How would you attack a small fenced field?

[bdog]

Can you back up 240’ faster than you can turn around?

That is actually what I tried last time I disced the field. It worked ok. My disc and planter are about the same width as the tractor so you really have to pay attention when backing up not to stray on to the worked ground.

I was trying to think if maybe some sort of diagonal approach may be better. I guess it just is what it is.

 

[lman]

It sounds like you are talking about an acre or a little more. I would just plant grass and mow it. I don't think 1 acre is going to produce enough to justify the hassle that you are describing.

 

[MossRoad]

With the disc or chisel sure that would work as if I missed something it would be easy to come back and go over it again. When planting however I would have to gauge the row width exactly or I would wind up with skips in the field. It would stink to plant every other row and then come back to do the skipped rows and find out that some gaps are 6' and got double planted and some are 8' and I have a bare 1' strip or whatever. I guess I could measure off and mark every 7' on both ends of the field but then that starts approaching the level of hassle of just turning around. Now if I had a nice auto steer setup.....

Sorry. Maybe you could rig up row markers?

 

[CH4Ohio]

Curious -- if you're grazing cattle on it, why not just plant it in permanent pasture and avoid trying to work this tight area every year. Maybe that doesn't work in your area / climate?

 

[bdog]

It sounds like you are talking about an acre or a little more. I would just plant grass and mow it. I don't think 1 acre is going to produce enough to justify the hassle that you are describing.

Yes it is 1.3 acres I think and honestly I wish I could go back and have never plowed it up as it originally had a good stand of CRP type native grass on it. I have never planted grass like that but two of my neighbors have tried multiple times without success to get the grass going. We are in a pretty arid area. I think one has to get lucky on the timing and rain to get the grass started here. We had just 11" of rain last year and have only had 2" so far this year.

 

[bdog]

Curious -- if you're grazing cattle on it, why not just plant it in permanent pasture and avoid trying to work this tight area every year. Maybe that doesn't work in your area / climate?

Our annual rainfall is dismal. We can’t grow Bermuda or other good grass like one can in many places. With planting the crops it is hit or miss. Some years it doesn’t even come up and we just don’t buy cattle that year other years if we get the rain it grows like crazy. I plant a total of about twenty acres and if we get the good rain I can put 30-40 calves on it from say June/July to October and put some decent weight on them and sell them. It’s more of a hobby than anything but on the wet years I can make some decent money.