top of the last pass third board. Your plow is too far to the right. Which means you have to move the tractor left. As others said move right side wheels 3 inches right.

Looks good to me, agree with the others on the 3rd furrow.

In the first 2 pix are you dragging twine in the furrow or is it an optional illusion?

Rick

You might be able to just slide the rockshaft on the plow instead of moving the tire.

Looks like a good time to me, wish I was there. Love to turn over that sod and make her talk.

I think it looks good. Good looking youngster there too. Gerard

Every time I see a plowed field, I think of this.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUM8mXJre1c

That's one of my favorites. Have heard that done a couple times, done by a Michigan performer - Dave MacIntire. Sounds even better when he did it. He said it was written by a Canadian farmer. Sure captures the spirit of farming.

I consider myself the worse plower in the world, but I am trying to learn. Those rears look like 13? 14 x 24's? The furrow is less than a foot wide, 10 or 12" bottoms? So by its nature the tire is going to ride up on the turn, and cause of the wide rim on sorta industrial centers, it won't be inboard or outbord to the hitch the way a ...12 x 28 with old fashioned dish centers would work just like factory. The tires deep in the furrow, the right point exactly 12inches in.... just like the ol' days. Like the guys said, adjust the right linkage, and you have a crank on the plow? Does that change the angle? My AC snap hitch plow does that too, make some adjustments, plow a few yards, crank one or the other a couple turns, by the time the field is done, you will have it perfect! Here's a nerd trick. If you are trying for 8" deep, drive the left rear on an 8x12 block or two -my car ramps are 8"- on a driveway or clear flat spot, lower the plow and see if it is at an angle, it should sit flat on the driveway the way you want it flat in the furrows. You can adjust that crank and top link to not be pitched either. You do know one bottom plows make the job last 3 times longer? 3 times the fun....

I don't know why people are obsessed with straight plowing unless in the competition, once the harrows go over them and possibly a roller ,its just a field with turned earth,.

You guys are sure makin me jealous with these early plowing
pictures

Sure turned nice...

Going to work easy too...

This year's garden..??

Ron..

My little boy Toby was occuppying just about the same spot yesterday!

Doesn't look too bad to me. One needs to remember that those short board plows will only do so much in sod...
It does look like the front furrow is a bit light relative to the others. Might try shortening the top link a couple turns and see if it tweaks it a bit. It looks pretty close so small adjustments can make a big difference and huge adjustments will throw it out of whack entirely...

Rod

Looks good to me. Wish my field was a nice big square like that, dosent look like many, or any, rocks either..?

I almost got finished the other night but not quite. Rained me out yesterday but I did make a couple of small adjustments per your guys inputs, but I didn't change wheel position. For the little amount plowing I do I didn't figure it was worth the trouble.

To answer some of the questions, it's actually 3x16 MF 43 plow that I bought dirt cheap, scrap price pretty much. It's been welded on in a place or two and the adjusting lever that the crank attaches to is the wrong size so it'll only let you adjust it so much with the crank, but I figure if it always plows as good as this, whats the worry. Rear tires are probably just a bit over sized for the tractor, they're actually 16.9x30's, tractor is a Ford 4830, and as you can plainly see, its very much in its work clothes.

The field is actually a creek bottom, very few rocks if any. Soil might be tad sandy, but really not to bad considering. It's about 5 acres total, maybe 6 if I really cut some trees and cleaned up around the outer edge some more. I hope to have it limed, fertilized, and sowed in Orchard Grass/Timothy by this weekend, but it'll kinda depend on the weekend. When I first started in hay a little better than 10 years ago, it was mostly fescue and weeds and I got around 450 bales first cutting and between 300 and 350 second. But it really hadn't been fertilized or limed at that point and was pretty much crap hay, decent enough for some cows.

Something that kinda links me to the field, while I don't own the property, dad's family did years ago. Dad is 83 and he spent his youth plowing the very same ground with a mule. My goal is to buy all of the old farm, the plowed ground, the field above the road(about 4 acres when all cleaned up), and probably about 20 or 30 acres of the hills in the background, but the current owner is trying to sell lots off of it. Thankfully no luck yet, but at $20K for a 1/3 acre lot, I'm not surprised. I'm hoping he realizes what it would mean to me and lets me have it for a fair price, but I'm not holding my breath. Appreciate all the input and hope you guys enjoyed the pics.

Looks good to me.Glad to see the little guy out on the tractor.Thanks for sharing your pictures.BlaineF(WA)

Any time on your tractor enjoying the work and involving your son is well spent.

Thanks for sharing your photos with us.