Stupid questions from a non-farmer

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MrSquealypig
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Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by MrSquealypig »

At the risk of making a fool of myself, I have decided to take a chance at making a thread for all the stupid questions I have had about how equipment in FS is meant to be used. Maybe by posting this other people will come out of the woodworks and ask their stupid questions and we can all learn something in the process.

I will start off with a few of my own:

1.) It seems like sub-soilers, harrows, and cultivators are very different pieces of equipment, but they all do one thing in FS19. Do you ever use more than one of these pieces of equipment (e.g. a cultivator and a sub-soiler) for better results in real life?

2.) I came across the Fuel Safe mod and it says it can be used to deliver fuel or as a counterbalance weight for transporting forestry equipment (and it is listed in the forestry category). Is there a reason why you couldn't use it as a weight for other purposes?

3.) Does having too many weights on your tractor make it harder to pull implements, even if you meet the listed horsepower requirements? Doesn't your engine have to work harder to move that extra weight?

Share your own questions below and hopefully some patient individuals will dispel our ignorance!
Chad
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Chad »

1). Yes, IRL, they do very different things. It's all about breaking up compaction, and residue management. A quick search on YouTube "primary vs secondary tillage" should give you a good idea about what the implements are designed to do. No idea on #2. As for #3, the proper amount of weight reduces wheel slippage, making you operation more efficient. I suppose that there is some point where too much may be bad? But having a couple thousand pounds is generally better than not having it. Hope this helps! Good questions
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chedly_farms
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by chedly_farms »

As you can see in the following video, Subsoiling is right in the name. It's what goes on underneath the surface, while trying to disturb the surface as little as possible. Where as disc harrows or vertical tillage and cultivators are used to break up surface residue for different reasons depending where you are and what your soil is like.





Last edited by chedly_farms on Fri Jan 24, 2020 10:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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iwan073
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by iwan073 »

No stupid questions at all.
Ignorance is bliss
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Farmercaseih
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Farmercaseih »

I use a subsoiler IRL (Case ih 2500) and it's cool watching it lift up the ground and drop it
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iwan073
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by iwan073 »

Talking about weights...
I’ve always wondered when you would use those big weights in-game?

The 2300, 2400 and 3300 kilo ones.

Cause it seems overkill to me (in-game)
Ignorance is bliss
Mwal
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Mwal »

Cultivators or Discs with a harrow or a rolling basket would be used after you subsoiled or plowed to prep a nice smooth seed bed. There is more to it in real life especially with a disc you don’t just drop it in the ground and go you would make minor adjustments as you went to smooth the soil out. Bigger heavier discs like an offset disc are used to break up trash then might be followed by a more fine work implement like I have described. Subsoilers and rippers are used to combat hard pan and compaction issues from heavy machinery. Plows aren’t used as commonly anymore you can look back in history at the dust bowl and see why. Most that do have soil types that don’t blow so easy or break sod with one. Although see more and more just taking fall/spring trips with an offset disc where we farm. As for weights it’s a balance between traction and soil compaction and not just being to heavy and getting stuck just depends on the task/ implement a set of duals helps most in my opinion as it spreads your weight to keep you afloat and to compact less. There’s a ton of thought and theory that goes into it but it can also be simple. Most of farming is learning from your mistakes and incorporating new methods and technology into the lessons you were taught by those who worked the ground before you. I’m also sure most real life farmers that post here can admit they have stood back in the fall and gone why the hell did I do that, or never doing that again, so no question is stupid or silly.
Mwal
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Mwal »

iwan073 wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 10:33 pm Talking about weights...
I’ve always wondered when you would use those big weights in-game?

The 2300, 2400 and 3300 kilo ones.

Cause it seems overkill to me (in-game)
Bigger tractor+bigger implement(especially large 3pt)=more downforce on the rear axle which requires more weight to keep the load balanced to gain optimal traction.
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MrSquealypig
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by MrSquealypig »

Thanks for the very detailed and helpful explanations everyone!

Here are some more things I'm always wondering about:

4.) Is there a specific type of trailer you would use for transporting (not spreading) manure? I'm getting ready to build an orchard and it's not going to be close to my cow pasture. Seems weird to use a basic tipper for it though.

5.) Are harvester headers designed to fit universally? I used to hook up the New Holland poplar header to other forage harvesters in past FS games since it is the only one in the game, but I'm guessing that is not realistic.
Mwal
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Mwal »

I would say the fuel weight is just a neat idea some construction equipment strategically locates their fuel tanks as a way to add counter weight where you want it. Probably just a expansion on that idea to serve a convenient dual purpose as it can sometimes be challenging to get fuel into certain places to refuel equipment.
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iwan073
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by iwan073 »

Mwal wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:13 pm
iwan073 wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 10:33 pm Talking about weights...
I’ve always wondered when you would use those big weights in-game?

The 2300, 2400 and 3300 kilo ones.

Cause it seems overkill to me (in-game)
Bigger tractor+bigger implement(especially large 3pt)=more downforce on the rear axle which requires more weight to keep the load balanced to gain optimal traction.
Yeah IRL.
But like I said, in-game it’s overkill.
Cause no matter what you put on there, the bigger tractors will never put their nose up in the air
Ignorance is bliss
Mwal
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Mwal »

Krd1749 wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:31 pm Thanks for the very detailed and helpful explanations everyone!

Here are some more things I'm always wondering about:

4.) Is there a specific type of trailer you would use for transporting (not spreading) manure? I'm getting ready to build an orchard and it's not going to be close to my cow pasture. Seems weird to use a basic tipper for it though.

5.) Are harvester headers designed to fit universally? I used to hook up the New Holland poplar header to other forage harvesters in past FS games since it is the only one in the game, but I'm guessing that is not realistic.
You are looking for something like hw 80 or the it runner skip or a live bottom something that doesn’t dump out a grain door or small opening and something that would tip pretty far due to the consistency of manure it would tend to hang up also if ya really wanna get real wash it up with a pressure washer when you are done. As for headers I’m not sure about choppers but I know you can get adapters to make a combine accept heads it normally wouldn’t.
Massey5713
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Massey5713 »

It depends alot on what type of soil you have. Here where I live, noone uses subsoilers, but ploughing or discs, maby both even. And cultivation after that. The reason here is because of a lot of stones in the soil that comes up with the frost in winter. We remove it manually, and the equipment for doing it automaticly is very expensive.. (50 000 £ easy).


After the stones are removed, we do the drilling/seeding, pick stones again, and finish the job with a roller to press smaller stones down in the ground again (so it doesn’t get picked up by the harvester/baler in the fall)

Image

This is my nephew helping out, and we use this method to avoid compact ground after seeding. Heavy stones, we use the frontloader.

Image

The roller.. Mod-hub has one, in the weeder-category, but not quite what we use it for..


4)by the way, we use ordinary tipper for transporting manure to our fields, let it lie in a pile for a year, and spread it with a excavator.. at least for now, might invest in manure wagon in a while..
Last edited by Massey5713 on Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Illinois Farmer
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by Illinois Farmer »

iwan073 wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:38 pm Yeah IRL.
But like I said, in-game it’s overkill.
Cause no matter what you put on there, the bigger tractors will never put their nose up in the air
I'm the game it is more aesthetic. Get the biggest, baddest, meanest looking tractor you can.
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iwan073
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Re: Stupid questions from a non-farmer

Post by iwan073 »

Illinois Farmer wrote: Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:55 pm I'm the game it is more aesthetic. Get the biggest, baddest, meanest looking tractor you can.
What, an Ursus?
Ignorance is bliss
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