Disc harrows

[clemsonfor]

We are on our 9th property now and we want bigger, we spend a week looking then dissecting as to why it is not suitable, our place is on the market, we will survive this ordeal again.
Of course I am almost bankrupt, we now have 8 horses, two daughters who event, two cars and a 4WD as well as a yacht, Mrs is worried that I may have a mistress, she need not worry, I couldn't afford one.
I am misunderstood, she spends a fortune on new saddles then begrudges me buying a $120 bottle of single malt.
I am retiring later this year, I need a break.
Thank god for my superannuation.

Retire? Are you planning to make more in retirement than actually working? If it's hard now won't it be way harder when you retire?

 

[kenmac]

Retire? Are you planning to make more in retirement than actually working? If it's hard now won't it be way harder when you retire?

Hey. join the easy life. lol ..
I sold my business several yrs ago and retired. 57.. I'll be 62 in march. That money stuff ain't what it's cracked up to be !

 

[bunyip]

9 properties ? LOL I just can keep up these 40 acres and 13 in another location.
Told the wife we need to sell the 13, but it's on the river and she and my two sons out vote me ! LOL

I have no horses,or daughters though

I could have worded that better, our 9th property, bought and sold all the way to this one, the past have been diverse from urban 1/4 acres to a 50 acre piece of parched earth that supported nothing but snakes and big ants, this one is OK but want a bigger house and more land, one we are looking at is 36 acres and another at 24 acres, the smaller one is cheaper but needs a lot of money to bring it up to scratch, the bigger one is pretty much OK but needs a little land work.
AU$600k and $650k respectively.
Money left over from our place would top up my superannuation and keep us comfortably and allow us to add more water tanks, solar and efficient hot water service, about 10km from a major town but 200km from the city, we are currently about 75km from the city and can command a higher price plus we have been rezoned to residential and can subdivide into 1/2 acre lots.
We rarely travel to the city, has nothing to offer except bad traffic and expensive parking, most regional centres are as good and can supply everything we need including medical.

 

[Jstpssng]

I could have worded that better, our 9th property, bought and sold all the way to this one, the past have been diverse from urban 1/4 acres to a 50 acre piece of parched earth that supported nothing but snakes and big ants, this one is OK but want a bigger house and more land, one we are looking at is 36 acres and another at 24 acres, the smaller one is cheaper but needs a lot of money to bring it up to scratch, the bigger one is pretty much OK but needs a little land work.
AU$600k and $650k respectively.
Money left over from our place would top up my superannuation and keep us comfortably and allow us to add more water tanks, solar and efficient hot water service, about 10km from a major town but 200km from the city, we are currently about 75km from the city and can command a higher price plus we have been rezoned to residential and can subdivide into 1/2 acre lots.
We rarely travel to the city, has nothing to offer except bad traffic and expensive parking, most regional centres are as good and can supply everything we need including medical.

That sounds like this end of the planet.

 

[oosik]

My last Class 1 implement. It's a 48" disk harrow. Land Pride - 1048 @ 420# or 35# per disk. It's just to darn light - no penetration. I put a 400# concrete blob on it - double the weight per disk. But I can see that much of that nonsense and the 3-point frame work will go south.

What a waste - live and learn. If I wanted to "turn" and prepare a lot of land - a heavy duty 3-point rototiller would be my choice.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have a 5 tiller, single bottom plow and old Dearborn discs. For years I worked the ground with the last two and a Troybilt Horse; I wouldn稚 think of tilling without working the ground first with the plow and harrow. Then again I知 trying to bring 2 acres under control.

For the first few years before getting the plow and harrow I worked it with my backhoe , loosening the soil in an area then turning it with the TroyBilt.

 

[EddieWalker]

I only have my own experience to share, but I think it might be helpful. I have a 35hp 4x4 tractor and a 5 foot 3pt disk. My soil is red clay, and in the summer, it's very very hard. Driving T posts is a major challenge and sometimes it's just not possible to get them in the ground. The same applies to disking. When the soil is baked dry by 100 degree temps for several months, there is no point trying to fight it. Ounce the heat breaks and the rains come back, the soil become softer. That's when I do my food plots. In the Fall it's harder to get through the top crust, even after a few rains. I have to make multiple passes before the crust breaks up and then I'm able to turn it all into powder about 4 inches deep.

