Moldboard plowing

Hi all, have a tactical question about moldboard plowing, usually we just disk the corn fields but this year we have a compaction issue so we have to break out the plow. Now i"ve plowed with it but in the ended up with 4 or 5 dead furrows but it wasn"t a big deal because it was a small plot. now that we need to do a larger section i am looking for some insight on how to do this job better. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Pat

I know this isn't the answer you were looking for, but if you're having compaction problems, a moldboard plow is the LAST thing you want. You'll move the compaction layer down a few inches, but make it WORSE in the process.

I'd be thinking more along the lines of a chisel plow.

yea i had some doubts about it but thats what the boss wants to do and he makes out the paycheck so thats what we are going to do

Most of Dad's place got carved up into 150' wide strips by the conservation department over the years. Depending on which way the field needs to be plowed, you'll either end up with one dead furrow in the middle, or one dead furrow down each side.

One dead furrow every 150' to 200' feet seems like a good rule of thumb to me. Others might have better wisdom for you.

MF Poor said it all!!! No deadfurrows with the chisel either. If you use the moldboard plow, Find and mark the center of the field at one end. Then go to the other end and pace off from one side the same distance and place a visible stake. If you can't see it from the starting end you will have to do the same in the middle. Then get on your tractor and plow down to the other end on the LH of the markers, then turn around and plow back to the other end, throwing the furrows together. Depending on how wide the field is you can continue making rounds in this maner, or if the field is wide you can strike a new land on both outside edges casting the soil outward and then work each of the two lands back towards the center land you plowed. If it's a odd shaped field I have seen people start at the perimiter of the field and cast every thing out, and ending up in the center of the field.

Depends on how much time you want to spend deadheading on the headlands. If it's one chunk, rectangular or square, put your strike in the middle and then gather to the center using a uniform border around the outside. Then throw all that to the inside and no dead furrows at all.
But if it's too much time on the headlands....or,or,or.
Everybody's got a system, but wait for it to be fairly dry or like was said below, the compaction will be real trouble.

With experiance you can plow your dead furrows shut in one round and hardly notice them. Trick is to now how to set plow on the closing round. Since I got a vari-width plow I can widen it out to the max and bring dirt in from way out. Can really do a nice job of closing the dead furrow with that plow. Also it is always better to take the time and make an extra round to close dead furrow better because if you don't get it good with the plow, you will never get it any better with any other implement.

I get a kick out of these guys that really think their DOIN IT just because they can hook a plow to a tractor. Most of the pictures they post are of some area they are plowing that has way too much slope-hence-erosion. Moldboard Plowing is an obsolete Soil damaging practice of the past. It puts soil down the river. I know it was neat and I used to like a good plowin match back in the day-but that is where alot of it should be -- BACK in HISTORY.

A plow isn't going to help compaction any,in fact it will make it worse.

I use 200 foot headlands. I take a few steel fence posts and paint one end florescent orange. Starting at one end of the field measure in 100' from a straight side fence then push in a painted post. drive up the field about 200' then measure a second post over the same 100' from the side fence and push it in. If you can see the opposite end of the field drive there, line up the two posts, lower the plow and drive to the first post. Measure over 200' from the tractor and push in the post, then continue on with the tractor and plow to the second post and measure it over the 200' and push it in. Take the tractor and plow, do a u turn and plow back right beside the first pass so the two dead furrows are on the outside.
When you get to the other end of the field move over and line up the two new posts and do the second headland, same as the first and again moving the posts over 200'. Continue until you get to the other side of the field.

If the last headland is less than 125' from the other side of the field you're done. If it is between 125 and 200 make a last headland at about 150'

Sometimes on a hilly field more than 2 posts are required. Measure over the first two, then to place the third, fourth or fifth just line it up with the previous two.

I use 200' because that is how long my tape measure is.For smaller fields and equipment you could use 50' on the first and 100' thereafter. I sometimes use 75' for my first just to prevent my headlands and dead furrows from adding up year after year.

This tecnique is more hassle than it has to be, you could free hand them or find old dead furrows but I really don't like plowing in wedges and don't have the money for a GPS unit.

I just plowed a larger field a week ago. I split the feild into several sections. I was between a feild that was plowed last fall toward the inside, and on the other side a feild that was sub soiled last fall. I started on the side that was plowed, threw into the furrow from last fall and made a split up the feild, plowed that all out. (ccw)

I didn't like where the dead furrow was gonna come out so I started on the other side in the middle of the field going around it CW. Once that side was done, I went to the otherside and went back to going CCW. In that 10 acre feild there are only 2 dead furrows, and there wasn't too much time on the headlands.

I have also split feilds into 3, did the 2 outside peices CW until I was at the edge of the feild and then in the middle went CCW. If I figure it right, that only leaves 1 dead furrow in the middle of a large feild, and 2 furrows on either outside edge of the feild that keeps the residential neighbors in check.

Maybe someday I'll find a 2 way plow and be able to flip it at the end of the feild and go back in the same furrow I came from, and have no dead furrows.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Here in North east Iowa,Last year, I plowed a strip, chiseled a strip, and no tilled a strip. I did this across the whole field with my GPS setting the spacing. Yield results only, showed that the plowed ground yielded the highest. Profit wise the chiseled ground was the most profitable. No-tilled was second highest in yield but had a higher chemical cost.
This field is flat enough that erosion is not an issue. water ways and ends are hay ground.
We no till some and chisel plow most of the corn stalks. Two hundred bushel plus trash needs to be incorporated.

we use 2 way plows(we irrigate)no dead furrows,no ridges,no deadheading across the ends.just lift,spin,turnaround,drop it,go back to the other end.seems like one way plowing would take more time

Hay PACO Tillage practices vary widely across this country. Hope you read JD Seller's post.Vary straight forward and practical. I presume you were making some refrance to some of my pic. posts. I would like you to know that we do not plow our steeply sloped land until spring,to minimize erosion. We also contour plow, and strip crop these fields. I am a proponent of shank tillage how ever they are not practical on lands close to limestone and shale stone, Apparantly where you farm you are blessed with rich deep top soil. On the high ground around here a chisel plow gives a whole new meaning to rock picking. I've been in a CASE 2470 that was stopped dead in it's tracks when 5 out of 9 shanks on a Landoll soil controller hooked a ledge, and when only one shank gets a good hook on one you are going to head for the shop. Our river flats are a differant story. Most all farmers with this land do use shank tillage equipment.In closing all I'm saying to you is that most all farmers know that they are the stewards of the land and none of them want to see their valuable land washed down the river.