Land Pride Drag Harrow.

[e.myers]

Is this any worse/better than other drag harrows out there? What am I looking for?

for 5-7 current acres. Don't really see the need to go wider at this point.

Not looking at the whole set up, just the drag harrow and seed bed roller (separate topic).

Land Pride DRG Series Drag Harrows

Only 4 feet long... does this matter?

Thinking of getting the non 3 pt hitch type so I can pull it behind a rotary spreader.

Thinking I will rip up my land with a separate implement with a land plane dragging behind.

Then will probably till everything up.

Then drag this behind a broadcast seeder with possibly a seedbed roller dragging behind..... depending on how much the whole setup costs.

All implements will be 6' wide (except the land plane)

MAY, just disc the land, broadcast the seed, then disc it in. Still trying to figure it all out.

So, what do you think about this drag harrow.

 

[rambler]

I'm sure it's a fine harrow.

I didn't look for the price, but I bet it's a bit of change?

Where are you located? 'Here you can attend any old farm auction, and pick up a very useable 1 or 2 section harrow for $10-50. They will be a spike tooth, have a lever in back to adjust how agressive they are, and will work for you just as well for the next 50 years.

I don't know if that is an option for you, but a harrow is a very simple tool, it doesn't take much. The old unit for $25 will serve you just as well as this new one would. I would prefer one that is adjustable as to how aggressive it is with a lever on it - didn't really look the one you linked to over real well, but appears to be fixed and not adjustable?

If you straighten out the blades some on the disk, you can certainly seed in broadcast oats/wheat/rye/ clovers/ etc. with a light disking, and wait on the harrow for a year. A used piece of chain link fence will even work well for working in the seed, put a fence post on it & pull that behond.....

As a farmer, I have to make my tools pay their way, & there is no way I could buy a new harrow and make it pay off and I'm working about 45 times as much ground as you. Just for the perspective I'm coming from.

--->Paul

 

[e.myers]

Paul-
PERFECT. I'm not going to get one now!

Thanks a ton.

 

[e.myers]

you know, I actually have a panel for a chan link dog pen. Has the tube frame all around it.

You think that would work for my harrow? I think one of the fence is closer to the outside of the tube and the other further away.

would the tubes get too much in the way? Would the frame be too rigid?

 

[rambler]

If you are planting corn & trying to make money at it you need to place the seeds _perfectly_ to get a good, 200 bushel an acre crop. Corn is very fussy to make a good yield. With corn, changing the population from 29,000 seeds per acre to 34,000 seeds per acre has a huge effect.

For the types of cover crops you mention, things are not nearly so fussy. You'll be planting maybe 200,000 to 400,000 seeds per acre - and really the weather will have more effect than which of those numbers you actually use! They are 'scatter' crops, they can be 1/4 inch or 1-1/2 inch deep. If they are a little thin they bush out, if a little crowded, they stay thinner as they grow. They are pretty forgiving. And as a cover crop, or deer plot, you don't need to be perfect.

So, I can tell you the perfect way to plant those crops. Or, you can add 10% more seed per acre, and just get it done with whatever implements you happen to have.

I planted 1 acre of what you are trying to do over at my sister's place. My BiL had tilled it with his tiller. It was too far to take any extra implements, so we scattered the oats seed by hand out of a 5 gallon pail - about 3 bu worth, took less than an hour. Then we went over it with a little push spreader & spread the clover, alfalfa, and grass seeds. Took 15 minutes. Then I had my little tractor & a landscape rake - I turned it backwards so it wasn't very agressive & ran over the ground with just that.

Four years later & that grass/clover/alfalfa stand is as good as anything I'd grow with all the 'perfect' implements one could have.

Hit a bad weather patch in spring, and the results could be the opposite - for either way of seeding things.

Now, I don't want to talk a person out of getting more toys - er I mean implements. They can be fun & can be useful for stuff. If you have the money & space for them, have a blast.

Just sometimes we try to get into this perfect world of having everything just right. Farming - we depend on ma nature so much, there is only so much we can do, and often just being close is way good enough.

Did you get a soil test on your ground, find out if you need lime (soil ph should be between 6-7) and check out the P & K levels? PH is most important, adding lime to bring it up over a value of 6 is pretty important, only then will the other fertilizers matter. Getting this right can mean more than which implements you use.

