[AT] Pasture drag, rake, ???

Thu May 6 14:36:38 PDT 2021

Dean,
I mow at work with a 455 and a 60" deck. Nothing is lawn. All rough dirt
road sides, and fields. Gophers and ground squirrels rule this area. There
is no getting rid of them. Prior to my taking over 20 months ago, this poor
machine had a life of abuse. I posted photos of the blades I took off and
someone's comment was, had it been used as a box scraper? The 24" blades
were about 18" when I removed them. I believe the original 3400 hours were
on them. They tossed the rear mounted blade in a fit of cleaning up last
year. :(
I have no way to level the gopher mounds that are also laden with up to
baseball sized rocks. Not a lot of choice but to 'plow' forth. I have
thought about taking a VGL of Co2 (4000cf) and sticking a hose down the
holes, ala the newer version of the Rodentator. But that is too much work
for size of the area. Besides they just move back from the adjacent
vineyards and crop fields. I trap them at home with good old Macabee traps.
The vineyards put up raptor boxes, but when there are 3000 gophers to 6
owls and 5 hawks, it's a losing proposition. Good luck with your endeavors.
Brad
[image: image.png]

On Thu, May 6, 2021 at 1:56 PM Dean VP <deanvp at att.net> wrote:

> One thing there is no shortage of here is tractors.  They range from
> Garden Tractors, to Compact Tractors to a 720 Diesel John Deere. I do have
> about a 12’ section of pretty heavy channel iron that I use to level dirt
> but since it is ridged I don’t think it would work very good in the
> pasture, but I suppose if I went in enough directions it might get most of
> the mounds.  Maybe I could just drag it behind the Garden Tractor every
> time I mow.  I don’t see how it could make things worse.   Hmmm, I’m
> starting to warm up to this idea.  Maybe I could attach some weights to it
> too.  Need to se if the masses up the mowing that the channel iron has been
> drug over before I get to mowing it.  Wonder if there is a way to offset
> it. Hmmmm,  this could get intelesting.  May not work if it drags the loose
> clippings too much. What if I just drug a heavy beam the width of the mower
> deck.  That would at least knock down the Mole and Pocket Gopher mounds a
> bit.  At least doing it the same time I mow would eliminate duplicate trips
> over the field. Intelesting.  Could drag a drag a 4’ wide 8’ long section
> drag harrow behind while mowing too. Need to have something that weighs
> enough to not bounce around on top.
>
>
>
> Dean VP
>
> Snohomish, WA 98290
>
> "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and gospel
> of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
>
> ..Winston Churchill...
>
>
>
> *From:* AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> *On Behalf Of *ustonThomas
> Mehrkam
> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 5, 2021 5:40 AM
> *To:* Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>;
> Mark Johnson <markjohnson100 at centurylink.net>;
> at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> *Subject:* Re: [AT] Pasture drag, rake, ???
>
>
>
> You likely do not a big enough tractor.  This what we did when we moved a
> house across the hay meadow in winter.
>
>
>
> We were left with deep ruts. The truck bogged down for two weeks. Finally
> got truck and house out in on the pad.
>
>
>
> We had huge massy Ferguson tractor and a 30 foot length of heavy railroad
> rail with a loop of heavy  chain welded to both ends. Hooked the tractor to
> the center of the chain and drug it over the ruts.
>
>
>
> It filled the ruts and leveled it flat as a board.
>
> Sent from AT&T Yahoo Mail on Android
> <https://go.onelink.me/107872968?pid=InProduct&c=Global_Internal_YGrowth_AndroidEmailSig__AndroidUsers&af_wl=ym&af_sub1=Internal&af_sub2=Global_YGrowth&af_sub3=EmailSignature&af_web_dp=https://more.att.com/currently/imap>
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 5, 2021 at 6:59 AM, Mark Johnson
>
> <markjohnson100 at centurylink.net> wrote:
>
> That one looks very similar to the one I spent many an hour dragging
> around the farm as a teenager - ours resembled two of these (12' wide)
> ganged together. My dad believed it did an adequate job...
>
> Mark J
>
> On 5/4/2021 11:39 PM, Dean VP wrote:
> > Here is one that looks interesting. Not sure if it has adequate pin
> density
> >
> > https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/loyal-drag-harrow-6-ft-x-8-ft
> >
> >
> > Dean VP
> > Snohomish, WA 98290
> > "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and
> gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
> > ..Winston Churchill...
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Dean VP
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 9:18 PM
> > To: 'Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group' <
