I had a rare opportunity in this land of no-till to do some moldboard plowing yesterday.  It was a small plot, so I went for a mid-size and nimble combination of a 4-bottom semi-mounted plow behind my MF 1080.  Wheel spacing on the 1080 was less than ideal, but no time to jack around with moving them out.  The front bottom just had a bit less than a full cut.

The patch I plowed was once an alfalfa hay field, but had been neglected for a couple of years.  I should have taken a "before" photo of the mess, but I guess I was just too anxious to get the plow in the ground.  While nothing close to a "plowing contest" job, I thought it turned out pretty well considering the amount and size of the weeds and trash I was dealing with.  It actually pulled pretty hard at 7" - 8" deep. 

The MF 1080 ran really well, but the hydraulics were a bit suspect.  I think the next step will be to drain the hydraulic fluid, inspect and replace the filter, then fill with new MF spec hydraulic oil.  Hopefully that will make it happy!

If the plot had been closer to home, I would have been tempted to employ some other tractor/plow combinations, but with it being a 7 mile drive to get there...  Oh, well...

Love the smell of freshly plowed Indiana dirt!!

JB

What some lovely photos John. I can smell the freshly turned Indiana sort over here in the UK. The photos take me back a bit. We used to have a MF 188 and a 1080 amongst others on the farm where I worked. I used to plough with a Ransomes fully mounted five furrow plough. The 188 would walk away with it but the 1080 would spin quite a lot. 1080 was great on PTO work though. Alan

My MF 65 and Dennings of Chard disc harrows getting some land ready to sow wild Bird seed. The land at the moment is very hard and dry. It wants a good rain. Also it is getting late to sow wild Bird seed but we will see. Alan

Alan, please upload a picture if you can. I’m a bit of a Dening fan, especially with Chard being so local to me. I recently picked up a 1948 parts catalogue for their disc harrows if you’re interested. Unfortunately Dening machines seem few and far between now. 

Attached my Dening hay rake - which hopefully you’ll see in action on this post in a few weeks time. All seems to work fine but haven’t had the chance to use it for real yet. Needs a co pilot too....

Brgds Jon. 

Hi Jon Nice hay rake. I hadn't realized that Dennings made a hay rake. I think my photo was too large this morning but I will try another one. If I don't get any luck I will try to resize them tomorrow. Alan

Hello,
Started some hay today - first time I've used the Dening rake as I only got it last Christmas - worked very well indeed zipping along tuning two swaths just above tickover in 4th gear. 

Once again so impressed with my Ferguson. The fuel economy is increible too, the tank was empty at the start of the day, I only had 2 gallons to put in which lasted all day including a 6 mile drive to this field!

The Pacemaker and Dickie are now also ready for the next lot of hay, sllghtly nearer to home, more to follow.....

Cheers, Jon. 

Jon It looks as though you have a good crop there. Hope the weather stays fine so that you can make some nice hay. The tractor and side rake look good. Alan

All looking well Jon,

Hope to see the Pacemaker out soon with the Dickie hay turner at work, have you got a Massey baler lined up ready to go or still using the Welgar?

Malcolm.

Hi Malcolm,
They are ready to go, trialled them out last week as pictured - but now waiting for the land a bit nearer home.
Cheers, Jon. 

PS - its in a terrible cosmetic state I know but is mechanically spot on - if it works ok this season its in for a full strip, and refurbishment this winter. 

Cheers, J.