Cheap used disk or ? to revive & smooth 5 acres?

[flusher]

I have 5 acres of property we got last summer. The previous renters seriously overgrazed the land. A lot of it was bare or taken over by weeds & some of it is rather rough. I've done a bunch of re-grading with my back blade & box blade already & have a bit more to unbury the back of my shop & generally to get water channeling away from it and the house, but have a bit to go.

I'm looking to end up with some reasonably smooth ground covered in native grasses. Low maintenance high prairie type stuff that I'll hit with the rotary cutter a couple times during the summer.

Would a small used disk, something like a cheap used 5' tandem disk work behind my L3200 (3,800lbs & 32hp) to get things sorted out enough to put down some seed & end up with some smooth field? Or am I going to need to look at a plow as well? I might be able to borrow a seed drill from a neighbor, but I need to track him down this spring & see what he has.

I'm a tool junky so am inclined to get more toys & do it myself, rather than hire it out or something, but if I'm looking at a reasonable amount of gear to get the desired results, that might be an option.

Any suggestions if I should try & grab a cheap used 5ish foot disk, or look at something else?

I found an old, but usable, 6-ft wide tandem disc at a local tractor dealer--cost $125. Discs (aka pans) were in good condition. Put new grease zerks on the lube tubes, packed in a lot of grease (from Tractor Supply) and ran it over my 6 acre hayfield. Worked fine.



Good luck

 

[jenkinsph]

A small disk should work with several passes as others have suggested. I would also consider a landplane to smooth the property and maintain your driveway which would be a seasonal use for it. I use landplane grader blades in New Mexico to smooth fields all the time with excellent results. You may be able to use a landplane to smooth out the field and rent a drill from a local NRCS office to plant with. That might be the best bang for the buck as you would only buy something you can use on an ongoing basis.

 

[Fallon]

Thanks for the advice, sounds like I'm pointing in the right general direction.

Will keep looking for a good deal on disk. Building my own land plane is higher on my to do list for projects I hope to have time for this summer, maybe fall. A drag of some sort, fence, or what not will be easy enough.

 

[okiecraig]

I have learned alot by reading this thread as I dont own any soil conditioning tools but a blade. I need to condition the top few inches of sandy soil under rolling prairie grass to make suitable footing for riding several horses into better shape. There are mole tunnels and an occasional gopher mound to deal with. Sounds like I should disc first; drag to remove chopped-up grass; and then pack/smooth with something. I only need a 4-foot wide trail.

what do you folks suggest?

would a box blade do all of the above?

thanks

 

[gwdixon]

I have learned alot by reading this thread as I dont own any soil conditioning tools but a blade. I need to condition the top few inches of sandy soil under rolling prairie grass to make suitable footing for riding several horses into better shape. There are mole tunnels and an occasional gopher mound to deal with. Sounds like I should disc first; drag to remove chopped-up grass; and then pack/smooth with something. I only need a 4-foot wide trail.

what do you folks suggest?

would a box blade do all of the above?

thanks

A box blade with rippers should be able to take care of your needs. The trail will be as wide as your box blade. With the scarifiers down the soil will be worked enough to discourage moles and gophers. You don't need a horse with a bunged-up ankle.

If the grass is too long then the rippers will gather it and lift the rippers right out of the ground. So to avoid that, the trail should be mowed if you have a way to accomplish it. If not, then set the box blade to just barely scape the grass without digging much soil...rippers not engaged. You'll have to turn off the trail often to deposit the torn out grass and then go back and add on to the cleared trail. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Once you get to mostly bare ground then the rippers will work to loosen the soil to the depth you want. The little remaining grass on the trail will decompose so don't be too concerned about that.

Also, the trail will pack down soon enough with the horse traffic to not require a separate procedure.

Once the trail has been worked over several times with the rippers then you can do the finish work if you want a smooth trail. Dragging a chain link fence weighted down with a pallet or something similar (tires, pier blocks, bags of concrete on the pallet, etc.) should put on a good enough finish for a horse trail. The weight will have to be secured because otherwise 99% of the time it will fall off within a few hundred feet.

