My property has 2 fields that were cleared over the past few years. 1 will be used for hay and the other for horses to graze. There has been a lot of heavy machinery on these areas over the past few years and I was thinking about renovating them to make sure grasses grow well. Has anyone ever used a pasture renovator like this?
I'm not sure if it does a good job, is easy to use or will create more problems for me.
Looks like a tiller harrow hybrid... What type of soil do you have and with all the heavy machinery, how compacted do you think it has become? If you have a big enough tractor that can drive the implement down and keep it down deep enough, I think it'll do a good job of break up the compaction. Do you have a finer finishing tool, like a york rake?
The soil has a lot of clay. 1 of the fields was cleared about 3 years ago grows grasses OK but has lots of weeds which needs to be addressed. I have about 20 dump truck loads of mushroom dirt on the field waiting to be spread and thought it would be good to work it into the soil with a renovator. The other field was cleared last fall so I don't know how it will produce. I have a 50hp Kubota tractor so pulling it shouldn't be a problem. I don't have finishing tool but was thinking of getting an aggressive chain harrow.
Do you have down pressure on your 3 point? My fields are heavy clay also but my 35 HP Kubota doesn't have the down pressure on the 3 point so my implements wont penetrate like they should. I have to make at least 2 passes. I've never seen one of those but if it'll get a bite, I'll bet it would work fine. You may have to put some weight on it.
I know that it's not a commonly used piece of equipment for farming, but a harley rake will get the fields baby butt smooth in a short amount of time. It's not a tool to use for incorporating soils like you want to do.
A disc with a cultipacker would smooth things out too. I used a harley rake to smooth the soil at my parents house before I spread out the grass seed. The rake that I used was 7'-6" wide.
youtube harley rake demo
For incorporation soils and perparing a field for planting grass or any small seed it is tough to beat a tiller.
Note that on the side of the machine it says "Hay King". These things are meant to renovate hay fields and pastures by ripping the soil to reduced compaction and allow better moisture absorption. Since they do this in strips, they leave most of the surface undisturbed keeping it from eroding. If you use a disk or tiller around your pond and get a heavy rain, most of that soil will end up in your pond.
To the OP, the Hay King should do an excellent job for what you want, but if you have heavy soil, your 50 HP tractor is going to have all it wants pulling it.
RobA, Bullhead is correct . The picture is of a type of subsoiler. It's use is to disturb hardpan, without doing much to the surface. I made a subsoiler, one single 1" thick plate & 24" long with a small sweep at the bottom. It takes all of a 75hp tractor to pull it through heavy clay soils. An aerator might be something to consider. They are made by Aerway. Paying some one to do it would be a lot less expensive.
http://www.aerway.com/index.html
My 3PH does not have down pressure. I was thinking if I could buy an implement for $1k to $2k which would be useful, didn't require much maintenance and could be used occasionally over the years I would get it. My original thought was to hire a local farmer (no idea if anyone local would do it) to disc or plow the field, drag it and reseed it.
My neighbor has a disc I can borrow and I was going to buy a chain harrow so maybe that's an option.
Sorry RobA, I didn't understand what you were trying to accomplish until I reread your post. To properly create a hay meadow & grazing area you may have to wait until next year. First step is Roundup the area early fall while grasses are still green. Then essentially farm it. Run a plow over it this fall. Then a disc. Then a field cultivator. Early next spring re Roundup the volunteer stuff & re disc & cultivator. Get your hands on a cultipacker & roll it. Put out your seed at the proper time & re cultipack. I've done this a few times with good success. I borrowed a neighbors plow & disc. I paid a neighbor to run his field cultivator over it. I bought a used cultipacker at an auction, fixed it up & used it. Lent it to my neighbor with the plow, etc. & figured we were even.
Good luck..du
David, you forgot about the rain dance needed.
Dave U is right on the money.
