Need Advice on Smoothing Field

[Arc weld]

"Rather than tearing it up (which will most likely just move the ruts and bumps around), I would bring in top soil and use a drag to pull over the field to help level out the high/low spots."

I would go this route as well. I've done some landscaping and levelling with a skid steer and sod is about the worst stuff to work with. You can't scrape it off and level it. You either have to rototill it into powder or remove it completely. 1 little lump of sod can mess up your leveling. I'd get some decent top soil and use a non aggressive drag to level it. A diamond harrow upside down might work or even a piece of chain link fence with a tire or 2 on it. Back in the day people would pull an aluminum ladder around their yard to level the soil prior to seeding or sod.

 

[big bubba]

yes, nice field. lots of good advice here using equipment beyond my own experience. looks like a lot of work/time/expense, but if you're after a groomed look (& ride) guess it's the way to go. personally, i'd leave it alone & consider a zt w/suspension such as Ferris since you're on the market for one anyway.
i have wild (feral) hogs that seasonally tear up moist areas in my clearings so it's pointless for me to attempt the same as your project. i'll disc then drag say a cedar tree to finish.....you probably don't have feral hogs out your way thankfully.....good luck & keep the forum up w/your progress.

 

[Egon]

If you want a really smooth ride it's cultivation or adding dirt.

Cultivation will take a little time as the sod must dry out and be broken up. A roto tiller will work well for this. If multiple passes are made do them from different directions. It should also be finished of with an angled drag of some sort ( with solid front edge )of about ten feet or so and make passes in multiple directions. Diamond harrows also work.

 

[Creamer]

Just as a point of reference I have a 30" diameter x6.5' long roller that will hold about a ton of water and probably weighs almost 1000 #s itself. My 1710 is 28 hp pulls it fine even with diamond treads on the rear but I need to have the fronts engaged and keep my loader on to get up some of the slopes that I have which appear to be significantly more than what you have.

 

[LD1]

I pull our 2500# roller with a 4wd ATV or zeroturn mower. They dont really pull that hard.

Also pulled the 12' cultipacker with the 4-wheeler.

 

[Deere Dude]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/360611-ploughing-compact-tractor.html

Here is a current thread of someone basically starting over with a field. If you don't have a bunch of large rocks I would consider this route to take. Cut the grass way down, plow, cultivate and then drag. Maybe an angled landplane might work ion conjunction with that. Then reseed.

 

[jeff9366]

There are all kinds of drags.

If you can spend $1,500 consider one of the long (7'-6"), heavy, framed, chain harrows from Wingfield:

7' 2" 3pt MaxiLift Harrow


The Maxi, MaxiLift, and Heavy-duty 3pt Harrow Models

All three of these models use our 7 1/2' long harrow mat, which is our longest harrow. This length is ideal for the larger operator because the ground can be covered and worked in a single pass.

The 3pt MaxiLift and Heavy-duty 3pt Harrow both have a single piece section which maintains more consistent ground contact and eliminates the possibility of unhooking during use.

The 3pt. MaxiLift is a fixed frame harrow - so no expandability. If you don't need a harrow on a frame that is over 12' 0" wide, then this is your model. The frame is lighter than the Heavy-duty 3pt Harrow frame, but is more than enough to handle harrows between 7' 2" and 12' 0" widths.

Width: 7' 2"
Length/Depth: 7' 5"
Weight: 416 lbs.
Frame Beams: 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 3/16" x 72" front beam, 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 1/8" x 72" rear beam
Frame Verticals: 1" x 2 1/2" x 1/8" x 72" beams
Hitch: Cat #1 and Cat #2, quick-hitch ready
Drawbar: 76" wide - 1 1/4" Schedule 80 drawbar pipe
Tine: Computer bent 1/2" diameter high-carbon, drawn spring steel tine
Number of tines: 102
Points of contact: 204

 

[jeff9366]

Since there are no obstructions why are you getting zero turn?

I suggest a wide, Three Point Hitch mounted, PTO powered, Finish Mower.

VIDEO: tractor finish mower - YouTube

 

[franklinute]

You have some nice turf. My advice would be not to destroy it. I had the
same problem as you several years ago. I rented a core type areator and
ran across my turf probably 10 times in different directions on a wet day.
I especially hit the high spots. Then used a fence type drag when the cores
dried out. I didn't have access to a roller but that would have helped a lot.
My remedy did fix the bad spots. I used the core areator one day. I think if
I had done this several times in a season I would have gotten even better
results.

 

[BoylermanCT]

A 3 point finish mower would work fine for my field but my other two acres of yard is made up of 6-7 small quarter to half acre sections, and a zero turn would be much faster for this half. Plus my tractor is heavy, around 4000 lbs, and leaves ruts in the lawn if the ground is wet.

 

[BoylermanCT]

After everyone's suggestions, I am thinking about finding or making a heavy 6' roller and trying to smooth the bumps out that way. Rototilling might address the problem quicker but reseeding the field would be a real challenge.

 

[jeff9366]

Gandy is a producer of professional quality rollers: Lawn Rollers | Gandy

There are not many.

 

[Creamer]

I am thinking of trying the diamond tooth drag section on mine. The roller did some but it surely not where I want it to be.

 

[Joe Malovich]

If you want golf-course fairway smooth then use what a golf course uses, a verticutter. This is like a flail mower that has vertical knives that go down into the thatch/dirt pulling up material. High spots will be dug deeper than low spots leaving the sod intact. It depends on the verticutter used but with some you can leave the evenly distributed tailings in place, others will clump up the tailings requiring you to collect them up with a lawn sweeper or mower with vac and a short cut. There are also verticutter mowers that have built in collection bins. These are also called scarifiers which I understand is a deeper cutting version of a verticutter.

