pasture aereiator (spl) verse chain harrow

[Whiskey]

OK, guys:

I was all set to pick up a 3 pt. fertilizer spreader & chain harrow on Saturday morning for my pasture maintance program this year and neighber threw a wrench into my plans tonight.

So I come askin' advice

Two pastures aprox. 2-2 1/2 acres a piece in Florida with a good growth of Pensacola Bahia. My thought was draging a chain harrow around the pastures several times a year would be good for loosing up thatch and keeping the top layer of soil loose and promote growth. This is where the neighber piped up and said he thought an aereitor (spl*) would serve me better and he just wasn't buying the whole "de-thatch" the pasture with a harrow thingy.

Couple point's that maybe of intrust in what you tell me. Pastures are for graseing and I don't expect or want them to look like a lawn just want the grass healthy and thick and I mow them in the 4" to 8" range.

So give me your point of view on what is better to keeping a healthy pasture or is the whole idea of a chain harrow or aereiator a wast of time, and I shold just keep doing the fertilizer in the spring and mowing thingy and be done with it?

Whiskey

 

[cowboydoc]

The truth is both are going to give you great results. Both are important. If I had to pick one or the other my choice would be the harrow. Mostly because of being able to spread manure. There are also a hundred other uses for the harrow. Aerator is only good for on thing.

 

[bigtractor]

Yep chain harrow for that is fine.

Will give you good results

 

[greg_g]

Two different tools for two different jobs. The aerator has only two functions, punching holes and compacting soil. It's a good tool for hillside pasture, when you lose a lot of money to seed/fertilizer washing downhill. Plus, you can back up with it. But they're expensive - too expensive I think, to justify using on such small acreage.

The chain harrow doesn't poke holes, doesn't compact, and doesn't back up very well. But it does an economical job of scratching in seed and fertilizer, dethatching, some light duty raking, dressing gravel, breaking up manure, et cetera.

Even if you spend the extra bucks to add TPH capability to the chain harrow (so you can lift for transport and reversing), I still think it's more bang for the buck on small grazing acreages. See photos of mine in THIS THREAD.

//greg//

 

[Trailblazer]

Question for someone who dethatches their pasture regularly: Once you've dethatched a pasture with a chain harrow, don't you end up with a big pile of thatch, and what do you do with it? Burn it?

 

[greg_g]

Depends if you use the normal angle (points facing rear) or the aggressive (points facing forward. The normal angle should permit the thatch to simply drop out behind the harrow. An aggressive angle may necessitate your lifting the harrow to clear the tines periodically. I have to do this every fall after cutting brome sage. I use the harrow in aggressive stance, drive in a rectangle, and lift the whole thing to clear once per revolution - at the same point in the rectangle. That leaves me with a long narrow line of seed heads and stalks to burn, once they dry.

Of course, this method only works if you can lift your harrow with the three point hitch.

//greg//

 

[Whiskey]

Trailblazer:

My plan was to clear out the harrow right in front of my compost bins and mix it in with my horse poop and shavings.

Whiskey