How Much Land Can A Horse Plough In A Day?

We have a quarter acre to plough with our horses. It’s heavy clay soil and still wet from the winter, but reasonably level and well worked over the years. It took us two hours in total to plough which equates to an acre a day - which is what the books tell you a ploughman/woman and their horse could plough in a day. Except we needed two small horses and two of us. And we did it in two sessions..
TAGS: how to, self-sufficiency, organic, smallholding, homesteading, sustainability, grow, DIY, GIY, rural, farming, country, vlog, home grown, small scale, hands on, west, cork, Ireland, Irish, small farm, how many acres, can a horse plough, plow, in a day, field, quarter acre, ploughing, plowing, soil, earth, ploughman, horse, plow horse, plough horse, Irish Cobs, 14 hands, ponies, heavy horses, furrow, plough, ploughshare,

[@bilbo_gamers6417]

Farming without actual machines is seriously some of the most difficult work you can do. It can be done though.

[@phillipcleaver7063]

One man , one horse , one acre a day , because both man & horse get tired walking along / pulling the plough , & need a break mid - morn & mid afternoon , you can,t work a horse all day like you can a tractor , the horse is alive & needs the breaks , my grandfather was an english warwickshire ploughman & he told me . He never drove a tractor in his life .

[@phillipcleaver7063]

My old Grand-dad said this was how the area measurement of 1 acre was defined , from the normal area that one man & one horse , ploughing with one furrow , could stand to do in one day , just thought you,d like to know ! Best Regards .

[@lileti2199]

My great grandpa died in 1968 but he plowed about 8 acres every year with a horse for about 60 years

[@dv9239]

Better get oxen then Zebus can plough 6 acres a day easily

[@marquis2831]

Love it! "We were tired, and the horses were tired, and no one remembered the beer."

[@gotg1733]

Marquis hi.

[@NIcholasparker88]

Plowmen are known to strike when no one remembers the beer

[@allenelswick6961]

A good horse man never over works his horses plowing, pulling logs. Back in the days a good horse was worth a lot of money and a cow and hog were not worth much at all. A man's good horse is why laws were passed to hang horse theives. Our land of plowing was bottom land and also hill side land. I can remember at the cane mill a small pony horse was used hooked to a gin pole that kept the horse making the same circle around the cane press squezzing out the juice from the cane. You would knell or sit down to keep the gin pole from wacking you in the head. Making mollases was a big event where i lived and now i don't know of any place around that still makes mollases.

[@rjp985]

Bob is doing a great job at supervising.

[@benmatthews3732]

Wonderful video yet again! Thanks for sharing. You give me new appreciation for the farmers who grow my food. (Beth)

[@jayjenkins6021]

Farming is hard work that is devetely underappreciated. Thanks for the tutorial.

[@kcphillips1000]

You've made quite a nice job of that , good depth and berried most of the rubbish , well done !

[@WayOutWestx2]

Many thanks!

[@bradypeters9231]

I really enjoyed and needed to see this video, especially Easter weekend. I'm a little down being on the road for work. It puts into perspective and reminds me to give thanks to those that came before me in the United States and my relatives across the pond. Well done!!!

[@WayOutWestx2]

thanks, Brady. Hope you feel better soon. (Dig some soil?!)

[@chuffaaskew5678]

Well done to you and the horsies, I am always pleased to see hard work

[@small-timegarden]

Moral supportive dogs. They did a lot. Keeping company

[@GrizzlyGroundswell]

Every now and again a gem like this video pops up in my recommended videos. Outstanding!

[@PickleRick65]

If memory serves, during the middle ages, an acre was understood to mean the amount of land a man could plow in one day. 60ft. wide x 660ft long, using at least 2 oxen. They figured out that the fewer the turns the better. Also, they had wooden plows with an iron shear. Your equipment is actually much, much better. Hope this helped 👍👌

[@janetbedford7562]

Hats off to you people, horses (Cobb ponies), AND dogs ! Well done. I really love watching and learning about working the land with the old-style ploughs and horses. Thanks so much for sharing. God bless you, too.

[@ronmartinmhg2804]

Another interesting Video. When I first moved to Thailand I was persuaded to buy a water buffalo. I had a helper then and he did the persuading. He got me to try my hand at ploughing. The old type plough. One hand for the plough, one hand for the buffalo. Needless to say I failed miserably.

