In all honesty we spend more time planning what to do, digging junction holes and joining up pipes than actually plowing. The plowing is very quick. For example, on one small job we spent 5 minutes driving to the paddock, probably another 5 minutes deciding where best to run the drain-line from a creek to capture a spring and 2 minutes plowing in the 60 metres of pipe needed to do the job.
The short answer is yes. A couple of plows in Denmark have had custom built gravel chutes attached, go to the photo gallery at www.soilmax.dk if you want to have a look.
The long answer is you don’t need gravel. The Americans have concluded that after a couple of years the air spaces between the individual stones will be filled with silt and no long term benefit occurs. Using gravel is very expensive, you have already own the topsoil, and it provides a permanently porous column above the pipe.
Horse power isn’t the crucial requirement, weight and traction are more important, the minimum weight required is ten tonne. When draining steeper ground we plow downhill which makes our 11 tonne tractor preform like a 16 tonne machine.
Pretty minimal when operating, however you’ll need the ability to lift 2 tonne on the three point linkage, otherwise a trailed plow is the best option.
A creeper box or CVT transmission is valuable, drainplowing becomes easier when the machine has more time to lift the soil, so when going deep you’ll want to slow right down.
Plows come with a simple tagged chain which drags along the ground showing the depth at any given moment. If you purchase the Intellislope option the computer display will display depth and gradient as you operate.
You’ll still need a digger of some description to dig holes for junctions etc. We have a little three point linkage backhoe on a 55 HP wheel tractor. It’s not much more than a toy, but that’s all we need and it’s fast moving from point A to point B compared to a tracked machine.
The first thing I do if I’m stuck is stop before the tractor buries itself. Then I use our backhoe to carefully dig out some dirt if front of the blade, generally that will be enough to get going again. Reducing depth obviously reduces the traction required. As a rule, if your farm is too wet to be out there cultivating it is too wet to be drainplowing too.
Soilmax plows are made in southern Indiana where they have the stickiest heavy glacial clay soils I’ve ever seen. Nothing in NZ comes close, so yes it should work in your soil.
The price will depend on the specifications you want, freight costs and the exchange rate. A shift of 1 cent can change the price by $500. Prices range from $35,000-$50,000
You’ll come to a halt before you break a Soilmax plow. They are designed to cope with massive amounts of tension. Often 20 tonne tractors are used in the states when installing big pipes deep. The most common breakage is to the water level and that is just a tube holding anti-freeze. Soilmax plows come with a warranty which will be honoured.
We are. When delivering your plow we’ll spend a few hours helping set it up and get you started. Plus we are only a phone call away if you have any issues.
