Tillage tools range from walk behind garden tillers to cultivators over 50 ft wide. Tillage acres per hour depends on width and speed, but also on how much draft the tool needs. A tool that pulls hard runs narrower and slower for the same tractor, and that trade decides the rate more than the brochure width does.
The question to answer before you start is not only how wide the tool is. It is how wide and how fast your tractor can pull it in your soil, at what efficiency, and how many passes the job needs. This guide works through each of those in turn, with a rate table you can use to plan the job.
Table of Contents
Tillage Acres Per Hour: Typical Rates
Tillage acres per hour equals width in ft times speed in mph times efficiency divided by 8.25. The table below repeats the live rate table, with every figure recalculated and confirmed.
| Implement | Width | Speed | Efficiency | Acres per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walk behind tiller | 2 ft | 1 mph | 65 percent | 0.16 |
| Tractor rotary tiller | 6 ft | 2.5 mph | 75 percent | 1.36 |
| Moldboard plow, 4 bottom | 6 ft | 4.5 mph | 80 percent | 2.62 |
| Disc harrow | 14 ft | 5 mph | 80 percent | 6.79 |
| Chisel plow | 15 ft | 5 mph | 80 percent | 7.27 |
| Field cultivator | 24 ft | 6 mph | 85 percent | 14.84 |
| Vertical tillage | 30 ft | 8 mph | 85 percent | 24.73 |
Read the table from top to bottom and the range is striking. A walk behind tiller covers 0.16 acres per hour, while vertical tillage covers 24.73 acres per hour. That is a gap of more than 150 times in tillage acres per hour, and it comes from width, speed and the depth of work combined. The right tool for the job is the one whose rate fits the area and the window, not the largest tool you can borrow.
Use the tilling acres per hour calculator to model your own tool, and the Acres Per Hour Calculator for any implement. Use the how to calculate acres per hour guide for the full method, to compare tillage rates with mowing, planting, spraying and harvesting.
Primary Versus Secondary Tillage
Primary tools such as plows and chisels work deeper and pull harder, so they run narrower and slower for a given tractor. Secondary tools such as cultivators and harrows work shallow, pull less per foot and can be wider and faster. That is why a field cultivator may cover four times the tillage acres per hour of a chisel plow on the same tractor. In the table above, the field cultivator at 14.84 acres per hour covers about twice the rate of the chisel plow at 7.27, and the gap grows on tractors where the chisel must run narrower still.
Primary tillage breaks ground, buries residue and opens deep soil. It is slow because the soil resists it at every foot. Secondary tillage levels, firms and prepares the seedbed after the primary pass. It is fast because it works shallow ground that is already loose. The two jobs are not interchangeable, and their rates should never be compared as if they were.
The order matters too. A primary pass that is done well makes the secondary pass faster, because the ground is even and the tool can hold speed. A primary pass done in wet soil leaves clods and ruts that slow every pass after it. Time saved by rushing the first pass is often lost twice over in the passes that follow.
Draft and Tractor Power
Draft is the pull the tool needs, and it sets the practical limit on width and speed. A tool that needs more draft than the tractor can give will slip, slow down or force a narrower width. The rate in the table assumes the tractor and tool are matched. An unmatched pair will run below the table rate, however good the operator is.
Match implement size to tractor power before you plan the job. Read the tractor and implement matching guide for the method. If the tractor labours, the engine note changes and the wheels slip, the tool is too wide or too deep for the conditions. Narrow the tool, shallow the depth or wait for drier ground, and the rate will recover.
Soil type changes draft as much as tool choice does. Heavy clay pulls harder than light sand at the same depth, so the same tool runs slower in clay. Moisture changes it again: dry hard ground pulls hard, wet ground pulls hard and smears, and fit soil pulls least. The rate you plan should match the soil in front of you, not the soil in the brochure example.
Planning Multiple Passes
Most tillage jobs need more than one pass, and the total time is the sum of the passes. Work each pass separately, because each has its own tillage acres per hour from its own width, speed and efficiency, then add the hours together.
Take 200 acres with one chisel pass at 15 ft, 5 mph and 80 percent, and one cultivator pass at 24 ft, 6 mph and 85 percent. The chisel rate is 7.27 acres per hour, so the chisel pass takes 200 divided by 7.27, which is 27.5 hours. The cultivator rate is 14.84 acres per hour, so the cultivator pass takes 200 divided by 14.84, which is 13.5 hours. The total is 41 hours. The slow pass decides the job, because the chisel pass takes twice as long as the cultivator pass.