[@olamartin701]

And hats off to you for making this video and this fascinating channel! Cheers from across the North Sea. :)

[@stepheniek]

Well done! It looks like hard work but the kind of work that leaves you feeling immensely satisfied and fulfilled when you're done.

[@WayOutWestx2]

stepheniek Absolutely!

[@glendapeterson1180]

This was great. Thank you so much. My grandfather plowed with mules, but I don't know how much he did in a day.

[@georgiashuler1809]

Thank you. This video is so helpful, and also charmingly honest, that I subscribed within the first 2 minutes. :)

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thanks, Georgia. Welcome aboard : - )

[@harishhari9635]

Http

[@iirepoii]

The Dog is a good Sheppard, too 😂

[@hasdrubal121]

Well done, appreciate your vids. Bravo

[@mikewalrus4763]

Good on you for having a go and showing your "wee" mistakes!

[@Mftw767]

You two did very well ploughing.

[@Mftw767]

I just asked an old friend of mine about ploughing with horses. I showed him your video. He says you both did very very well. And also practice will be your best teacher..

[@oldtimer43]

What a great video, hats off to you I'm mightely impressed

[@chris24hdez]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing!

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

Another great video.. Your channel is really amazing.. Keep up the good work.. Greetings from the north of Ireland..

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thank you. We seem to be the only ones in our part of Ireland that still use horses like this.

[@Boz1211111]

cool thanks for showing and detailed explanation

[@Prutsprogrammeur]

Love your voice. (and your horses off course) ;-)

[@SANTONSANTO]

Very informative, love & thanks

[@MrBfg1978]

This is a very nice video.great job.

[@tomzeedee]

I liked this, it ended well with the job done although i must admit it got off to a shaky start. Well done

[@fortbumper]

beautiful horses ! for us we chosed to build our soil healthy now we do not need to plow any long that help a lot and not to say more productif ...thank you for the video as we used to do that way to .

[@meehan302]

Very impressive and a great Video and memorable. The Plough men were were great . Here you can still get a Ploughman's Lunch in pubs

[@WayOutWestx2]

Patrick Meehan thanks Patrick - yes, I miss a good ploughman's lunch. With pickle.

[@rib_rob_personal]

What a cute dog! I love how soft it looks. You all and the horses did a fantastic job.

[@farmerbob9572]

I liked your plowing video. The reason I did was because you had a story behind it. Enjoyed you accent and thought the whole video was very creative. It actually inspired me to make a video of my own.

[@WayOutWestx2]

+Farmer Bob Nice video, Farmer Bob - and wonderful horses. We're jealous of your flat light soil too. More videos, please?

[@hiscifi2986]

Well done the team.. Hope you give the field a good rattling with the harrows. If you were using a 9 inch plough, you would walk 11 miles to do 1 acre.... The Maths... 1 acre = 220 yards x 22 yards. so in the 22 yards width you make 88 furrows each 1 furlong long.. ( 8 furlongs in a mile.) 88 / 8 = 11.

[@contreeman]

YA'LL ARE BETTER THAN I AM I COULD EVEN WALK THAT MUCH. GREAT JOB GOD BLESS

[@WayOutWestx2]

contreeman Thanks!

[@martynvharris3079]

Neat ploughing and beautifully trained horses. And that was done pretty fast. We have a coloured Winnie (Winston), he will work in shafts but I wouldn't trust him in a plough! You made a comment about availability of old equipment, we have an old potato puller and a rake but weren't planning on bringing them with us - maybe we should.

[@jeffreyplum5259]

Hats off to your HR ( Horse esources ) department on seeing the right horse got the right assignment. There actually are plows with opposite plowshares. One share turned earth to the right as yours does. The other share rolled earth to the left, for return passes. You did all great work. If you turned that lot by hand, my hat is off to you. And my best wishes to the prettiest 'Ploughman' in the land..

[@WayOutWestx2]

Jeffrey Plum Aw thanks Jeffrey! No, wait - you probably mean Sandra, don't you?! : - )

[@mitchellw6811]

If you know about hands and breeds and whatnot, you already know infinitely more about horses than I do. I'm just here to learn more about agriculture during quarantine

[@timestandingstill]

You did it! Without a beer even! Brovo!

