ploughed ground

I've got about an acre of ground ,the place used to be a dairy farm ,its ploughed up and clods of dirt very rough to drive on ,what would be the best way to smooth it out ,I don't think dragging anything over it would even dent the sutface , it has grass on it now .
Ken

disk then drag harrow is how I would do it. not an expert though.

There is a roller with spikes on it. That'll break up the clods and also loosen the soil some.

The old standard was plow, disk, drag for seed bed, Sod/pasture gets plow, then disk before minimal till planting. The large blade-20 to 28 inch- disks around home farm in Iowa are used as single pass on corn fields before bean planting to cut last years corn stalks and stir/smooth soil some for seedbed - see if someone has one of them in area that can be hired or borrowed. (Teasing Alert!) alternatives exist- you might have a garden tiller contest- see who can till a 18 inch strip across the patch- line up 20 tillers and have 3 heats- 1 diagonal, winner gets a case of beer and oil change. Or go old time green method- fence in patch and turn in 20 spring farrowed pigs, scatter some corn around the field and let them nose and chew ground- result is fertilized garden patch for next year and potential 40 smoked hams and shoulders, lots of bacon to smoke over winter after frost kills flies, Christmas/New Years roast pork loins/chops- might get some historical society to do the project for you- they might have source of razorbacks to do main ground work or some of the Texans on board can send you some of their feral hogs. RN

(quoted from post at 09:36:10 10/05/11) The old standard was plow, disk, drag for seed bed, Sod/pasture gets plow, then disk before minimal till planting. The large blade-20 to 28 inch- disks around home farm in Iowa are used as single pass on corn fields before bean planting to cut last years corn stalks and stir/smooth soil some for seedbed - see if someone has one of them in area that can be hired or borrowed. (Teasing Alert!) alternatives exist- you might have a garden tiller contest- see who can till a 18 inch strip across the patch- line up 20 tillers and have 3 heats- 1 diagonal, winner gets a case of beer and oil change. Or go old time green method- fence in patch and turn in 20 spring farrowed pigs, scatter some corn around the field and let them nose and chew ground- result is fertilized garden patch for next year and potential 40 smoked hams and shoulders, lots of bacon to smoke over winter after frost kills flies, Christmas/New Years roast pork loins/chops- might get some historical society to do the project for you- they might have source of razorbacks to do main ground work or some of the Texans on board can send you some of their feral hogs. RN

Click to expand...

You may laugh but thats what we do.....figure out where we want the garden next year, fence it, put in 10 feeder and go from there!

Rick

I noted that was a old practice in South East and many other areas up to WW2 or when fence laws became on books- the Foxfire books note that was practice in Carolinas, Tennesee, Kentucky for the free range hogs that would be butchered- round them up in fall, check ear notch and send to owners, put in fenced future or current garden patch and feed corn for 2 weeks at least to remove tannic acid flavor from eating acorns, etc in woods, then butcher. Fence laws stopped the free range practice in 1920s to 1930s so hogs got a rotating pasture section for spring farrowing, some confinements and sold. Family hogs as you do still get the late garden buffet before being invited to (be the) main course over holidays. Some Amish and Mennonite groups still do it, some western states are still range law- Texas suffers from the free range feral hogs that weren't rounded up in time, Southern californis parks have some feral herds derived from farm released before forclosures in the 1930's. Local Wisconsin south west corner has had some feral hog damage past couple years- hunting laws last year changed to let them be mostly open hunted. Couple suburban gardens got the hog treatment from potbellied pigs- owners found out that letting them eat all they want turned the 60 pound pet into a 200+ pound nuisance. Chinese restuarant cook offered to take them- the well marbled meat works best in some recipes. Garden did real good next year. RN

my self,i would replow it, across the direction it was last plowed if possible,then go in with a disc and level it.if you dont own a disc or plow,even a springtooth,chisel,or even a old metal bed spring with a couple of heavy tires on it will knock some of the top off most times.if you have horses,put up an electric fence and throw them on it.i guarantee enough horses will get it down to bare ground and probably level it up also.LOL a few other choices,box blade,landscape rake,chisel plow,middlebuster,drag harrow,rotary harrow,an i beam dragged flat,a crosstie with apiece of angle iron lag bolted on front are just a few.a grain drill with enough passes will level it,as will a one row cultivator.if nothing else get your grandkids out with their 4 wheelers that will tear up anything!not really too hard to level one up if you have time to mess with it.a drag of some type would probably not kill all your grass though,and let it recover faster.ive even used a old horse drawn disc behind a pickup,to level up truck and dozer ruts left when oil company dug gravel out of a pit on one place.just about anything that will scratch the surface will level it with enough passes.

How much sod? Once a good mat of sod forms you have to do primary tillage (plow or one way disc) to break the sod to level it. Sinking a springtooth into sod is just going to damage it.

If it hasn't sodded over heavy, a regular disc and a drag will get it fixed up.

Tractor mounted roto tiller!!!

My sister is pretty heavy, let her tramp on it for a while.

Re-ploughing the ground is the best option if the sod roots are thick. a disk will just break teh tops up, but not get deep enough. I have a Howard HB120. It's a 10 foot wide "rotospike." Like a big nasty 4000 lb. rototiller on steroids. It would level it like a pool table in 2 passes, but the black smoke would be rolling from the tractor.

Do you get freezes in the winter? If so, when you get a spring thaw from the first 6 inches of frost in the soil, you could hit it with a weighted cultipacker and that should bring it down some, but I don't know what kind of equipment you own, so it really depends on your tool set as to what would work best.

I assume you are not going to plant anything in the ground until spring. I would let mother nature do her thing with raind, etc. over the winter and make a decision in the sprong.
I'll bet a disking next spring is all it takes. This was my experience anyway.

the hogs would definitely do it, but if you get the feral hogs don't let your neighbors know if they get out, you would end up persona non grata. we trap well over a hundred of those things a year and more show up every year.