90ft Purdy’s LAND PLANE

[@404nitro]

It's always great to see seldom seen tools working. I have seen a few of these things on YT over the years, but not very many.

[@RiverbendBicycles]

We plowed, rolled, and land planed every acre of malt barley stubble that would be sugar beets the next year. Ours was an Eversman 50 foot long by 14 foot wide and had a lot more engineering built into it. As the wheels on the sides of the bucket raised and lowered into bumps and dips, the bucket would move the opposite by half as much. This would help cut off high spots and fill in low spots. There was also heavy spring pressure involved. Our farm was all furrow irrigation and is why we went to so much trouble.

[@ericjenjohnson]

What unique tool you don’t see everyday! Thanks for the ride along.

[@bigtractorpower]

This was a neat find. Old school iron with modern power.

[@lovetofly32]

I have and use an old Eversman land plane in kansas. Its probably 30 ft long and 10 ft wide. I love running it because it makes the fields so smooth. I cant wait to use it before i plant alfalfa.

[@roderickbrown149]

Where I grew up in Arkansas we called it floating. Yes I’m familiar with Dewitt,Arkansas and as a kid I remember going by the Purdy Company and seeing all the floats or land levelers that were built and waiting to be purchased.

[@bobbyallison2980]

Never seen this done for corn. Used to be a normal thing for rice fields here in Arkansas, but seems like scrapers are used more often now.

[@zacharbert6604]

They have been using these for years in eastern Arkansas for floating rice. The Reynolds dirt pans took off and do alot of the same work.

[@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210]

Great video btp. The biggest land plane I’ve seen is a 16x60 Scott(16 wide,60 long) and I thought it was massive. This 90 foot Long Purdy model was pretty impressive to see.

[@bigtractorpower]

This is the first land plane I have seen action. It was a fun find. Defiantly big.

[@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210]

@@bigtractorpowerthere’s a lot here in eastern N.C due to the way our drainage works. the average size is 14x50 or 12x40 though

[@dirtfarmer7472]

@@bigtractorpower You should go to eastern Arkansas in the rice country, they go across the field in 4 directions they need it to be flat, for flood irrigation.

[@thomasvogelgesang667]

Back in the mid 80’s, I worked for a sod farm. They had a Rain Plain, it was made in Mississippi. We had to plow the ground and then disc. We also went in three different directions. I believe the measurements were 12 feet wide and 50 feet long plus the tongue. It did a great job. Love your videos. I wish you and your family a blessed Thanksgiving.

[@constructionwatcher5381]

How fun to see a land plane again. We used them in the Sacramento Valley in California in the 1940s and 50s. We were using furrow irrigation and the field was "leveled" by contractors using earth moving equipment (not actually level, but with a slight slope so the water would run down the furrows). We used a land plane to finish off after the contractors were done, and maybe occasionally after that - I don't remember. I do remember what fun it was crossing raised railroad tracks when moving the thing between farms. The one we used was something like the same size as this, but quite different construction. It had a rigid rectangular frame and steel wheels, though I think rubber tires could be switched on for transport.

[@jacktice7287]

Tbh I’ve never seen one of these before, I honestly thought it was something homemade. It seems very effective and I’ve learned something new. Great video BTP

[@boomerang379]

They are primarily used in Arkansas rice farming country where they have been in use for decades.

[@CarlNielsen-iz8zu]

I farm vegetables in the Salinas valley California and we make two passes with a landplain as part of 19 total passes.

[@1214101]

We run land planes a lot in Southeast Missouri especially for rice ground. We would differ largely on the tillage prep work. Extremely rare to run a breaking plow, almost no one has one. Bean ground might just take 1 disking, corn for sure probably takes two diskings, or a disk ripper and a field cultivator or disk again, same for cotton ground. Rice might take 2 diskings and field cultivator and be lucky to land plane it in the fall. Most people don’t have a Purdy, there pretty rare. We use the 3 angle blades usually 16 or 18 ft wide. Most ground here is graded for row irrigation or 0 grade rice. I’ve never run a Purdy but for our graded ground with crown, I would think caution is important around the edges where turning. Land planes work well to bust up clods and root wad’s also.

