A Semi-Mounted Reversible Plow is a large, heavy-duty agricultural implement used for primary tillage. It is one of the most fundamental tools for preparing soil for planting, designed to cut, lift, and completely invert the soil.
The primary goal of plowing is to perform the initial, deep cultivation of a field, setting the stage for subsequent seedbed preparation.
Soil Inversion: Its main function is to cut a “furrow” of soil and turn it completely upside down.
Residue Management: This inversion process is highly effective at burying crop residues (like corn stalks or wheat stubble), as well as weeds and manure, deep into the soil. This creates a clean, fresh surface.
Soil Aeration & Structure: It breaks up compacted soil layers (though not as deep as a subsoiler), aerates the soil, and can help improve its long-term structure and drainage.
“Semi-Mounted” Design:
Unlike a smaller “mounted” plow (carried entirely by the tractor), a semi-mounted plow uses its own large wheel in the middle or rear.
Benefits: This design puts less stress and lift-demand on the tractor’s 3-point hitch. It allows for the plow to be much longer and have more furrows (e.g., 5 to 12 furrows) than a mounted plow, enabling a much wider working width.
“Reversible” Mechanism:
The plow has two sets of “bodies” (the cutting parts) facing opposite directions.
At the end of a pass, the operator uses the tractor’s hydraulics to rotate (flip) the entire plow 180°.
Benefit: This allows the operator to return on the adjacent pass, always throwing the soil in the same direction. This is crucial for keeping a field flat and level, avoiding the large “dead-furrows” (trenches) and “back-furrows” (ridges) that non-reversible plows create.
Plow Bodies (Furrows):
These are the individual assemblies that cut the soil. The plow in your image appears to be a 5-furrow model.
Each body consists of a share (cuts horizontally), a moldboard (turns the soil), and a landside (absorbs side-draft).
Auto-Reset Safety System:
The plow in the picture appears to have a leaf-spring auto-reset system (a common “stone release”).
If a plow body hits a large rock or stump, this system allows the body to “trip” (hinge backward and upward) to avoid breaking. Once it passes the obstacle, the spring pressure automatically snaps it back into its working position.
Plowing is one of the most high-draft (power-demanding) jobs in farming. The power required depends heavily on soil type, depth, and the number of furrows.
A 5-furrow semi-mounted plow, like the one pictured, in medium-to-heavy soil would typically require a high-horsepower tractor in the range of 180 HP to 250+ HP.
