Pasture into hayfield

[MinnesotaMorg]

I have been reading whatever info google presents me on converting rough pasture into hayfield but I wanted to see if anyone here has any tips that will make my life a bit easier.

I have gotten a few different opinions on what the proper procedure is but I should preface that my pasture is rather boulder-y. I was late getting cows out there to keep the grass down so they are working on it now but I'm in this kind of catch 23 situation where I need to mow to see the rocks better to pick them out but the rocks would make mowing almost impossible. Is there some sort of method that people do where they just light it all on fire and start from zero using an excavator to pick the bigger boulders out and then plow it over?

My current plan is to be patient let the cows do there thing, a local landscape company will come pick boulders and pay you for them, but the thistles are taking over a bit as well. Not to mention the buckthorn which I should be able to finish shredding once I get my new cutter.

after that I was thinking:
1) plow it over
2) disc a few times
3) likely pay neighbor to drill seed it
4) mow weeds while grass takes


My neighbor suggested planting corn for 2 years to help break up the sod, saying using a disc wouldn't be super effective or something. Anyhow if anyone has surefire way of converting rough pasture into hayable field im all ears.

 

[jeff9366]

How many acres comprise this project?

Is your MF 4707 2-WD or 4-WD? Cab?


1) Burn the grass.

2) Plow with a Chisel Plow or a Disc Plow
T-B-N ARCHIVE:
chisel plow in rocky soil site:www.tractorbynet.com

3) Soil test - amend per results.

4) Pick rocks. (A local landscape company will pick boulders and pay for them.)

5) Disc Harrow (smooths, mixes in amendments)

ADJUSTING Three Point Hitch Mounted TANDEM DISC HARROWS

If you are considering the acquisition of a Disc Harrow, first read this LINK covering Disc Harrow selection: LINK: Disc Harrow Selection For 18-45 Horsepower Tractors (Revision 2b) The Three Point Hitch mounted Tandem Disc Harrow is a secondary tillage implement. The Disc Harrow is a...

www.tractorbynet.com

6) Pay neighbor to drill seed it

Massey Ferguson 4707 Dimensions​

Massey Ferguson 4707 Weight
2WD ROPS :	7478 lbs 3392 kg
4WD ROPS :	7734 lbs 3508 kg
2WD Cab :	8294 lbs 3762 kg
4WD Cab :	8644 lbs 3920 kg

 

[MinnesotaMorg]

there is about 20 acres I would like to convert to hayfield, this would be in addition to the 25ish acres thats currently being farmed/hayed.

my tractor is 4wd

EDIT: I should add I would like to get it to the point where I can rotate what field is pasture for the year and what is being hayed.

 

[fishheadbob]

Open by getting a soil test which will tell you all sorts of thing about what is possible to grow, and what might need doing besides picking rocks.

 

[Egon]

Chances are the pasture will not have enough desirable hay grass in it.
Cultivate the land , clear the rocks and reseed with grass of choice and a cover crop.
Hay land may have a loss of desirable grasses over the years and will have to be rotated To a different crop or reseeded. This is a common practice.

Cultivation is just a matter of using what equipment you have to the best effect.
Raising corn or some other one type product for several years helps eliminate weeds and present grasses giving a good seed bed for new start.
In many cases newly sown hay field is kept strictly for hay for a few years and then graseing is allowed after haying.
Many variables in the procedures you can use. Most will depend on the local situations. Your local Agricultural Representative is one of your best advice resources.

 

[Hay Dude]

there is about 20 acres I would like to convert to hayfield, this would be in addition to the 25ish acres thats currently being farmed/hayed.

my tractor is 4wd

EDIT: I should add I would like to get it to the point where I can rotate what field is pasture for the year and what is being hayed.

Sounds like to me (tough to tell without actually being there) is the rocks are the biggest of your challenges.
I have converted many overgrown acres of rocky pastures back into fields using only a mower, tractor and rented small excavator when large rocks were present.

