A dead furrow is the resulting ditch created when a farmer finishes plowing a field or a specific land section. Because the mouldboard plow throws soil to one side, working outward from the center leaves a double-width trench at the outer edges where the soil was thrown away in opposite directions. It creates an uneven field surface that usually requires additional tillage to level out before planting.
Heard on the job
You need to make an extra pass with the disc harrow to fill in that dead furrow, otherwise the planter will bounce right out of the ground.
Insider tip
Good tractor operators plan their plowing patterns carefully to minimize the number of dead furrows in a field.
Also heard as
- finish furrow