[@sew1194]

Growing up in eastern North Carolina I saw them used in big fields to level out low spots. They were quite effective

[@GravyHucker]

Growing up in Eastern NC I've never seen them! What county are/were you from?

[@sew1194]

@@GravyHucker I lived in Columbus

[@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210]

Eastern N.C. here too. We level a lot of acres with our Scott landplanes. And there quite effective here

[@sew1194]

@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210 the one a big farm used to use near me was called a Rayne plane

[@GravyHucker]

@sew1194 Very familiar with Columbus. Never seen one in Wilson County but yalls fields are a lot bigger than ours. Best wishes.

[@JDseller1]

My wife is from southern Ohio. There is some ground there that they have to use sheet drainage to get the water off the fields. The top soil is maybe 10-15 inches thick with about 2-3 foot of yellow clay under it. So tiling a farm will not drain it as the water will not go through the clay soil. So they put in drainage ditches and then sloop the entire field to surface drain into those ditches. I know the one farmer that had a 120 ft. long 16 foot wide land plane. I do not remember the manufacture's name. It had cables that hooked to the hydraulic lifting cylinders and it level lifted all four tires at the same time.

[@zodszoo]

Growing up on small, small Farm Dad had a Farmall H and Allis Chalmers B. We borrowed my uncle's Oliver OC3 crawler for anything requiring grubbing out brush or dirt moving. Took awhile, but always did the job.

[@bigtractorpower]

Very cool. The OC3 was a good tracked tractor.

[@jamiegivens3970]

BTO! Hopefully they get you back up for more field action! Great iron!

[@bigtractorpower]

I decently plan too 😁👍

[@andrewlanman1709]

Seems to me that there would be a lot of wind erosion with that kind of powdery soil. It also seems that there would be a lot of compaction with that many passes of heavy machinery

[@arjanheer6970]

In the Western US tri-planes are used to level the ground. This is usually preceded by two passes of disking and rolling to improve soil working conditions. These implements can be up to 24’ wide in the bucket and around 40’ long. They work in all applications from the heavy clays of rice country to the sandy soils of orchard developments. Would be nice to see some of this work on the channel too.

[@davidiwanaga3050]

Once had a friend who farmed near us have an IRS auditor ask him which airport his land plane was parked at. True story.

[@wi.dave3812]

Interesting, never knew such a piece of equipment existed😀🇺🇸

[@bigtractorpower]

It is neat. I have come across them parked in fence rows. This was the first one I have come across in action.

[@boomerang379]

These are used almost exclusively in Arkansas rice farming country. I doubt many other areas would need it.

[@robertjd2208]

Time before Laser. In Aus they had a bucket not angled blades. Only worked the ground once before use but this was on fallow ground

[@Kenny-pm7qr]

Thats up in the Owensboro River bottoms ain’t it?

[@AkbarMoncongloe]

Amazing video

[@moneyandtimefreedom3352]

Damn that beautiful soil.

[@robincurwood]

I imagine that doing it is because the equipment you use there in the US as gotten so big. In the uk for instance we still have rig and furrow fields created by horse and plough. Which in my opinion could be levelled using a plough to effectively split the rig into the furrow,there by levelling the field?

[@zodszoo]

Oh that's one heck of a rig!! Cool!

[@bigtractorpower]

It was surprised to find one here in Kentucky. It was a fun day in the field.

[@greggergen9104]

It would be interesting to calculate the ROI on leveling a field. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, that was fairly flat, but did have a few low spots that drowned out. It had no rocks and fairly light soil so this would have been an easy operation.

[@colamity_5000]

My guess is that you have too be working with quite a large field in an area that's already quite level for it to be worth it. Only basing this on common sense and the fact I've not seen anyone leveling their fields ever where I'm from.

[@moneyandtimefreedom3352]

In Arizona where I’m from it’s very common. Our farms are already pretty level so they use it for grade especially irrigated like cotton and hay. Their final passes use a laser leveler to insure grade. That poor operator goes in small circles all day basically getting dizzy.

[@colamity_5000]

@@moneyandtimefreedom3352 really a laser level? That's fucking wild. Even "flat" fields in my area... well you'd just never get them anywhere close to that without fucking atomic bomb.

