Turning 100+acres of grassland into farmland?

[theboman]

....I might do something stupid.

Eddie

Ha, Eddie Walker doing something stupid? Oh you're funny. You're a hero here... you have lots of toys, and know how to run them...there was that dump truck incident.... but hey, you had backhoes to solve that issue! ha.

 

[jenkinsph]

This is what I was thinking. One ton with duel rear tires. Those extra tires make a HUGE difference in stability. I personally want a one ton, duelly flatbed with an extra cab. I see them all over the place and it's almost like buying electronics. The longer I wait, the more deals there are to choose from. Then I wait even longer, and even more deals become available. I've waited so long now that I'm coming across 12 tonne excavators now that are very reasonable. Tractor and truck prices are coming down and there are more and more of them to choose from. It's almost overwhelming, and if it wasn't for the non stop rains that we're getting, I might do something stupid.

Eddie

I bought an F 550 4x4 7.3 XLT for a service truck when they first came out back in 1999 had 1 ton trucks prior to this and they were always overloaded. I can say after having multiple F 550s' for the last 10 years that these are great trucks that are much more robust than the 1 tons.



Steve

 

[tnhomestead]

Wow good luck,wish I could help! All I can say is if you think they look and laugh at an asian in a truck,imagine the looks I get as a sasquatch in a truck!!
Good luck and best wishes!!!!!!

 

[D7E]

100-120hp would be a minimum and if your going to be doing "everything" look for a tractor with claerance as you'l be doing a lot of weed/fungicide spraying in tall rape and if you have dualls they will be coming off for spraying..!
Always start cleaning grassland with roundup , Also how long has it been in grass,Any history of beans/rape/sunflowers on the land for schloratinia issues and have any "grassland" sprays been used like glean or tellar as residues can last for years, Is there any rye grass in there..It can take years to eliminate this.
Machinery to fit these acres can be bought cheap on auctions but growing rape requires a lot of spraying and the tall crop needs a high clearance sprayer so custom spraying might be an option..!
How do you intend to harvest it..?

 

[SilverbackMP]

If were me, I would have it custom haversted at $20-25 per acre (assuming a normal combine can harvest--not too familiar with rape). Much cheaper than buying a newer combine and you wouldn't have worry about trying keep an older one running/adjusted.

 

[mikeyee]

Well an update on the project, my father's friend has a construction company and is letting me use his tractors assuming I pay for fuel and clear some of his land in exchange. He has John deere 100+ hp tractors and too many to mention (now to learn to operate them...). To say the least, they're around 14000lbs so I guess I should ask him if he could transport them to the location. I surveyed the land yesterday (sorry no pictures, my camera was at home). Its full of chinese tallows and brush 6 feet high. I think the max tree width was around 4" and the land was fairly flat (I sectioned off the land 30 acre tracks).

Yeah, buying a new 100+hp tractor was a big capital hole financial wise, I don't mind using his equipment while clearing around 200 acres of just grassland for him (I guess lawnmower for hire ) My plan now is get ahold of a tiller, plow to get things started. He has bulldozers and backhoes in case I do get in trouble with a tree. I tried to run my yanmar through the brush the other day and got out of the brush because it scared the **** out of me since I couldn't see anything Thanks for your inputs (I definitely will get a 1 ton dually in the future, for now the 3/4 ton is used to pick up oil from UT) take care folks!

 

[flusher]

Well an update on the project, my father's friend has a construction company and is letting me use his tractors assuming I pay for fuel and clear some of his land in exchange. He has John deere 100+ hp tractors and too many to mention (now to learn to operate them...). To say the least, they're around 14000lbs so I guess I should ask him if he could transport them to the location. I surveyed the land yesterday (sorry no pictures, my camera was at home). Its full of chinese tallows and brush 6 feet high. I think the max tree width was around 4" and the land was fairly flat (I sectioned off the land 30 acre tracks).

Yeah, buying a new 100+hp tractor was a big capital hole financial wise, I don't mind using his equipment while clearing around 200 acres of just grassland for him (I guess lawnmower for hire ) My plan now is get ahold of a tiller, plow to get things started. He has bulldozers and backhoes in case I do get in trouble with a tree. I tried to run my yanmar through the brush the other day and got out of the brush because it scared the **** out of me since I couldn't see anything Thanks for your inputs (I definitely will get a 1 ton dually in the future, for now the 3/4 ton is used to pick up oil from UT) take care folks!

Sounds like you need a big mower to get rid of that tall brush. The usual type of mower for a large field like that is a 15-ft wide batwing rotary mower (aka bush hog, brush hog, slasher, shredder). A 100+hp tractor would handle this type of mower with no problem.

Your concern should be with deep holes and depressions that could damage the tractor's front end and junk hiding in the weeds. When I bought my 10-acre spread (flat pasture) in early 05, it was covered with 4-5 ft weeds. I walked it carefully--found several fox holes that would have really busted up the front axle of my new Kubota B7510HST tractor (4WD, 21 hp engine). Also found old steel T-posts, fence wire, wooden posts and a steel bathtub that a previous owner used for stock watering. None of these hazards were visible from the fenceline--you have to walk the field to find them.

 

[D7E]

If were me, I would have it custom haversted at $20-25 per acre (assuming a normal combine can harvest--not too familiar with rape). Much cheaper than buying a newer combine and you wouldn't have worry about trying keep an older one running/adjusted.

Rape is about the easiest thing there is to combine and requires virtually no thrashing so generally any old beater will manage....I'd be buying a combine for peace of mind and not be relying on custom and miss good weather opportunities..there are plenty of combines for sale out there that have just become too small for todays farm sizes and can be bought on auctions for 1000-2000 bucks like NH TR70's and MF750's but have a good toolbox and a healthy chequebook ready..!