Box Scraper Smoothing a Bumpy Pasture

[jseebold]

Hello Everybody!

This is my first post and I'm new to country living, so please be kind!

I've looked through the forum and found similar postings, but not quite what I was hoping for...

I have a new 10 acre property: 3 acres of woods toward the back and 7 acres of pasture, formerly an organic soybean field. The pasture has been planted with some fairly nice grass and it's had several years to develop and form a good root system. I plan to build a home on this property and I've started cutting about 2 acres of it with my garden tractors. The problem is, it's VERY bumpy with ruts caused by large tractors and other vehicles. It's a very rough ride on the garden tractors!

I'm thinking about getting a box scraper for my Ford 9N, bringing in as much top soil as I can afford, and dragging it across the pasture to fill in the low spots. I believe this is called top dressing. I think the grass in the low spots should be able to grow up through the new soil. I figure this method may take several years, repeating this procedure each year, as I can afford to buy addtional top soil.

Any thoughts from anyone about whether this sounds like a reasonable solution would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jim

 

[CalG]

Hello Everybody!

This is my first post and I'm new to country living, so please be kind!

I've looked through the forum and found similar postings, but not quite what I was hoping for...

I have a new 10 acre property: 3 acres of woods toward the back and 7 acres of pasture, formerly an organic soybean field. The pasture has been planted with some fairly nice grass and it's had several years to develop and form a good root system. I plan to build a home on this property and I've started cutting about 2 acres of it with my garden tractors. The problem is, it's VERY bumpy with ruts caused by large tractors and other vehicles. It's a very rough ride on the garden tractors!

I'm thinking about getting a box scraper for my Ford 9N, bringing in as much top soil as I can afford, and dragging it across the pasture to fill in the low spots. I believe this is called top dressing. I think the grass in the low spots should be able to grow up through the new soil. I figure this method may take several years, repeating this procedure each year, as I can afford to buy addtional top soil.

Any thoughts from anyone about whether this sounds like a reasonable solution would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,


Jim

View attachment 365605

Bring lots of money to your efforts at "top dressing".

I would consider a roller ....this being spring and all......

 

[jseebold]

Thanks for your quick response Cal! I picked up this spike roller [~250 lb. when filled with water...] from Rural King. I ran it around last fall, but the soil was probably too firm for it to do anything for the bumps. Maybe it'll have some effect when the ground is softer this Spring... BTW... I sure don't have a ton of money to throw at this!

 

[mjcountrybumpkin]

Disc it , or run a tiller over it if the roller doesn't work. Wasting a lot of money hauling in topsoil in my opinion. Grass root systems grow fast don't worry about tilling it. You can reseed it in a grass variety best suited for a manicured lawn. Good luck

 

[jseebold]

Thanks MJCB! The guy at the tractor store suggested that to me when we first bought the property. I was just concerned about having to start all over again by discing it all up. I imagine you'd have to make several passes in both directions, with a disc, to get it smoothed and ready to seed. After discing, what would you do next?

 

[Tompet]

Do you think there is enough there already and just needs rearranged or is it also low and needs more soil? Like most things it will be more work and money than you think! Maybe till it and either a box blade like you mentioned or possibly a landplane would work a little better with that 9n and leveling the ground.
I had about a third of an acre to regrade and at the time I ran a plow, disc and shoved dirt around with rear blade and my old Ferguson and it worked out alright.
To break it all down either by plow and tiller or some other method and equipment to bring it all to grade will be work in the short term but you can enjoy it for the long term. When you mentioned building on the property, I assume this isn't the section where you will build otherwise you may wait until construction is done to regrade.

 

[jeff9366]

Here are some SMOOTHING PASTURE threads from the T-B-N archive:

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

 

[JohninCT]

Spend the money on getting a 3 pt mower for the 9N. With bigger wheels maybe the ride won't be so bumpy. Also you will be able to mow more in less time.

Spot dress only the very worst/deep ruts with soil as you find them.

 

[corl]

Since it was a soy bean field it had been worked previously. Get a local farmer to plow and disk it and start over. You can drag a chain harrow over it then and have a very fine smooth surface to grow grass. It may seed itself and if not plant seed in the early fall as that is the best time for grass seed planting. It will be cheaper and faster than hauling topsoil to fill in the rough spots and will give you a superior result from day 1.

