Buying Advice You folks with tractors, horses & pastures

[WhisperingWinds]

Hence I'll return to recommending a landscape rake. No untangling required.

And thus we have come full circle

 

[WhisperingWinds]

I will add, we had 4 horses on approximately 5 acres for 20 some years. We used a JD 650 for those 20 some years and now own a JD 2320. The JD 650 did very well the JD 2320 is...well, VERY capable. It was a toss up between the 2520 and the 2320 but did not see the need for the 2520, still don't, for our use.
Note, rainy weather promotes good hoof growth.

Four is about how many we'd like to have total some day. Finding just the right horse(s) seems to be as challenging as the right tractor and combination of attachments. But I really can't whine about the challenge of picking a tractor when there are so many folks faced with the challenge of just feeding their family...I'll take my predicament any day.

 

[Gizmo2]

We removed every other tooth on our landscape rake. Manure does not need to be spread like it wasn't there just breakup the pile a little. With small acreage and small pastures a fork and a walk around works also.
Got to tell ya though, it is far better to pickup the manure than leave it as it promotes weeds like nobody's business and horse manure is not a very good fertilize anyway.

 

[AKfish]

And thus we have come full circle

Unless your pasture is very close to "pool table" flat and level -- using a landscape rake for manure dispersal -- will be a great exercise in frustration!! :thumbdown:

You'll have gouges and divots and peeled up sod chunks like no tomorrow! (Go ahead,,, ask me how I know.) Of course, if it's just a handful of piles in 1-2 spots.. And if that's the case, use a pitchfork and a garden cart.

AKfish

 

[Gizmo2]

Unless your pasture is very close to "pool table" flat and level -- using a landscape rake for manure dispersal -- will be a great exercise in frustration!! :thumbdown:

You'll have gouges and divots and peeled up sod chunks like no tomorrow! (Go ahead,,, ask me how I know.)
AKfish

But only once!

 

[WhisperingWinds]

Well, I suppose the best way to settle this is to get both a landscape rake and a harrow and see which one works the best in my pastures. If I tell the dealer I'm doing an experiment for the TractorByNet folks, I'm sure he'll sell me both for the price of one. :laughing:

 

[Gizmo2]

The trick with the rake is not letting the teeth touch the ground. My wife taught me that.

 

[dmay]

The trick with the rake is not letting the teeth touch the ground. My wife taught me that.

Or float on the ground. From 2003-2009 I was on 80 acres where 22 acres were clay soil timothy grass pasture. I had a Massey 265 and pulled a 8 ft Buller landscape rake. I could adjust the 3pt to float the rake to spread manure only or draft a little heavier to break up dirt and level. For the paddock area where it was mostly clay dirt only, the landscape rake did an incredible job to level the lunar landscape after a rain or snow melt. My outdoor arena was grass. I used the rake here to level the outside 'track'. I also used the rake on the gravel driveway for maintanence and in the winter for snow removal.

I had a harrow also. Used that only for areas I could not get my large tractor / rake into like my sand round pen. Here my riding lawnmower would pull a chain harrow.

Now I'm on 6.5 acres, have a 2320 and you guessed it, use a rake.

 

[grsthegreat]

I have 5 horses and 20 acres in trees plus use 10 acres in pasture. I use a 6' wide spring tooth harrow to run over the pasture every spring to break up the manure piles. I also run it after i spread the manure with the manure spreader. The harrow does a great job of breaking up the piles and aerating the ground.

Easy to do, and the pasture thanks you for it.

 

[AKfish]

You know... it has occurred to me that maybe a clarification might be in order here...

For those who have used a landscape rake to disperse manure in their pastures - do you reverse the tines and (in effect) pull the rake backwards?

That would resolve alot of the problems of the tines digging and snagging every high spot in your field! However, I could imagine that it might not be the best solution for dragging the manure very far and breaking it up as well, either.

Now, for smoothing and cleaning up an arena or dirt field (or a roadway) the landscape rake is a great attachment for those chores!

But a healthy, well-sodded pasture -- give me a spring tooth or short toothed drag harrow any day!

AKfish