From page 33
as a tractor driver and the
hydraulics of your tractor to
set ~ and keep ~ the correct
depth.
Before you set off into the
lands to plough, there are
three vital adjustments you
need to make to your two- or
three-share plough to ensure
the best effort with minimum
wastage.
First is to ensure that the
shares follow one another
exactly, with no overlap of
their furrows, meaning that
they are ploughing less of a
width than maximum, and
2-share plough set to cut two adjacent furrows with no “middelmannetjie”
and no overlap. Note depth-adjustable wheel to left ... great for use with a
tractor with floppy hydraulics.
IN THE
FIELD
looking towards the tractor,
with no little “middelman-
netjie” between the furrows,
meaning that they are not
turning all the soil in the field.
This adjustment is achieved
by moving the position of the
hitch pins (the round smooth
bolt-like bits that attach the
plough to your hydraulics.)
On some ploughs this is done
by moving the hitch pins back
and forward between the sets
of holes drilled for their
positioning in the plough. On
others it is achieved by
undoing two substantial
friction clamps or U-bolts and
rotating the round bar on
which the hitch pins are
eccentrically attached.
The effect of this adjustment,
given that the tractor is fixed,
is to swing the rear-most
share in relation to the front
one.
To see if you have achieved
the desired effect, stand
directly behind the plough
and tractor, If you can see a
gap between the shares when
35
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they are too far apart and will
result in a middelmannetjie.
The second adjustment is to
ensure that the plough shares
achieve the maximum
“throw” of the ploughed
sods, ie that the soil cut away
by the plough is upended
and not merely cut and
redeposited into the furrow
that has just been cut.
This is achieved by changing
the angle of the plough in
relation to the surface of the
soil. Generally, the more
acute the angle, the better
the throw, (and the more
Continued on page 37