In your situation, I would start by mowing everything you can access carefully. Keep chipping away at it, getting closer and closer to the rocks until you have isolated the rocks and marked them with orange snowplow guides. Next, decide which rocks are to be removed and how they are to be removed (backhoe, mini-ex, etc.) In my case, the rocks that were too big for my tractor were simply marked with the 6’ orange snowplow guides and left there. I cut hay around them. It’s not that bad.
Each year I rent a machine and dig a few more out. I’d like to have them all out, but its not feasible to do them all at once.
I don’t use herbicides, so I am not dependent on them like many farmers are. I have learned to grow grasses without killing everything and have become pretty good at it.
Once the brush is cut and the rocks are marked so you don’t hit them, I would mow the existing vegetation down to the ground (I call it scalping) in late summer. It would be at this time where you would get soil tests to see what your soil needs. My guess is it will need lime, or other key minerals. Lime is pretty easy to spread. See if you have any local compost available. It could be poultry litter, mushroom compost, composted leaves, etc. Inquire about cost for delivery.
I would then rent or hire a seed drill and drill in the best choice of hay grass that grows in YOUR area about 8 weeks before your first frost typically happens. This will give the seeds enough time to germinate and develop into seedlings to survive the winter. Before winter hits, spread your compost in a thin layer, maybe 1/2” to 1” max so you don’t smother the seedlings.

Next spring, the seedlings will become your crop.

HERE is a picture I took about 10 years ago of mowing a property overgrown for 20 years with woody brush. Picture was taken in October. The following year, I took 2 cuttings of mulch hay off of it. Today it produces many tons of mixed grass hay.

 

[Hay Dude]

Not the best picture, but in it you see the area circled in red? There’s about 10 boulders sticking up that would damage a mower. I just cut around them. The entire field has boulders. Some I have removed, some I intend to remove, hopefully soon.

By the way, when you dig out a boulder, just enlarge the hole a little deeper and push to boulder back in the hole. That way you don’t have to deal with moving or storing the boulder.

 

[Hay Dude]

THIS pasture was nothing but weeds and stickers 5 years ago. Now it is a very productive 95% grass field that I hay 2 times per year.
It has never seen a chisel plow, a disc or any chemicals.

Rock outcroppings circled in red. The brush around them is a natural way to warn you to stay away when mowing/baling.

The simple act of frequent mowing kills brush and encourages grass growth.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money or buy any chemicals to get the field back to growing hay.

 

[repete]

I have about 40 acres, 20 of pasture and 20 in hay field.
My biggest regret is not having the pasture area professionally done as with the hay field. It was row crops and turned into pasture. My regrets are that it now takes me many hours longer to mow the pasture due to the roughness. By just rough calculations, I have to spend about 30 extra hours per year minimum due to slow driving when mowing and using harrow.
Figuring on about 25 years of dealing with it, 25 years X 30 hours = 750 hours spent (wasted) due to a rough pasture and it gets harder as I get older.
If you value your time, do it once and do it right. Fields do not get easier to drive at 70 vs 50 years old.....

 

[Hay Dude]

I have about 40 acres, 20 of pasture and 20 in hay field.
My biggest regret is not having the pasture area professionally done as with the hay field. It was row crops and turned into pasture. My regrets are that it now takes me many hours longer to mow the pasture due to the roughness. By just rough calculations, I have to spend about 30 extra hours per year minimum due to slow driving when mowing and using harrow.
Figuring on about 25 years of dealing with it, 25 years X 30 hours = 750 hours spent (wasted) due to a rough pasture and it gets harder as I get older.
If you value your time, do it once and do it right. Fields do not get easier to drive at 70 vs 50 years old.....

Something to be said for that.
In my situation, complete rehab was not an option. It had to be done with mowing and rock picking only. No chemicals allowed.

You are correct that if money no limit and the land owner allowed, complete field rehab is the ultimate way to go.

 

[oldnslo]

My first thought concern is the thistles. I have been fighting them for years and know of no good way to eliminate them in a hay field. Cutting doesn’t seem to kill them and the seeds seem to last forever. I have never dealt with buck thorn but suspect will be a similar problem.

In Minnesota problem with burying rocks is frost pushes them back unless buried way below frost line.

 

[5030]

24D for thistle. Same with milkweed.

 

[repete]

Something to be said for that.
In my situation, complete rehab was not an option. It had to be done with mowing and rock picking only. No chemicals allowed.

You are correct that if money no limit and the land owner allowed, complete field rehab is the ultimate way to go.

