Terraced Hay Pasture

[freewookie]

My 12 acre hay pasture has terraces from the dust bowl days. What's a good way to get rid of them? Disc?

Thanks

 

[bigbull338]

id leave them in place and drive slow when i went over them but thats me.

 

[Xfaxman]

We had the same thing at Cashion, just left them, didn't cause any problems.

 

[freewookie]

We got a similar yield. Problem is that some of the terraces have eroded a bit so some of them are just berms. Our guy who hays it complains how hard it is to do.

 

[Tx Jim]

If terraces are high peaked one can pull a box blade or tandem along the peak to help lower the peak.

 

[C4Ranch]

Got terraces too. Can someone explain what purpose they serve(d) and benefits?

 

[bcp]

Helps keep your topsoil from washing away.

Bruce

 

[Tx Jim]

Terrrace's were designed to control the soil on cultivated land for crops where as grass roots tend to keep soil from washing.

 

[davehowell]

I grew up with terraces. Terraces can actually give you more land area. As mentioned they were designed to cut down on soil erosion. Management wise, you usually you have to work with them following the curves. I can imagine that big equipment would have problems. We did the math on our pretty steep slopes after terracing and it can be up to a third more area than the orginal slope. We graze them, and the grass grows well on leveled areas, and also on the steep slopes of the berms that form the terraces. We could never bale them.

 

[DaveOmak]

Terraces are specifically designed to capture rain water so it penetrates the soil, reduces or eliminates soil erosion, and increases your crop yield...... Do not level them.... The farmers of yesterday knew what they were doing.....

 

[Bigfoot62]

To quote our County Agent, "If you have grass, you don't need terraces."

The terraces on my farm were leftovers from the row-crop days of my grandfather. I don't grow row-crops anymore, and I don't want to cut and bale hay over terraces.
I used a big disc to pulverize the terraces, then a rented dozer to flatten them out. I didn't completely eliminate them, (you can still tell where they were) but I flattened them out enough that it doesn't impede hay production.

 

[rajela]

Exactly what Bigfoot said disc them and spread them to where they are still visible but not a problem to work over. I had a place back in the late 80's and 90's that was terraced and I ran a offset disc over them and spread them out with a box blade. Takes some time but well worth the effort.

 

[Tx Jim]

Terraces are specifically designed to capture rain water so it penetrates the soil,

Terraces were designed to control soil erosion in cultivated crops not capture water. Correctly constructed terraces funnel water to a designed grass sodded water way so excess water can leave the field.

 

[DaveOmak]

Terraces were designed to control soil erosion in cultivated crops not capture water. Correctly constructed terraces funnel water to a designed grass sodded water way so excess water can leave the field.

Stupid ME !!!! :mur:

Terraces are specifically designed to capture rain water so it penetrates the soil, reduces or eliminates soil erosion, and increases your crop yield......

 

[freewookie]

Guy who hays for us tells me they were created during the depression to help soil erosion during the dust bowl. They were supposedly paid a $1/day.

Thanks for the responses.