[@disaacfaddis734]

Good job ya'll!

[@arwelagrimachinery]

As you work a plough the soil will polish it until it shines like a spoon at that point it will work better, not stick and be easier to pull, to help speed that up you can sand the rust off and even polish the steel mouldboard so it will work better faster

[@WayOutWestx2]

YOu're right, of course. We've tried polishing and greasing the share before we bigin and it didn't make any difference. It all depends how wet/sticky the soil is.

[@dreb6818]

Great job awesome

[@pcharliep61]

I was born a farmer but ended up an engineer. I love your video :) my best wishes.

[@WayOutWestx2]

+Charlie Pace Thanks Charlie - both such interesting professions. Best wishes to you too! Tim and Sandra

[@MrGuy-cp1gt]

Yes the horses made the difference when the early settlers came , it was the biggest thing , here in canada , didn't just out of the blue had a horse. Nice job folks ! May the GOOD LORD BE WITH YOU IN ALL THINGS !

[@czyhrs]

Nice looking horses. I enjoyed watching it since I have plowed many , many days all day long with mules and a turn plow many years ago.. MOST of the time the larger/stronger mule / horse goes on the right side or walks in the furrow since it is harder .

[@WayOutWestx2]

czyhrs Thank you Czyhrs. We just don't have enough land to do much practicing on, but they remember from one year to the next who should be in the furrow.

[@czyhrs]

WayOutWest Blowinblog Yes they will remember .If they plowed daily ,they will learn how to pull the plow so much easier and they get stronger from all the work.Those horses have excellent temperament and attitude.Good luck and keep the good videos coming.Thank you also for your nice reply.

[@kisoumatake]

It is very good. I also do　traditional Japanese horse plowing in Japan.

[@gromosawsmiay3000]

I remember when I did horse plowing with my grandpa 25 years ago in central europe, we did it on 7 ha it was hard work but gave me lot of pleasure. now this time gone, because now my family members plowing with air conditioned tractor.

[@ayishas4385]

There are air conditioned tractors? I thought being open to the air was what made tractors air conditioned! Guess I'm behind the times.

[@camelia9802]

Very interesting. Looks like back breaking work. Farmers in days goneby must have been hardy folk.

[@chokkan7]

My dad and his family worked two sections of land when he was growing up; they had a large mule barn for the number of animals they needed. He said that he and each of his four brother would hitch up a team of four mules apiece and were then each expected to plow four acres per day when they were turning a crop's residue under, so this is probably in line with that...

[@WayOutWestx2]

Wow. Hats off to them. That was a lot of work.

[@orlandocuellar437]

My dad in 1970 will plow 8 hectare or 20 acres in 14 days in mexico with two mules riverbottom land across the border from Del Rio Texas

[@chokkan7]

@@orlandocuellar437 , As a kid, I enjoyed plowing like that (although my dad drove the Massey-Harris Pony, and I walked behind the plow). I wouldn't want to do much of it today...

[@orlandocuellar437]

Yeah me neither jajaj

[@PopleBackyardFarm]

I just subscribed to your channel :)

[@connorstreeval1981]

Pople BackyardFarm

[@user-ku1ny1tr5m]

Молодцы ребята, отлично работаете. Если бы вам трактор жить былобы легче. С меня лайк.

[@scottwilson9817]

Love it

[@jacknifedbl]

That's an easy answer!! More than I can a day!!!

[@armorvestrus4119]

Modern plows turn the soil to deep but the ox and plow cannot be beat even in this age.

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

My dad was from Donegal and was ploughing on the island of Arran in Scotland with a Clydesdale horse. Suddenly ,the farmer appeared and told him to take the horse home for them all to celebrate the end of the war which had just been announced on the radio.

[@WayOutWestx2]

A huge day in everyone's life back then. Lovely image, Michael.

[@michaelmcclafferty3346]

Absolutely.

[@matiasguerrero2019]

Good horses

[@jasonhariawan2603]

Yeah you did ! Mission accomplished

[@scottwilson9817]

Just shows why people was so strong in the old days

[@saintinrussia7580]

Where are you guys locates or from, you have an interesting accent, very welcoming though it is?

