culmalachie because the plough is older than the tractor when it was designed the tractor pulling it would not have had draft control and uses the depth wheel on the plough to maintain a consistent depth, the draft control on my david brown tractor is disconnected when ploughing with a plough with a depth wheel, and a hard plough pan only develops if the ground is repeatedly ploughed in the same direction year after year which we don't have a problem here as the ground is very sandy loam being right next to a waters edge. The purpose of the ploughing match is to encourage competition as to who can complete the best job of ploughing on their respective plot. And is generally reploughed in the opposite direction by the farmer on completion eliminating any jobs that weren't up to standard

Thanks for that: OK with depth wheel for that reason - but why ADD a Ballast weight? ALSO a Plough Pan IS a plough pan - once created is going to be hard to destroy = need DEEPER cultivations: you say "The purpose of the ploughing match is to encourage competition as to who can complete the best job of ploughing" Surely then creating a Plough pan is a NOT going to be the BEST JOB ?

culmalachie adding ballast helps with quick penetration of the ground at either end of the plots getting the plough to its working depth quicker and the ploughing is judged on its outward appearance . A plough pan here is highly unlikely as the ground is not ploughed every year.... the other thing to remember is as more farmers move away from traditional cultivation for the reasons you provide the ploughing match with tractors over 60 years old is a chance for spectators to see a bygone art, there are ploughing matches are over the world, it's all done for enjoyment of the hobby

I’ll get dad to run me through it n let him see the video he’s done a few different types over the years

He”s “chipping “ with the rear body on his way back up the idea being when u build the crown up your front furrow sits up against the chip , if it’s too big lol on your subsequent runs and in theory if it’s done right your crown should be level