Preparing for Pasture

[fnapres]

I have purchased 53 acres and cleared 15 with a dozer. The land now is clear of trees and shrubs but has thousands of small to medium sized roots. I have bush hoghed and cut the visible ones. I need to better prepare the land for spring planting in pasture fescue. I think I need to plow and have a 6 disc for that job. In order to level and smooth the land for pasture and planting, what it the best method of leveling after plowing? Should I leave the land all winter before leveling?
Thanks

 

[sweettractors]

To level, use a box blade or front loader to fill the worst areas in. Next just put a heavy drag behind the disc and go over multiple times or until it smooths out. Ken Sweet

 

[DaveOmak]

Are you considering a soil sample analysis?
You might fertilize, then disc.
I have a "blanket" harrow I use for final smoothing. One of the "woven" 3/8" steel units with 4" "teeth". Does a fairly good job.

 

[flusher]

I have purchased 53 acres and cleared 15 with a dozer. The land now is clear of trees and shrubs but has thousands of small to medium sized roots. I have bush hoghed and cut the visible ones. I need to better prepare the land for spring planting in pasture fescue. I think I need to plow and have a 6 disc for that job. In order to level and smooth the land for pasture and planting, what it the best method of leveling after plowing? Should I leave the land all winter before leveling?
Thanks

I use an old 6.5 ft wide Towner offset pull disc and a simple chain link drag on my 6-acre hayfield.



The disc has four 120-lb concrete weights and the drag is weighted with eight 20-lb concrete paver blocks.

I pull with a Mahindra 5525 (54 hp engine, 45 hp pto, 2WD, gear tranny) in 4L gear to get about 5 mph at 2000 rpm engine speed (the pto speed setting). You need to weight the disc and pull it fast to get it to plow effectively.

I can make one pass over the 6 acres in about 2.5 hours with that offset disc.

The offset disc plows fairly deep (4-5 inches) in soft soil. I have an old 6-ft Ferguson tandem disc with the same type of drag to smooth out the plowed field.



I used the Towner offset disc last Tuesday on the hayfield. I'll let the birds clean up some of the weed seeds and run the Ferguson disc over the field next week. I'll use cultivation and Roundup (as needed) this season (Nov-May) to get control over the weed problem (mostly fiddleneck) and plant with Kanota oats next season.