New Farm

[FarmerFrank]

I want to turn a pasture into cropland. What are the steps involved. What size of machine is needed to till up rocky soil and what implements should I use in what order to get ready to plant a cover crop to till in for next springs planting?

Frank Dwyer

 

[cowboydoc]

Frank,
A couple of things you're going to have to do. First of all if your soil is really rocky you're going to have to remove all of the rocks before you have much hope of farming it. What kind of crops are you planning on raising? Depending on that rocks will tear up equipment pretty fast. Let's assume that you have all the rocks gone. Now it's going to depend on what you're going to plant on how you go about preparing the soil. You're going to need a soil test done if you're really serious about raising crops. That way you will know what you need to apply to get a good crop. Just to start out with you're going to a really good disc and plow. Without knowing your crop I'll start with just the basics of the ground prep to get ready. Also are you going to have to irrigate or not? First of all you need to get rid of the pasture. Whenever I turn pasture into crop ground I like to spray it first to kill everything there. Roundup works good for this. Next after it is sprayed and everything has died then it's time to plow the ground under. Then you need to disc and harrow the ground smooth. Depending on your soil sample you may need to have some things put on before you plow and then it will get into the soil real good. You can also put on afterwards. From here it will depend on the crop you intend to raise. Usually the only "cover crop" that is planted is either rye or winter wheat. Again depends on what you're going to grow. If you're going to plant either of those you're going to need a good planter as well. Then you will have to have a combine to harvest the rye or wheat in the spring and plow, disc, and harrow again to get ready for the crop you are going to have to plant in the spring.

The other way is no till farming but now you're going to need some other specialized equipment to do this. You need really good planters here and nothing short of a near new one is going to do a good job and they are very expensive. Unless you are going to be alot of farming not very cost effective.

The third way is to just rent the ground out or to have someone come in and do the work for you either on shares or by an acre basis.

 

[FarmerFrank]

Richard,
Thank you for the advice. I am going to hire someone with a large machine to come in and till up my ground and remove the rocks. I will create raised beds after this is done.
Frank

 

[FarmerFrank]

Richard,
Thank you for the advice. I am going to hire someone with a large machine to come in and till up my ground and remove the rocks. I will create raised beds after this is done.
Frank

 

[Bill_Ryan]

IMO, stay away from Roundup or any other product by Monsanto.

Turn it over repeatedly over time instead. Then plant your cover crop (which you'll turn over later prior to planting.

Better for you, better for mother nature and better for those eating the crops you grow.

Bill

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>IMO, stay away from Roundup or any other product by Monsanto</font color=blue>

OK, Bill, why?

Bird

 

[ejb]

>>IMO, stay away from Roundup or any other product by Monsanto

I don't know why he was suggesting staying away, but that is one thing I have noticed on this forum that has always bothered me a bit...almost without exception the recommendations (at least the ones I have read) have suggested saturating your soil with roundup in order to get it ready for planting, now I am sure it probably works pretty well, and does a good job killing the weeds (and everything else), but isn't one reason to have a home garden to get plenty of healthy/fresh vegetables that you can feed your family? I for one can't imagine starting out a new garden with dumping piles of chemicals into the soil...who would want to eat vegetables grown that way? No offense to anyone that uses it, but I can't see feeding my 3 small kids vegetables that have been grown in chemicals if I can avoid it....

 

[jdkid]

Hi ya
two sides to the story about roundup and bringing ground in.i do notill seeding so i use round up (or round up clone)i have no prob useing it as long as withholding pedrods are followed but on the other hand i also used to plow and till the ground or some of both spray till .if real matted old feilds i'd spray then plow it helps the grass mat brake down .kinda tricky one myself i don't like useing chem's all the time some i will not use full stop ,but if i plowed all the time ya end up with a dust blow like the USA had many years ago .like most people i like to know what i'm eating (prodocts passed sprays fert etc etc )so growing ya own is one way of doing it ya can still spray for things weed's pests etc etc but you know when it was done, how much and when the withholding run out .our sheep when we sell them we have to sign a bit of paper stating all stock cared for (shade water etc etc)and outside of any withholding and thats getting tougher each day .now back to this new farm rocks will be ya biggest prob if only on top no prob pick up with FEL if all though the ground maybe big discs as they will not bring up many more don't need to be to fussie if only sowing cover crop for plowing in or grazeing the matted turf will rot down abit before ya next work it
catch ya
JD Kid

 

[DFB]

Here are some links, for Monsanto's Roundup and some views from the opposition. Interesting reading for sure. Genetically engineered seed in particular.

They (Monsanto) have been around for awhile too. Chronology

I haven't used Roundup or any other herbicide in my own garden. It's used down at the in-laws farm along with other chemical pesticides. They're certified with the state (Massachusetts) for commercially controlled pesticide application.

DFB

 

[Bill_Ryan]

Why?

I don't wish to start a large debate over use of chemicals vs. non-use....

If you are using or thinking of using chemicals on your fields or in your gardens, take some time first and do your homework.

Read what both sides have to say and then make an informed decision.

You can di this simply by performing a Yahoo searchg or some other search of the internet with appropriate keywords.

Bill