[@eastsidemuu]

my dream! :-( i hope i can do this 1day god willing

[@robertrainford301]

So it's been 2 years. Did. you give it a go? How'd it go?

[@eastsidemuu]

@@robertrainford301 still working toward it! Thanks 😊

[@ethan.000]

@@eastsidemuu I hope it goes well mate!

[@David__.]

Good morning from South Africa. Is it true that a horse pulls from it's front legs, more than the hind legs? Is it risky, in terms of injury, to use a 'regular' horse to do light plough work/pull a light cart with some lumber on? Thanks!

[@zestoslife]

Have you read the books Plowmans Folly. Based in the UK 50 odd years or more ago. Writes about how plowing every year isn't wise. Was an interesting read, but since I don't plow (lacking horses / land / reason) it was a moot point. But might be something to check out in old second hand book shops etc.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Will do, thanks David.

[@rosemarycarter2415]

WOW! This is so cool- you never know what if we had to go back to the old ways? Then you would be ahead...

[@nevillemason6791]

A furrow long = 1 furlong. 8 furlongs = 1mile = 1,760 yards. Therefore a furrow long is 220 yards.

[@marthaanderson2656]

Dessert for everyone!

[@actonscottfarm4956]

hi guys, i always say to folk that come to the farm that the acre a day would be fine on sandy loam in a 30 acre field but here in the hills, on small fields, with clay etc. then3/4 acre is more realistic, and we can afford to go easy on the horses. if you take a grinder with a wire brush on it to your mould board, and oil it, you might get less sticky mud on it (sometimes!) i find a apint scraper is good to get the sticky off. love what you're doing :)

[@WayOutWestx2]

Acton Scott Farm Yes, that sounds about right. I've often been tempted to try adding a few tons of sands in some of the beds in the kitchen garden to see what difference it makes - but it's an experiment that will have to wait for more money. We've tried oiling/greasing/polishing the mould-board and any effect it had lasted about 10 feet! Really we should just wait till it's a bit drier - but that may never happen : - )

[@rubygray994]

WayOutWest Blowinblog Or ... you could plough when the soil is even wetter, its own lubricant in fact. They don't call clay slip "slip" for nothing! Seems like then, the sod cuts easier, hangs together better as it turns over, and falls off the mouldboard easier. My old horse farming neighbour told me this is when ploughing should be done. He ploughed 30 acres in one month with his 2 horses, then left it fallow until it dried out enough to disc over.

[@WayOutWestx2]

Ruby Gray Interesting, but not sure our horses could physically turn that weight over, plus the suction involved, and the slipperiness(sp) for their feet... Luckily, we have another year to go before we need worry about it again : - )

[@actonscottfarm4956]

Ruby Gray hi Ruby, that is correct, there is almost no limit to how wet the soil can be. depending on your soil type. we're all hoping for the perfect conditions, but they always come when you don't need them.

[@actonscottfarm4956]

WayOutWest Blowinblog when they can't get the power down because they are slipping is as you say, when it is definately too wet to plough. :)

[@MadeinPanjab1699]

Love from India Punjab Guys

[@rajshekarrajshekar7342]

I think , dog with white black patches did the hardest of ploughing ...😊

[@oeurnsavat3400]

good

[@redtussock]

Worked for an Irish Teamster in NZ ... seems to me your lacking a bit of Hoprse Power there ..

[@gofarmers9707]

Funny dog

[@robertcelik5209]

the dog is helping as well

[@Larryd1001]

This just show how hard it really was to produce food before modern farming equipment. I do think that Bob the dog could have helped little more though :)

[@WayOutWestx2]

Larryd1001 well exactly! : - )

[@cacatr4495]

Bob could have fetched the beer.

[@roguishpaladin]

"This made a lot of difference, especially when we forgot to reconnect the plough" - Yep, that'll make it easier. Heh.

[@coburnlowman]

I just clicked to see how to do it. As a kid I lead the horse for one last middle busting of sorghum cane. No way unless gasoline or Diesel was out of reach would I do this tho. I have a little Sears Suburban to plow little gardens for folks that I can't get a bigger tractor in there yard that would still run circles around this. I'm not knocking it if you have pet horses that you wanna keep just to have.

