Pasture drilling question

I currently own 16.4 acres that has about 11 acres currently in corn that has been cash rented. We will be building a house on the land in a few years and plan to have a few steers, chickens, pigs, apple trees, etc... on it. I'd like to go ahead and get a jump start on planting the tillable land in mixed pasture grasses to have it be established before putting animals on it.

I own a 1954 Ford 860 and the county has a grass drill that they say can be pulled by 35 hp tractor, but sounds like it is NOT a no-till. What would be the best course of action to get the ground ready for the grass drill to work?

I have the tractor and a 2-bottom plow, any other equipment such as a disc or field cultivator will need to be purchased. I'd rather only buy one, but if needed will buy whatever will give me the best seed bed for the new pasture.

Talk to your agent about a burn plan. I'd satart withy a spring burn.

Discs pack the ground and usually leave ridges. Get a field cultivator with tine tooth harrow on the rear to make a good seedbed. I know, seems everyone on here buys a tractor, plow, and disc...........but what do the full-time farmers use? Way less maintenance with the FC. Only reason to have a disc is to cut up sod after plowing, and an extra pass or two with the FC takes care of that.

Agree, except 2 other reasons to use a disc. A little one to work the weeds in the tree rows and a big one already hooked to a tractor when the prairie fire is headed to your house. Around here a 10-12 ft disc sells for more than a 24 footer does. Who want to bend over and grease all those zerks twice a day. Changing sweeps on a FC or chisel plow is quite painless on the body and the checkbook compared to changing those gangs of discs.

remember guys he has a 860 tractor so a feild cultivator and harrow like the big farmers have is not going to work for him

I don't know where the idea comes from that real farmers dont disc. A disc has its place on the farm also, never seen a field cultivator work too well on corn stalks or wheat stubble. I would buy a small disc and a section of harrow. Disc it a couple times and then drag the harrow across it until smooth.

Before you do ANYTHING ,figure out exactly what your going to plant.a lot will depend on that.some stuff needs to be fall planted and some needs to be spring planted for instance,different grasses,clovers, and such needs different fertilizers.ph may need to be adjusted for what you want and this is better done over time if you need to add a large amount of lime or something.your doing the right thing by starting now,because lots of grasses need 3-4 years to get established good,but you really need a plan.on 16 acres figure one steer,or maybe a cow calf,if you keep them year round.dont plan on grazing them where you plant your trees or you wont have any.figure out where you want what before you start.you probably dont want a barn and hog pens up wind of your house.as far as the farming part goes you have the main thing if you have a plow.it will kill most everything.and since your not raising a crop per-say you could plow it down let it lay over the winter or spring and then level with a harrow or small disc.use the seed drill county has and it should have press wheels and things.since you are planning to build later,and might have a gravel road ,a landscape rake might be better for you than a harrow or disc.it can be used to make a pretty good seedbed,and its handy around a place to boot.especially cleaning up a construction site.watch for a old cultipacker at the local farm auctions they will do more to make a pasture and yard than about anything.just my opinion of course but the first step is to make a VIABLE plan.decide what you want to do exactly and know it will work for your area.once you have that your way ahead of what most folks start with.