Plough - To Buy or Not To Buy?

TheClubMan

Hi folks,

I'm planning on reseeding 60 acres of grassland over the next few years. The land is in desperate need of improvement. I am hoping to do a lot of the work myself. I have a roller, a tine harrow and a fertiliser spreader. I was wondering if I was to invest in a decent secondhand plough for say between 2k and 3k how much money would I save? I would let the contractor do the spraying and sowing while I do the rest. Any opinions?

tomwaterford

TheClubMan wrote: »

Hi folks,

I'm planning on reseeding 60 acres of grassland over the next few years. The land is in desperate need of improvement. I am hoping to do a lot of the work myself. I have a roller, a tine harrow and a fertiliser spreader. I was wondering if I was to invest in a decent secondhand plough for say between 2k and 3k how much money would I save? I would let the contractor do the spraying and sowing while I do the rest. Any opinions?

I was quoted e40 an acre during summer for ploughing (cant remember if that included vat)...this would have been part of a wider reseeding job as well
so at 40 * 60 = 2400

you wont save much if you include diesel & wearing parts and also your own time IMO

frazzledhome

TheClubMan wrote: »

Hi folks,

I'm planning on reseeding 60 acres of grassland over the next few years. The land is in desperate need of improvement. I am hoping to do a lot of the work myself. I have a roller, a tine harrow and a fertiliser spreader. I was wondering if I was to invest in a decent secondhand plough for say between 2k and 3k how much money would I save? I would let the contractor do the spraying and sowing while I do the rest. Any opinions?

You'd be nuts. Price the wearing parts for a plough and that'll help your decision.

jp6470

Nuts to money...lol get a plough.
One of the great pleasures in life...getting up early, on a good day, to go and throw over a field.

blue5000

Get a reversible if you do decide to go ahead and buy one.

freedominacup

blue5000 wrote: »

Get a reversible if you do decide to go ahead and buy one.

What you want is a 10 furrow semi-mounted job that alows you to plough on the land. Vari-width is an absolute must, couldn't be without it. Anything smaller and you'd be wasting your time.

49801

freedominacup wrote: »

What you want is a 10 furrow semi-mounted job that alows you to plough on the land. Vari-width is an absolute must, couldn't be without it. Anything smaller and you'd be wasting your time.

Lol :pac:

OP a simple 3 or 4 furrow one way plough will you just fine on that sorta acreage.
A shear bolt design would be cheap but if you got stones an auto reset is a must.
For grassland you would need discs to cut the sod. Skimmers would be nice but not a must have.

Btw I know sfa about ploughing and above is just recycled from previous threads. I leave ploughing to the contractor who likes to have money tied up in kit.

Zoo4m8

:eek:

freedominacup wrote: »

What you want is a 10 furrow semi-mounted job that alows you to plough on the land. Vari-width is an absolute must, couldn't be without it. Anything smaller and you'd be wasting your time.

A cow called Daisy

IMO it comes down to whether you're a 'machinery man' or not. Some farmers love having their own machinery for every job, others happy to get buy with just the basics. I get the impression you're in the first category.

The disadvantages of having your own plough are
Running costs - diesel, wearing parts etc
Ploughing a field properly is a skill. A badly ploughed field is a disaster.
Have you tractor big enough to pull the plough you need/want
Field will need couple of runs of disc/power harrow. More machinery/diesel etc
You can be picking stones in field while contractor does work. Saves time if weather forecast is not good.
You have a implement/machine sitting in shed which only used one or two days work a year
The advantages are
As earlier poster said the satisfaction of ploughing you own field
You are not dependant on contractors promises
There probably more if i could think of them

As i said, it personal opinion. But a contractor in this area will do all work for €100 an acre - maybe less (not including roundup, lime, fertilizer and grass seed)
So, to answer your question, my opinion is to get in a contractor.

Zoo4m8

jp6470 wrote: »

Nuts to money...lol get a plough.
One of the great pleasures in life...getting up early, on a good day, to go and throw over a field.

Just what I'm on my way to do now..:D

blue5000

The one big advantage for me having my own plough is that I can plough in slurry as it is being spread, this was nearly impossible with a contractor.

I'd have the slurry out in anticipation of contractor being there the same day, and by the time he got round to ploughing it 2 or 3 days later the N would be gone up in the air. Plus neighbours giving off about smell. I don't blame the contractor he is busy with everyone wanting him the same few days.

The N in 2000 gals slurry I reckon is equal to at least a bag of CAN/acre. That easily pays for the diesel to plough it.

The Cuban

I bought a 2 furrow antique plough, I got to use it last year for the first time. i ploughed a 4 acre field after taking a cut of silage and done a reseed. Worked out very cheap and did a great job.
Its a cheap option for you but its a slow way of working

maidhc

tomwaterford wrote: »

I was quoted e40 an acre during summer for ploughing (cant remember if that included vat)...this would have been part of a wider reseeding job as well
so at 40 * 60 = 2400

you wont save much if you include diesel & wearing parts and also your own time IMO

Generally ploughing is discounted relative to the other seeding jobs for some reason. I know one contractor who got 100 acres to reseed, and was told by the farmer they would manage the rest once after he had the last sod turned. He was like a bull over it.

grazeaway

A couple of questions

How much ploughing are you planning per year?
Will you be ploughing land regularly afterwards?
What tractor do you have?
Have you ploughed before? If not can someone show you?

For grassland a spring plough is required espically if it hasn't been ploughed for a while.

If you were to get one for ploughing grassland then get it ploughed by a reversible, better finish on the land afterwards. If so then a 3 furrow rev would be minimum. If so you need a 100hp 4wd to pull it.

mikefoxo

The Cuban wrote: »

I bought a 2 furrow antique plough, I got to use it last year for the first time. i ploughed a 4 acre field after taking a cut of silage and done a reseed. Worked out very cheap and did a great job.
Its a cheap option for you but its a slow way of working

Doing something similar here too. It was fun to restore (well most of the time:rolleyes:) and should work out quite economical. You could go for something like an old Ransomes reversible. I believe wearing parts are readily available for them.

mikefoxo

Another thing you should ask is do you really need to plough at all? What about spraying then stitching in seed? Or running a disc harrow over ground and shaking out seed? I seem to remember quite a large thread on here talking about the most cost effective method possible

jimmy G M

What tractor have you got now? If you know how to plough, have a capable tractor and can get a decent plough for reasonable money < €2k ,have a go at it if you want.

However spending 3 - 4k on a plough to do 10-15 acres pa wouldn't be a good idea IMO. Just pay a contractor - for whatever reason ploughing is just about the best value job you can get done by a contractor. Spend the few bob on upgrading your harrow and do that yourself.

BTW you say that land is in poor condition, you should def plough and preferably crop it and plough a second time before laying down grass.

GRASSorMUCK

freedominacup wrote: »

What you want is a 10 furrow semi-mounted job that alows you to plough on the land. Vari-width is an absolute must, couldn't be without it. Anything smaller and you'd be wasting your time.

Try do headlands, do a great job rolling while your at it. Make sure to have twin beacons on so they can see you in the next parish also!