Try a smaller job with two lighter passes. A 100 acre field with one disc pass at 6.79 acres per hour takes 100 divided by 6.79, which is 14.7 hours. A cultivator pass after it at 14.84 acres per hour takes 100 divided by 14.84, which is 6.7 hours. The total is about 21.5 hours from the unrounded rates. The disc pass is again the slow one, and it takes more than twice as long as the cultivator pass.
| Job | Pass 1 hours | Pass 2 hours | Total hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 acres, chisel then cultivator | 27.5 | 13.5 | 41 |
| 100 acres, disc then cultivator | 14.7 | 6.7 | About 21.5 |
| 100 acres, plow then disc | 38.2 | 14.7 | About 52.9 |
The third row shows the cost of deep tillage. A 100 acre plow pass at 2.62 acres per hour takes 100 divided by 2.62, which is 38.2 hours, and the disc pass after it adds 14.7 hours, for a total of about 52.9 hours. Deep tillage is slow, and the plan must show that plainly before work starts.
Turn pass hours into days with productive hours. A 41 hour job at 8 productive hours a day needs about 5.1 working days, because 41 divided by 8 is 5.1. At a 60 percent share of workable days, it needs about 8.5 calendar days. Read the daily vs hourly guide for the full conversion.
Getting More Done
Till only when soil is fit. Working wet soil is slower and causes compaction, and the damage lasts longer than the time saved. The squeeze test is simple: soil that holds together in a ball and smears is too wet, and soil that crumbles is ready. Wait for fit soil and the tool will hold speed, the finish will be better and the next pass will be faster.
Ask whether every pass is needed. Fewer passes save fuel, time and soil structure. A field that needs only a cultivator pass should not get a chisel pass first out of habit. A field that needs a chisel pass should get it once, well, rather than twice, poorly. Each pass you remove saves its full hours from the plan, and the slow pass you remove saves the most.
Keep the tool sharp and set correctly. Worn discs, bent shanks and wrong depth settings all raise draft and lower speed. A morning spent on setup can save hours in the field, because a tool that runs true holds its speed all day. Check depth across the full width, not only at the centre, because an uneven tool works one side harder than the other.
Work long passes where you can to lift tillage acres per hour. Short fields with many turns lower efficiency for tillage just as they do for every other operation. Read the field shape guide to see how turns and headlands set the rate, and plan the longest passes first.
Tillage in the Garden Versus the Field
Garden tillage and field tillage share a formula but not a scale. A walk behind tiller at 0.16 acres per hour covers about 7,000 square ft per hour, which is a large garden bed, not a field. A tractor rotary tiller at 1.36 acres per hour covers a market garden in a day. Field tools start where garden tools stop, and the rate table shows why: width and speed jump together once a tractor is involved.
The same planning method works at any scale. Work out the rate, divide area by rate for hours, then turn hours into days with productive hours. A garden job that takes 2 hours is planned the same way as a field job that takes 41 hours. The only difference is the size of the numbers.
Small tools also lose more time to turns and setup, because the field or bed is small and the passes are short. Use the lower efficiency bands for small ground: 55 to 65 percent for small or irregular areas, and 65 to 75 percent where passes are short but the ground is open. The ideal band of 85 to 90 percent belongs to large rectangular fields with GPS guidance, not to a garden bed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How many acres per hour can a disc harrow cover?
A: A 14 ft disc harrow at 5 mph and 80 percent efficiency covers 6.79 tillage acres per hour. A 100 acre field at that rate takes 100 divided by 6.79, which is 14.7 hours for the disc pass alone.
Q: Why is a field cultivator faster than a chisel plow?
A: Because it works shallow and pulls less per foot, so it can be wider and faster on the same tractor. The field cultivator in the table covers 14.84 acres per hour, against 7.27 for the chisel plow.
Q: How long does a two pass tillage job take?
A: Add the passes together. For 200 acres, a chisel pass takes 27.5 hours and a cultivator pass takes 13.5 hours, for a total of 41 hours.
Q: What is primary tillage?
A: Primary tillage is deep work with tools such as plows and chisels that break ground and bury residue. It pulls hard and runs slower. Secondary tillage is shallow work with cultivators and harrows that level and prepare the seedbed.
Q: Should I till wet soil?
A: No. Working wet soil is slower, causes compaction and leaves clods that slow later passes. Wait until the soil crumbles instead of smearing, then work it.
Q: What is the metric rate for a cultivator?
A: Hectares per hour equals width in m times speed in km per hour times efficiency divided by 10. A 4 m cultivator at 10 km per hour and 80 percent efficiency covers 3.2 hectares per hour.
Tillage rewards the plan that counts every pass. Work out each tillage acres per hour rate, add the hours, turn them into days, and ask whether every pass is needed. The fastest tillage job is often the one with one pass fewer.
