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Fred
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Loc: NW PA
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Old corn field
04/06/03 08:46 AM
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When I got my property in the country a little over a year ago, it was the last year a corn field was planted on it. After hogging most of the field last year and trying to limit the times I had to travel across the old rows to save my kidneys, I think I'd like to smooth out the field this year and start from scratch. Maybe get some kind of pasture going. I'm thinking the size of my compact tractor and attachments I currently own might not do the job, or maybe they will with enough passes. I have a Kubota B7500HST (21 hp) with a FEL, a rear blade and a yard rake that may or may not be the right attachments let alone enough tractor. My next door neighbor has a "real" tractor I might be able to borrow, but no attachments that might do the job.
What's the best way to smooth out my field and can it be done with what I already have?
Thanks for any help,
Fred
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cowboydoc
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/06/03 12:09 PM
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Ideally I'd plow it up, disc, and then harrow if smooth. Why not hire the guy that last farmed it to do it or get another farmer around there to do it for you?
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Fred
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Thanks, Doc.
I take it I need more to do the job right than what I have access to. I'll try to find another farmer to "fix" the field. My neighbor told me that this is the first time that the farm who used the field hasn't reworked the land after using it. Probably due to the land having a new owner (me) that wasn't going to let them use it for nothing like the old woman who lived here before me. It's probably only 8 acres, I was hoping I could get by doing it myself, but it's probably better to get it done and over with by someone that has the right equipment.
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s1120
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Loc: Niverville NY
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/06/03 02:59 PM
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I would guess if you are not in a hurry to get it all done, you could use what you have. A lot of people have done a lot more, with less. But if you are in a hurry, I would get someone in there to do it. But then agean, for what that would cost, you could probably buy an attachment to make it go quicker for yourself.
Paul Bradway
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beenthere
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/06/03 04:48 PM
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Your profile is a secret to us, so more help (beyond the good advice of Cowboydoc) is hard to do.
But I would not count out the farmer who already has worked it for free (or at least you were given that impression). He may want to continue to farm it, and you could maybe get some benefit from having him work it up to your expectations, plant a cover crop and pasture grasses that you want, and maybe he'd do it for what ever can be cropped the first one or two years. Include in your specs the desire to have the field worked up and leveled, without visible lands left from plowing, but with large field equipment used that will leave the ground level and smooth. Hard to get that with a small CUT and narrow attachments.
Include the locals while living at your new location and I expect you would be surprised at how helpful and interested they will become. Try to get over the feeling that someone was unfair in the past, as the "no payment for rent" may have been what the previous owner wanted for various reasons. I originally asked a neighbor to take a hay crop off a small field for nothing because I didn't want it to grow up into brush. He graciously did that for me even though it was a real nuisance to him to get into that tiny field with a mower, a rake, then the baler, and then the wagon to haul out the bales. I don't think he made any appreciable amount of money doing it, and I was happy to have the field kept open. I quickly found out that my farmer neighbors would do anything for me and I tried my best to do the same for them every chance I could get. But the main thing was to stop and talk to them whenever the opportunity presented itself - like when I'd drive by and they were out by the road or close to the road in the fields.
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mikell
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Reged: 02/17/03
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Loc: SW Michigan
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Might try a field for rent sign. Have them plant hay,wheat or oats whatever works out best. All will leave the ground smooth at no cost to you.
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Fred
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Re: Old corn field
[re: mikell]
04/07/03 08:26 AM
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Thanks, Paul. Any input on what I would need to work the land myself and how to best use it with a CUT? I'm really just looking to take all the corn row bumps out of it and get some kind of field grass growing. I'll weigh it against hiring someone else. It would certainly give me more satisfaction doing it myself even if it is a bit of a struggle.
Sorry about the profile, beenthere. I wasn't sure if I had filled it out or not, that's why I tried to include a little info in my original post. I'll get to it later today.
The reason I'm shying away from the farmer who had the corn in the field in the first place is because I feel he should have finished the job like every other year after harvesting the corn, he stopped paying the previous owner the last few years (according to her) and he has a bit of a big fish in a little pond reputation amongst the locals. I'd just as soon go another way. He always could have come knocking on my door last year, he knew what condition he left the field in.
I had thought of renting it except I don't want to lose use of the field. I'm back there quite a bit with my own dogs and customer's dogs and don't want to have to watch out for someone's crops.
