Govt Stimulation burning a hole in my pocket.

[CrealCritter]

I took the old girl out for my first pass around the property. It's kind of nastalgic, sitting up high above the grass, in the open air, with nothing but the sound of the motor humming along.

 

[farmerjan]

Moldboard plows are good to turn over grass.... but it buries the grass so that it doesn't "rot" near as fast as it seems too.. it is more of anaerobic and takes longer to break down that aerobic.... but if the sod is thick it is pretty good. Makes a "pretty row". Mostly you won't want to bury the top 6-8 inches of topsoil down that far for most plantings.... We don't have one, and do all our ground working with discs.... and clean up the grass with a spring tooth harrow...(and a finish type disc harrow) gets the root exposed and the tufts of grass die. But then it also depends on the type of soil.... and we have A LOT of rock and ledge here, so they just don't work except for bottom land.

 

[farmerjan]

I took the old girl out for my first pass around the property. It's kind of nastalgic, sitting up high above the grass, in the open air, with nothing but the sound of the motor humming along.

That is why I prefer the open tractors over the cab ones 99% of the time. Cab tractors are essential for running the discbine for protection from the possibility of one of the knives getting "thrown" off at the speeds that they turn... they have been thrown through the back windows of tractors before.... something that doesn't happen with a haybine with knives on a cutter bar....I like to listen to the equipment... you get to know what sounds right and when there is a problem. You gotta have a cab tractor with ac in the hot sun when round baling, or the dust and dirt will choke you.... and they are nice in the winter when feeding to protect you from the elements and keep you from freezing. But for tedding, and hay raking, I will take an open tractor every time. Sometimes in real hot sun, a canopy is nice... have an umbrella to go on the H for the real hot sunny days.

 

[CrealCritter]

That is why I prefer the open tractors over the cab ones 99% of the time. Cab tractors are essential for running the discbine for protection from the possibility of one of the knives getting "thrown" off at the speeds that they turn... they have been thrown through the back windows of tractors before.... something that doesn't happen with a haybine with knives on a cutter bar....I like to listen to the equipment... you get to know what sounds right and when there is a problem. You gotta have a cab tractor with ac in the hot sun when round baling, or the dust and dirt will choke you.... and they are nice in the winter when feeding to protect you from the elements and keep you from freezing. But for tedding, and hay raking, I will take an open tractor every time. Sometimes in real hot sun, a canopy is nice... have an umbrella to go on the H for the real hot sunny days.

I'll be the first to admit I had to Google "discbine". That's one wicked implement no doubt about that!

The old girl had been sitting a while, I had corrosion on the top of the plugs and inside the plug wire boots, which made for a hard start. But after cleaning that up it helped a lot with starting.

I ordered the manuals on-line and I kind of felt like an idiot after reading through the operators manual. Apparently the tractor was ordered with a deluxe seat option. With the deluxe seat option you can stand up or sit down. When I first got on the old girl I couldn't even reach the clutch or the brakes. I looked and yep the seat was all the way up. But no it really wasn't... it was flipped back so you have room to stand up while riding. After understanding how the deluxe seat works by reading the manual. With the deluxe seat you flip it up for an extra 6" closer to the console. Now everything is in reach. At 6' tall maybe the seat is a little to close now. I may have to unbolt it and move it back one to the center position. And here I thought the guy who owned before me was a giant.

The deluxe seat has 6 positions, 7 of you count tilting it forward to cover the steering wheel and console. The manual says to do that if it starts to rain and you can't get the tractor under a roof. With the seat resting on the steering wheel rain hits the back of the seat and runs off. That way when you get back on the tractor your sitting in a dry seat and won't get swamp ass. They really thought about things back then.

My wife came out to look at the old girl. She said how am I supposed to get on this tractor? So I climbed up to show her. She said yeah right... I need a ladder. I said I'll fix you up. 15 minutes later we had a stirrup made out of some old rusty chain, pipe and some bolts. With a little encouragement by saying "you can do this farm girl", she mounted the old girl using the stirrup we made. But I had to help her off because it's quite a jump, even for me. What you think of the Redneck stirrup?

Anyways if anyone needs the manuals for a AC D19 hit me up. I have the operators, parts and repair manuals on Google Drive all I need to do is shoot you the links.

 

[CrealCritter]

Moldboard plows are good to turn over grass.... but it buries the grass so that it doesn't "rot" near as fast as it seems too.. it is more of anaerobic and takes longer to break down that aerobic.... but if the sod is thick it is pretty good. Makes a "pretty row". Mostly you won't want to bury the top 6-8 inches of topsoil down that far for most plantings.... We don't have one, and do all our ground working with discs.... and clean up the grass with a spring tooth harrow...(and a finish type disc harrow) gets the root exposed and the tufts of grass die. But then it also depends on the type of soil.... and we have A LOT of rock and ledge here, so they just don't work except for bottom land.