[@lilyfurley9833]

just think this was a normal days work back in the day now we have huge cultivators and ploughs doing it

[@Pluschap]

I wasn't familiar with that definition of an acre. A "dunam" in the eastern Mediterranean and the middle east is the area that one man can plough in a day with a single ox plough. It was always a quite variable measure, depending on how rocky or clayey the soil might be, but it usually came out to something around a quarter acre. So if an inexperienced team like you could plough an acre a day, there is clearly a huge advantage in the team - twice as many participants goes at least four times as fast! That's impressive.

[@Yitzhakhazak]

A "dunam" is a Turkish word, meaning a number of turns back and forth, today limited to 1000 m2. Very probably based on the surface of the land a man could plough in a day. The animals that pulled the plough were surely not as powerful or fast as these magnificent cold-blooded horses that are not typical of the Middle East. Ploughs, very often, were made with wood and were not as efficient as the steel equipment. Nevertheless, wheat was the main grain of the region. Beautiful work, by the way.

[@Dinger154]

A guy asked me recently "how big is an acre" ? So I told him "a furlong by a chain". That confused him, I can tell ya. I just walked away.

[@Pluschap]

I tell them it's ten square chains, then walk away while thery're trying to sort that one out :D

[@leroybullied7705]

If a chain is 16.5' and a furlong is half a mile it would be right. I looked it up and an acre surveyed is 43,560 sq/ft but apparently in Ireland it is 70,557 sq/ft .

[@61paule]

After a little experience, the horses will eventually figure out what is expected of them, making the process a tiny bit easier. What was planted there?

[@WayOutWestx2]

Paul P This is what we planted Paul.. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ham1pICQg56Uf5o

[@jasonrongpi633]

In India, we don't use horses to plough the field but only oxen and buffaloes. it must be harder to train horses than oxen and buffaloes, isn't it?

[@meiu7652]

do the dogs serve a purpose in this process? they seemed to be just hanging out with you all haha

[@alanwebster7908]

Where are you in Ireland. What is your nearest town.

[@puff_gacha305]

I am getting a horse soon 🗣

[@timestandingstill]

I have a very old and heavy cast iron horse plow.

[@WayOutWestx2]

+Jim Kingdon Do you use it, Jim?

[@timestandingstill]

No, but I would like to. Don't have a horse. LOL. I have new white oak Amish made handles for it. I'm thinking about painting it up nicely and put it in the yard for yard art. Unless someone offers me the right price for it.

[@allenelswick6961]

Where i live back in the day most plowing was done with one mule pulling a furring plow no one used the big turning plows like you see in this video. You plowed for your self and plowed for other people who did not have a mule and plow. There were a few people who had farming tractors and had a lot of ground to plow and these people grew a lot of each thing they planted. The one draw back to owning a horse or mule and that is a good pasture and either you had the money to buy all the feed these animals needed or you plowed up and planted enough acres of corn to feed them year round and saved some of the corn to be ground into corn meal. I have stood in the back of a truck bed with a pitch fork and throwed a lot of hay and soybeans up into the barn loft.

[@redtussock]

Please no Offence Old Pat would have loved your video .... yes you need a good furrow horse to make a good job ... looks like you had one maybe .... Pat ran a 6 horse team .... they could plough a field a day without him .... :-)

[@cowpoke02]

animals do the work .wetthe ground rune herd on it to mix it up .. easier ways. they only p[lowed garden or 20 acres .. you did a lot there.. i would break the soil by planting green manure cover crops. hemp . braley is good too. grass based so broad cast instead of p[low . thialand plow looks th best , real small it flips small sliver off each pass but it takes no effort for the animal or the human . at worse plow when grounds not to hard .. smaller plow goes easier and faster and can go all day . just see a video . cool man keep up the good work . i ever do it i get thailand plow . less is more and faster ,.. scythes as well. goats pigs to clear and plow . animals feet , for wheeler treads . super c treads . mud it up when grounds soft .. wish i could do it over again i'd have a cow and ox and horse or so .. one cow is plenty .. sell extra hay ... few animals you could harvest it by hand and old tractor or animals . time feed work animals ... hopefully i get back to it one day .. big farming kills you .. under paid as well. god bless. now i watch you tube and comment on videos. haha

[@scott98390]

Ya forgot the beer... *twice*! :-) Is it possible to run the plow _and_ guide the horses with just one person? Having two people seems much easier; I can't imagine trying to do all that by oneself!

