Anybody Else Getting The Itch…

[TBigLug]

TO START PLOWING ALREADY!!!!

I keep looking out the window thinking, “Just a few more weeks and I can smell the dirt again!”

I spent yesterday staring at my harnesses and plow tweaking like a junkie on withdrawals. 😀

[Iron Rose]

Been building a 3 wheel fore cart this winter . Looking forward to giving it a try. Temp this morning around 0 and a good covering of snow so it looks like I’ll have to wait awhile.

Dan

[grey]

Hope to be plowing next weekend!

[Duane]

Stuck a plow inth ground yesterday and it felt great, getting 3 teams ready for plowing next weekend, first competion of the year.

[CharlyBonifaz]

holy smoke, they are plowing frozen ground…..
must be a real itch 😀

[mitchmaine]

i don’t think your supposed to start plowing before you start sugaring. who knows? maybe i’m already late for sugaring. darn. i got caught one fall plowing in october with a freeze-up. inch and a half of frozen sod flying straight up three feet off the plowshare and breaking off in mid air and falling in a heap. nasty job. we quit and the next day it warmed up and we finished. but i won’t forget that. in the spring it thaws from the top down and you’ll think its fine but 3″ down it’s pure ice and can’t be broken. theres a time for everything.

[TBigLug]

Quick update.

Had two plow days last week. Tuesday netted 7 teams. Lots of good times. Was kind of an impromptu deal. Friday we organized it a bit better. Had home made bean soup and pizza during our lunch break and 9 TEAMS in the field.

Definitely helped having 34 acres of sandy rock free oat ground that needed turned! 😎

Had to take a horse break this week to finish getting the fields fitted and ready to plant the oats. Next week I’ll start in on plowing some of the corn ground with the horses.

Another fun point, we worked three on our plow for the first time in my life. Been doing great! Makes dragging around that big 16″ bottom alot easier when there’s 6,400 lbs. of horses on the front! :rolleyes:

[mitchmaine]

hey john, sounds like heaven to me. a liitle wet here still. once, just once, i’d like to plow with nothin in front of me. stonewalls, woodlines, swales, you name it. spend half my time turning around. sure would like to watch you guys turn some ground. happy farmin’, mitch

[near horse]

Hey Big John,

Did you also use your one btm JD sulky plow? Any “tipovers”” I ask only because I had a couple my self last weekend. Pretty surprising how “tippy” those plows can be – doesn’t even need to be very steep ground. Also, if your team decides to step backward (like at a corner), over you go. That’s why lots of folks here have switched over to some homemade plow setups, no tongue and no rear wheel.

Also, Mitch, that turning business is where your horses really can show their “stuff”. I too like turning over long stretches of nice soil but the turns are where they need to pay attention and listen. It can be frustrating but I will say my team (or I) got better over the course of the last weekend – although there were occasional attempts to turn early etc. Rocks are a whole ‘nother issue 🙁 Any problems with badger/dug out gopher holes? Those are interesting too.

As a sidelight, one teamster hitched up 7 Belgians and of course people started giving him grief (that’s half the fun of these events, isn’t it?) about “getting the right number of animals”. They were hitched 3-2-2 so we called that a 7UP hitch. Yuk yuk yuk.

[TBigLug]

Hey Geoff, no rollovers “yet”. We did swap out the 14″ old bottom for a new style 16″ bottom. Bolted right on and I can get points at TSC any time. Been doing most of my plowing so far with grandpa’s model 154 with the originl 16″ bottom. No tongue so no reverse issues. Feels easier on the back as well. Also with the position of the levers it makes you feel less crowded. Gonna get it all painted up befre the plow days memorial day.

Mitch, I’m hoping to find some time to shoot some pictures and videos. Heather got a job so she’s not around to be my photographer.

[near horse]

When you say “new style” btms are you talking about those Oliver Raydex bottoms? That’s what I’ve got on my JD – apparently the Amish prefer them over JD original and swap them off asap. They do bolt right up.

What model is that in the picture? The landside wheel seems way over to the left. Is that normal?

Now turn some soil

[TBigLug]

Yup, Raydex that’s the one. It’s a JD model 154. This one still has the original bottom on it. I don’t know if it’s a normal placing for the landside wheel or not. It’s been that way since it was new. I think what your seeing is the vertical drop of the axle. I’ll get a better pic once the rain lets up. 🙂

[mitchmaine]

big john, finally got a chance yesterday to plow out our house garden. small plot, about a quarter acre, and the sulky plow is set for three, but i got to scratch my itch. most of our ground is yet too wet, and they predict snow tomorrow, so it may still be a spell, but for now…..
how is your field work going? any pictures yet? like to see ’em. mitch

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