 

[jeff9366]

I agree with CORL, above, do it right!

As the ground has been worked previously a tandem Disc Harrow with 20" diameter notched pans, which will give about 50 pounds bearing on each pan, may smooth the pasture without plowing first. Your Ford 9n should pull a 20" Disc Harrow with no problem. You will need to make multiple passes, at 90 degree angles and 45 degree angles in two directions. On about the fourth pass, a 20" Disc Harrow should penetrate to about 9" into the soil. You need to pull a Disc Harrow at a fairly good clip to get good soil mixing and re-distribution.

A lighter Disc Harrow will not be effective.

A pull/tow Disc Harrow will be moderately more effective than a Three Point Hitch mounted Disc Harrow but is less maneuverable.

Used Disc Harrows are available pretty cheap.

 

[CalG]

Most of all, I agree that if you take the $$$$ you might spend "smoothing" the lawn and put it too purcase of a tractor with larger wheels, you will satisfy most of the wishes of yourself and this forum!

 

[pmsmechanic]

I also had a rough lawn. I just dragged an old diamond tooth harrow around when the ground was soft after a rain or first thing in spring. Every time I harrow at a different angle. My lawn isn't perfect but it's a lot smoother than it used to be and I didn't have to work up and reseed the grass. I usually have an old truck tire and rim laying on the harrows for extra weight.

 

[jenkinsph]

For my lawn area which was much rougher than yours I tilled it up and built a landplane to smooth it out. These two tools made a huge difference in the whole lot. I also built an inexpensive spike tooth harrow for finish smoothing and covering the new seed. I used a small plastic roller to smooth over the seed. Planted the new lawn in August of 2009 and these pictures were taken in April 2010 so it doesn't take long to have a new smooth lawn area.

If it were me I would sell that spiked tooth roller while it still looks new.

 

[bindian]

An offset disc will knock it down to almost level. I do three passes on hay pastures, then follow that with my 10 drag (chain) harrow. Don't even attempt to knock the bumps down with a 3PH disc. They are just too lite.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/270878-amco-offset-disc.html

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/277658-amazing-find-drag-harrow.html
hugs, Brandi

 

[oosik]

I "reclaimed" about 14 acres with a bottom plow, disk harrow and then a chain harrow. Worked well and now, three years later, I have a 14 acre lawn. I really worked the area with the chain harrow so now its smooth & flat as a pool table.
Saw a field that was top dressed. The top dressing soil was just "different" enough from the native soil to make the grass grow in stripes & patches. Ended up having to redo the entire field and mix all the soil for one even soil type.

 

[bucktaker]

get a mower for the 9n, mow with it no the Garden tractor, after or during the building process of your house, work the surrounding ground you want to be a lawn up with a disc or tiller the remainder fence for pasture and mow with the ford.

Your situation is none too different than mine way back in 1995..... I made 2 acres a lawn which I know mow with a zero turn to the rest is pasture grass mown with the Kubota

 

[jseebold]

Thanks a lot for your thoughts Tompet! There's about 6-8" of good top soil already, it sounds like discing it and then grading/seeding will do the trick. I'm about 10 years out before I build the house, so for now I'm planning to just do the whole area.

 

[jseebold]

Thank you very much Corl and Jeff! It looks like the general consensus is disc first, chain harrow next, and then seed.

 

[jseebold]

@Calg... it's even very bumpy driving the 9N on it. I think discing first is probably the way to go.

 

[JRobyn]

Welcome to TBN! I've got the identical problem with a back field of about 5 acres. I tried box-blading it, beginning with the rippers fully down. Blade was a fairly heavy 6ft behind my L4330. Between the hard/rocky "soil" and the roots from the existing sod, it was useless. I am now convinced that discing with a VERY heavy disc in multiple directions is the best medicine, and should allow enough of the existing sod to survive to re-plant the area. My other theory is that having my BIL back-drag it with the bucket on his big track loader might work, but would leave less viable root clumps for re-planting. Good luck with yours!

- Jay

It was my BIL's idea to back-drag it after he once tried to bushhog it with a 9n. The slowest ground speed possible on the 9n about beat him to death!