Pioneer Footlift Sulky Plow

I’ve had one of Pioneer’s footlift plows for several years and have found it to be of excellent quality. Mine has a 16″ Oliver bottom which is OK, but I plow mostly sod. I wish I’d spent the extra money for the KV bottom every time I look over a plowed field and see the grass that isn’t quite covered. Before I got it, I had the original Pioneer sulky plow without the footlift, or a tongue. I think having a tongue that steers the plow is more important than the method of lifting it out of the ground. Bob

The long KV moldboard will turn a nice sod furrow brown side up, but without the root structure of sod, old corn soil will crumble before it reaches the end of the moldboard and does not to a good job covering the trash. If covering the trash is your goal you may not be entirely happy with it. My experience is with a 3 bottom tractor plow, I have seen the Pioneer foot lift with KV demonstrated, it is slick. Perhaps the pioneer plow is more adjustable that the tractor and can do a better job with corn??

White horse sulkys already come with a KV bottom as I got one here, I have a 14″ KV bottom 3 wheeled sulky, I have the 3 horse evener, but when the ground is not full of roots, 2 horses can pull it pretty easily.
It also has a pole that I find gives you more control.

Tim,

I didn’t mean to imply that the power source might make a difference, rather that I am open to the idea that a single bottom horse drawn plow may have a higher level of adjustment than a multi-bottom tractor plow. The shape has everything to do with it, but with more adjustment, you may be able to tweak a KV a little more in corn ground than we were able to with a 3 bottom.

I also didn’t mean to imply that covering trash should be everybody’s goal, in the case of our 3 bottom KV with the tractor we were trying to cover trash so we were not happy with the results. We were not in a plowing contest we were simply trying to cover the corn stalks so that they were less of a problem cultivating tender crops. If it were a small grain stubble it wouldn’t be such a problem, but those corn stalks get clogged in the tines and will drag, pulling small vegetable plants out of the ground in a blink of an eye.

Sorry NB axemen – my understanding is that WH was “adding” a KV to their sulky as an option but I probably didn’t get the story right. At the time we were discussing retrofitting plows w/ KV bottoms (or that style). I do know he mentioned the bottom WH was using/going to use was quite a lot more affordable than actual KV’s.

Gordon,

Good find! From back when the USDA gave farmers information that they could use 🙂

I have no personal experience with the chain, but I have heard that it works rather well for plowing down tall crops like grass, grain or weeds. I have a suspicion that it may help some in corn ground, but that without the length of trash needed for the chain to be most effective it still may not cover the trash as well as some may like. Just a guess though, I would love to hear from someone who has tried using a chain in old corn ground.

@dominiquer60 40319 wrote:

Gordon,

Good find! From back when the USDA gave farmers information that they could use 🙂

I have no personal experience with the chain, but I have heard that it works rather well for plowing down tall crops like grass, grain or weeds. I have a suspicion that it may help some in corn ground, but that without the length of trash needed for the chain to be most effective it still may not cover the trash as well as some may like. Just a guess though, I would love to hear from someone who has tried using a chain in old corn ground.

The idea is for the chain or wire to be long enough to hook on the double tree in front and the back to be plowed under in the furrow. That way the angle works like a snow plow,forceing trash over and down. and it does not get out from under untill it is to the end, and by then it has been plowed under. I think the chain was used when the wire thing was not as common as it is now. But the chain sure would pull hard.