# Smoothing rough fields...



## BunkasBarnyard (Jul 5, 2010)

I am in the process of trying to reclaim approx. 35 acres of grass hay that has been fallow for a couple of years now and was not in great shape before that. The worst of my issues is how rough the fields are from gophers and woodchucks. The hills are all grown in and impossble to level with just a drag. 
The fileds are still producing fairly well and if I could figure how to smooth them out a bit and perhaps sew some seed in the thin spots I would be extremely happy. They are so rough however, that it is extremely hard on the equipment. If I am unable to work out a way to even them out I am afraid I will be forced to start over with them. Not the end of the world, but I think they still have a couple years of good production in them at least. I thought perhaps I would try discing them a couple times to loosen up the soil and then rolling them out. Not quite sure if that would accomplish anything at all. Any help in this area would be very much appreciated.


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## Dolphin (May 21, 2010)

Where are you? There is a place to put your location in your profile.

I bought a field that had been let go for 12+ years. Willow and scrub brush was 12' tall in spots. After getting the brush off with a rotary brush mower the anthills were less noticeable.







After plow and disk I still would have like a little better result. The next time I will use a drag blade or something, the chain harrow with a dog kennel panel behind it helped some, but not enough...

I notice in my area if I just run the disk through a few times the field produces better. Aerating the soil and breaking it up a little really makes a difference.


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## JustinShepherd (Apr 14, 2010)

We run a 24foot JD cultivator with angle iron shoes in place of shovels and run them over rough land in spring before the plants are growing and it makes a huge difference with gophers and badgers. On the last row of shovels it has chains between each shoe to spread the dirt out. It also has a mounted harrow on the back of the cultivator but its pretty inneffective really compared to the shoes. We used it to prepare a field for seeding by going over the land a couple times.

We used to run crawler tracks on their side behind a telephone pole but they were pretty cumbersome to transport and needed a trailer to move htem down the road. And the cultivator has more weight and does a much better job. We used to just run the cultivator over top too with normal sweep shovels but you had to be careful not to let them dig in.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Justin, The shovels you described are what I have been looking for to level some of my alfalfa fields. I have trouble with pocket gophers and a few badgers. Can you tell me where you got them. Thanks, Mike


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

The neighbor rented a roller that is normally used on grass runways to run over his hayfields this spring. Can't remember how much water it held, but I think his 80hp FWA Kubota had all it wanted when it was half full.

Course if this guy would learn not to spread manure when the clay is wet, he wouldn't have needed the roller.


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## JustinShepherd (Apr 14, 2010)

Hey its a company in Canada called Haukaas. It says on their website that there international so I'm sure you can find them. They have improved them since the first ones they made which we have. Ours we weld on new angle iron to keep them fresh.

And we have some customers who roll their land and while it can push rocks down I find it only packs the gopher hills and makes it very bouncy to run at higher speeds haying.

Here is their link Haukaas Manufacturing Ltd.


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## BunkasBarnyard (Jul 5, 2010)

I appreciate everyones responses, ty. I like the haukaas shoes and will probably facilitate the idea after every cutting once I get the fields completely smooth again. I think they are too far gone for the haukaas shoes to work. The old mounds that are grown in with grass and roots are the problem. I have tried discong and leveling but end up basicly rolling sod.
I was thinking...
I am going to purchase a 72" King Kutter tiller. If I were to til down 2 to 3 inches and really mulch it up good to get it nice and even would the established grasses have enough roots to come back? I was thinking I would supplement with some additional seed and fertilizer but was hoping much of the old growth would reestablish itself next season.?.?
Or is that all rediculous?
Thanks again everyone!


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