> at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> > Subject: Re: [AT] Pasture drag, rake, ???
> >
> > Spencer,
> >
> > That is it. Drag or chain harrow is the name that seems to work here
> too. Haven't found a single used one for sale yet.  Tractor Supply and
> Northern Tool  have some that might be worth looking at.  I wonder if the
> rental yards have them.  That would be a way to teat to see how it works
> before purchasing.
> >
> > Dean VP
> > Snohomish, WA 98290
> > "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and
> gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
> > ..Winston Churchill...
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Spencer
> Yost
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 4, 2021 4:05 PM
> > To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> >
> > Subject: Re: [AT] Pasture drag, rake, ???
> >
> > Drag harrow is what I think they’re called mainly around the country. I
> hear “chain harrow” around here more frequently.  It’s probably your only
> option if you’re trying your best not to disturb more than an inch or two
> down and also not kill half your grass.
> >
> > I can’t even think of anything else that would do the job yet also leave
> stones unturned.
> >
> > I use it after disking to create a better seed bed and also in my
> pasture to de-thatch and scarify the surface after plugging but before
> fertilizing, seeding and  spreading compost.
> >
> > PS:  this is the type of implement that people often buy for a single
> reseeding project and then resell.  I’ll bet some chain harrows have had
> dozens of owners.  So  check Craigslist.
> >
> > Spencer
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> >> On May 4, 2021, at 6:33 PM, Dean VP <deanvp at att.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> I have 6 acres that I mow with my Garden tractor 3 of which is a
> >> pasture on a slope which at one time had horses on it.  Now I try to
> >> keep the pasture looking nice by mowing it with my Garden Tractor
> >> albeit at a slightly higher cut than the rest of the regular lawn. The
> >> last couple of years the pasture has gotten really rough from multiple
> >> sources including our not so friendly Moles and pocket gophers. There
> >> are several old growth stumps buried in the pasture which was well
> >> done except will the dirt fill occurs it doesn't completely fill all
> >> around the stump down below. So over time and our incessant rain some
> >> settling occurs and even some small occur.  I try to fill the gaps
> >> with dirt as I find them but each year 2 or 3 more show up. So bottom
> >> line is the pasture has gotten rough and beats the crap out of me when
> I mow it. I would like to use a tool to try to smooth it out a bit and
> >> thatching the grass mat in places would not be a bad thing.  But our
> soil
> >> is terrible and at best could described as glacial till filled with
> various
> >> sized rocks.  So I really don't want to disturb the rocks too much
> since I
> >> have to mow it later.  So I want to smooth the soil out, not disturb it
> too
> >> much.  Known as a quandary.
> >>
> >> I'm thinking about acquiring pasture rake or drag with short teeth on
> >> it to work the top couple inches or so and  try to smooth out the mole
> and gopher
> >> mounds which I have manually knocked down a bit prior to mowing,  I
> have no
> >> experience with a pasture type rake.  I have experience with a spiked
> >> toothed drag we used on the farm in NW Iowa.  But that was used to
> >> smooth out  loose ground in preparation for planting corn or soy
> >> beans. That isn't what I need. I think I need maybe 4 4' square
> >> flexible sections that can flex with the varying terrain and catch the
> >> low as well as high spots. I think I can pull an 8' 8' unit with my 20
> >> to 22 HP Garden tractors. I'm more concerned about traction but I can
> >> put chains on if necessary.  I'm thinking I would want to take several
> >> passes at various different directions.  And hopefully I could use this
> same implement to dethatch the rest of the lawn.
> >>
> >> Some of you surely have experience with something like what I need.
> >> What do I need? What are it's critical attributes?  Where do I buy it?
> >> I do live in Horse country so there are a few stores that cater to
> >> horse owners and of course I have Tractor Supply, Lowes, Home Dept,
> >> Grainger, etc. and ???/
> >>
> >> I'm looking forward to being educated.
> >>
> >> Dean VP
> >> Snohomish, WA 98290
> >> "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and
> >> gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
> >> ..Winston Churchill...
> >>
> >>
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>
>
> >>
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