 

[Slippy]

Just a follow up to this post even though it is 4 years old. I have the same issue with a rough hay field. I have done part of it by rototill, chain harrow, and seeding. Lots of time and work with mixed results. I am now going to purchase a roller. As mentioned above, Grady does have rollers, but I have located a company that will custom make a roller more applicable to a agricultural use rather than a lawn type roller Grady shows on the web site at a reasonable price. BoylermanCT, would be interested to learn how your project ended up. Did you go the roller route?

 

[alexebdra453]

Turf specialist Dave Minner says the re-establishment of a healthy, thick grass will help alleviate this problem. But if the thought of ripping up the yard and planting a new lawn sounds daunting, you can build it up gradually by spreading a half-inch of top dressing each year.

"You could go out and top dress with compost, with sand and soil, with sand and compost, any of that combination, and you just basically keep filling it," Minner says. "Don't bury the grass completely, but about a half-inch is about the most you'd want to put on at a single time and the grass will grow right up through it."
"Scalp the lawn as low as you can and then you can see all the bumps," Minner says. "And it's easier to spread the materials and drag them around and do leveling. When the grass is 2 1/2 inches tall, you can't drag the half-inch of material around because it just gets stuck down there in the grass."

If you have access to a drag implement that can be hooked up behind a lawn tractor, try using it as an easy way to pull the material off the high spots and drop it in the low spots. Minner says this is also a good time to verify the soil, and drag the plugs around, too.

One thing you do not want to do is try to flatten the yard with a heavy roller. It will take care of some of the roughness, but it also damages the turf by compacting the soil, which is what you're trying to avoid.

 

[alexebdra453]

deleted post

 

[BoylermanCT]

Just a follow up to this post even though it is 4 years old. I have the same issue with a rough hay field. I have done part of it by rototill, chain harrow, and seeding. Lots of time and work with mixed results. I am now going to purchase a roller. As mentioned above, Grady does have rollers, but I have located a company that will custom make a roller more applicable to a agricultural use rather than a lawn type roller Grady shows on the web site at a reasonable price. BoylermanCT, would be interested to learn how your project ended up. Did you go the roller route?

I never found or bought a large heavy roller, but I did get a heavy zero turn that weighs 1100 lbs and I used my 3' 24" roller behind it whenever I mowed after it rained. With that I was able to roll a 5' path between the zero turns large rear wheels and the roller. Over time the field has definitely smoothed out, and I can mow it in 45 minutes if I push the pedal to the metal. Still not full speed for the mower, but it no longer shakes my insides to pieces when I mow. I think if I want to smooth it out further, I would use sand to top dress the lawn and fill in the low points.

What roller company are you looking at?

 

[Slippy]

First, let me point something out. I am working on a patch of about 10 acres of hay field, so although it is not ideal to use a heavy roller due to compaction issues, it is better than the alternatives to get a smooth field so that hay can be taken off without damaging expensive equipment. Also, when I get this field done, I have another 250 acres, which about 50 of needs smoothing. I have pulled a 10ft drag over the area multiple times, and it is not the answer. Yes, it helps get the excess thatch out, and yes it helps aerate the soil, but it will not smooth the ruts, depressions and high points. Top dressing 10 acres is also not an option, at least not around here. The cost of the amount of top soil you would need is just not economically feasible. So, turf specialists Dave Minner, while I respect and agree that it is not ideal to roll a yard due to compaction, I do think it is an option for acres of hay fields. Also, after the field is rolled and smoother, I will run a core aerator over it hopefully this fall and again in the spring. To till up all these acres, destroy a good mature crop of established orchard grasses, and start over, although I originally thought was the answer, I have now concluded it is not.
So, my plan is to roll this field out so it is reasonable to mow and bale at 4-5 mph, aerate, slit seed, which will hopefully provide a hay field that will be productive. This will take substantially less time, get the field smooth, increase production, eliminate the need to destroy an existing mature stand of crop, and provide a better crop sooner.

The roller company is Grahl Manufacturing. 1-888-732-7789 Ask for Jerry. He is the owner, American made, small business owner. Very helpful. I ordered a 36” by 72” roller. They also have spiked rollers for aeration, but I prefer core aeration.

 

[alexebdra453]

Turf specialist Dave Minner says it would help to alleviate this issue by re-establishing a healthy, dense grass. But if the idea of digging the yard up and planting a new lawn sounds overwhelming, by spreading a half-inch of top dressing each year you can gradually build it up.

You could go out and top dress all of that mixture with compost, with sand and soil, with sand and compost, and you just basically keep filling it," Minner says."
"Don't absolutely bury the grass, but about half an inch is about the most you'd want to put on at the same time, and the grass grows right through it."
"Scalp the grass as low as you can and then all the bumps can be seen," says Minner. "And spreading the materials and dragging them around and leveling them is better. If the grass is 2 1/2 inches thick, you should not drag the half-inch of material around because it just gets stuck in the grass down there."
Try using it as a simple way to pull the material from the high spots and drop it in the low spots if you have access to a drag system that can be hooked up behind a lawn tractor. This is also a good time to check the dirt, Minner says, and drag the plugs around too. Trying to flatten the yard with a heavy roller is one thing you do not want to do. It can take care of some of the roughness, but by compacting the dirt, it also destroys the turf, which is what you are trying to prevent.