How do I smooth out a field.

[jeff9366]

The soil varies a great deal in broad Tennessee.

Be cautious before adopting a brute force plan which may drag up sub-soil and mix it with your top-soil.

Dig a pit on your property and determine how your soil layers.

 

[EddieWalker]

Part of my land used to be planted pines. They dug some ridiculous channels every couple of feet and planted the pines in the bottoms of the ditches. I assume this is to give them more water when it rains, but I honestly don't know why it was done. If you go down the rows between the pines, you are fine. It's raised and usually pretty dry and smooth. But if you try to go in the other direction, it's a roller coaster of up and down. Top speed on a four wheeler is just a crawl.

I bought a five foot disk and found that once I broke through the crust of the dirt, I could smooth it out easily pulling a heavy oak log behind me as a drag. Later on I built a much heavier drag out of angle iron and solid cinder blocks that acts more like a bull dozer behind my tractor. It breaks down high spots and carried dirt to the low spots.

If I had to do that much land, I would want a much bigger disk. I would spend a lot of time going over the land and breaking it all up. The disk wont smooth it out, but it will take off the ridges and make it easy to spread out the dirt with a drag. This also wont make the field flat or level. If you want that, then you will need to do what the others suggested and hire a crew. But if you want smooth enough to drive fast over, be able to mow easily, and to look nice, then disk and drag will get it done easily.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I wonder if there is a natural subsurface hardness to those areas that causes those bumps. If you have a post hole auger digger drill a hole and see what you hit.

 

[crackerjack222]

A few years ago my neighbor bulldozed mesquite off about 90 acres to make a hay field under a center pivot. He plowed it up till it was loose soil then ran the disk plow with three 16' long railroad rails chained together behind it. Those rails left it smooth as a dining room table.

 

[jeff9366]

Railroad track weights 137 pounds per foot. So 48 feet of railway track would weigh 6,576 (+/-) pounds.

How big was the tractor? What dimension was the chain?



CORRECTION: 137 pounds per yard. So 16 yards of railway track would weight 2,192 (+/-) pounds.

 

[arrow]

I'd hire this out. You can do a bit of it at a time for cost considerations. Several years ago a neighbor bought some land a few miles away as he wanted a hay field. It was only about 15 acres but kind of hilly and pimply as you describe. He hired a large road grader with rippers in the back and a scraper blade mounted to the front. This thing was smoothing out land in 12' swaths and did it much faster than a dozer.
Mention it just for the info as this seems to parallel the concerns my neighbor had.

 

[crackerjack222]

Railroad track weights 137 pounds per foot. So 48 feet of railway track would weigh 6,576 (+/-) pounds.

How big was the tractor? What dimension was the chain?

I don't remember either the size of the tractor or the chain. It was the same tractor he used to pull his baler, so probably about 80-90 HP. He had an artesian well that would put out about 600 gpm and he wanted to use that water to make hay. He bought two tractors, a center pivot and the baling equipment on credit, intending to pay it off with hay sales. Things did not go as planned and within about five years he lost the equipment to foreclosure. I sure wanted to get those rails from him but another neighbor beat me to it.
Now that I think about it, both the hay guy and the other neighbor have passed on so the rails may be available again. But then I am now to old get much use out of them.


You sure the weight is 137 lbs per foot, or is it about 137 lbs per YARD?

 

[bcp]

Rail weights are by yard. It is molded into the side every so often, if your piece is long enough.

If you have a short piece, the height will get you very close,

RAIL SPECIFICATIONS

Bruce

 

[SPYDERLK]

I don't remember either the size of the tractor or the chain. It was the same tractor he used to pull his baler, so probably about 80-90 HP. He had an artesian well that would put out about 600 gpm and he wanted to use that water to make hay. He bought two tractors, a center pivot and the baling equipment on credit, intending to pay it off with hay sales. Things did not go as planned and within about five years he lost the equipment to foreclosure. I sure wanted to get those rails from him but another neighbor beat me to it.
Now that I think about it, both the hay guy and the other neighbor have passed on so the rails may be available again. But then I am now to old get much use out of them.


You sure the weight is 137 lbs per foot, or is it about 137 lbs per YARD?

Good catch. ... I have some track and 137/ft just didnt seem right.

Rail weights are by yard. It is molded into the side every so often, if your piece is long enough.

If you have a short piece, the height will get you very close,

RAIL SPECIFICATIONS

Bruce

 

[EdwardB]

I don't remember either the size of the tractor or the chain. It was the same tractor he used to pull his baler, so probably about 80-90 HP. He had an artesian well that would put out about 600 gpm and he wanted to use that water to make hay. He bought two tractors, a center pivot and the baling equipment on credit, intending to pay it off with hay sales. Things did not go as planned and within about five years he lost the equipment to foreclosure. I sure wanted to get those rails from him but another neighbor beat me to it. Now that I think about it, both the hay guy and the other neighbor have passed on so the rails may be available again. But then I am now to old get much use out of them. You sure the weight is 137 lbs per foot, or is it about 137 lbs per YARD?

600 GPM artesian well. That is remarkable!