When to Use fields tractor？

Have a couple of small fields that have been compacted (20 years, horses running on them) also have been fighting a Knapp weed infestation. Bought a well used 6' disc, and JD pull type 3 bottom plow, going to try and plow and disc, New to (field prep and planting) want to plant field grass. Ok today hooked up the plow and discovered one of the hydraulic lines was to short when turning the tractor, picked up a drawbar for the disc (didn't come with one) and a short piece of hydraulic line and female swivel, got the hose lengthened, works good no leaks, Headed out to the field made 4 counterclockwise laps (that's the direction) the previous owner said plowing is done, sometimes furrows looked ok some ended up looking like a sod truck had overturned- and so it begins...got to dark- so tomorrow will try again, will try to post pictures of progress. Sounds like a good project, how many acres are you doing?

As for moldboard plowing, you don't go round and round. You start by 'opening the field' by plowing from one end of the field to the other directly down the center. Then you turn around and make the 'back furrow'. Basically you just come back right along the first pass so you end up with a furrow on each side. Then it's just a matter of plowing up and back until the field is done. On a large field, say over 10ac, you might do this process a couple times instead of once down the middle of the field. This will save some time driving back and forth on the end rows. Once you have done all the way to the edge of the field you can go along the ends plowing inward to clean up the edges.

Once you have that done you can disc, harrow, and seed.

This is a thread with a couple pics of some moldboard plowing I did year before last. The pics aren't the greatest but you can get an idea of how it's done:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/-spring-farm-work-pics.html I have been fighting invasive plants for about 6 years now. It is called Dogbane. I mow the field three times a year. Mowing does help but in some cases seems to encourage more than kill off the invasives. I have been using a 1.5% solution of roundup that does a good job, not great but good job of removing invasives while not killing the grass. That solution attacks broad leaf invasives and leaves the natural thin blade grasses alone. Again I have been using the roundup for about 5 years. Discing did very little.
What I think I have learned is that the invasive plants come up at different times so repeated applications of expensive roundup is not always effective. If I spray to early some of the same species of plant will grow later and be unaffected. If I spray to late some of the plants are so hardy that they survive and come back with a vengeance.
While I have had success with keeping the invasive plants down if I miss a year I can see they will come right back and ruin the fields. That means I would waste all the fuel time and herbicides that I have spent to date. So this year I am going to take a section of field and use roundup to kill off everything, keeping erosion in mind. Disc the area after all is gone and plant something I want. I think it will be much less expensive than year after year with so so results and hopefully a great hay field. That's my :2cents:s good luck

Sounds like a good project, how many acres are you doing?

As for moldboard plowing, you don't go round and round. You start by 'opening the field' by plowing from one end of the field to the other directly down the center. Then you turn around and make the 'back furrow'. Basically you just come back right along the first pass so you end up with a furrow on each side. Then it's just a matter of plowing up and back until the field is done. On a large field, say over 10ac, you might do this process a couple times instead of once down the middle of the field. This will save some time driving back and forth on the end rows. Once you have done all the way to the edge of the field you can go along the ends plowing inward to clean up the edges.

Once you have that done you can disc, harrow, and seed.

This is a thread with a couple pics of some moldboard plowing I did year before last. The pics aren't the greatest but you can get an idea of how it's done:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/-spring-farm-work-pics.html

I'm sure that's true with a 3 point plow, but not so sure that is entirely correct for this style pull type John Deere (how about it? deere pull type plow owners) here's a picture the amount of work to stop, back up, re-align the plow would make this a real hassle.
The property is only 10 acres and the fields have been fenced into some really small fields,also it is partially treed further complicating plowing...here's how it looked after my first attempt with the JD 3bottom, the frost wasn't completely out of the ground then switched to the Ford and disc anyway going to start on it again tomorrow, liked your plowing pictures you the plow and the NAA did a nice job:thumbsup:

I have been fighting invasive plants for about 6 years now. It is called Dogbane. I mow the field three times a year. Mowing does help but in some cases seems to encourage more than kill off the invasives. I have been using a 1.5% solution of roundup that does a good job, not great but good job of removing invasives while not killing the grass. That solution attacks broad leaf invasives and leaves the natural thin blade grasses alone. Again I have been using the roundup for about 5 years. Discing did very little.
What I think I have learned is that the invasive plants come up at different times so repeated applications of expensive roundup is not always effective. If I spray to early some of the same species of plant will grow later and be unaffected. If I spray to late some of the plants are so hardy that they survive and come back with a vengeance.
While I have had success with keeping the invasive plants down if I miss a year I can see they will come right back and ruin the fields. That means I would waste all the fuel time and herbicides that I have spent to date. So this year I am going to take a section of field and use roundup to kill off everything, keeping erosion in mind. Disc the area after all is gone and plant something I want. I think it will be much less expensive than year after year with so so results and hopefully a great hay field. That's my :2cents:s good luck