In the Spring, after lots of rain over winter, and more rain in the Spring, the ground is super soft. This is when I try to do my T posts because they are so easy to install. Same thing with the disk, it's just melts through the dirt. This is also when I used to do my gardens, but because of weeds, I know have raised beds. But if I had an area to plant, I would mow it short and spray it with round up now. Then spray it again if anything sprouts before winter. And then disk it in the Spring when I start to see stuff sprouting.

 

[bunyip]

And here was me thinking that a rotary hoe would not be an assett, looks like it could be the answer and for once a reasonably cheap way out.
Can buy a new 4' unit for under $2k which the BX can power.
Our place sounds a bit like yours Eddie, rock hard in summer and in some corners you can sink in winter.
The creek behind us blocked with debris and flooded us last week with the non stop rain we have had recently, welcome to sunny Australia...... Haaaa.

 

[Alien]

You mentioned a flail mower back a bit bunyip.
This is the one I have for my CK 30 HST.
Very pleased with it.
FLAIL MOWER HEAVY DUTY 15 - Hayes Products - Tractor Attachments and Implements

It gets the job done real quick.

Kioti. Fastest tractor on the east coast - YouTube

 

[bunyip]

I was looking at the 1300, same place about 30km from us, have a few of their attachments and have had no problems.

 

[kenmac]

if you only want to plant grass and not have to break up any soil. A drill is a very good option for just plowing the seed in the ground.
It would take more HP than you currently have unless you know someone that will let you borrow a larger tractor.
Fill the drill with seed and it will plow it in the ground as it is pulled.

We have several places that rent these drills for about $50.00 a day


COOL FARM TOOLS EXPLAINED...NO-TILL SEED DRILL...SEE HOW IT WORKS!! - YouTube

 

[jjp8182]

I don't disagree with the advice that's already been given, but based on my own experiences there are a couple other ways to handle this:

One is to use the rippers on a box blade can be used to good effect for breaking up ground, the trick is to just have them fully lowered, and the box blade tilted forward as much as possible. It's a method I've used to clear vegetation that was 6-7 feet tall, after which the area was then seeded with a mix of grasses.

The other (which I've used to rehabilitate some my own pasture areas) is to just mow whatever is growing there as soon as it starts flowering, or otherwise producing a seed head -- cutting it no shorter than ~4 inches. The pressure on any weeds will eventually kill them, and the grass is maintained at a height where (many varieties) have their best growth rates. ....and all the cut material turns into a cheap compostable-matter that's already put where it's needed.

If it's just grass that's being planted, the soil doesn't have to be worked deep, really just breaking the crust so the seeds can have good soil contact can be enough. So even a chain or spike harrow can work (either of which also can be used to break up and spread animal droppings as well). These things have worked for me in the Alabama clay I deal with .... it's just a matter of watching for good/optimal soil conditions, which generally tends to happen around the same part of the year for optimal grass/ground cover planting. In the drier months around here, it's might actually be easier to crack concrete than penetrate the soil.

(just realizing I've done both, and breaking up concrete was in fact easier).

Though as always your mileage may vary based upon your local soil conditions.

 

[bunyip]

I had thought about that and have one of these, not a box blade but has the rippers
GRADER BLADES WITH RIPPERS 5ft - Hayes Products - Tractor Attachments and Implements
Of course the other option is to get in a contractor for a one of job as I still think the BX is more than adequate for most things I will have to do around the place.

 

[BertZegers]

Today the Field Cultivator is NOT one of the best known Three Point Hitch mounted implements.

What is wrong with the three point hitch cultivator? Is the pull type cultivator better?

I have both, both 14 feet wide. I never found the time to set up the three point hitch cultivator.

 

[jjp8182]

I don't see why something like that wouldn't work - even if the blade acts like a float/gauge and prevents the rippers from digging in deeply it shouldn't be a problem as grass shouldn't need deep soil work. If it does then there are likely other issues in the ground that would need to be resolved.

Just for comparison of tillage depths for planting grass, I'd look at a harley rakes and see how shallow they tend to work, and yet they are they are frequently used to successfully create yards/lawns.

 

[clemsonfor]

I don't see why something like that wouldn't work - even if the blade acts like a float/gauge and prevents the rippers from digging in deeply it shouldn't be a problem as grass shouldn't need deep soil work. If it does then there are likely other issues in the ground that would need to be resolved.