25 years later I feel I would never even miss 3K to have had it done and driving would be a pleasure today... Oh well, lesson learned and the only thing left is to share learned knowledge the "rough" way so others do not take this route.
Hard to take 20 acres out of production for a year to rehab with 25 head of cattle to feed.

 

[5030]

I'm glad I don't have the rock issue here at all.

 

[MinnesotaMorg]

complete field rehab is the ultimate way to go.

25 years later I feel I would never even miss 3K to have had it done and driving would be a pleasure today... Oh well, lesson learned and the only thing left is to share learned knowledge the "rough" way so others do not take this route.
Hard to take 20 acres out of production for a year to rehab with 25 head of cattle to feed.

By complete field rehab what do you mean? I was considering hiring a local excavator to come in with a dozer to pick rocks and smooth the land if that's what that is.

If I go that route, I think he said it would be like $150 per acre to doze, then I would have to pick rocks for a while then re-seed? My neighbor just planted hayfield seed mix and I think it he used like 400 dollars of seed for 15 acres (drilled)

$3000 dozer work
$600 seed
not sure what my neighbor would charge to drill it

if I get it dozer'd do I still need to disc/harrow it before seeding? Also should I burn the field before having a dozer go through?

 

[MinnesotaMorg]

Also can anyone confirm that if I get to a point where I can rotate yearly what field is being hayed and what is the pasture for the year will this prevent having to plow it over and reseed it as often?

I got the idea watching just a few acres farm he said he just rotates the pasture and essentially the fields are mostly self sufficient (except lime I believe)

 

[Hay Dude]

By complete field rehab what do you mean? I was considering hiring a local excavator to come in with a dozer to pick rocks and smooth the land if that's what that is.

If I go that route, I think he said it would be like $150 per acre to doze, then I would have to pick rocks for a while then re-seed? My neighbor just planted hayfield seed mix and I think it he used like 400 dollars of seed for 15 acres (drilled)

$3000 dozer work
$600 seed
not sure what my neighbor would charge to drill it

if I get it dozer'd do I still need to disc/harrow it before seeding? Also should I burn the field before having a dozer go through?

By complete rehab, I mean burn all vegetation, run dozer over land, pick all rocks, finish grade with topsoil (if needed) add any minerals needed from soil analysis, add topsoil if needed, seed and wait. Like repete said, you can do a complete rehab and make your life easier in the future.

I’m cheap. I have to be, or I’m out of business.
Did everything with what I own. Got very satisfactory results, but not perfect and smooth.
I don’t know what you have or what to spend and thats none of my business.

Sounds like you are doing good job by gathering information and getting prices.

 

[MinnesotaMorg]

I'm not sure I would do the full enchilada but I think dozer work would be well worth it. It's really rough right now just driving around in the tractor.

Here is what it looks like, I would like to fence off the "water" section to be common land that the cows would always have access to regardless of what field they are on that year. I was thinking if I do a 3 year rotation, moving the cows from blue to orange to yellow and then haying the other 2 colors the years they don't have cows in them.

EDIT: the text in each section denotes what it's currently being used for, I would like to convert the 2 pasture sections to hayfield as well so effectively the entire farm could be hayed if desired.

 

[oldnslo]

24D for thistle. Same with milkweed.

According to my jug of 2-4D it kills alfalfa and clover which to me is a hayfield. If talking grasses then yes 2 - 4D is an option along with other pasture sprays.

If small area of thistles a long nosed shovel and pair of good leather gloves also work after nice soaking rain to dig the plants out. Slow process but effective for small areas.

 

[repete]

By complete field rehab what do you mean? I was considering hiring a local excavator to come in with a dozer to pick rocks and smooth the land if that's what that is.

If I go that route, I think he said it would be like $150 per acre to doze, then I would have to pick rocks for a while then re-seed? My neighbor just planted hayfield seed mix and I think it he used like 400 dollars of seed for 15 acres (drilled)

$3000 dozer work
$600 seed
not sure what my neighbor would charge to drill it

if I get it dozer'd do I still need to disc/harrow it before seeding? Also should I burn the field before having a dozer go through?

If you get it done, be sure to take the whole thing down to the same depth then roll. If you take lose dirt to fill holes the fill will compact and your field may still be rough after settling.
if your lowest hole is 6", take the whole thing down 6" and then level and roll.