Pasture maintenance

[Bubbit]

Purchased land last year. Looking for suggestion on ways to smooth pasture. I have several fields 14 to 25 acres each thick with grass. They have had 20 or so cows grazing annually for many years. Fields are very rough in terms of ant and mole mounds, clumps of grass etc that make for rough mowing and brush cutting. What are good tractor attachments to consider using and techniques to level and smooth the ground and spread manure scathered in the pasture.

 

[Kyle241]

If there are not major holes, I would try discing it. Then I would use a harrow to breakdown the larger clumps. If you have a lot of stones as often that is the case with cow pastures, then you will either need a backhoe to dig them up or you could try a plow if the stones are not too large. A plow will turn up stones depending on their size.

 

[boomer1025]

A Heavy roller early in the spring when the ground is soft might help smooth it up some. If it's a pasture, then it's possibly been planted with orchard grass or Timothy grass maybe, I forget which one grows in clumps. If you want to start fresh, spray the fields with roundup, plow the sod under after it dies off. Don't run a disc thru it then a harrow unless you kill it off first, give the dead grass a chance to breakdown for several months. Nothing like having to stop every 50 feet and clean the sod/grass out of the harrow.

 

[sweettractors]

A disc harrow with a heavy drag or chain harrow behind. We do this in late Feb-March and this is also a good time to renovate the field with some legumes like red and white clover. The legumes will feed the grass for free so you don't have to purchase the nitrogen. Ken Sweet

 

[gwdixon]

Lots of information on this topic here on TBN.

The steps for complete restoration:

>>Plow and let foliage decompose.

>>Disc, disc again, and again until everything is flat that was plowed.

>>Drag with a homemade drag. (Check posts for how to make.) A harrow will work but is not perfect.

>>Roll with a compactor.