[@paulmartin8784]

Thanks for sharing this , never heard of it before

[@billycan8852]

Very interesting .

[@electriceye3942]

Covered a lot of ground with a 70’ Purdy many years ago.

[@karanjakamau57]

Thanks for the video never seen this machine before,at first couldn't figure out what kind of a machine it is

[@daneenmurf1043]

Irish farmers will recognise this as a land leveller, often used to prepare grass fields in advance of reseeding. Its unusual to see one in tillage ground

[@joelg8004]

That is mighty impressive.

[@SimonKL11]

I've never seen a land plane in action, but it looks pretty neat😉👍

[@moneyandtimefreedom3352]

In Arizona where I’m from it’s very common. Our farms are already pretty level so they use it for grade especially irrigated like cotton and hay. Their final passes use a laser leveler to insure grade. That poor operator goes in small circles all day basically getting dizzy.

[@coreyglasssr6240]

Really cool! Definitely different from Alabama or VA.

[@bigtractorpower]

It is an interesting process. Thank you for watching.

[@funnrun3399]

I like the bridge like style of the land plane

[@charleskittler4330]

The landlevelers are used in So Fla sod fields to level the grounds .

[@davidglaum2538]

How does this improve the crop yield enough to justify the cost of doing it?

[@boomerang379]

You’re not thinking from the right perspective. These are primarily used in Arkansas rice farming country. Ground is flat to begin with and needs all the help it can get to drain. Also, the levees from the previous rice crop need to be smoothed out. 😊

[@davidglaum2538]

@@boomerang379 That makes sense but don’t think it was mentioned in the video.

[@sean3223a]

Excellent, great video, thank you for sharing this/these. All.

[@rafamuszer9158]

So much interesing.

[@unclered5906]

Every time I watch these videos I feel like a kid in a candy store LOL i can't get enough of these videos

[@craigsibley8161]

Excellent video once again 👍👍👍

[@dustinlowry9075]

Jason Just a Great video. Thank you. Never seen one before. Jason should come out to Central California we use land planes a lot Keep the great work Love the Videos👍

[@jamesbarbour8400]

With all the tillage passes that have to occur before the Land Plane even sees any dirt, that's got to be one expensive operation to carry out - sure wouldn't want to be repeating it every year, that's for certain.

[@boomerang379]

These are used primarily in Arkansas rice country and yes we use them every year. Purdy lane planes are built in Arkansas.

[@jeffreyhollink985]

molbord plow and 1 pas whit ahcultivator

[@SamMaass-s5h]

Rice fields have to be flat too.

[@TheGondal86]

Who ever invented this is genius of highest order. God bless America

[@adamreyling6505]

Very interesting video!

[@carlpreston1680]

In the flood irrigated Southwest land planes are common and laser leveling or GPS leveling ,

[@WylinLynn]

We used to go through and tile the ground then rip it then go across it with the land leveler at least four to six times by the time we got done it was smooth and flat for the most part it stayed that way being tiled and flat never got wet enough to rut.

[@kylerayk]

I'll bet the sod farms use one of those to get their fields dead nuts flat. First time I've ever heard of and seen a chain harrow!

[@bigtractorpower]

Chain harrows are simple and effective. I have a full video on a 45ft Kelly Diamond Harrow posted at kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4rMpX2bg6eWd6Msi=VymjzZp9mLovTElQ

[@oldad6207]

Really "Big Tractor Power" today!

[@bigtractorpower]

It sure is 😁👍

[@johnsully3584]

How many horses you got on the Case there little feller?

[@philrizzo]

These will take out ripples that are close together and can be used to blend ridges with bottoms on rolling ground. Great for filling ruts and erasing what’s left of levees in flood irrigation. Once a field has been precision leveled I’d rather use GPS or laser for grade control. The only way those planes could pack more would be if they had a vibration device

[@kenwebber9429]

done once finished. nice

[@markreetz1001]

I've never seen one before and never do what it did if I had seen it. Lol! But thinking about some flat fields I've seen with drowned out spots. It makes sense.

[@jeremyswindell2330]

Great video jason!!