I have also been rough cutting with a 6' brush hog about 3 or 4 times a year where the Knapweed is the worst, can't use the roundup with the horses, the wife would kill me- before the Monsanto product killed the weeds...so that's why I decided to work the soil, it literally hasn't been touched other than mowing or hand pulling the weeds since - anyway tomorrows another day, and my new favorite saying is we learn by doing

Must have pictures!! Must have pictures!!!
Soil test? lime? fertilizer? Rocky soil need rocks picked? Picked your seed mix yet?
I'm thinking about all of these things myself for some food plots I want to put in but there is close to three feet of snow on them at present so while I wait it will be interesting to see how you get along. Don't worry about the sods that didn't roll over pretty. Let them dry out and pass over them with the disk a couple of times and you will chop them up well enough.

started to load a picture and a google malware warning about tbn covered the screen, went into the advanced area and was able to get back here ?? who knows?? anyway first- here are my helpers who will do most of the work. Ford ,W/6' interco? disc and a Rhino 554 w/ JD 3 bottom pull plow and hydraulic lift,
also here's how i finished today ,going to be 22 degrees or so tonight may have to fight the frost again in the morning... Right now everything's on a shoe string budget, Got a fair amount of Horse manure from the barn and run outs (been composting 2 years) and need to move it anyway probably going to bucket that out and plow it again... Thinking about getting a 5 gallon bucket from various parts of the field before and another after the manure is added, Possibly check with county extension office (next week)and find out what the charge is to test the soil...

I am trying to do some small scale farming(20ac), for hobby mainly. I have a 125 HP tractor. I have an old 7' chisel plow that I run to break up the ground nice and deep, but I am trying to decide what to buy to do the final preparation for seed planting (winter wheat, haygrazer etc).

I have had people tell me to get a field cultivator with shanks 6" apart, staggered on 3 tool bars with 8" sweeps. I originally thought about a tandem disc, but was told they leave a rough field on the edges where the outer discs kick up the dirt.

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Any way I have the chisel, a wheat drill, and am just missing the intermediary equipment. Like I said it is just for hobby, but since I am going to go out and buy something I want to get what will work best.

These days a field cultivator is _the_ soil prep tool. A disk is a specialized tool, everyone has one in the grove but rarely uses it, only when it is needed.

The disk will help break up hard clods. It will cut up heavy trash, like lots of cornstalks, or heavy wheat straw. Other than that, it is a land packer & we have come to realize it does not make a good seedbed, more of a hard plow-pan in our clay soils.

The field cultivator, with a 2-3 bar harrow attachment on the back of it, will make a much better seedbed 90% of the time. The only issue really is trash, as mentioned. Old units had the bars too close together. As they get newer, the bars got spaced farther apart, then a 4th bar was added on real new ones & all the shanks are spaced farther apart.

For $ I would expect a pretty new unit with good spacing, harrow attachment, etc. 'Round here anyhow.

Cultimultchers are not good in trash, they really plug up. Make wonderful seedbeds in clear dirt tho.

Tillers tend to overwork the soil, using up hp & time.

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I think in small grain stubble, the field cultivator will work out for you fine. Chisel in fall, field cultivate in spring, and plant.

For cornstalks, you would need to either chop the stalks with a stalk chopper (flail mower), or disk it several times, before chiseling it, then the field cultivator would should likely will handle things in spring.

If I had to get only one, I'd go for the field cultivator unless there was a good reason for needing the disk - if you are in that 10%.

--->Paul

Thanks again for the info. All good stuff and very informative.

I did some pricing today and a 15' 3pt, 3 bar 4" field cultivator(used) is going to run $. I figure a good 3pt disk is going to be about that amount or more. (I need everything 3pt as some of the areas I am working are small and fenced and it is a pain turning pull type stuff around)

Someone mentioned to me trying a rototiller. Something like this http://www.ccmachinery.com/tillers.htm the SR series either 90" or 105". Seems like with the chisel I could break up the soil and then the tiller should do a good job of preparing the seedbed wouldn't it? True these are pretty narrow, but I am not trying to cover large acreages. At a cost of 3k I don't know. Maybe good if it is replacing two other implements?

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