10 acres Tiller or Disk Harrow?

[Sawyer Rob]

10 acres is too much for tilling?? You guys are going to put me out of business, as I get called in to do jobs just like that!!

IF I already owned the tractor and tiller, that's what I would use!!

You don't have to go slow to till a field, you tiller guys must be use to tilling gardens!

10 acres is very doable, as you already own the equipment to do it. A year or two down the road, see how much money you are making to see if you will even continue to keep on farming, on such a small scale!

It would help greatly if you could talk to someone who does custom tilling, as set up for the tiller and having the right moisture in the ground REALLY makes a difference on what you end up with...

BTW, even when reclaiming old pastures, like this one,

I RARELY make more than two passes to "reclaim" a pasture like the one above...

I brush hogged it, tilled it with my Howard HR20, waited 5 days and tilled it again... Then the owner added chemical fert. per soil test, and hay seed blend of his choice and I "lightly" spring tooth harrowed and culipacked it to cover the seed... AND, here it is,

A corn field should be even less work, as it was tilled the year before!

SR

 

[jenkinsph]

Sawyer Rob,
I use a tiller for larger fields too, not that big of a deal imo. For my uses a tiller is a heck of a lot easier to transport than a disk would be.

 

[AKfish]

Sawyer Rob,
I use a tiller for larger fields too, not that big of a deal imo. For my uses a tiller is a heck of a lot easier to transport than a disk would be.

X3 here. Although, re-working a sod bound pasture is a whole different equation than a corn field - IMO. I have a 8' disc that I'll hit the sod with first, then the tiller. Even my heavy gear-drive tiller (950 lbs.) will hop and jump like crickets in a weed thicket when trying to break up sod!

AKfish

 

[MHarryE]

Soil type makes a huge difference. I can cut through sod with my tiller under the right soil conditions. At other times I think it is going to rip itself off the tractor. My wife's family farm has a nice loam. They grow vegetables and get by well in all conditions with a tiller.

 

[Dillier23]

Thanks guys, I'll let you know how the tiller works out in a couple months or so. Until then I need to build a larger sprayer to keep the weeds at bay this spring, that'll make things much easier when it comes time for tillage and planting.

 

[trollingfever]

years ago i purchased a 5 acre lot, that was previous a corn field. i was determined to plant 5 acres of soybeans. i used my fathers allis chambers "B" tractor (unknown hp, but maybe 20)and a 1 bottom plow. about 1.5 acres into plowing/3hours, a kind farmer pulled in with a 6 bottom plow and finished it in less than an hour. my father proceeded to explain, that his father bought the A/C "B" new in the 1930's, and for years farmed 40 acres with it. so yes it can be done, but allot of time and effort.

 

[txturbo]

It's just like any other thing.....you can still get from one coast to the other by horse, but a car or plane is way faster and more comfortable.

 

[1026mrg]

10 acres is too much for tilling?? You guys are going to put me out of business, as I get called in to do jobs just like that!!

IF I already owned the tractor and tiller, that's what I would use!!

You don't have to go slow to till a field, you tiller guys must be use to tilling gardens!

10 acres is very doable, as you already own the equipment to do it. A year or two down the road, see how much money you are making to see if you will even continue to keep on farming, on such a small scale!

It would help greatly if you could talk to someone who does custom tilling, as set up for the tiller and having the right moisture in the ground REALLY makes a difference on what you end up with...

BTW, even when reclaiming old pastures, like this one,

I RARELY make more than two passes to "reclaim" a pasture like the one above...

I brush hogged it, tilled it with my Howard HR20, waited 5 days and tilled it again... Then the owner added chemical fert. per soil test, and hay seed blend of his choice and I "lightly" spring tooth harrowed and culipacked it to cover the seed... AND, here it is,

SR

Gorgeous field for sure....

Have been watching this thread as someone who is by no means a farmer, but someone who has planted both old pasture and woods cleared fields in the part of the world where OP operates.

To me the salient issue turns on the rockiness of the soil; both number and size. I think that it is hard to isolate task & application from soil types and quality. It is really the intersection set of task/operation combined with soil type and conditions that should drive implement selection.

We have lots of big rocks up here. Look at the pic that OP posted a few replies back. It is certainly on the larger size, but not unheard of. Lots and lots of stones half that size.

In our experience the only way to turn them up without destroying attachments is to surface them with a re-settable plow & then pull them out with grapple, bucket, stone fork or whatever you have. After several seasons of subsequently smaller stone harvests, both in size and number, then the field may be amenable to tilling. Until then, the stones will wreak havoc on attachments.

If the OP pasture is nice bottom land that is relatively rock free, but hasn't been worked in a while, then perhaps a tiller is the way to go. But if he
has several seasons of bumper rock crops, I would be very concerned about the tiller getting destroyed.

We are blessed with good quality soils, but they are loaded with large stones & rocks. Once they are removed & soil is brought to proper PH, they are really a joy to work.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

In our experience the only way to turn them up without destroying attachments is to surface them with a re-settable plow & then pull them out with grapple, bucket, stone fork or whatever you have. After several seasons of subsequently smaller stone harvests, both in size and number, then the field may be amenable to tilling. Until then, the stones will wreak havoc on attachments.

If the OP pasture is nice bottom land that is relatively rock free, but hasn't been worked in a while, then perhaps a tiller is the way to go. But if he
has several seasons of bumper rock crops, I would be very concerned about the tiller getting destroyed.

We are blessed with good quality soils, but they are loaded with large stones & rocks. Once they are removed & soil is brought to proper PH, they are really a joy to work.

I would agree with you "IF" you are talking about a cheapo tiller, BUT if you buy a Howard or Kuhn, rocks aren't so much of a problem, even bigger rocks. I hit them all the time, and it's all about how well the tiller is made, IF you have stones/rocks...

I've hit/removed many a rock/boulder out of fields,

They won't kill a "good" brand tiller that's sized "right"!

Rocks will really put the hurt on a cheapo tiller!

SR