Yeomans / Ripping Recommendation for a 28HP Tractor

Discussion in 'Designing, building, making and powering your life' started by PeterD, Mar 20, 2011.

  1. PeterD

    PeterD Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2010
    Messages:
    18
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I have a 20 acre property I am moving into with an old Massey TE20 tractor included. I picked it up as the property was used for grazing and I'd need a cheap engine to pull a slasher to keep the dry grass down for fire prevention if I can not get some small Dexter's or other animals on the property to help my improvement of the soils programme. I am not sure a petrol 28HP can pull much. There was a very large singe tine ripper that I did not buy that was used to dig trenches to put pipe in for pumping dam water from lower dams to the upper dam. I did not see a need for this but may regret not picking it up? The property is located near Ballarat, VIC and I would be interested in seeing what number of tines I could pull on the old MF tractor and to what depth and if I could use it with a Yeoman or similar plough system. I'd love to find out where one could lease a plough as I do not see myself using the tractor much except for the initial and successively deeper rips of soil to break up hard pan and using an ancient fence post auger/digger to finish the fencing on the property. I would like to get to the point where its not use much if at all. Cheers, PeterD
     
  2. barefootrim

    barefootrim Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2011
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Dear PeterD,

    Dude, sometimes on an acerage a little tractor can turn a 10 hour wheelbarrow job into a 1 hour simple chore sort of thing. We used a little MF 30 HP with front tines as our forklift and poo bucket to great effect . Similarily as a forklift we used it to build a set of cattle yards to hold 300 head,,,,that was a lot of ironbark posts to move around. Beats carrying them. So on 20 acres you may not be doing that sort of work,,,,, but occassionally you might have to move some stuff,,,tow a vehicle out of a bog,,, slash the grass, drag a log(in reverse only), and then of course you can drive around all day feeling like a farmenr if the feeling takes you,,hehe.

    Tractors are always handy,,,so keeping it or letting it go will always have a hindsight call such as,,,,thank god we kept the tractor,,,,or why did I let that tractor go!

    As far as pulling a yeomans plow,,, for 28HP it might be a tough call, and everything would depend on depth of tine and how tough or soft the ground is,,,, maybe you could take all the tines off execpt the centre one, or the 2 tines directly following the rear tyres,,,,,and she how much the tractor can pull. It just depends really.

    All ther best,
    Barefootrim
     
  3. PermaGuinea

    PermaGuinea Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2011
    Messages:
    53
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I think I read somewhere that each ripper or chisel plow blade requires about 10 HP. We have an old Fordson Dexta estimated to be around 30-40 HP, but I couldn't see the old girl pulling more than one tyne safely. An old farmer also told me about how tractors do wheelies when a plough hits a hidden root or rock.

    Barefootrim's idea of getting a set of three and trying different combinations sounds good and you would have the unused ones as spares. Or you could just get one tyne and do more runs to cover the same area ... it would still beat digging.
     
  4. barefootrim

    barefootrim Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2011
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: doing wheelies on tractors when hitting a rock or root system. its off the subject a bit but vital to know when dealing with tractors,,,, if you pull something too big,,or hit a big snag, a few things could happen,,,,,,,the tractor engine will keep running and driving,,,but the tractor will stay stationary,,,what then gives is either the transmission/gearbox breaks OR tractor does a wheelie OR worse, the tractor goes over backwards and lands on top of the driver which makes the drivers wife a widow,,,,, we dont want widow makers

    ok this is worse case scenario,,,, if your on the ball you can slam your foot on the clutch and go backwards out of it.

    this is why on my earlier post above I mention pulling logs in reverse only,,,if the log is too big the tractor will just spin out or stay put,,,,,,,, if going forward pulling a too heavy load you'll have a wheelie or a backwards roll over

    Back to the subject of yeomans plow,,,,you'll get a wheelie in a yeomans plow if hitting a rock/snag,,, and it will freak you out,,,but the plow should prevent a full backwards rollover.
     
