What to do with my pastures

MH8675309 · Feb 17, 2015

This has no doubt been discussed before but, I'm looking for suggestions on what to do to recondition my pastures. They are hilly on the one side and the other (low) side tends to hold water. There is a small ditch that leads to a tile but sometimes the water takes its time. The pastures are grazed through the summer and lived on all winter. Has anyone used one of those small spring loaded rippers? Fred Cain makes them and I wondered if this sort of gadget would be worthwhile. Some of the ground is fairly compacted and lots of it is rough with little bumps from the livestock. Thanks in advance.

houstonscott · Feb 17, 2015

What's grazing the grass? And how many? How many acres? Is it cross fenced? How do you water animals? HS

DJ54 · Feb 17, 2015

Two years ago, I ran a single shank subsoiler through my pastures that were holding a bit of water in places. I went down approx 16"-18",and made passes 4' apart. Sure made a big difference. I usually run my plugger aerator over it every Spring, and does help, these area's just needed something more.

This is an IH HD subsoiler, not one of the cheapies. I'd advise getting a good, HD one, of what ever you get. A buddy of mine bought one from TSC, and made a pretzel out of it the first time he used it.

jeff9366 · Feb 17, 2015

MH8675309 said:
Has anyone used one of those small spring loaded rippers? Fred Cain makes them and I wondered if this sort of gadget would be worthwhile. Some of the ground is fairly compacted and lots of it is rough with little bumps from the livestock.

I inspected Dirt Dog's 'All Purpose Plow' at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, GA. It looked heavy duty. Dirt Dog's 60" implement catalogs 228 pounds and calls for minimum 35 PTO horsepower; it must be pretty stout.

LINK: Dirt Dog Manufacturing[/unufacturingrl

Dirt Dog manufactures sub-soilers too.

I have never seen the Fred Cain Field Cultivator 'live'.
Fred Cain's 60" implement catalogs 250 pounds.

The Fred Cain Field Cultivator is a copy of Harry Ferguson's Field Cultivator going back to the 1940s (or thereabouts) so the design is time tested.

MH8675309 · Feb 17, 2015

There are horses and cattle grazing and they are watered with a 250 gallon stock tank. The 3 pastures are probably 4 acres or so.

powerscol · Feb 18, 2015

If I could suggest, contact you local State/federal Agg service or SCS folks. Try you County extension service too. They may be able to offer suggestions for you specific soil and grass type. Some even have equipment available. My box blade has skinny teeth, and I ripped my pasture a few years back about 4" and it did OK, but ripped the sod bad in some soft areas. My local Agg store also has a large 3pt plug aerator - puts holes 6"-8" deep about every 8" to 12". I plan to use that this spring.

houstonscott · Feb 18, 2015

MH8675309 said:
There are horses and cattle grazing and they are watered with a 250 gallon stock tank. The 3 pastures are probably 4 acres or so.

Can you rotate the animals through the pastures and still have water access while on any one? What kinds of grasses do you have and what type do you want? Do want to hay any of it? Do you have weeds you want gone? HS

MH8675309 · Feb 18, 2015

We do try and rotate the stock around a bit. I have other ground for haying and I have mowed the weeds for several years now and have a handle on them. Its a pain to get water out to the other pastures but I can move the stock tank when its full.

Walkin Horse · Feb 18, 2015

Here is a subsoiler I rebuilt. I bought it at an auction and pulled it 50'. When I rebuilt it I made it so it would about 24" deep. It does not have a trip on it. So I pull it slow. I don't have rocks but plenty of roots. As someone on TBN said life's easier if you plow around the stumps.

It had made a difference in the soil where I have used it. I cut it closer than 4' but I didn't have grass and it was compacted from 35 years of horses on it.

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

flusher · Feb 18, 2015

If you decide to go the subsoiler route, I'd recommend a single-shank heavy duty parabolic SS like the one manufactured by Dirt Dog. There are other manufacturers.

http://dirtdogmfg.com/system/manuals/pdfs/19/original/SS_HDSS_LP_SPECS.pdf?1377771782

The light duty subsoilers are OK if you only plan to go to 6-8" depth. To fix a drainage problem, you need to go a lot deeper (15-25").

Good luck.