Advice on smoothing, leveling a field

[jeff9366]

First time tractor owner. I have very little experience with tractors.

I am splitting time between Tampa where I have .5 acres and a lawn service and Spring City TN where I have 92 acres.




I am having the tires spread to their widest and adding beet juice or something in the tires.

Rear wheel/tire stance is the #1 factor in improving tractor stability. "Loading" rear tires 50% or 75% with liquid helps too, but not nearly as much.

Let us know how much this helps.


Another implement you could consider is a Harley Rake/Power Rake.

VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tractor+power+Harley+rake

 

[Number15]

Just talked to a pro. He will smooth the land, dig or bury boulders, stumps and mulch as much acreage as I want for 2k a day. He has a forestry mulcher and all the other equipment. Seemed like a nice guy which is important.

Also said we could steal dirt from areas I don't want to improve for the areas I do which makes sense, as long as I don't end up with a dirt pit

 

[Number15]

Still contemplating this and reading other threads.

Just got the tractor back from Kubota of Chattanooga. They put in 122 gallons of rim guard and put the tractor at its widest stance. 72" a gain of 8". Funny thing, I read a lot about people saying rim guard is expensive but for me it was the cheapest option of all the places I called. I called 4 or 5 places and everyone wanted 5 dollars a gallon for methanol and water mix. The Kubota dealer was $3.61 a gallon for rim guard. Still pretty expensive but I think it will be worth it. I know it would have been cheaper if I did it myself with rv antifreeze, but I did not want the hassle.

 

[Number15]

Please lets us know how you evaluate these modifications in the field.......for the record.

Feels better, glad I did it. It is not a huge difference, but enough that I can tell I am more stable. Problem now is the extra weight is smashing down the grass,weeds to much and they are not getting mowed the whole way. Hopefully gets better as I intend to keep the plant life shorter than it has been.

 

[Number15]

So WOW I just had a close call. Apparently there may have been another structure on this land in days of yore. I just found a very large, very deep hole that appears to be a cistern or well. It was very grown over and difficult to see. I wish the PO would have mentioned it, could have been a disaster.

Now I have to figure a way to fill it.

 

[shooterdon]

Just talked to a pro. He will smooth the land, dig or bury boulders, stumps and mulch as much acreage as I want for 2k a day. He has a forestry mulcher and all the other equipment. Seemed like a nice guy which is important.

Also said we could steal dirt from areas I don't want to improve for the areas I do which makes sense, as long as I don't end up with a dirt pit

$2k a day might be a decent price but I have no idea how many acres he would get done in 8 hrs. If it was me, I would have a quote for the worst area and see if it is a good value and then determine if the results are acceptable before doing the whole job.

In the first post, I did not see boulders, stumps or areas needing a forestry mulcher?

 

[Number15]

$2k a day might be a decent price but I have no idea how many acres he would get done in 8 hrs. If it was me, I would have a quote for the worst area and see if it is a good value and then determine if the results are acceptable before doing the whole job.

In the first post, I did not see boulders, stumps or areas needing a forestry mulcher?

the mulcher would be fro the acres of blackberry and some smaller trees that have started to grow in the fields. The plan is for him to smooth and remove rocks in the front field and we will evaluate after 2 days. if we want to continue our choice.

I did not take pictures of the rocks but there are a bunch out there. They stick up just far enough to be an issue, Let's just say I went through a bunch of shear bolts the first time I mowed. They appear to be large, probably why the PO did not remove them. You can for sure see they have been hit a bunch of times, so I am not the only one

 

[amhicks21]

So, this is just my 2 cents as a professional finish grader and i cant get the whole scope of the job from a picture but i wouldnt till any more of the existing ground than you have to. if you break that ground up you may end up in a world of problems if you get much rainfall. i'd first cut it as short as possible and bag the clippings if you can. then I would use a harley rake or preferably an ATI preseeder (if you can find one and have 2 rear remotes) set very shallow to just skim coat clean soil over the surface without uprooting too much of the existing grass. I guess the biggest determining factors are what kind of soil you're dealing with, how much rock is in it, and how easy and expensive would it be to get your hands on that type of implement. its important to note that if you did go this route that the pitch and depth setting of the harley rake/preseeder is incredibly important and even 1/4" makes a huge difference. If done right, the root systems of the grass wont be too badly damaged and most will grow back quickly except where ruts and low areas were filled.

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[oosik]

I have leveled a couple of my meadows. They are two to three acres each. Advice I got - burn the meadow in the late fall. Kill all the weed seeds - especially the Canadian Thistle. Thistle will sprout and aggressively grow wherever the ground is broken. I ended up using RoundUp on the edges of the meadows.

I only have a light duty Land Pride dish harrow. MULTIPLE passes, then smooth with my homemade drag.