  5. PermaGuinea

    PermaGuinea Junior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 12, 2011
    Messages:
    53
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thanks for the clarification, barefootrim. I had suspected the possibility of the "flipover" scenario but wasn't sure if it would happen with a plough. This also highlights the importance of developing the habit of "going for the clutch" if anything suspicious happens when you are on the tractor, moreso than the brake.

    @PeterD - I got animals thinking I wouldn't have to slash any more, but it wasn't the case - even if you get animals, you will most likely still need to slash, just not as often and you will get benefits from having the animals in the form of manure, textiles, meat, etc.

    Most types of animal feed only on their favorite types of grass and leave weeds and other types of grass alone unless starving. Without slashing the weeds and blady grass will gradually take over the paddock. Some of the senior members of our permaculture group have a combination of goats, cows, sheep and even pigs running in their padodocks and still find the need to slash.

    So, even if you don't get the plough, don't be in a rush to get rid of the slasher.;)
     
  6. Curramore1

    Curramore1 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2010
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Gender:
    Male
    Occupation:
    Primary Producer
    Location:
    Curramore, Blackall Range, S E Queensland, Aust.
    Climate:
    Sub-tropical to temperate 2000mm rain, elevated 350-475m
    I regularly use a plough with yeoman's feet. You need 15 HP per tine here with a coulter wheel to open the sod ahead of the tine to maintain the grass cover instead of ripping up huge areas of grass. The depth of the aeration line will be determined by the soil structure of the profile. Keep in mind that you are doing this to maximize soil water land flow infiltration and soil aeration, originally designed by Yeoman as a drainage line system to water storages as part of a "Keyline Plan". More importantly has the tractor a ROPS? How much do you value your life? Is a contractor really more expensive? I rent my Yeoman's 5 tine out at $100 flagfall and $15/hr plus shear pins at $4.00 each. The shear pins should break before you have a dangerous wheelstand situation. A 55 HP FWA tractor will do about 2 Ha/hr with a 5 tine at 20 cm depth. Cheers
     
  7. PeterD

    PeterD Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2010
    Messages:
    18
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Thank you for the replies. I've learned a lot about the requirements of HP to underground implements: Rippers/Ploughs.

    I've bough the tractor. But only bought the old Auger for digging fence post holes that is PTO powered and the ?homemade? carryall that goes on the back of the tractor. I didn't get the hand sprayer (uses battery power to pump out a standard handheld wand), nor did i get the back blade/grader, nor did I get the phosphate spreader. No slasher was on offer otherwise I would have gotten that so it leaves me with a slasher or a pull along grass mower.

    To get use out of the tractor I've been thinking of making a pull cart like you see on Russian farms, a few car axles and a cart. I've also considered making the hitch adaptable or a second for animal power and use a donkey or two to save on petrol to haul cut firewood around the property from tree felling site to firewood storage site (away from house).

    It looks like its not economical to invest in my own keyline.

    I don't seem to have the HP to pull more than a single tine so the time factor and fuel to run is not making a nice calculation.

    I got in touch with Darren Doherty of Broadscale Permaculture fame and he has put me in contact with his primary contractor to do Keyline ripping. I expressed a desire to follow Mollisons 3 year sequential and ever deeper ripping. The contractor is suggesting one very deep rip and see how it goes from there.

    Thank you for all the replies, I'm learning heaps.

    Cheers,
    Peter
     
  8. Krankieone

    Krankieone Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 28, 2009
    Messages:
    18
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    The trick with towing any thing or implement with a tractor is to have the tow point below the rear axle this pulls the front wheels onto the ground rather than the wheel standing .If you can find a front end loader for your fregie grab it they are amazeingly usefull (I wish I had one) also if you can still get the ripper I'd take it ,most importantly if it doesn't have a ROPS (roll Bar) get one before you use it. While 20 acres isn't that big carting stuff from one end to the other wears pretty thin especially after you third trip back to the shed because you can't carry all the tools you need for a job.

    I have a 5 x 8 trailer to tow behind mine it'll carry a couple of tonnes of fire wood or enough post wire & tools for a days fenceing my wife thaught I was being frivilous when I bought it but even she will concede that we've had our moneys worth many times over out of it
     

Share This Page

-->