Avenger
Veteran Member
I am thinking of getting a disk or plow for my tractor (45hp LS XR4145C). I need some advise from those who till with their smaller tractors.
Backstory:
I have been mowing a neighbors field for the last few days after work. Its about 10 acres of grass and heavy weeds. This is my second year of doing this for him.
My neighbor expressed to me that he would like to do something else with the land. The land, like everything else in my area, is on the side of a rather steep hill. I dont feel comfortable "side-hilling" as it feels like I will roll the tractor, so I go up and down. The bottom is rather flat, but has big dips and undulations that make mowing a rough ride.
The owner asked if I have a way to till the land, reseed it with grassy pasture mix, so he can potentially have a few cows or horses. No disrespect to him, but between you and me, he is not a rancher or farmer. He most likely is not get into raising livestock. I believe he is simply tired of looking at the weeds which predominate the land.
I told him that I have a 6ft rototiller that I could bring over. It would probably take two or three passes at different times to make the field dirt. It would take a very long time to get this done. But that I would look into getting other tillage equipment.... and seeding equipment.
(now before I get flamed for purchasing equipment to do a job for one neighbor, once, he is offering to pay half of the cost of equipment plus my hourly rate to work the ground. This all depends, of course, on the price of the equipment. He feels like this is a solid investment for him, me, and our community since I do tractor work for all my neighbors. And he is not the first to ask if I had bigger tillage equipment. I may not take him up on this offer. If inexpensive enough, I may just get the equipment required, to leave no issues.)
I am thinking, if we move forward with this, that a pull type disk would be best suited. That would help level out the ground and do a better job than a 3pt. Besides, I have more experience pulling disks like that growing up on the farm. But those were 15ft on flat ground.
I looked around for a pull type, tandem style, adjustable disk that my tractor could handle. I did find one. The TW5 Series from Tufline. But no other info on these, and there are no dealers in my area. Woods Equipment makes a good one, but is too big for my tractor. Same with LandPride, though theirs claim to be 45-100hp, but is that up hill? I have access to a pull type, offset disk... that is about 3ft wide. A bit small.
Questions:
Is my tractor strong enough to pull a 6ft disk (or larger) if I find one, up hill?
Should I look at a plow instead? Thoughts about differences between plows and disks?
If so, would it be better to pull a packer behind the disk or plow, or separate? (more on this below)
Seed drills, should I look at those too? Or would a simple solid fertilizer/salt spreader on an ATV work? (he has one)
What kind of price am I looking at for new?
What disk, plow, seeder would you recommend?
What about cultivating if plowed?
About the packer behind the plow, that's how we did it on the farm. Pulling a packer behind the disk smoothed out the ground for seeding. I would think that would eliminate the tracks of the tractor that may be there is pulled by itself? That would add to the weight the tractor would have to pull, so not ideal, but would save on passes and probably leave a better finish.
Other than the garden, I have not tilled the earth since I left the farm over 20 years ago. We had large equipment and large land. It was never really an issue if a tractor could pull something though the field. Using a small tractor to do small farming is almost completely foreign to me.
This guy owns a field of weeds, that really needs help. Even if it went back to weeds, tilling the ground would level out the bumps and make mowing those weeds faster and easier. This job really does need to happen.
Thank you to all for comments and suggestions.
Backstory:
I have been mowing a neighbors field for the last few days after work. Its about 10 acres of grass and heavy weeds. This is my second year of doing this for him.
My neighbor expressed to me that he would like to do something else with the land. The land, like everything else in my area, is on the side of a rather steep hill. I dont feel comfortable "side-hilling" as it feels like I will roll the tractor, so I go up and down. The bottom is rather flat, but has big dips and undulations that make mowing a rough ride.
The owner asked if I have a way to till the land, reseed it with grassy pasture mix, so he can potentially have a few cows or horses. No disrespect to him, but between you and me, he is not a rancher or farmer. He most likely is not get into raising livestock. I believe he is simply tired of looking at the weeds which predominate the land.
I told him that I have a 6ft rototiller that I could bring over. It would probably take two or three passes at different times to make the field dirt. It would take a very long time to get this done. But that I would look into getting other tillage equipment.... and seeding equipment.
(now before I get flamed for purchasing equipment to do a job for one neighbor, once, he is offering to pay half of the cost of equipment plus my hourly rate to work the ground. This all depends, of course, on the price of the equipment. He feels like this is a solid investment for him, me, and our community since I do tractor work for all my neighbors. And he is not the first to ask if I had bigger tillage equipment. I may not take him up on this offer. If inexpensive enough, I may just get the equipment required, to leave no issues.)
I am thinking, if we move forward with this, that a pull type disk would be best suited. That would help level out the ground and do a better job than a 3pt. Besides, I have more experience pulling disks like that growing up on the farm. But those were 15ft on flat ground.
I looked around for a pull type, tandem style, adjustable disk that my tractor could handle. I did find one. The TW5 Series from Tufline. But no other info on these, and there are no dealers in my area. Woods Equipment makes a good one, but is too big for my tractor. Same with LandPride, though theirs claim to be 45-100hp, but is that up hill? I have access to a pull type, offset disk... that is about 3ft wide. A bit small.
Questions:
Is my tractor strong enough to pull a 6ft disk (or larger) if I find one, up hill?
Should I look at a plow instead? Thoughts about differences between plows and disks?
If so, would it be better to pull a packer behind the disk or plow, or separate? (more on this below)
Seed drills, should I look at those too? Or would a simple solid fertilizer/salt spreader on an ATV work? (he has one)
What kind of price am I looking at for new?
What disk, plow, seeder would you recommend?
What about cultivating if plowed?
About the packer behind the plow, that's how we did it on the farm. Pulling a packer behind the disk smoothed out the ground for seeding. I would think that would eliminate the tracks of the tractor that may be there is pulled by itself? That would add to the weight the tractor would have to pull, so not ideal, but would save on passes and probably leave a better finish.
Other than the garden, I have not tilled the earth since I left the farm over 20 years ago. We had large equipment and large land. It was never really an issue if a tractor could pull something though the field. Using a small tractor to do small farming is almost completely foreign to me.
This guy owns a field of weeds, that really needs help. Even if it went back to weeds, tilling the ground would level out the bumps and make mowing those weeds faster and easier. This job really does need to happen.
Thank you to all for comments and suggestions.
