[Justin]

As we progress in our little smallholding journey, we're now looking at turning some of a field into crop rotation. Some will be just to grow things like bee friendly flowers, some will be fodder crops for pigs/sheep and some will be to grow larger amounts of vegetables that won't fit in the allotment.

We have an old Massey 135 tractor which I use for topping, wood chipping, moving stuff around etc and I'm thinking that having a small plough to turn over strips of field occasionally would be useful. However, I have never done anything like that before and don't really know what sort of plough the masssey would be able to pull or if there are different types. I'm not going to be ploughing entire fields, just strips now and then.

Could anyone tell me what I'd need to look for please.

[shep53]

Have a look on ebay   ( 2 furrow plough )   quite a few for sale and will be videos on you tube  .  If you can get a friendly  older farmer /farmworker  to help examine  it for missing  /bent bits it would be ideal then he /she could set it up for you

[Justin]

thank you, I'll do that.

[Rupert the bear]

Have a look on ebay   ( 2 furrow plough )   quite a few for sale and will be videos on you tube  .  If you can get a friendly  older farmer /farmworker  to help examine  it for missing  /bent bits it would be ideal then he /she could set it up for you

This
I have used the services of retired farm workers / tractor enthusiasts for ploughing and reseeding help , instruction and advice, look for a tractor owners group . They may even know of a suitable pluogh.
Only one problem I must warn you of ,         you may have to fight them off your tractor ! Oh and sometimes they hang about out of sight waiting for you to go in for your tea and finish off a field for you. 

[arobwk]

Does your Massey 135 have draft control? (I don't know spec's of M135s).  If not, a depth control wheel on plough would be a good thing.
Also thinking that, for the odd bit of plot ploughing, a basic single-furrow plough shouldn't be sniffed at if the price is right.

I've been re-considering recently whether I need a small plough (or not) for much the same purpose as you Justin.  Undecided, but I've been looking.  Quite a few used single/2-furrow ploughs available (web searches), but not available anywhere near my neck of the woods.  So I've looked at new offerings:  I cannot vouch for, but machinerysales EU offerings (single or 2-furrow versions) are a very decent price and, from my untrained eye, probably quite good enough for most "small-holder" needs.  (They could well be better than that, but I wouldn't know - what I do know is that I wouldn't want to pay more - new or used - for something I wouldn't use very often.)

[honeyend]

More farmers are going onto no till, do you really need a plough?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_farming

[pgkevet]

I have a 2 furrow plough.. not reversible so I have to keep driving back to the start for the next row. It's also more a case of picking the right time when soil it the best texture to be turned (too dry, too wet). it still needs rotorvating afterwards. If the same ground is going to be worked in subsequent years then after the initial loosening of an old neglected field then probably just the rotorvator would do.

[Scotsdumpy]

Take yourself to a vintage tractor ploughing match - you'll see examples of many set ups and you might be able to see what you need. Failing that - youtube is a great resource for all things vintage tractors. You might work out that it's cheaper and quicker to get someone in to do it for you. Ploughing,  like haymaking, is a bit of a dark art!!

[pgkevet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKK-fD1wuoU
Above is the kit you want  Note that it's not even leaving furrows.. 'cos the field is so well maintained and the soil nice and crumbly but an excellent job of 'burying the trash'. You won't do that your first year!

[landroverroy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKK-fD1wuoU
Above is the kit you want  Note that it's not even leaving furrows.. 'cos the field is so well maintained and the soil nice and crumbly but an excellent job of 'burying the trash'. You won't do that your first year!

Oh yes! I can definitely see that pulled by an MF 135,

[Rupert the bear]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKK-fD1wuoU
Above is the kit you want  Note that it's not even leaving furrows.. 'cos the field is so well maintained and the soil nice and crumbly but an excellent job of 'burying the trash'. You won't do that your first year!

Oh yes! I can definitely see that pulled by an MF 135,

It's not so much as how big it is ,but how you use it, looking at the video its been set very high,all down to the soil condition as LRR says

[pgkevet]

My tractor is pnly 43HP too.. and with small front wheels to permit the loader.. well pick a day when the soil's heavy and the front wheels do the ploughing...

[Justin]

We looked at no-till and do no-dig in our allotment but for the heavy clay ground we have, you really need to turn over the turf to have much chance of planting anything new, it's been rough pasture for decades.

The massey has draft control so a simple 2 blade plough sounds ideal.

I can ask my neighbour to plough for me at the moment but he's 70 and just had cancer surgery so I'm helping him on his farm and I'm aware that eventually I'll need to be able to do this sort of stuff for myself if we're going to carry on being self-sufficient-ish. The amount we'd want doing doesn't really warrant having a contractor come in. Same as we're going to get a disc cutter and haybob to be able to cut our own hay when we start having our own sheep.

[arobwk]

Well, I’ve almost convinced myself to buy a 2 furrow (2f) plough & I’m using Justin’s thread to throw out a few thoughts and seek any words of wisdom from old hands (or new hands)!
Budget is limited and it won’t be used greatly so it will be a fairly low-price “basic” new one or an old one.
I like the idea of owning an old, but ready to work, Fergy 2f plough:   they look very usable (& quite cool !!!).  I’m still searching for a good one within reasonable go-see distance (although there is one presently on radar – pic attached), but not many sellers can be bothered to arrange for courier delivery from their end = hassle.

So I’ve also re-done searches for new 2f ploughs and I keep coming back to this one (couple of pics attached and spec’s say 200mm max’ furrow depth and overall ploughing width of 400mm:  no skim blades or coulter discs and mouldboard profile is not going to give (I seem to think) a really tidy furrow profile, but I’m not too worried about that as long as I can produce a good turn-over.

Pics attached of one nice-looking 2f Fergy for sale and of the new one I’m thinking about.
Any thoughts/advice anyone ??  I’m not worried about how the ploughing looks - I’m not about to enter ploughing competitions – I just want to achieve max’ turn-over/burying of meadow-grass/weeds.

 

[Buttermilk]

The expert in this family has said that the new plough will not have rusted bolts and should be straight whilst the old plough may be out of true and too set in its ways to adjust.