Impliment question

[63DH8]

My mother has several acres that we used to have cattle on. Now, because it's just her on the property, there's no animals. She likes to go into the pasture and pick blackberries and pears. The problem is, the cattle left the ground diveted with hoof prints here and there, especially where my mom likes to walk. She's in her late 70s and I don't want her to twist her leg or break something. My impliment question is, which impliment would you recommend I use to smooth the pasture with?

 

[kennyd]

Sounds like a job for a good box blade, then seed.

 

[Egon]

I'd suggest cultivation and reseeding or spreading some dirt to even it out.

 

[Rara Avis]

I'd suggest cultivation and reseeding or spreading some dirt to even it out.

I agree...

And I'd use a TR-3 rake...

 

[texasjohn]

I'm seeing a problem...if you till the ground and reseed, doesn't that tear out the blackberries... and how do you get under the pear trees?

this might be a job for a roller to squish down the high places... Unclear what kind of soil you are dealing with... if done at JUST the right time when the moisture is RIGHT... I think you would smooth things out pretty well...

Net, however, is that you will NEVER get all the problem spots fixed.. and people can catch their shoes and fall simply from grass runners or blackberry runners.

So, suggest you ALSO think about a stabalizing help for her... some sort of cart with big wheels that she pushes and uses and has a handle to hold on to. She can put implements and produce in the cart, hold on to in going and coming across the pasture, carry a mobile phone with her to call for help if she needs it.

Is it is possible that there are favorite paths that you can focus your smoothing operation on and leave the rest?

I faced the problem of aging parents and need for assistive devices... I put hand holds in shower/tub, no skid strips in tub, got electric wheel chair BEFORE it was needed (makes a wonderful tool for moving somebody who has suddenly developed mobility difficulties..sprained ankle, etc.), got a 4 wheel push walker that they use both in house and outside... it requires thinking about the needs EVERYWHERE they go...

Good luck, she's lucky you are thinking about these things ... I was able to keep my mom going with no busted bones until her death at 92 this year from kidney failure.

 

[63DH8]

For the most part, I have goats eating the blackberry runners (keeping the goats there with an electric fence). There's a few areas my mother asked that I keep the goats away from because (she says) those berries are the sweetiest. Unfortunately, those berries are where the cattle were.

If I tried to work the field in that area when it's wetter, my tractor will get stuck. Been there, done that. I have to work it while it's fairly dry.

btw... My mother is a small-stubborn-proud Japanese woman who survived WWII. She watched Nagasaki go up in a mushroom cloud. She refuses to use a cane or anything else to help her walk. Instead of using a cart, she carried a one gallon bucket to collect her berries. When things get rough, she simply says she had it tougher during the war. Speaking of proud, she is PROUD to be an American! She got her citizenship back in the early 70s and refuses to say she's Japanese or Japanese-American since. She's an American and that's it! She says hyphenization of America will tear it apart.

The other day, I had to save one of the goats from her. The goat got out and she was threatening to turn it into curry and yaksoba if it got into her garden.

How about disking and dragging a chain harrow? Will that remove lumps and hoof sized holes?

 

[hudr]

A disc and chain harrow will work, but you will probably have to wait a couple seasons before the berries come back. They will snap back pretty quick, though, along w/ any native grasses. Would be a good time to check soil samples and get the pH right.
Another thought... I have used an Aerway (aerator) and chain harrow to significantly smooth some of our hay meadows. I set all the angle I can in the tine gangs and pull the chain harrow behind it to kind of smear the loosened dirt around a bit. It is slow (maybe 3 years to make large changes) but it does the least damage to existing vegetation.

 

[EddieWalker]

Disk it really, really good. If you keep going over it, the dirt will become very fine. This is usually overkill for planting, but for smoothing the ground, it's worth it.

After you have the soil turned into pouder, drag a log with some cyclone fence wraped around it. You can use other things to drag over the soil, just as long as you drag it. The drag will knock off the high spots and fill in the low ones.

Eddie

 

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Don't know what your working with but I see your just south of Tacoma. If you've good depth control on a tiller I'd shallow till the parts needed for walking on and seed it - this fall. I'm assuming your not doing a major pasture rennovation here mostly just path kind of stuff. Mow it before the berries are out in mid-late august/into september and she should do fine. If necessary you can roll it but with near a year to settle I doubt it would need it.

-Ed-

 

[63DH8]

A disc and chain harrow will work, but you will probably have to wait a couple seasons before the berries come back. They will snap back pretty quick, though, along w/ any native grasses. Would be a good time to check soil samples and get the pH right.
Another thought... I have used an Aerway (aerator) and chain harrow to significantly smooth some of our hay meadows. I set all the angle I can in the tine gangs and pull the chain harrow behind it to kind of smear the loosened dirt around a bit. It is slow (maybe 3 years to make large changes) but it does the least damage to existing vegetation.

We really don't want the blackberries growing back. My mother has too many of them as it is. It's to the point where almost three acres of her propety is covered by them. In some places, they're over 15 feet tall. All my mom wants is grass in her field. As the goats eat the blackberries, she wants more grass where the vines were.

Disking give me an excuse to buy another impliment.

 

[texasjohn]

Ok... now, you've explained your parameters... you really want a smooth field, care not about the blackberries. thus, my recommendation is:

Till the whole thing, several times, to turn under the blackberry vines, etc.. then, as others have said, once you have gotten it to where the big lumps are out of it and the vines are rotted down, pull a harrow or other device over it in various directions so that it becomes smooth, smooth.. then plant your desired grass... research what kind of grass you want... runner or a bunch grass... if you are seeking to provide protection for your mother, I suggest a runner grass with short runners.. if you were in Texas, buffalo grass would be ideal but I doubt it grows there, not sure. A bunch grass will result in a difficult to walk on surface. Be sure an find a grass that likes water since you seem to indicate that it is a low lying area.

If you can get it, I recommend a disk with wheels that can be hydraulically raised and lowered. This way you can either put the full weight on the disk and till as deep as it will go, or gently put the wheels on the ground and control the depth of tillage and just knock the tops of mounds off... gives you more control of what you can do... I like them better than a 3ph disk, although I have one of them, too.

By the way, I admire, greatly, your mothers fortitude, strength and attitude... she's a significant part of our American diversity.... I, myself, have a problem with the folks who come from elsewhere and actually maintain greater allegiance to "the old country" than America.

 

[Glowplug]

I agree with Eddie. Disk the cr@p out of it. Then drag it in all different directions. Then seed, redrag. I wish I had that good of a reason to buy a disk. It's hard to justify "I just want one!" as a good reason to the wife! You could get a wheel disc as long as you have rear hydraulic remotes to operate the hydraulics for the wheels to lift the disc off the ground. You can go a lot heavier with a wheel pull-type disc than a lift disc. And weight is important in this type of tillage. You're talking about primary tillage using a disc. I really want a lift disc however. Lift discs are a little more maneuverable than a wheel disc but sacrifice weight.

 

[hudr]

I am with Eddie and Chuck... Since your ARE NOT worried about the berries, disc them under. Hit it w/ the disc several times from different angles (like once N to S, then from NW to SW then from E to W). Drag the chain harrow behind the disc on the last one. You may even consider rolling it to pack it a little. If this is several acres, I would want a drag disc. I have never been able to get the results I wanted out of a 3pt disc.
This is what I am using to level some or our hay meadows.