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Picking up stones

U

Unruh

Member
We've been picking up stones for a few days in the corn fields. The 35-year old 2440 with a 148 loader has worked well, using less than a gallon of fuel per hour. The "bucket riders" each watch 16-20 rows on their side of the bucket and raise a hand to signal me to stop while they jump off and retrieve the stone which the corn-head might pick up in case we have down stalks or low ears this year. My job is to follow the bulldog on the hood down the center row and more importantly watch the riders for safety sake. We run about 4-5 mph and cover 80 acres in about 3-4 hours. So far, have about 340 acres done.
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Sorry to burst your bubble but I cant see very many stones. I could probably spend 8 hours picking stones off of one field, about 5 acres. I drilled sudan in it earlier this month and spent about as much time throwing rocks into the drag behind the drill as I did planting.
 
I have so many, I set the tractor at low idle, and we take turns walking along. Can't make it to the end of a row, before the bucket is full.

Its slowing getting better after 8 years of picking. Typically pick around 1-2 yards per acre.

Rick
 
I don"t know where you are in MO Mike but I could pick rock for eight hours on my farm and the only time I would have to move the tractor is to go dump the bucket. That is about 20 minutes Northwest of Springfield.
 
That's why we live in SD and not there! I think we'd be surprised if the soil was transparent for the top 18 inches at how many stones are left near the surface.
 
Dad used an old kelly ryan manure spreader with the beater removed. 2 kids each side and one driving. Made unloading the rocks easy and could do 30 acre fields without having to unload. Picked anything bigger than a closed fist.
Where about in SD are you. Grew up around the Mitchell area.
 
For you guys who mentioned having lots of rocks, what do you raise/grow?

Do you plow/till/disc?

My fields are very rocky, or I expect they are, based on the holes I've dug. I'm nervous to plow them. Right now they are just hay fields and pasture.

I'd be real interested in what you guys do with gravelly soils...

Bye for now,

Troy
 
Sounds like our ground. I plowed a section closest to the original farmhouse that had been rock picked the best. 3 bottom plow, at any one time one of the beams was tripping the springs!
 
There"s no riding between stones on my place. Park it and fill it up! Was raking hay today - on last year"s oat field. Thought I did a good job of picking rocks - today, guess not.
 
Be careful picking up rocks. Here in Missouri they always say if you pick up 1 rock today there will be 2 in its place by next week and at times it sure seems to be just that way.
 
I live in a river bottom that has flooded many times. I have picked
up pieces from trailers, houses, and bridges. It never surprises me
what I find. Plus rocks from the old river bottom. So I feel your
pain.
 
I have a lot of respect for those of you that farm among those rocks. I'll see a fist sized rock maybe every 2 to 3 years on my farm. And I always stop and pick them up.
 
Don't do much rock picking anymore just use a 5000# 10 ft roller, then get the big ones. that didn't go down.
 
Wierd in places here.... a field will have no (or next to none) rocks and the one next to it will have so many that you can't see the dirt...
 
I can't see too many stones there. I could spend days and days on 15 acres i I wanted to pick it clean. The packer makes for a better day. Doesn't actually solve anything, just make it so I don't have to deal with it. To give you an idea of the number of rocks, the fence rows are actually the stone rows, every one of them. 8 feet wide 3 feet high all the way down. Mostly 15 acre fields.
 
If you can cover acres with a loader bucket, you don't have stones to pick...

The only stones that get picked with the loader are the ones that are too big to lift into the dump trailer.
 
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