Here in Central Ohio, equipment rental such as no-till drills are rented through the Soil & Water Conservation office. A buddy of mine rented one several years ago, to plant cover crop on some of his produce growing ground. His cost several years ago, was $15 an acre for the no-till drill. Here, our County Extension Office works hand in hand with the Conservation office. Maybe we're just fortunate here, because our extension agent is more than happy to help me out, even though I only have 6 acres of hay and pasture ground. It seems to me, if you're in NW Ohio, and near the Great Lakes, that those offices should have access to this type of equipment. It's a good bet that local equipment dealers provide rental of such equipment too.
Have you contacted your County Extension agent..?? there's a bit more to it, than renovating the soil, and sowing crops for hay & pasture. Soil tests need to be done, and see what amendments are needed. That will take 2-3 weeks to get samples sent in, and results back, then your agent will go over it with you. He can also give you optionson the best way to do it, without fields being out of production for a long period of time. You'll not see full production out of either until the second year after planting/sowing.
With my small acreage here, I keep everything in production all of the time. I seed in existing stands using 2 different methods. Frost seeding, and direct seeding using a slit seeder, which I own. Neihter are pretty, but work great. For eliminating compaction, I use a 6' aerator, normally in mid-April, when the soil has some decent moisture, yet pretty solid. I make 2 passes running perpendicular to each other, and makes a big difference. All of these tools are well worth the storage space they take up, to kep fields up to snuff.
On Feb. 14th of this year, I frost seeded a section of the hayfield that had become infested with thistles, that had drifted in from a neighboring property. I'd done a total kill on it last Fall, after mowing it down tight. NOAAH Weather had predicted a 10% chance of snow, and temps to drop to 18ｺ that night. Perfect weather for frost seeding. As you can see in the picture, we got a pretty good skiff of snow. Temps did get down to 18ｺ, but the seed was on top of the snow. I gambled that from that point on,surely we'd get cold enough temps.after the snow melted, to get cold enough to honeycomb the ground, to pull the seed in. That didn't happen. And, this is the first year,in 20 some years I've frost seeded, that I had an 80% failure of frost seeding.I eneded up disking it up in the Spring, and re-seeding, but that,and another section I did the same thing too were pretty much out of production this year.
This year, it is time to re-establish the Timothy, and sow more Fescue. I mentioned it to the Extension Agent in a casual conversation on faceBook. He told me I should re-seed in mid-August, so broke out the slit seeder, and went to work in a few days, after getting 3rd cutting hay off, seed ordered, and received. Happy to report it is up 3"- 4" tall, and looking good for next Spring.
I plan on pulling soil samples after the next rain when the ground is softer, so as to get the probe in the ground. If Lime is needed, hopefully I can get it on, before the wet season starts in November. Aerate in April as normal, and apply fertilizer on the hay, after first cutting.
I highly suggest contacting you County Extension Agent. Some of the tax dollars you pay, go to provide this service. You might as well get some benefit from it.
