Removing rocks from soil.

[denchen]

My old grandad used to say `Never plough more than you intend to farm` So, what crops are you intending, and would simply just clearing the biggest rocks, getting some top soil from some where else, and remember not to plough too deep, be the answer.

 

[Smokeydog]

Your B21 have ssqa FEL mount? Small rock bucket? Have a long bottom 54” wicked grapple on the B26 that’s moved a lot of rock. Gets the rocks leaves the dirt. Danuser Intimdator used to dig and place some large landscape rocks. Also backhoe thumb. Wife likes her rock flowerbed boarders with some big rock features.
Had a B20 for 25 years before the B26. Tuff amazing work horses.

Used a bucket mounted quick spade to gather rocks. Beats picking up or rolling rolling rocks by hand.

 

[Kschwennsen]

I have sand and sand stone so nothing to abusive but I found to get the "rocks" out as I wanted to save them was to spear the forks on my FEL into the dirt rocking them front to back then prying the forks up exposing 2'-3' diameter rocks. I just want to get rid of a 3' deep area in front of my house but this works well for rocks and stumps. I use my forks for this more than for pallets!

 

[CoyPatton]

In my area, forested mostly, is on a mountainside, more or less, and the soil is laden with rocks, stones and some "big rocks"

Thinking To "de rock" some areas with the idea of making a garden/farm plot. Maybe an acre or less. At my stage even that might be too much.

Might also have to clear some trees, of various types, so roots might also be an issue. My Kutoba B21 may not be up to the task of getting the root balls out, but, once out, they are easily disposed of. More or less. It's the hard bits that are more of a concern.

Some sort of "shaker" where the dirt and small stones could fall through?

Your need greatly depends on the size of rocks you encounter.
Having lived in hilly areas over the years, my experience had bern that a few miles can make the difference from small rocks that will fall through many if not most loader rock buckets (skeleton bucket) to huge boulders that 1 would overload your B21 to every size rock in between these extremes.
Small medium size rocks 6”-8” to 12”-18” work well with a rock bucket in my opinion. You can collect a fair amount and ‘shake’ out a great deal of the dirt. Depending on how far you want to remove the rocks from the area, you can dump them into a trailer or pile them nearby.
Once you get much smaller than the 6” size rocks, in my experience, rock buckets loses as much as they contain. When you get to 3” or smaller, you are pretty much wasting your time with a rock bucket.
Once you get much larger than the 18” size you are fighting a battle that becomes frustrating with a small tractor, 1-2 rocks and you need to dump. With this size you have quickly gotten to the stage you need a grapple to keep them loaded and can quickly find you can not lift the rock and may not have the traction to push the rock. Then you quickly need to have someone come in to blast the rocks to smaller size. With all the terrorist mess in our world, you can no longer get blasting supplies without having lots of legal stuff in place.

 

[marhar]

In my area, forested mostly, is on a mountainside, more or less, and the soil is laden with rocks, stones and some "big rocks"

Thinking To "de rock" some areas with the idea of making a garden/farm plot. Maybe an acre or less. At my stage even that might be too much.

Might also have to clear some trees, of various types, so roots might also be an issue. My Kutoba B21 may not be up to the task of getting the root balls out, but, once out, they are easily disposed of. More or less. It's the hard bits that are more of a concern.

Some sort of "shaker" where the dirt and small stones could fall through?

I like the pull behind pans better because they require less tractor use as the screen and distribute the spoil in one operation.

Like I said though, the OP's unit is way too small to use one. You need a substantial tractor with some weight and tractive effort.

Let me start by saying because of the cost this ain't practical unless you can rent or borrow.

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I joke that when I win the lottery I am going to have rock free field and pasture.

 

[oosik]

I have just enough larger rocks to make disking/plowing a real PITA. And then there are the bedrock outcroppings. I use the old fashion method - grab and throw in my farm wagon. The acreage to the north has many fields that have been cleared.

The story is - the homesteader had five sons. They spent their days with a rock sled pulled by mules. Pictures of some of the "rock walls" created when these fields were cleared.

 

[bigtiller]

Interesting rock wall. What kind of rock is it? I have rocky spots in my field but they are all different kinds and colors. Your wall seams to be mostly black?

