How to get a pasture to bare dirt?

[ROUSTABOUT]

Flat break it. I've done hundreds of acres that way. Turn it over and the grass will die. Lightly disc with a drag tied behind the disc.

 

[WM75Guy]

I guess anything would work. So long as it's too many of em.
I think of horses as being too selective compared to goats.

My wife tried the goat route. The only thing they would eat was alfalfa hay from the feed store.

 

[5030]

First step is to spray it with glyphosate or something similar and kill what's green. For only an acre, I get better results with a tiller and a then a drag rather than trying to disc it. Plowing it just makes it much rougher and you need even more aggressive equipment to get it smoothed back out.

YMMV

Plus one on the glyphosate which is a broad spectrum herbicide. Spray it on when there is no rain and in a week, everything will be deceased. I use Roundup Max myself but at least here in Michigan you have to have an applicators license to buy it.

 

[jeff9366]

I have reservations that 33hp will handle a two bottom plow.

A 4-WD tractor of 2,544 pounds weight will handle a 2 X 12" or 2 X 14" moldboard plow readily.

Mahindra 3215​

2006 - 2008 15 Series Compact Utility tractor Mitsubishi built

Dimensions
Length:	121.3 inches 308 cm
Width:	59.8 inches 151 cm
Operating weight:	2,544 lbs 1153 kg (gear)

Mechanical
Chassis:	4x4 MFWD 4WD

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

For starters, what implements do you have to work with?

 

[oosik]

Spray with an effective herbicide. Wait a couple weeks for everything to die. Hit it with a rototiller. Tow something heavy - ex, rail road tie - behind the tractor to level it out - - if necessary.

 

[John0829]

The old 8N Fords only had 24 HP and were designed by Henry specifically to pull 2 bottom plows all day long.

 

[Williy]

Maybe check for the use of vinegar, dawn, salt receipe???
that's if you want a garden

willy

 

[oldnslo]

The old 8N Fords only had 24 HP and were designed by Henry specifically to pull 2 bottom plows all day long.

And weighed more than 2500 lbs.

My Branson is in the 2500 lb range and the 18” middle buster - potato plow will cause it to spin out. No way would it pull 2-14s in my soil

 

[paulsharvey]

I have an acre of field grass. Its also lumpy and bumpy. I want to get rid of the grass and smooth the field with a box scraper. Kill the grass, run a disc over the field, then the scraper box, or??

Or kill the grass then turn it under with a two bottom plow?

33HP

I might have missed it, but what do you want once the grass is gone and everything is smooth? Is it going back grass, building site, garden, equipment yard, food plot? Have you considered just getting 80 tons of sand delivered and dumping in low areas, and using an arena drag to smooth? If you are turning field grass to yard grass, are the species the same, just the roughness the concern? If so, I wouldn't even spray, I would sand level, drag, fertilizer/lime, and over seed. Grass will come back though about 3" of sand, and grass seed is expensive. If you don't want the grass (garden/food plot) I would spray, disc, and drag with a heavy roundish object (log, steel pipe, rail road track). If it's a building site or equipment yard, I would strip vegetation and organic layer, smooth, compact, and then proceed with your building/equipment yard.

80 tons of sand should be around 64 Cubic Yards; that's about 1-1.25" average if speared over about 50% of the total 43560 sf that is lower then the average. Don't know how rough/uneven this acre is, or if that will yield the results you want, or even if that's the best use of the money. I think for turf grass, they recommend approx 200#/acre; at $50-100/25 lbs; the seed after the disking/dragging might cost more then a few loads of sand.