There are likely several other approaches but given the restriction of only having a box blade this is a reasonable approach. Or, you could spend thousands of dollars on specialized equipment and make the trail like a groomed race track...it can be done.

 

[wolc123]

If I were in your position, I would not attempt to do the job with ONLY a disk, of any type, behind a 32 hp tractor. With a much larger tractor (say 75 hp), you could do it with just a 10-12 ft. pull-type, wheeled, hydraulic- lift disk. Don't sweat it however, as you can still do the job with your tractor. You will just need 2 tools instead of one. Start out with a used, 2-bottom X 12" or 14", 3-pt plow, which can be located in most areas for under $300 on "craigslist". Next, find yourself a decent, used, 8 ft, drag-disk. If you stick with a good brand, like John Deere, you will get little or no "ridging" of the soil, and not need to level the ground after. Lesser brands, like Bissell, or IH, will leave more "ridging" and may need "dragging" after, depending on your preference.

The 8 ft. drag-disk may be the most numerous, used, farm implement available, and you should have no trouble at all locating one of them. Because they are so numerous, and lots of folks don't like them because they lack the "3-point" (they just don't "know-no-better"), cost is low, and you may be able to find one for under $200 (The last one I got was about 1/2 the going scrap-steel price). For your application (no little gardens, or need to transport over the road), you should certainly steer clear of the 3-pt disk. In my opinion, the disk is the poorest application of the 3-point hitch, and most always, for larger than 1/2 acre, will consume double or more the fuel, of a drag-disk, to get the job done.

 

[PapaPerk]

Around here most folks use chain harrows to revive grazed areas. Run with the teeth down and it will tear up the ground really well for grass seed. Then flip and run teeth up to mix in seed.

A disc harrow is really gonna dig in and make the surface rough... You'll have to drag anyway after harring it... If you want smooth ground.

 

[jeff9366]

I have learned alot by reading this thread as I dont own any soil conditioning tools but a blade. I need to condition the top few inches of sandy soil under rolling prairie grass to make suitable footing for riding several horses into better shape. There are mole tunnels and an occasional gopher mound to deal with. Sounds like I should disc first; drag to remove chopped-up grass; and then pack/smooth with something. I only need a 4-foot wide trail.

Would a box blade do all of the above?

You should originate a new thread for your questions.

A Box Blade with rippers might do, if you wait for moist soil conditions and if your tractor can pull your Box Blade through soil with rippers down, however it will leave the ground rough and the grass trashed for awhile. It would not be the first choice for me, for providing footing for horses.

If you have horses, it seems likely you will want to condition quite a length of ground. If you are going to buy a dedicated implement an easily adjustable, spring-protected Field Cultivator will load your tractor less because tines are relatively narrow and parabolic shaped and be easier on the existing grass, while crushing and filling burrows.

Field Culivators were first sold by Harry Ferguson's various implement companies, in the late 1930s.

A Disc Harrow conditions the surface of the soil. A Field Cultivator is a sub-surface conditioner.

LINKS:

Tractor Ripper, Field Cultivator, Tillage Tool

Fred Cain equipment should have distributors in OKlahoma.

https://www.google.com/search?clien...vator+site:tractorbynet.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

 

[boyt]

You should originate a new thread for your questions.

A Box Blade with rippers might do, if you wait for moist soil conditions and if your tractor can pull your Box Blade through soil with rippers down, however it will leave the ground rough and the grass trashed for awhile. It would not be the first choice for me, for providing footing for horses.

If you have horses, it seems likely you will want to condition quite a length of ground. If you are going to buy a dedicated implement an easily adjustable, spring-protected Field Cultivator will load your tractor less because tines are relatively narrow and parabolic shaped and be easier on the existing grass, while crushing and filling burrows.

Field Culivators were first sold by Harry Ferguson's various implement companies, in the late 1930s.

A Disc Harrow conditions the surface of the soil. A Field Cultivator is a sub-surface conditioner.

LINKS:

Tractor Ripper, Field Cultivator, Tillage Tool

Fred Cain equipment should have distributors in OKlahoma.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Field+Cultivator+site:tractorbynet.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

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