[@bigtractorpower]

Thank you Jeremy . This was a cool find for tillage equipment.

[@donaldsink8115]

I can understand the use of something like that if you're planting grass for a sod farm. Why does one need that for grain or corn planting though ? In the video it appears that the ground was more than ready.

[@bigtractorpower]

This field goes under several feet of water in the winter. You can see the high banks around it to contain water ways that help drain the water off in the spring. They want it completely level so that all the water drains off and the entire field dries at the same time. The leveling ensures that the water will not pool anywhere in the spring and delay planting. This land plane method is only done once and then the for years to come it will just be tillage in the fall and a secondary seed bed prep pass in the spring.

[@dirtfarmer7472]

Eastern Arkansas for the rice fields they flood the entire field 5-6 inches deep & plant with an airplane, it’s crazy to watch.

[@roryweber817]

Looks like it would be making that ground more hard

[@bigtractorpower]

They want to firm up the ground once the soil is moved into place. They want the ground really loose and soft in order for the landplane to move the earth where they needed to be in the field.

[@ScottPykare]

That's interesting. I've never seen one of those. Almost like a road grader I guess? They sure make a lot of passes over that field.

[@boomerang379]

Usually takes three trips.

[@jimmyhicks5458]

Those big pics were built not far from me in se ar. Some were built in mcgehee and some in dewitt

[@bigtractorpower]

Very cool.

[@frankscruggs4749]

Good video.

[@williamgreenway9893]

Have run a 24' Land leveler before, doe it count !

[@JoaoPires-pd9ot]

Isso é bom demais viu😮😅

[@Blackwellll3066]

Pretty cool

[@adnanchadhar8329]

Good video ❤

[@johnclarkkitner9556]

Never seen anything like that machine.

[@deweypowell2684]

Here in Eastern North Carolina the produce farmers have been using them for years

[@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210]

Good to see a fellow eastern N.C. fellow here. Yup love our Scott landplanes

[@deweypowell2684]

@@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210 I'm from the pickle capital of North Carolina Brother 😆 lol

[@Redneck_scientist_kp_1210]

⁠​⁠@@deweypowell2684down here in potato land in Tyrell county

[@kylekenan2321]

Looks like a big tow behind grader

[@bigtractorpower]

Yes. Very similar.

[@luke_8027]

Would an earth mover be more efficient?

[@bigtractorpower]

A scraper pan would move more earth than needed and take more time. This land plan is just scattering a small layer of soil to leave the field smooth. The field get several feet of water on it in the winter. They do not want it pool Kim spring when the water recedes.

[@dirtfarmer7472]

You’d use the earth mover 1 time then use 1 of these to maintain the level & smooth

[@sharpshooter7127]

I've seen them used on tobacco fields and a few cotton fields

[@SouthernFarmingTV]

We had a Reynolds that was similar to that one but better built and heavier. Was a bi tch to move down the road. Ours had 30.5x32 tires and was a high lift. Could walk under it.

[@caveman9555]

That one was built in the mid 70’s must not be to bad built

[@SouthernFarmingTV]

@@caveman9555 if you never had one it's hard to describe on here what it's like moving one when you not in the delta which we are not. The Reynolds was the most maneuverable when it comes to things like high center railroad crossings and ditches.

[@charliepyle1626]

Why?. The intensive tillage creates the hardpan. Perfect levelling is not worth the cost.

[@nicholaswieting9346]

I've never seen that before

[@oldretireddude]

Why do this ahead of a corn crop. I could see doing it ahead of crop that is harvested with a small grain header, but a corn header would not benefit from this.

[@angus4202]

looks like a bridge gurder to me

[@bigtractorpower]

It does share that resemblance.

[@piperdoug428]

Now they just use a 20ft pulldozer on RTK with site mapping

[@boomerang379]

That doesn’t work the same way this does.

[@piperdoug428]

@@boomerang379 oh?

[@jamesjolly7406]

👍👍

[@mikegill6214]

Only place I've ever seen land planes is on sod farms.

[@boomerang379]

They’re all over rice country.

[@paulofrancisco565]

👏👏👍👍🚜🚜👌👌

[@bigtractorpower]

😁👍👍👍👍