John Deere Horse Drawn Plow

[Hetman1974]

Is this machine made in China and does anybody know how to uses horses to pull a machine.We are running out of oil soon and we'll need to go back to the old ways and actually work for our food instead of relying on Government Handouts and McDonalds. One day all the farms will be owned by one organisation and the guy in charge of sowing will screw up the timings and we'll have a big famine, just like in Ukraine in the 30's with collectivised farms

[userunavailable3095]

@Hetman1974 That machine is probably close to a hundred years old, give or take twenty years on either side. I'm not sure on the dates on riding plows, but I'm guessing that they started making them in the late 1800s and made the last ones in the early 1930s. There are a few small companies still making plows like this for the few remaining horse farmers. If you want to learn more, look up Rural Heritage Magazine or The Draft Horse Journal.

[TBigLug]

Nice setup. We plow with one just like it. 14" bottom though. Works great. Thanks for sharing!

[bofts]

Looks like you are leaving a strip unplowed

[america4hemp]

do you hear that wonderful sound !

[orlean11]

very cool

[oilsander1]

A beautiful sight.

[pumkinvine]

three horses on a one bottom plow? must be some tough ass ground.

[seancarm]

3 horses were typically used on sulky plow, remember these guys plowed all day, some guys would change the position of the horses during the day. The sulky plows were generally 16".

[larasa007]

i remember last year at the fair there was a team he had 8 horses and the plow was 3 gang plow, not really sure if he needed 8 horses or if it was more for  show but was impressive nonetheless

[seancarm]

8 horses were generally used on a 3 bottom. Sometimes 9, 5 horses were used on a 2 bottom, and sometimes 6.

[larasa007]

ty for the explanation Sean, I find this stuff very fascinating. I can just imagine all the work and training that goes into the horse and the fine horseman ship. Just to clarify my thinking and put things into perspective, a sulky plow has 1 furrow, 2 bottom has 2 furrow and 3 bottom has 3 furrows thus the name right? Is that the max furrows is a 3 bottom? The most horses i ever seen plowing was 46 here on youtube really impressive here is where i seen it watch?v=E6zDCLcia6w .

[seancarm]

Your got it. We call a 1 bottom plow a sulky, 2 and 3 bottoms gang plows. I've plowed with 12 horses on forecart pulling a 4 bottom drawn (tractor style) plow but you've got to have help to do that and these days it's just too difficult to find 12 horses that will hitch together. Hard enough to find 5 or 8, Most guys I plow with have 2 of 3 horses and we try to find the ones that get along with other horses.

[nchayfarmer]

i aint tryin to be mean or hateful or a smart ass but does putting the far right horse in the furrow help or is that a way of lining up the plows

[seancarm]

The right horse is always in the furrow, just like plowing with a tractor, right tire is always in furrow. lines everything up

[nchayfarmer]

10-4

[seancarm]

dragging the lines, poor form. Either sit on them or put them in bucket behind you