So is the one I'm looking at a moldboard? It says 14" which to me that's pretty flipping deep to plow for a garden plot. Where the garden will be is currently pasture. I know you all think garden but mine are a little bit bigger than most. It will be 200' x 100' (20,000 sqft) or a little less than1/2 acre next year. I've always wanted 100' rows of plantable space in the garden. Next year I'm going to ensure I get them.

 

[CrealCritter]

@farmerjan can you please explain to me the purpose of liming pastures? I guess I understand very little but that it's applied to adjust the soil PH. It takes acidic soil and makes it more nuteral. Apparently around here it's needed every 5 to 7 years. I do plan on sending in soil to be tested. All I'm after at this stage of the game is a good pasture for animals to graze.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Proper pH also helps with nutrient uptake.

 

[Mini Horses]

We've all been telling you --- TRACTOR THERAPY !! That's the calm & satisfaction I get when just mowing. Heck, I'd go mow for free just to get the feeling. 😁 THEN -- the breakdowns get ya! Mine has been very reliable...starts right up, no backtalk, go to work.

I don't plow here, either. I disc it. You can get a pretty deep cut with them, all I need. But am looking for a spike harrow or a fine tooth rake. Probably will buy a "pine straw rake" because I don't need much heavier. It's for my clean up of tall cut grass, or the roots when I've disced up in the garden, etc. If I had to do "acres" I'd go with heavier but, for light use, a spring loaded rake will be fine. Also less expensive. Was hoping the one I'm looking at would go on sale. Not happening. But the landscape ones are on sale....just too rigid for what I want and need.

 

[wyoDreamer]

You probably will need a moldboard plow to break up that mass of grass roots to start a garden. It will leave the ground very uneven though.

We can't really use a moldboard plow at our place either. The topsoil layer is too shallow and if you plow too deep, you bury the topsoil and cover it with sand. We have a spot in the pasture where they plowed too deep and left a sand hole. So we decided to use that as our big compost pile in an attempt to recreate a "topsoil" in that area that will grow grass. We have been piling our grass clippings, leaf sweepings and kitchen scraps out there for 3 years.

We did use a plow on the area we made into a garden. It was waist high grass when we moved in. DH said he believes there was a deer that had a fawn in there for the first few weeks of its life. She was there every morning when he left for work. Any-hoo, we plowed the area for the garden with a then spent 2 weeks with our tiller to break up the root clods and pull out as much grass roots as we could. After 4 years of picking out quack-grass roots every year, it is almost grass free.

 

[farmerjan]

Okay, let me see if I can answer some of your questions...

Yes, neat "stirrup". One thing to remember about steps on tractors.... they tried to keep them high enough that the step did not hang down below the level of the main frame.... can't get bent up if it doesn't hand down too low to catch on a stump, rock, or anything that you can run up on or over.....The older AC's did have very high steps.... That was an inventive way to make a "step" without any permanent hard metal.... you will figure out a way to add a step lower.... I have trouble with the Duetz tractor step right now, with the knees hurting so much.

The plow you are looking at is a moldboard..... they are one or 2 or more "bottoms".... google it, there are several places that will explain them. They have pluses and minuses.... but are not used alot unless the ground is deep enough to use it and then you have to be careful that after awhile, they will cause a "pan" of soil that will compact and then it will need to be subsoiled or chiseled to allow for roots and water and nutrients to travel down....
If you are looking at ground that has rocks, or rough ground, then the disc "harrows" are the best. The heavier ones with the serrated blades will cut the ground better. The smooth blades will do a better job on a smoother finish to a row. That is all we used. Some actually come with the serrated blades in the front and the smooth on the back... they are on an axle type bar, usually at a little bit of an angle and do a very good job of breaking up the ground. We pile weight on top to get them to bite deeper into the ground. You have to get a feel for them, but they are probably the most "universal" of the ways to open up ground.

If you have a live pto, then you ought to consider a rotary plow.... a rototiller type. They make all different widths.... they are the most useful for making a good seed bed for planting. You don't need alot of distance behind you to turn.... they are attached to the 3 pt hitch, lift and dropped right there behind the tractor...you can back them up and drop them and get tilled without having to go from one end of a section to the other end. If you watch the moldboard- 3 or 4 bottom plough... it still has some length. A disc has some real length.....but you don't have the "getting stuck" like a moldboard type that can bury you....