Planting Pasture and food plot

[mikeinstafford]

I have horses on 8 acres of pasture and they have just about eaten all of the pasture up. They have taken some spots down to the dirt and I have never fertilized or limed which is probably why it doesn't grow as fast as it should. I just purchased my DK45 SE a few months ago and I hear that its time to plant grass. I just purchased a few hundred pounds of pasture grass seed for horses and oats seeds that I was initially going to use on my first ever food plot but think that horses might like it as well so I'm going to just use it over the whole pasture since I hear it grows thru the winter. It might help cut down on hay purchasing thru the winter since the horses might eat it too. I have recently purchased a Super Gill Pulverizer that has 2 rows of straight down spikes in front and 2 spiked rollers on the back. I was wondering if I drag that around the pasture to break up top soil and then put down grass, lime, and fertilizer than use a drag harrow afterward would that work. The pulverizer was designed for smooth grading right before putting down grass seed on new construction properties that have no grass yet but those teeth seem like they would do a good job breaking up the ground even though its grass on it already without tearing up the established grass too badly. I wish I had an aerator but I don't so I am looking at the best way to do this today since we are expecting rain possibly tomorrow. I also thought about buying a plow, but that might go to deep for what I want and would totally tear up the ground and would mean entirely new pasture planting instead of overseeding. Thoughts, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated. By the way I saw this on cragslist would the DK45 SE be powerful enough to pull this because for the price I would just get it for now and use it for my garden next spring. 3 Bottom plow allis charmers

Thanks,

 

[jeff9366]

The Allis Chalmers plow is for obsolete two-point hitch, which is the OEM hitch on the tractor pictured. Plow will NOT work on a three-point hitch. It will probably only work on the Allis Chalmers tractor it is attached to and its Allis-Chalmers two-point hitch brothers, sisters and cousins. Its only value to you would be scrap iron value. Sorry.

Your DK45 (45-hp / 3,900 pounds) can pull a 12", probably a 14", three-point-hitch three bottom plow, just not the two-point-hitch three bottom plow on Craig's list. You should have a page/table in your Owner's Manual which addresses implement limitations directly including "how much plow" you can pull.

VERY SHORT HISTORY:

Harry Ferguson's numerous patents covering all aspects of the three point hitch gradually expired 1952 - 1956.

Prior to 1956 only Ferguson and Ford tractors had Ferguson licensed simplest version of what is today the refined, universal three point hitch.

During the 1960's many tractor manufacturers sold kits that retrofitted two point hitch tractors to far superior Ferguson style three-point hitch. Two-point implements then worthless on retro fitted three point hitch tractors.

Some retro kits were fair, some bad; basically lipstick on a pig.

Compatibility issues with these retro fit kits on 1950's - 1960's vintage tractors plague implement manufacturers to this day.

 

[Jmsmithy]

My understanding is the 3 bottom plow might be too much for the 45. I was advised by my dealer to stick w/ single on my DK40. That being said however, I'm new to this stuff so not 100% sure if he was just being overly cautious knowing I tend to like to " play big" :drink: :confused3:

I'm sure some of our fellows will chime in. I haven't purchased one myself yet and looking forward to the responses as well :thumbsup:

 

[jeff9366]

You can pull a 10" or 12" single bottom plow behind a 12-hp lawn & garden tractor.

Your dealer is fooling with you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UZwCBPMNfQ

 

[IndyIan]

A TEA-20 pulls a 10" 2 bottom in our clay soil. 1hp per 1" of plow seems to be a good rule of thumb, and I'd think a big 2 bottom or a small 3 bottom would be a good match with a DKSE. Also we have draft control which may help a bit.

 

[tcreeley]

I use my left over Farmall cub single plow behind my 30h NHTC30. It is pulled from the draw bar which I raise and lower. The plow is hanging from a chain going to the toplink where I adjust the angle it plows at. It has a spring set up where it attaches to the draw bar that allows it to cut either left or right. With this set up I can plow in circles or straight lines! It is not a 3pt hitch plow, but it works fine.

 

[VictorW]

I pulled a 10" two bottom in average soil with a Ford 8N, Ag treads loaded. I couldn't go to fast because I needed low gear for power. It was all I had to use so I used it. I would think your DK45SE would handle a three bottom well.

 

[The Bog Man]

I'm pulling a 2-14 with a DK45 HST. For the most part, I think it would pull a 3 bottom, but not very fast and probably not as deep as the plow could be pulled. If there are any hills or clay to pull through, it's going to slow you down even more. I personally debated between a 2 or 3 bottom and am glad I went with the 2.

 

[Wagtail]

G'day mikeinstafford. Like you, I have horses (2) and am getting ready to improve 2 of my 6 paddocks. I'll be doing 2 per year so that I can rotate the 'boys' so that they don't take their paddocks down to the quick.

I limed 4 months ago (my winter) and all of the ground has come up nice and green... mind you, I've had a good wet winter, so that helped. I also used 'horse specific' lime, not regular stuff. I've pretty much kept the boys on the two paddocks I'm going to do (with regular rounds) and chain harrowed the manure up until now.

I followed a thread here on TBN (sorry, I can't remember which one) IOT prepare. the plan is as such:

Use my Spreader to double-seed/fertilise with a good 'horse pasture' mix, followed by my tiller - set at a light 2-3" depth.

The important little tid-bit I picked up from the thread was to then roll the paddock (my ballast roller also has aerator spikes around it). The reason stated was so that the roots would be anchored. If not, when the horses are let back onto the paddock they'll tend to rip the grass up whilst grazing.

The only other advice I can give is not to rush the job. Plan it out & then execute it.

 

[super55]

Unless you have developed a hardpan on the soil from extensive horse traffic in the pasture (which is unlikely) I would pass on plowing the whole thing up. Reason being it can take a lot of work to get a field leveled back out if the furrows aren't spaced properly and second as soon as you get exposed black dirt you introduce a perfect environment not only for seeds but weeds as well.

I do a fair amount of food plotting for deer and over the years I have reduced the amount of tillage I do substantially especially deep tillage. Like you said you only need to agitate the first 1 or 2" of soil to get good seed germination. If the pulverizer can lift the thatch and loosen the soil even just a little bit you'll be good to go. If the seeds are sitting on top of bare dirt than lightly dragging to less than a 1/2" of soil on top would be beneficial.

This is the process I would use,
1. GET A SOIL TEST. This is paramount. It will tell you how much lime and fert you will need. A $15 test can save you hundreds in fertilizer and lime. If you need lime spread the lime before you agitate the soil. FYI it usually takes about 4 months for lime to break down and adjust the ph. Fertilizing can be done as well. Since you are doing a shallow till all the nutrients will stay within the root zone and having it worked in the soil will help keep the nitrogen from volatilizing from the atmosphere.

2. Work the soil. Use you pulverizer as many times as need to get the soil loosened up. It doesn't need to be a pure dirt thatch free seedbed it just needs has to be enough to allow seed to soil contact.

3. Spread seed and cultipack. If planting oats (which are extremely easy to establish) wait until after the likelyhood of frost has left. One hard frost and the oats are fried.