Largest Operational Agricultural Plow - Manitoba Agricultural Museum sets world record
AUSTIN, Manitoba, Canada--Volunteers at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum have smashed world records by assembling and using a 66 bottom (77 foot wide) agricultural plow,
at the Manitoba Threshermen's Reunion and Stampede - setting the new world record for the Largest Operational Agricultural Plow.
Photo: Four 30-60 E Rumely steam tractors pulled a 66 bottom plow across a field north of the Reunion grounds. Then a modern New holland T-96-E tractor did the same - setting the new world records for the Largest Operational Agricultural Plow.All Photos courtesy of Ron and Brenda Samchuk
(enlarge photo)
The first plowing pass was by one-hundred-year-old 30-60 E Rumely OilPull tractors. The event originally called for 4 E Rumely OilPulls to pull the plow but rain earlier in the week degraded plowing conditions and a fifth tractor was needed.
As an encore, a single 535 HP New Holland 4 wheel drive tractor with ATI tracks pulled the plow to see if modern agriculture could compete with century old technology. (enlarge photo)
Despite being only one tractor, it pulled the plow admirably with 65 plow bottoms in the ground. "We were excited to break the record for the world's largest usable plow with 30-60 E Rumely OilPull tractors as they originally created this record in 1911," said Erron Leafloor, the plow's chief engineer.
"People came from across North America, Europe and Australia to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event," said Rumely Expo co-chair Elliot Sims,
"We can be very proud that the Manitoba Agricultural Museum is the holder of both world-class records."
Reunion Board President Chad Bodnarchuk describes the accomplishment as incredible and humbling. He credits the nearly 700 volunteers for making it happen. (enlarge photo) The plow was built from Canadian-made Cockshutt plows manufactured in Brantford, Ont., and former CEO Bill Cockshutt was on hand to drop the ceremonial first plow shear into the ground.
The equipment used in the record attempt consisted of a fully functional 66 bottom plow (with 14" plow bottoms), with a hitch system that allowed 5 antique "Rumely OilPull 30-60 Type E" tractors (identical to those used to set the first record in 1911) to attach to and pull on the plow at same time in order to muster the power and traction needed to pull the massive implement.
The plow used 6 pre-assembled antique Cockshutt brand plows, combined into one unit using a hitch designed and built by MAM volunteers, and was designed in such a way as to allow 4 of the five antique tractors to remain attached while turning it at the end of the field (just as a real implement would need to be turned).
The hitch was also designed such that a single tractor with enough horsepower and traction could pull it by itself through the field, and turn it at the end of the field by itself.
The previous Guinness World record for theLargest Operational Agricultural Plow was set by organizers of the Half Century of Progress Show in Rantoul, Ill., saw a plow consisting of 60 14" wide bottoms (the 14" indicates the width of land tilled by each individual plow unit, or " bottom") used to successfully till a patch of land on the show grounds.
Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the most combines used to harvest wheat on the same field at the same time: 200 combines were used in the attempt near Winkler, Canada. The Guinness World Record for combine harvesting was an impressive 551.6 tonnes of wheat harvested in eight hours at Castle Heaton Estates in Northumberland, UK.