[AT] Plowing in Ohio/Long

[Gene Dotson]

    Been working the last few days plowing my 20 acres of wheat stubble. I 
used 3 different plows on the same Case 700 diesel tractor. Ground was very 
dry and hard when I started last Friday. I started with my old Case 
mechanical trip plow. 2-16 bottom with the old style resharpenable shares. 
This plow does a great job of penetrating hard ground. Just thought I would 
plow a couple rounds to scour it up good. Took 7 rounds in the long 10 acre 
field to scour it. Did such a good job that I plowed most of the field with 
it.

    Got rained out Saturday evening and got 1 3/4 inches of rain. Monday 
morning I hooked onto the Oliver 3-16 pull type plow I bought last spring. I 
was amazed at how poorly this plow was set up and probably plowed over 40 
years that way. The plow pulled sideways so hard that the rear of the 
landsides were completely worn away. I welded an old set of shares on for 
landsides. Moved the hitch to the right 5 inches, reversed the furrow wheel 
to get a full cut on the first bottom and adjusted the coulters. What a 
difference in performance. The plow does a beautiful job plowing and I have 
the straightest furrows I have ever plowed, not a weave, even in the 
toughest spots, and I plowed the entire field in 1 land about 350 feet 
across.

    I plowed 1 round with my Case mounted plow, just to scour it up. Besides 
I had to hook onto it to move it out of the field. Broke a coulter stem when 
I lifted the plow. It does a decent job plowing, but doesn't have the depth 
control of the pull type plow.

    The fields were getting overgrown with ragweed and foxtail, so wanted to 
get them turned under to rot before planting soybeans next spring. The 
ground here works much better if fall plowed.

    I wonder how many plows are still being used without proper setup and 
how many were abandoned or cussed for doing a poor quality job of plowing.

                        Gene