The more I think about it, the more I want to do it myself even if it means I have to rent a demo and attachment from my 'Bota dealer. I just need to know what to use to knock the crowns off and fill in the low spots.
Fred
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beenthere
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/07/03 10:12 AM
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I understand you perfectly. We have new people who have moved into this rural community over the last 37 years I have been here, and I've known many of them. I see where you fit. I wish you good luck with your field.
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RobS
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/07/03 10:22 AM
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Hi Fred, sounds like your property is similar to ours. I hogged a couple of times before I got tired of the shaken kidney syndrome (SKS). I had decent success with a disc harrow I borrowed from a friend. It was an older, heavier unit about 6 1/2 feet wide. Just at the limits of my little JD, but it did smooth things out nicely. If you make enough passes to get the soil loosened up well, you can then go at it with your landscape rake. I didn't go that far with mine, but I may work a few areas like that in the future. Good luck, and let us know what works well for you 
Rob
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Argee
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/07/03 10:25 AM
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The crowns or mounds are probably from when it was cultivated. If you have access to a tandem disk that should do the job your looking for.
Argee
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cowboydoc
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/07/03 03:08 PM
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The reason I'm shying away from the farmer who had the corn in the field in the first place is because I feel he should have finished the job like every other year after harvesting the corn
If he wasn't going to farm the place again why would you expect him to get the field ready to plant for the next year? Nobody that rents ground ever does that. It's up to the person that is going to be farming the ground the next year to work the ground. Being on the other side landlords often expect way more than a farmer would even do for his own ground to rent it. It's not a privilege for a farmer to rent ground. It's his business. These small fields are a pain to do, esp. when you're only getting a couple bucks a bushel for corn. Not trying to be mean here just remember there are two sides to the farming issue.
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Fred
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I don't think you're being mean, Doc. Those are valid questions I'll try to answer.
If he wasn't going to farm the place again why would you expect him to get the field ready to plant for the next year?
*Just going by what my neighbor said. He told me that he couldn't believe the farmer didn't turn over the land after harvesting like he always does. This was before the previous owner had even decided she wanted to sell the land. Technically, he didn't know he wasn't going to farm the land again.
Nobody that rents ground ever does that. It's up to the person that is going to be farming the ground the next year to work the ground.
*That might explain it. Maybe he was going to let the land sit a year. He farmed it for free the last three years, so I don't think he was going to let someone else farm it.
These small fields are a pain to do, esp. when you're only getting a couple bucks a bushel for corn.
*Is that net profit? I know the farmer sells it (the corn) to local grocery stores and has roadside stands set up all over the county and sells it $2.00/half dozen ears or something along those lines. His last crop here was sweet corn. $2.00/bushel seems low unless that's net profit, which in that case, it still seems low compared to the markup. I've been curious about the costs of farming vs. the profit margin.
Not trying to be mean here just remember there are two sides to the farming issue.
*Gotcha. I may have been hasty in believing my neighbors, the old lady I bought the house from and just about everyone else I've met since moving out here about the farmer in question. Sometimes it's hard not to form an opinion on someone when so many other opinions are the same.
ANYWAY, back to my original question. After looking into disc harrows, which I still may get one for little jobs, I think I'll hire someone to get in, get the job done and get out. I'll just use my CUT to touch things up with the rake and spread the seed. That will take me long enough.
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poorboy
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Loc: Eastern Kentucky
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Re: Old corn field
[re: Fred]
04/07/03 10:09 PM
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Fred, I don't know the past farmer but I do know that if I not 99% sure I am going to farm that piece the next year it goes untouched. Time, fuel and wear and tear aren't cheap. Especially in the fall, seems like it's such a busy time of the year around here. Doc is right as usual about these things.
You may want to ask around this summer and get someone lined out for a fall planting in August or so. Usually if the farmer can plan ahead of time this would be no problem.
I have a couple of small 3pt. discs and I have found that they are better than nothing at all, but not much in the ground smoothing department. Would probably work in conjunction with your rake.
Good luck in what ever you decide
Patrick
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mikell
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Loc: SW Michigan
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Re: Old corn field
[re: poorboy]
04/11/03 06:12 AM
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I didn't have any problem finding pepole to plant what I wanted. Last fall you could have had winter wheat planted and had an open flat field by July. I have a 10 and 20 plot and will be getting hay on shares. No equipment investment other than 2 hay wagons and I have all the hay I need.
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