trenching 8 feet deep?

[20 20]

What about a utility pole faster and cheaper then what your planing?

 

[beenthere]

We're all sand here.

I have no experience (yet) farming. When you plow or till deep, how deep are we talking?

Would 4 feet seriously be deep enough to never snag the cable?

Plowing VERY deep would at most be 18" (1-1/2 ft).

If you get 24" or more, you will be VERY safe.

 

[xrjohndeere]

I would rent an excavator and start digging. Depending on how far you are going you should be able to do it in about a day. I do not know of any 3pt attachement that would dig that deep except my backhoe and that would take a while. I believe the excavator would be the best bet. Dig a hundred feet or so and have someone drop the cable in behind you and backfill with your tractor. I use my 18" bucket and it works nice for trenches. I find here in Missouri anything smaller tends to get hard to clean out from the clay. There are big chain trenchers that could dig that deep if you have good soil but you couldn't have any rocks and the cost would be high. If you hit a rock or hardpan you will be digging with the backhoe anyway. Good luck.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

First thing I thought was he's going to be into water.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree that going around the field or even putting up poles is the most economical way. We ran cable for my buddy about 1/3 of a mile using a rig I made for my 3 point. Looked like a simple potato plow and dug a trench about 12" deep. Did it in about 1 hour then went back with the grader blade and pushed the dirt back in. Cost him a case of beer and chicken and noodles by his wife plus Arbys for lunch that day. The cable was not too expensive but that was 10 years ago. We just roughed it in then the cable company came and made the connections.

Chris

 

[WarrenF]

Big rippers that are used in heavy agriculture areas don't go 8 feet deep. If I were going to bury a pipe line for water through a field that is plowed and ripped on a yearly basis, the maximum depth I would put a pipe would be 4 feet.

Anyone who tells you that in a field that is plowed on a regular basis would be fine if you buried 18 inches to 24 inches deep, must have a high fever. Forget the 8 foot.

 

[ChrsDrn]

Why not run the cable yourself around the field? might be cheaper than renting eqpt and having cable co laying cable in trench....

 

[mas1237]

I don't know what part of the country you're in but I would definitely go underground so you don't have problems with wind/snow/ice bringing down overhead lines. I would rent a trencher (or in my case get my Vermeer out of the shed) and trench in either 3" or 4" plastic drain tile at 30" to 36" depth and then let the cable company snake their cable inside the drain tile. Down the road if you have cable issues or need to upgrade your cable, you won't need to tear up your field.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

One of these units could do it. I would think just planting a few poles across the field would be easier. Dress the poles up as Christmas tree's or Scarecrows depending on the time of the year. 8' seems pretty excessive.

 

[zman007007]

treemonkey I love that second pic, looks it would make a **** of a chainsaw. lol zman