 

[oosik]

Bigtiller - the rock type - basaltic lava. They are round because they have been caught up in one of the great out washes from Ancient Lake Missoula.

REALLY ancient history. 15,000 to 13,000 years ago. A monstrous big lake formed in northwestern Montana. Held back by a large ice dam. The water would eventually break thru this ice dam and flood across Idaho, WA & OR. It's what created the geography of a lot of these three states. My property is at the northern limits of what is called The Channeled Scablands.

Ancient LK Missoula burst thru this ice dam an estimated 40 times in the 2000 years. The flow was estimated to ten times the flow of all the rivers in the entire world. It has left some most interesting geography in these three states.

It is what definitely carved out my little lake. Five acres of open water - five acres of cattails. 80 feet deep down the center - 45 feet deep where the water meets the basaltic lava cliffs. A view off my front porch.

 

[SoCalRedTractor]

Well, I will no longer gripe about the rock farm we have out here (the town was named Littlerock for a reason, Lol) after hearing about the actual rocks you all deal with. I'll be able to deal with my rocks with the landscape rake, with any luck - basically #2 in sandy dirt. Those pieces of history you have there oosik, are awesome!!

Pick

 

[ruffdog]

I know I saw the PBS documentary on that monster wash-out when the ice dam let go.

 

[bigtiller]

oosik, very interesting, thanks.

 

[stuckmotor]

ROCK RAKE
3-Point Rock Rake

DIY ROCK SCREEN

STORE BOUGHT ROCK SCREEN
Ellis Equipment, Inc.

 

[Carl_NH]

I got these debris forks from Titan attachments - they do a great job with debris cleanup and larger rocks. I have reclaimed several acres here over the years with my B21 grinding stumps and picking rocks.

This year we took down trees and rented a real machine 40K Lbs for stumping and boulder removal, then brought in tillings (small 1" rocks/dirt) as a base then added loam to finish it off.

Took a week with excavator, then a day for me to spread loam - vs months or all summer and the B21 cant touch these boulders. So IMO rent a small excavator for a week you can do a lot depending on the size of rocks you have.

 

[FTG-05]

Andrew Camarata's solution:

 

[Williy]

So you bought this place and all the rocks were
free no extra charge???
I have some here and they were free too that you
can add to your collection no extra charge
It seems like you will dig up this little rock and it
turns out to be 50 to 100 lbs + and the hernia is
free also when you pick them up

will

 

[Frankenkubota]

Bigtiller - the rock type - basaltic lava. They are round because they have been caught up in one of the great out washes from Ancient Lake Missoula.

REALLY ancient history. 15,000 to 13,000 years ago. A monstrous big lake formed in northwestern Montana. Held back by a large ice dam. The water would eventually break thru this ice dam and flood across Idaho, WA & OR. It's what created the geography of a lot of these three states. My property is at the northern limits of what is called The Channeled Scablands.

Ancient LK Missoula burst thru this ice dam an estimated 40 times in the 2000 years. The flow was estimated to ten times the flow of all the rivers in the entire world. It has left some most interesting geography in these three states.

It is what definitely carved out my little lake. Five acres of open water - five acres of cattails. 80 feet deep down the center - 45 feet deep where the water meets the basaltic lava cliffs. A view off my front porch. View attachment 700573

There are bunches of boulders in Portland Or they tell me were moved there by the same process.

 

[joea99]

Sadly, front bucket is not quick attach. Looks like a good approach, but I think the sizes shown are too big for this machine. But, it is a 4 in 1 bucket, so I may give some thought to trying to cheap out and build a "grate" I can stick in there with the jaw open. When the heat wave has tamed down a bit.

 

[cqaigy2]

There are bunches of boulders in Portland Or they tell me were moved there by the same process.

You can also find the Huge ones that were left when the glaciers retreated.

 

[ctgoldwing]

When we built our house the local health district rep came over to inspect the proposed septic system. She gave me an education on Glacial Tills. Apparently I'm sitting on one. with all the good n bad that goes with it. Awesome drainage with every size rock included at no extra charge. When I put in 100 4X4's for the dog fence with the post hole digger I used almost 100 shear pins. If it wasn't the tree roots it was the rocks.
This year when I had to use the PHD again for plantings I managed not to shear any. Of course I only went down 2' as the fence was 3'. That probably meant the difference.