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machineryPLOUGH
Modern plough makes
min till the poor relation
Whilst minimum tillage continues to develop and is undoubtedly established practice for
many, advocates of the plough like County Durham contractor Geoff Smith remain robust
in their arguments
Operating out of Chester
Moor Farm at Chester le
Street, Geoff Smith runs a
contracting business that
offers customers a stubbleto-stubble service. Along
with the 40ha he owns, he
reckons to cover a total of
about 200ha each year – all of
which is ploughed.
“There is no other implement
that can bury surface trash and
revitalise soil as well or as
cleanly as the plough,” he insists,
“but you need the right
machine for the job.
“A good plough is one that
pulls squarely without the operator having to fight it all the
time. It should be easy to set to
bury all the surface trash and
leave a clean and level finish.”
He recently upgraded to a
Kuhn Vari-Master five-furrow
mounted variable width plough,
which he puts behind his 170hp
Case CVX tractor.
“It’s important to have a
good match,” he says. “The
plough works very well in this
combination.”
ADJUSTABLE WIDTH
With furrow widths that can
be adjusted from 300mm to
450mm without having to
step down from the tractor,
Mr Smith says he usually has
it set to the widest setting to
enable him to get over the
maximum amount of ground
with each bout.
“I bought the plough with the
wider ‘L’ bodies which are able to
turn soil effectively at the widest
450mm setting,” he explains.
“They also create a wide furrow
in which the tractor’s 650/65
R42 tyres travel without running
on ploughed land.”
Having said that, he points
out that the ability adjust the
working width of the plough has
its advantages when ploughing
headlands – he can narrow the
plough if there is a headland
obstruction, such as a tree or a
telegraph pole.
To achieve a safe headland
turn, the Vari-Master always
closes up to its narrowest setting
before the plough is turned over.
Once the turn has been made,
the plough automatically returns
to its work setting.
TOUGH DESIGN
“This arrangement makes for a
much smoother turn because
the weight of the plough
remains almost central when it is
closed up,” he explains. “We’ve
all held our breath when turning
some makes and designs of
reversible ploughs on steeply
sloping headlands.”
According to Mr Smith, one
of the secrets of tidy ploughing
is to have the skimmers set correctly so they can deflect the surface trash down into the furrow
before the mouldboards complete the task of burying it.
“They are the most important
part of a plough,” he adds. “On
this plough they are very easy to
adjust so there’s no excuse for
making an untidy job.”
Bent plough beams and legs
are now disasters of the past due
to the use of overload protection. In its most basic format this
is a simple shear bolt but the
Vari-Master takes a more modern and efficient route and uses a
pressurised hydraulic system
that has in its plumbing a gas
accumulator.
“When I’m ploughing tough
stony ground, the bodies can
trip out of work quite regularly,”
he explains. “I can increase the
Durham farmer and contractor Geoff Smith
Automatically adjustable furrow widths, hydraulic auto-reset protection and a robust headstock are key features
that Geoff Smith looks for in a plough
trip pressure to match the conditions. I can’t help thinking that
every time a body trips and is
automatically re-set it could
have been an hour wasted fitting
a new shear bolt.”
Mr Smith also pays tribute to
the headstock which, he comments, is probably stronger than
he has seen on any plough.
In terms of maintenance, he
reported the plough was still running on the same points after
more than 125ha of ploughing
when there was no urgency for a
change, whilst a generous number of grease nipples is welcomed
on this hard-working implement.
“Far from being a chore I
think it is reassuring to know
bearings are greased regularly,”
he adds. “Greasing also creates
a good opportunity to check
the plough.”
With an output of about
10ha/day, Mr Smith reckons
he has a plough that is capable
of quality work that provides
the perfect starting point for
any crop.
Agronomist Summer Extra 2010
17