Plough

Used in agriculture since prehistoric times, the plough is used to till the soil and prepare it for subsequent work and the sown.

It is an evolution of the pick: in fertile areas in ancient times it was used to create grooves in order to place the seeds and promote plant growth in less fertile areas. In fact, in the second case, the land needs to be turned in order to bring nutrients to the surface and to cover the plant remains from the previous season. The domestication of cattle around 6000 BC provided a powerful means to pull the plow.

Plough in history

In ancient times, the plough was an all-wood tool, it then started (by 1600 AC) being equipped with a piece of iron (known as the plowshare) up until the 18th century, when England began to build the whole body in metal (coulter, ploughshare and mouldboard). In the late 18th century, the first full-metal plough began to be industrialized and commercialized.

Plough and animals

The use of animals is still widely practiced in many parts of the world as a traction power; both in places where agriculture is not yet mechanized and in developing countries alike. Horses are the most used animals, but farmers also work with oxen and buffalos. The workhorse can easily pull a simple plow in a clean and soft field. In more compact lands where the soil is harder to work, two animals are needed. In countries where agriculture is mechanized the traction of the plows is made by farm tractors.

Modern ploughs

Today, it is possible to carve thousands of acres in a day thanks to agricultural tractors. The plows are getting bigger and wider allowing for faster work on bigger lands. Most of them are reversible and mounted on a tractor. They can be equipped with up to seven mouldboards (eighteen if not mounted). They have adjustable width and depth controlled directly from the tractor There are many advantages to using the plough: good aeration of the soil by loosening it. It also unable to work on the land without leaving the wheel tracks and ruts the way it occurs when using various harvesting equipment. It eases the seeding process and increases the quality of the soil.