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Leveling a rough feild.. help!

D

Dave from MN

Well-known Member
Well, that peice of property I bought has the wheat off it now and I took a drive across it yesterday. Holy smoley! Just about took out the suspension on the truck. The guy that had rented it last year plowed it, hard and fast, poor job, then ran over it, hard and fast with a feild cultivator, same direction as plowed. They then seeded with a case 2290 and a 10' drill, nothing but ruts. Head lands are as bad as the rest of the feild. I want to hit it the right way and get that feild layed out right. Some ruts are deep, 10-14", its lighter soil, no way will I plow it, should i disc it once in the same direction as they worked it then again at an angle, or would i be better off doing it first time at an angle with the disc and then maybe go over it with a feild cultivator and harrow in the opposite angle? Never had to deal with a peice this messed up before, need some recommendations. Definatly was no "art" to this plowing job.
 
I would disc in the same direction then follow with a field cultivator going at and angle. Follow that up with more field cultivatings until the field is worked up the way you like it. Alternate the angle every time you go out. So say Mon. you go SE to NW, Tues NE to SW etc. The reason for discing the same direction first is it will save you and your equipment from what your truck experienced. You may want to do the headlands first so you don"t happen to tear your front-end off of your tractor.

I am not a fan of land-levelers. I think they just waste fuel, too slow and can almost get the same result from a field cultivator.
 
I would disc just once then go with the field cultivator twice. Once may be enough now then hit it in the spring before planting.

Unless there is to much trash to get through your cultivator.

Gary
 
If it's that bad then you may get a better result by discing it on the diagonal with harrows. and cultivate later if needed. with harrows of course.
 
Dave bkpigs has it down pat. As you know a disc is normally a UNLEVELER but when you have ruts that's about the only thing that work's good for filling them.I would work the hell out of the ends though so its not so rough on you & your tractor while turning around. I started on a 1939 M farmall in 1955 & we always went at a slight angle to help level the field .Good luck GENE
 
I would plowing it and start over with disking it the same direction with disking the dead furrows extra and then disc corner ways with a spring tooth behind twice and then use a spring tooth. I have a field cultivator with a spike tooth that works well also. This time of year I would hook a packer behind the disc and then a spring tooth.
I would plow because I hate messing with the trash. You probly have weeds and straw that will plug and you need a heavy disc to cut deep enough to level out dead furrows. I have a disc that would do it but it takes a big tractor to cut deep.
 
Doesn't matter what ya use Dave.

Just hit it at a different angle every time you work the field.

I've got one field that I'm still cussin' "someone/somewhere" with his one-way plow. Darned thing left dead furrows 3 and 4 feet deep over a period of years. :>(

Allan
 
I'd plow it, then follow with a disc same direction as the plow. Then disc crossways with a spring tooth drag behind the disc. Got to get that trash under so the disc and drag can work. If you don't want to leave it bare over the winter, broadcast some bin-run wheat for a cheap cover crop. Just an idea, other guys have other good ways. Depends on what equipment you have to use. Nothing worse than having the tractor beat you apart next year, getting too old for that stuff.
Paul
 
If you was going to plow it I'd disk the daylights out of the headlands to smooth them, then plow the rest. Field should be smooth when final finish worked.

Not plowing? Disk it once or twice. With the previous plowing first, get the soil broke up. Then at an angle the second time if needed. Then go to the field cultivator. First angled one way, then the opposite, then straight. Repeat as needed.
 
If that were my field, when conditions are dry enough, I would disk it with a rather heavy disk, either straight or slightly crossways. This will get the volunteer wheat to grow. Before freeze up I would chisel plow it. You will want to work the ends first to, so turning goes easier. If the dead furrows are deep you might want to work on them, but that could be done next spring when you work it twice with a field cultivator.By the time you plant the crop next year it will be nice and level.
I certainly would not moldboard plow it in an effort to level it.
Brian(MN)
 
I'd plow it, disc it and then double-cross it with a spring tooth harrow. We've always double-crossed any field we were sewing down in grass. Saves rake teeth etc. Always double-cross so that your final passes are in the levelest direction to catch wash.
 
I would use a disc with plenty of weight and a 6x6 wood drag behind it. The disc will get it loose and the drag will fill in the low spots.
 
Dave Cross or angle plow it with a good heavy disk I will bet a second plowing will be needed after it dries for a few days.
Now here is where the options start
1 @ time of second disking pull a set of spike-tooth harrows or
2 A pipe drag either at time of plowing or later or
3 My personal favorite a 20 to 30 ft piece of Rail Road rail (55lb/ft) is sufficient pulled in an operation to itself will do a nice job of leveling before planting. This is an old High-Plains sand farm trick used just prior to listing and planting then row-watering. At any rate you will need a couple of good disking operations to get the soil loose enough to stir around and level up Hope this helps
Later,
John A.
 
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