How do I smooth out a field.

[Augggie]

I just bought an 85 acre piece of property down the road, and it's really choppy. Overall, the field is very nice (about as flat as you can get in the hills of middle Tennessee), but it's just a little rough for my taste. I wouldn't really call the imperfections bumps, they're more like swells in the ground. They aren't really pronounced swells, and they look pretty natural for the area, but it's a pain when making hay. Or just driving on it in general. I also have some little eroded ditches in my waterways that I would like to fill in.

I really want to smooth it out and give it that sort of manicured ranch look and feel, so how would I Go about smoothing out all of the bumps and swells? I'm thinking of doing a relatively deep plow, disc, and then heavy roll. I don't care about the grass at all because I was going to reseed it with a higher quality mix anyway. So what do you guys think? Don't mind what I'm thinking of doing it. What is the absolute most effective way of doing this?

 

[jeff9366]

Here are some SMOOTHING A FIELD threads from the T-B-N archive:

smoothing a field site:tractorbynet. com - Google Search

This is a weekly information request.

 

[jeff9366]

I wouldn't really call the imperfections bumps, they're more like swells in the ground. They aren't really pronounced swells, and they look pretty natural for the area, but it's a pain when making hay. Or just driving on it in general.

What is the absolute most effective way of doing this?

Give us some estimated dimensions on the swells. Twelve inches, like old plow furrows?

Photos help. Each photo is worth 10,000 words.

Everyone's conditions are unique. There is no absolute, effective answer for you.

"I'm thinking of doing a relatively deep plow, disc, and then heavy roll." For 85 acres a HEAVY Land Plane Grading Scraper MAY be more effective than a Disc Harrow, after the plow. For 85 acres you may wish to consider a TR3 rake.

It would help if your TBN profile included the model of your Kioti tractor.


LAND PLANE VIDEOS: land plane grading scraper - YouTube

land plane leveler - YouTube

TR3 RAKE VIDEOS: TR3 Rake - YouTube

 

[Augggie]

Give us some estimated dimensions on the swells. Twelve inches, like old plow furrows?

Photos help. Each photo is worth 10,000 words.

Everyone's conditions are unique. There is no absolute, effective answer for you.

"I'm thinking of doing a relatively deep plow, disc, and then heavy roll." For 85 acres a HEAVY Land Plane Grading Scraper MAY be more effective than a Disc Harrow, after the plow. For 85 acres you may wish to consider a TR3 rake.

It would help if your TBN profile included the model of your Kioti tractor.


LAND PLANE VIDEOS: land plane grading scraper - YouTube

land plane leveler - YouTube

TR3 RAKE VIDEOS: TR3 Rake - YouTube

I'm out of town for the week so this picture I found on the Internet is about what it looks like. See the bumps in the background.

This is a Google Earth image of my field, and as you can see, there's a little ditch that follows a waterway in the top-right corner of the field and drains into the river. I would like to fix that. And don't worry, Im getting rid of the trees.

Our tractor is a 70 hp, but I wasn't planning on using that anyway. There are some local farmers with much larger tractors to get the job done.

Are there any companies that specialize in this stuff? If not, can I get a excavation company to just bulldoze (or something like that) the whole thing? I'm not too concerned about price. As long as it isn't like an insane amount of money.

 

[rgr33]

The best,though not the cheapest, is to hire a construction outfit to come in with a belly scraper. That is what they use to redistribute the terain before the building process begins. Probably wouldn't take long to flatten it out a little more. Not sure what that would end up doing to the topsoil though.

 

[Leejohn]

I would do as you said, but drag before roller. You have a 70hp tractor, you could plow and then rent a large rotary tiller, then may or may not roll it. The tilling would take a little time, but man you would have a smooth field.

 

[kevin37b]

You need to move some dirt , rearrange it . Plow , disc , roll is not going to help .A large tractor and a couple of pans behind it could do a bunch in a week or two . I don't know what you have for topsoil or rocks but you may want to stockpile the GOOD dirt and dress it after the leveling is done .Depends on the contractor but around here you are looking at $1000 , 1200 a day . Good luck , nice place !

 

[rswyan]

... If not, can I get a excavation company to just bulldoze (or something like that) the whole thing? I'm not too concerned about price. As long as it isn't like an insane amount of money.

That's highly subjective ...

You really need to define a budget for the project.

 

[Egon]

If you want it smooth cultivate it. plough, disk, cultivate and harrow could all be used depending on what is available. After the deep cultivation harrowing in different directions would help. The original sod should all be dead before the final cultivation and seeding. Rolling would not be required.

 

[Birdhunter1]

If you want it smooth cultivate it. plough, disk, cultivate and harrow could all be used depending on what is available. After the deep cultivation harrowing in different directions would help. The original sod should all be dead before the final cultivation and seeding. Rolling would not be required.

I agree with this one, and if you can get to the auctions you can probably find a pull behind 10-20' spike tooth harrow (winged for transport). One of these with as much width as you can find will pull easily behind 70 hp and will do a great job after you have plowed and disc up the soil, on a towed spike tooth harrow width will be your friend.
Or if you have a farmer nearby who row crops and has a big tractor (200 hp or more) and field cultivator let them have a go at it, they can get done in a day what will take you a week