digitalmaster wrote:


I saw a show on discovery channel about the worlds largest tractors.IIRC
they used about 1 gallon per acre for one pass plowing.

Did you catch the width of the plow. Makes a little difference.

30' wide is approx.:
176/640 = .275 miles per acre.

Where 176 is the number of passes (1 mile each) with a 30' wide plow to
cover 640 acres (1 mi. sq.).

1 gallon per acre equals 1 gallon per .275 miles.
1/.275 = 3.64 gallons per mile (not miles per gallon).

Now I'll post this and then likely find somebody beat me to the punch.


Why assume a 30' plow? the tractors I saw would pull a 30 foot plow apart in
short order.There is such a thing as economy of scale.Just because someone
said 30 foot plow does not mean it has to be.Run the numbers with a 20 foot
and you will get even less efficiency.


For my own edification, shared:

20' wide
264/640 = .4125 miles per acre.

Where 264 is the number of passes (1 mile each) with a 20' wide plow
to cover 640 acres (1 mi. sq.).

1 gallon per acre equals 1 gallon per .4125 miles.
1/.4125 = 2.42 gallons per mile (not miles per gallon).

Counter- intuitive answer because the consumption was labeled as 1
gallon per acre. More distance is traveled with a narrower plow to
cover the same acre (area).