Just for comparison of tillage depths for planting grass, I'd look at a harley rakes and see how shallow they tend to work, and yet they are they are frequently used to successfully create yards/lawns.

As far as establishment of grass if we aren't talking re-leveling the ground you can just spray a glyphosate, kill everything and sow your seed and fertilizer back into the dead grass that's there after about 10-14 days or whatever the label says you can re seed. The existing grass will hold the seed and make it moist as it somewhat shades the ground. This would create a similar effect to spreading seed then straw out over the bare soil to help hold it.

 

[ovrszd]

I could have worded that better, our 9th property, bought and sold all the way to this one, the past have been diverse from urban 1/4 acres to a 50 acre piece of parched earth that supported nothing but snakes and big ants, this one is OK but want a bigger house and more land, one we are looking at is 36 acres and another at 24 acres, the smaller one is cheaper but needs a lot of money to bring it up to scratch, the bigger one is pretty much OK but needs a little land work.
AU$600k and $650k respectively.
Money left over from our place would top up my superannuation and keep us comfortably and allow us to add more water tanks, solar and efficient hot water service, about 10km from a major town but 200km from the city, we are currently about 75km from the city and can command a higher price plus we have been rezoned to residential and can subdivide into 1/2 acre lots.
We rarely travel to the city, has nothing to offer except bad traffic and expensive parking, most regional centres are as good and can supply everything we need including medical.

My farm is 151 acres. New 1900 sqft house and 1800 sqft shop. It would appraise at $775K. I'm 80 miles from a major city, 10 miles from County Seat town of 3,500. Property values range widely here, increasing dramatically as you get closer to major city.

Anxiously following your adventure!!!

I, like you, rarely go to the city. Our Daughter and family live 20 miles from City. That's the extent of my trips there.

 

[bunyip]

We live on the edge of a small town, pop roughly 2000, has a small but reasoably stocked supermarket, bank, bakery, pub, brewery, good hardware and rural supply store, 4 cafes, post office, 2 real estate agents, doctors and dentist.
If we want appliances it's a 30 minute drive to one of 5 large towns add another 20 minutes to a major shopping complex which we desperately try to avoid, too conjested and noisy but the urban dwellers love them.
Where we are looking at is between a major rural centre, pop about 75000 and a small town about the size of ours now, about a 15 minute drive to either.
At the moment things have gonw quiet and we are thinking about pulling off the market for a couple of months until it starts to warm up a bit and the rain stops.
We are reluctant to spend on our place as it will most likely just be bulldozed fordevelopment as we are close to town and a school but as we have been rezoned our rates will increase, by how much I don't know but at the moment we pay about $2kpa.
The further out we go the cheaper it becomes within reason, I do not need the city but do realise that we need a major town so have to strike that balance.
Our house is small, too small but we have made it comfortable, we have horses and need more room for them and would love more room so people can stay over without us getting in eaach others way.
I have made this place energy efficient and know that this will happen again with solar power etc etc, rates will reduce as we will need to catch and store oour own water, expect to pay about $20k for additional plastic tanks for about 60000 litres.
both the 24 and 36 acres would suit our needs, funny how we have gone metric and now talk hectares but everyone still talks and understands acres.
So a bit in the air but it will happen and our little utopia will present itself.
The towns we are looking at parking between are Traralgon and Rosedale in Victoria, the properties we have looked at are in Flynn which is a rural district, decent rainfall, off the highway, not too hilly and not bushfire prone.

 

[Big Barn]

I have at least 15 Starbucks locations within a 10 minute driving radius from the farm and about the same number of Tim Hortons.....

I neither love nor hate the situation. Im blessed to have my own “haven” (lived on the property my entire life)

 

[Alien]

I like that Hayes blade with the rippers on it. I could use that. My problem is that I have a lot of buried stumps just under the surface being cleared ground.
I have a lot of small rocks that seem to pop up after rain. (Whenever that happens) It has been many months since we had any. Promise of a storm in a couple of days. Let us hope.
I would love to be able to turn over the surface and pick up the rocks and re-sow the grass.

We have a great location. Gatton about 15 minutes. Population over 7000 and a agriculture university there. Large IGA and Coles and Aldi. Only 2 sets of traffic lights.
Toowoomba City is only 25 minutes away if we need to go there. Avoid if possible. Used to live there in another life.
Have pro-d and con-d about moving at times but know we would regret it.