Sorry if I have gotten way off track here, I'll stop!

--->Paul

(edited - I need to proofread be4 sending!)

 

[e.myers]

Thanks rambler for your insight.
After all the feedback I've gotten here, I've decided to go low tech this go round and see what happens. You make good points, so maybe I'll get lucky. If I can figure out a way to do it low tech, the it's money in the bank.

What is a "push spreader"?

Thinking I might just spread by hand and save the rental expense of a broadcast spreader... even though it's only like 35 bucks (plus the gas, aggravation and time to get it and take it back, hook it up and unhook it).

Was wondering if you or others might have some insight into how I might best be able to tell where I had already thrown out the seed? So that I can make sure I'm covering the whole property relatively even. Maybe there is some sort of glow in the dark or fluorescent pink additive I can add to seed to help with this.

Any ideas?

 

[foggy1111]

Is this any worse/better than other drag harrows out there? What am I looking for?

for 5-7 current acres. Don't really see the need to go wider at this point.

Not looking at the whole set up, just the drag harrow and seed bed roller (separate topic).

Land Pride DRG Series Drag Harrows

Only 4 feet long... does this matter?

Thinking of getting the non 3 pt hitch type so I can pull it behind a rotary spreader.

Thinking I will rip up my land with a separate implement with a land plane dragging behind.

Then will probably till everything up.

Then drag this behind a broadcast seeder with possibly a seedbed roller dragging behind..... depending on how much the whole setup costs.

All implements will be 6' wide (except the land plane)

MAY, just disc the land, broadcast the seed, then disc it in. Still trying to figure it all out.

So, what do you think about this drag harrow.

I have one of those types of harrows....and we like it allot. I bought it at a "farm supply store" and its a "no-name" brand 4' wide x 6 feet long(?). We primarilly pull it with a four wheeler (my wife pulls it everywhere). I beleive we paid about $300 for it. We use it to break trails through the brush and to level dirt as well as seed bed prep after discing or plowing. It seems like this tool will last two lifetimes....its pretty bulletproof.

I have gotten some free spike tooth drags....and destroyed two or three of em over the years. They will NOT take the abuse we give the flexible drag/ harrow. We doze through lots of timber and hit lots of rocks and stumps. The 7/16" (?) links are pretty tough. The worst thing about these drags is cleaning 'em out (they get full of sticks)......and the price. (Also, these really work good for drying up roads and fields in the spring). AS stated....you can find allot of drags for cheap.....but you also can spend allot of time fixing stuff. (we like this one for our purposes).

As far as the Landpride pic showing all that equipment used in combination. I think I'd take a pass. It just don't seem to work that way for me....as we are planting in "the woods"

 

[jenkinsph]

I would not spend alot on a harrow as long as you have the tiller and landplane. the combination of tiller and landplane is going to leave it so smooth and flat that all you need is a simple harrow to cover the seed.

I built mine out of some 2x2x1/8 angle iron and some extra box tubing I had on hand. Bought 5 pieces of 5/8"x20' lengths of hot rolled steel round rods to make the teeth. Works great for me and very low cost, around $300 for an 8 ft width. I Match too.



One more point, you keep mentioning pulling the harrow or drag behind the seeder, recognize that the seed is being spun out of the spreader with a radius of 10 to 25' this means the seeder needs to be run independently of the drag as the seeds will be flying out way behind your drag.


Steve

 

[rd_macgregor]

You can try the dog kennel chainlink, but the one I had was too flimsy for that kind of use (thin tubes and soft, maybe aluminum?, chainlink). I finally found a 12' wide used chain harrow. What a monster! It is a pain to transport and get set up, but works really well in my pastures to tear up the duff and break up manure piles. At twelve feet wide, the job goes really fast, but I have to be very careful around the edges; its too easy to drift into the fence posts, since the harrow sticks out to the side so much.
Your choice may also depend on what you want the surface to be like when you are done. You can disc and seed, till and seed, harrow and seed, etc. and any may work well enough for plant establishment. If you want a really smooth, lawnlike surface, that narrows your choices a bit, though.
BOB

 

[e.myers]

Still lurking and taking it all in.
Doesn't have to be perfectly flat, so looks like I have a lot of options as to how to proceed

Thanks.