Leveling A pasture

[Grant1]

I was hired to disc a 2 acre pasture. I have gone over it once with the maximum angle applied to the harrows and 2 more times with less angle applied each time. The pasture is well cut under. The people wanted to know if I could get it more level than it currently is. I was under the impression that the harrows when used with no angle would level the pasture. What can I use to get it more level than it currently is. Also are there any suggestions on disc harrow work that will make the job easier. I have done plenty of tractor work grading bushhoging ect. but this is my first experience with a pasture. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[BarryinMN]

My pasture was really bad re: boulder craters.

What I did was plow disc cultivate, cultivate, cultivate, 20' spike harrow with leveler.

To level the ground you need to move the dirt: the disc simply cuts the top not really moves material.

If your work has created some loose topsoil dragging a flat something might work RR tie etc if the low spots are not too deep.

Pick a high gear & lots of seat time with figure 8's

 

[whitearrow]

try a section harrow or a piece of old cyclone fence or the above mentioned rr tie to smooth things out.
whitearrow->>>-------------->

 

[texasjohn]

Definiton of terms..

Level.... flat in all directions, water stands everywhere and barely runs off.

Smooth... powder fine on top and no obvious big bumps, hills, valleys, clods but may slope on various directions

Are you wanting it LEVEL, or SMOOTH?

Level won't happen with a disk harrow. You must move dirt and lots of it to get level.

Smoother can be achieved by dragging a heavy object at different angles across the ground... tops of the disk harrow ridges will be pulled into the valleys. I hope this is what your customers want. I have done this to prepare a smooth seedbed. Obviously, you don't have an implement for doing this since you would have mentioned it. Others have also mentioned the implements they have used.

I've used 16 ft long pipe gates weighted down with tires, lumber, etc. and chained to the hitch under the tractor. There are numerous home made devices you can create depending on the resources available. I would pull it back and forth the length of the pasture, then at about a 30 degree angle from one side to the other.

All of this is an opportunity for seat time .. what fun!

 

[SPYDERLK]

Grant, a chain drag a little wider than you disc would do very nice smoothing as it was dragged behind the disc after the turf has broken up. Do you have, or can you borrow one. Theyre not cheap, but very useful. Probably about $600 for a ten footer.
Larry

 

[hudr]

I beg to differ on the leveling abilities with a disc harrow. The question is, how big a disc harrow are you using? Is this a pull type or 3point disc. In my experience 3pt discs ARE fairly useless for leveling.
We have a 12'7" "cutting disc" (big pans, pretty far apart) that we use to break up a field. The field gets this 2-3 times at different angles. Then it gets the ~20' "pulverizing disc" (smaller pans, but lots of them closer together) at several different angles. Then the section harrow (if not pulled behind the pulverizer). Then finally the roller to "tighten up" the seed bed for sowing w/ bermuda. We have a small 4/5 acre field that was extremely hilly. Is it now a pool table? no. But you can definitely see where we have pulled topsoil off the hills and into the valleys. And there is now not near as much rise and fall between the hills. We are currently using the same technique on another larger field. It is definitely smoothing and to a great degree, leveling it.

 

[Grant1]

Thanks for the insight. I went toTSC this morning and bought a 6x8 chain harrow $387.40 after tax. I hope it works but what a PIA to mess with. I finally got it untangled and now I have to try to figure how to transport it. I finally put the draw bar on the top of my disc and the chains in the FEL. This is a heavy piece of equipment. I would like to get into pasture maintenance as I live in an equestrian area with several people that own with horses on 2 to 3 acres each. No one doing this type of work that I know of, Aeriating reseeding fertilizing ect.

 

[CDsdad]

I used a 6 1/2' disc to break it up fine. I then used the side of an old cattle head gate, about 14' long and 6' wide made out of 2" pipe to level/smooth things out. Worked well, not tabletop smooth, but lots easier on the rear when riding across on tractor.