Tillage equipment rental??? Where would you begin? KY

[Dadnatron]

I've been working on building my farm in the Lexington area of KY.

I was initially going to just no-till drill my final Bluegrass/Orchard grass pasture this spring, but time is not going to allow it. I still have quite a bit of 'final dirt work' I want to do before the final pastures are put in. Therefore, I've decided (am highly considering) that I will put in a stand of Teff (annual grass) for the summer and drill my final pastures this fall. This will allow me forage, hay, and cover for the summer that I won't feel 'too badly about' tearing up in order to finish the dirt work I have yet to do.

But, everything I read about Teff is that seed bed prep is key. Short season soybeans were on the land last year and it is empty currently. It has been no-tilled for quite a while, and while it isn't 'soft' it isn't to the firmness recommended by the Teff guys. Therefore, I am thinking about going against my internal grain, and tilling it this spring to get it into 'Teff shape'. But I certainly don't need to purchase equipment for 1, perhaps 2 uses. So I was thinking about renting.

My needs as I see it, are for a shallow tillage machine which will prep a good surface and then a Brillion seeder. This combination is the recommendation for Teff, as far as I can find.

But, I haven't had much luck in finding farm implements for rent. I can find construction rental all over the place. But no farm implements. My County extension has some things, such as no-till drill etc. But no tillage equipment and no seeder.

I'd appreciate any thoughts about options and if any of you in KY and surrounding areas know of a place, I'd be willing to trailer something to my place to get the job done correctly. I just don't want to purchase anything for a 'single shot' deal.

 

[motownbrowne]

I think in some places county extensions have some equipment for rent. You could check with them anyway.

If I were you, I'd look for a guy who does hay, preferably within tractor driving distance, and just hire it out. My neighbor just did this exact thing. Paid another neighbor who has a nice disk and drag and a big drill to put in 25 acres or so of forage. I think he was very pleased with how much work got done for the money.

 

[scdeerslayer]

As is so often suggested on here, buy used then sell when you're finished. You might even make a profit, especially if you clean and paint them to make them pretty. You might even realize there's a reason to keep them.

 

[powerscol]

Its a good way to meet you neighbor. Drop in an say hello. Around me is a network of folks that know what others have. A lot of bartering going on. I am lucky that I have a Kubota agg dealer that rents a lot of tillage stuff. Question - how many acres are you doing? I only have 3 but used my 74" Ansung tiller to do the soil prep. If your fields have not been turned in a few years, now is the time to do it. You local agg service can probably give you the best advice.
Buying used can work, but in my case I was lousy at judging condition. Go with someone in the know.

Good luck

 

[Dadnatron]

70 ac and I'll only need it once, perhaps twice when I redo it this fall for permanent pastures.

Almost all my neighbors are horse farms. I have made good acquaintance with the farmer who farmed the land, I now own. But he did everything no-till for many years, and has no tillage equipment. He also doesn't know of anyone who has anything which would likely work for me. The guys who put in pasture for the big farms such as Winstar, my neighbor across the street or Lanes End, just down the road, all are big outfits who completely renovated the farms from top to bottom. I'm doing the same, but I am the guy doing the work.

My wife is already beginning with the 'I don't want equipment strung all over the place.' And I can't really blame her. The beauty of how my land lies is that, from most of the farm, you can see every bit of the rest of the farm. There are no 'hidden areas' that would work for equipment storage. It is shaped somewhat like a very shallow 'L-shaped' bowl. I don't want to look out of my window and see a bunch of equipment either, so I am working to minimize purchases as much as is reasonable.

But, I am going to have to do some calling. I really would like to get a good stand this summer and with a little light tillage and a Brillion Sureseeder, I think I could have a great one. I also have to put in my fall pasture in a similar manner. However, I can put that in via no-till drill if required, and just wait for the rows to coalesce.

 

[TheMan419]

I'm in the same kind of boat. I need to basically disc harrow about 10 acres. It was in corn. I'd like to turn over the stover and knock the rows down to flatten out the land a bit. I can't justify spending the money on a new harrow. However I am likely to end up going the buy used, use it and sell it route. I can find a 6' or so disc harrow used for a couple hundred dollars. If I use it and then sell it for a hundred dollars I figure I got my money out of it.

 

[Foodplot]

Not a lot to rent from commercial places in southern KY, either. However, there are quite a few used implement lots. I suspect you could do a deal with one of them up your way for a rental. For a one-off planting, once the ground is prepped, I'd just broadcast the seed, drag and cultipack it. Used broadcast seeders are a dime a dozen around here, and you'd only need to fill a 350 lb unit twice.

 

[powerscol]

70 ac and I'll only need it once, perhaps twice when I redo it this fall for permanent pastures.

Almost all my neighbors are horse farms. I have made good acquaintance with the farmer who farmed the land, I now own. But he did everything no-till for many years, and has no tillage equipment. He also doesn't know of anyone who has anything which would likely work for me. The guys who put in pasture for the big farms such as Winstar, my neighbor across the street or Lanes End, just down the road, all are big outfits who completely renovated the farms from top to bottom. I'm doing the same, but I am the guy doing the work.

My wife is already beginning with the 'I don't want equipment strung all over the place.' And I can't really blame her. The beauty of how my land lies is that, from most of the farm, you can see every bit of the rest of the farm. There are no 'hidden areas' that would work for equipment storage. It is shaped somewhat like a very shallow 'L-shaped' bowl. I don't want to look out of my window and see a bunch of equipment either, so I am working to minimize purchases as much as is reasonable.

But, I am going to have to do some calling. I really would like to get a good stand this summer and with a little light tillage and a Brillion Sureseeder, I think I could have a great one. I also have to put in my fall pasture in a similar manner. However, I can put that in via no-till drill if required, and just wait for the rows to coalesce.

Well the tiller is out :confused3:. Do you have any large agg equipment dealers near you? They may know of help, or you can try and talk each one into demoing their best tractor and plow for you.