What痴 the steepest slope you致e ever plowed?

[Chancho]

There are lots of slopes in my area that are about 30 degrees. These areas have small brush that I壇 like to maintain with a bush hog.

Trouble is that I致e read tractors shouldn稚 operate on slopes over 16 degrees.

What if I just drove straight up the slope and reversed back down without doubg any tyrns?

 

[RNeumann]

A lot of manufacturers don’t like to quote steep slopes because you can lose your oil pressure as the oil flows away from the sump.

A lot of folks routinely run over 17° and I’ve done as steep as I can get traction. It’s your level of comfort at that point.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Re: What逞ｴ the steepest slope you閾ｴe ever plowed?

A lot of manufacturers don稚 like to quote steep slopes because you can lose your oil pressure as the oil flows away from the sump.

A lot of folks routinely run over 17ｰ and I致e done as steep as I can get traction. It痴 your level of comfort at that point.

I am not sure what the steepest place I have plowed, but it was pretty steep. Due to the lay of the land I had to plow going uphill too, and that was pulling a 7 bottom plow, and even in the rain. If I was to guess, I would say it was probably 20% grade.

As for mowing...good gravy, I am not sure. I mow the sides of the room with a boom mower so I get on some pretty good side hills. The worst is an old covered dump for a town. It is very steep and long. I hang my boom mower way out, and then corkscrew my way up the trash mountain. That is not too bad, but to do the backswath on the outer edge, THAT will make the old butt cheeks pucker. You always have to lift the mower over a down tree or something, the mower is on the downhill side, and if you ever hit a gopher hole, there is no doubt you are going over. But every year it gets done.

 

[oosik]

I back up the slope - drop my single bottom plow - plow DOWN the slope. I only did this once. It takes forever and is just a PITA.

Besides - it's not so much "what you can plow". More important - "what can you plant and later harvest".

 

[BrokenTrack]

I back up the slope - drop my single bottom plow - plow DOWN the slope. I only did this once. It takes forever and is just a PITA.

Besides - it's not so much "what you can plow". More important - "what can you plant and later harvest".

For us it has always been plowing that is the limiting operation since every other operation after plowing is on wheels, or at least rolls. The disc harrow, the planter, even the silage chopper and trucks all roll. But plowing...that is a 100% drag operation, and it requires a lot of momentum, in fact the faster you plow, the better the plowing that is done. That is hard to do when you are clawing for traction up a steep incline. And since soil only gets cast off to the right, a person cannot just plow when and where they wish; sometimes direction is dictated too you.

Mud can also be an issue. With plowing, it is the first operation as soon as you can get on the field, so it is often wet. That can be an issue with disking too, but not so much with planting and side dressing. It seems mud is always an issue with harvesting because we get a second mud season so to speak of, every fall, but the trucks can be dragged anywhere behind a tractor, and of course the chopper can go in anything.

We farm on some pretty steep hillsides, enough so you have to articulate the tractor to the uphill side on a turn because if you did so downhill, you would reduce the stance of the tractor and go over. (But to my credit, I have only rolled a tractor over once. Incidentally, it was while plowing).

 

[Chancho]

Re: What逞ｴ the steepest slope you閾ｴe ever plowed?

I back up the slope - drop my single bottom plow - plow DOWN the slope. I only did this once. It takes forever and is just a PITA.

Besides - it's not so much "what you can plow". More important - "what can you plant and later harvest".

Also, erosion could be a big problem on steeper slopes. I壇 be worried about gully erosion in the first big rain before cover crops even sprout.

I知 planning a reforestation project, so I知 wondering if it would be better to hand prepare the land on the steep slopes and use a walk-behind rototiller to prepare only small patches of ground where the trees will be planted. This would protect most of the soil from erosion.

Of course, the areas between the trees will probably get out of hand with dense brush, so not sure what to do to maintain that.

To my knowledge there are no forestry mulchers in my area. Hand labor is cheap though. You can have 7 laborers full time for three weeks, and it costs about $2400.

 

[troverman]

Re: What逞ｴ the steepest slope you閾ｴe ever plowed?

I don't plow, but I do flail mow some pretty steep stuff.

 

[JamesHW]

Never mowed slopes w/ a 4-wheel tractor, but at our house in the city I got tired of banging up my little mower on our 45 degree hill on the street (about 15 foot high), so I tied the mower to a rope and lowered it down and back up the hill. It worked ok for a couple of rows, then my knot came loose and the mower goes flying down the hill toward the street with a car coming, timed perfectly to crash into the mower. Without thinking I leapt down the hill just in time to catch the mower just before it hit the car with a very surprised driver. Tore my jeans and got a bruise, but my home owners insurance was completely unharmed.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Never mowed slopes w/ a 4-wheel tractor, but at our house in the city I got tired of banging up my little mower on our 45 degree hill on the street (about 15 foot high), so I tied the mower to a rope and lowered it down and back up the hill. It worked ok for a couple of rows, then my knot came loose and the mower goes flying down the hill toward the street with a car coming, timed perfectly to crash into the mower. Without thinking I leapt down the hill just in time to catch the mower just before it hit the car with a very surprised driver. Tore my jeans and got a bruise, but my home owners insurance was completely unharmed.

Adventures in the city