County of display: Lincoln County
Location of display: Paulsmeyer Rd & Haines Rd., Olney
Three basic lows stored here under the trees.
There are many different types of plows available to farmers. Sometimes it is a question of how much money you have, other times it depends on what is available. Needless to say, you have a variety of choice.
We use plows for opening a loosening up soil. Also, we do this to help increase the amount of water the soil can hold. We do it to kill off any weeds you may have as well.
Plowing is primary tillage. By turning over the soil, you are trying to prepare the soil to start secondary tillage
Far right in photo - moldboard plow:
You use this plow cleanly cut through the soil and turn it over. Because this type of plow is meant to turn over the soil, it is shaped like a wing. The idea behind this type of plow is to make sure that no soil is left unturned.
In most cases, you are breaking up a fallow field, or a field that was hay.
Center in photo - Disc Plow
Disc plows cuts in terms soil by using discs instead of a wedge-shaped blade. The idea behind using a disk instead of something like a mold board plow is to help reduce friction.
Sometimes people choose to use a disc plow because the moldboard plow isn’t enough. A moldbold plow might not be sufficient in cases where you have sticky soil or rocky soil. The chances of you breaking a disc plow or can it be slimmer than a mold board plow.
One reason farmers tend not to use disc plows is that they don’t do a very good job of covering weeds, so if you’re trying to turn over the weeds in moldboard plow is a better choice.
This type of plow is heavier because they need to be pushed down into the soil
Left in photo - chisel plow
This type of plow is for breaking up the soil. Typically, we use chisel plows for deep tillage. Chisel plows disturb the soil below the surface, and try to reduce the amount of top layers disturbed.