I should perhaps clarify a little more what my goals for the disk are. Primarily, I'd use it for breaking up small areas or strips of soil in buffalo grass pasture in late winter or early spring to promote native forb growth, weeds basically, such as ragweed and other seed bearing and canopy providing forbs for quail and ground birds. Buffalo grass is great forage for cows, not so great for much of anything else, jack rabbits maybe. I would be, I guess, preparing a seed bed of sorts, but I'm not planting a garden, essentially my goal would be to loosen the soil enough so, that for a time anyway, the native forbs can germinate and outcompete the short, tight prairie grass in strips close to cover. We also sharecrop out a small field that is normally planted to sudan "haygrazer" that's cut in the fall and it would be nice to be able to disk a few food plots along the margins of the field in the fall after the hay's been cut. I picked up the used GC 2300 a few months ago to mow around the cabin, keep the parking area and roads around the cabin passable and to smooth out the dirt pads around the stock water tanks from time to time. It works well for these tasks and fits very nicely in the sealed up shipping container I use for an "equipment barn" at ranch. I realize it's not a farming machine by any stretch but if possible I would like to be able to put it to use to help with some pasture habitat improvement. I think it's small and nimble enough to work in some of the tighter places I'd like to work if I can find suitable equipment for it.
Kubota "performance matches" the Land Pride DH1048 to the
BX1880 which is an 18hp machine, weighing roughly the same as the 22.5hp GC 2300. The DH1048 weighs 420lbs and has 12 disks. Kubota matches the 5' DH1060 to the
BX2380, a 23hp machine that outweighs the GC 2300 by about 80lbs. The DH1060 weighs 549lbs. The stated rear lift on the GC 2300 is way higher than either Kubota, almost double the
BX2380. I realize that the rear lift number for GC 2300 is largely a moot point given that the tractor itself weighs less than 200lbs more than the stated lift capacity, simple physics there. Tarter's subcompact disk is a 5' with 16 disks which weighs roughly the same as the Land Pride 4' with 12 disks. The Tarter (or similar) 5' angle iron subcompact disk or the Land Pride (or similar) 4' box frame disc weigh roughly the same and are clearly the most ideal. The seller of this 5' Lindley disk pulls it with a Kubota
L2501, which is not significantly more powerful than the GC 2300, but it is significantly heavier. So, my question is, would I, literally and figuratively, be spinning my wheels with the 5' box frame 16 disc harrow, or is it worth a shot to save $400-500 and a 100 mile or so haul to try it?
I will add that the GC 2300 currently has turf tires, which I'm not crazy about and probably need to change.