[@WayOutWestx2]

Scott Baker In theory it's possible, in practice it's beyond our skills for now. good job we have each other!

[@scott98390]

WayOutWest Blowinblog It's what makes life worth living, having each other. :-)

[@rubygray994]

Scott Baker The old ploughmen would steer both horses and plough, all day, 6 days a week. I guess their horses knew the job so well that they could strike as straight a line as the ploughman. But I have seen some would-be horsemen trying to do both, and the patient horses suffered bleeding mouths after a couple of hours. Tim & Sandra, your game little horses are doing a wonderful job. Round these parts, the rule is, 2 big Shire horses and one man could plough one acre per day. I guess they would start off much steadier knowing they had a full day to pull that dead weight via a hard collar on their shoulders. A little work spread over several days is kinder to horses that don't work 6 full days every week.

[@jasperedwards3341]

how about a walking tractor,bcs/grillo.ferrari,vari,agzat,dakr panther,gutbrod/agrozet mf70,gravely,agria,holder.hako,hansa/schmiedag,belarus 09h .motor sich,neva, the list is endless i got a belarus 09h they been making the same model since 1977 same as long as lada

[@aWildSteveO]

acre literally translates as "the amount of land that one man and one horse can plow in one day"

[@gracesprocket7340]

Actually ox team and plough. In heavy soil 8 oxen. This large team could plough a fur(row)long in one pass, veering to the left and doubling back to the right in each headland to plough the land in a clockwise circuit, raising the ridge of ridge and furrow. Later horse plough used smaller teams, so the was no need to veer the lands to permit turning, so new assarts or ploughing out the rigg and making a new field use straight lands. The height of an acre-breadth land might be as much as 6ft for the ridge above the dead furrow between two lands.

[@VideosofIrishFarmingLife]

Great video! Lovely to see the horses so gracefully plow the land. You've just got a new sub! We also upload farming videos to our channel, hopefully you hvae a peak..

[@WayOutWestx2]

Thanks, yes, we've subscribed a while now. Yours are lovely but they could be from a different country the land is so dry up there.

[@reenadamor3131]

BEAUTIFUL VIDEOS VILLEGE OLD KACCHA GAAR HOME BY RAJESH SINGH KHARADI 2019 JUNE

[@AndresMartinezZuniga27]

They still do this type of work in Mexico 🇲🇽

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

A horse or mule pulling a steel plow should exceed an acre a day. I think you proved that covering 1/4 acre in 2 hours in the most inefficient way. The acre a day plowing was an old standard with oxen and an iron point wood plow. Still, plowing an acre is an 8 mile walk.

[@abeonthehill166]

Can you solve in under ten minutes .....? A man ( or woman ) bought two horses for €860 . By selling one at 3/4 of it's cost price and the other at 4/3 of it's cost price, a total profit of €30 was achieved . How much did each horse cost ?

[@nub9688]

What in the world is Isabella Rossellini doing with that small farmer?

[@jasperedwards3341]

as you a bit of a inventer engineer you could make your own tractor

[@williamchristopher1560]

Ya know, if you would take a scraper and wire brush to the plow after you were finished, AND THEN, paint the share and moldboard with a paint, and then turn the plow over so that the moldboard sits on top and the handles and bema end on the ground, Id bet youd have a MUCH more satisfying time of plowing, and it wouldnt tire your horses as much.You surely realize, that, in the old days, horses tired out at plowing just as yours did, but got toughened up by the day.

[@WayOutWestx2]

+William Christopher We used to do pretty much exactly what you say but in fact it doesn't make any difference. Any paint/grease/rust on the share is rubbed off within a few yards of the start - certainly by the end of the first furrow. Thanks anyway.

[@ladypilliwick8179]

The acres where not square. ...they where maybe 150 yards. One horse or oxen could do an acre in about 5 hours. Then they where put to pasture to rest...... plowing 40 acres would take a month and a half..... it was a rough life