grassland slitters

paul&mandy · Mar 1, 2021

Do these actually do any good? We have a 6m set and plan to slit where some dirty water is being spread for starters.
All pasture hammered by sheep all year. Just wondered if it lets it breathe a bit and let nutrients get to the roots with the millions of sheep feet compacting the very top layer..

Cab-over Pete · Mar 1, 2021

If it’s compacted and you do it at the right time, when it will send fissures down, then yes they work well.

If it’s not compacted or you do it wrong, then they won’t.

Horn&corn · Mar 1, 2021

Leave a strip and find out. Of course not every year is the same

betweenthelines · Mar 1, 2021

When you drive a stake in the ground, you make a hole but the soil around the hole becomes more compacted

Same with a slitter.

paul&mandy · Mar 1, 2021

Grounds drying fast. Be lambing in a week be nice to get some done. It's been sat in the shed as bits always wrong conditions or we are lambing.
I think I'll leave a few areas un spiked see if it makes a difference.

Pan mixer · Mar 1, 2021

In the right conditions they definitely do good particularly where surface poaching by winter sheep has been going on.

Cab-over Pete · Mar 1, 2021

betweenthelines said:
When you drive a stake in the ground, you make a hole but the soil around the hole becomes more compacted

Same with a slitter.

That’s why you need one with a twisted tine to lift and move at the same time.

2tractors · Mar 1, 2021

Cab-over Pete said:
That’s why you need one with a twisted tine to lift and move at the same time.

Aerway is gold standard slitter

Sid · Mar 2, 2021

betweenthelines said:
When you drive a stake in the ground, you make a hole but the soil around the hole becomes more compacted

Same with a slitter.

A stake is compressing soil and using it for stability. A stake will be 125mm across and blade on a slitter max 12 mm
Its for use in surface compaction, so your making a slit through the top layer to allow air and water to get into lower soil profile .

That lower soil profile if compacted needed a subsoiler not a slitter.

Bury the Trash · Mar 2, 2021

Waste of time and fuel.

Yale · Mar 2, 2021

paul&mandy said:
Grounds drying fast. Be lambing in a week be nice to get some done. It's been sat in the shed as bits always wrong conditions or we are lambing.
I think I'll leave a few areas un spiked see if it makes a difference.

We use ours on the fields around the yard where we lamb ewes.

I‘ve found that it’s great this time of year to increase drainage on the lambing fields if it rains heavy.For one the rain gets away quicker and the land firms up sooner afterwards.

I may do some end of the week if it is dry enough but it isn’t quite right for it here yet.

Sid · Mar 2, 2021

Bury the Trash said:
Waste of time and fuel.

It can be, but can also be beneficial on certain soil types.

Aspiring Peasants · Mar 2, 2021

If you have the tines set at an angle and the conditions are right you can see cracks in the ground round each slit. I think that is when it does the most good

paul&mandy · Mar 2, 2021

Yale said:
We use ours on the fields around the yard where we lamb ewes.

I‘ve found that it’s great this time of year to increase drainage on the lambing fields if it rains heavy.For one the rain gets away quicker and the land firms up sooner afterwards.

I may do some end of the week if it is dry enough but it isn’t quite right for it here yet.

Exactly what I'm thinking.

Ffermer Bach · Mar 2, 2021

there was an article 6 or 7 years ago in practical farm ideas, talking about grassland slitters, basically saying you got extra grass and it cost far less than using fertliser. If I recall, also said that as all research is industry paid for now, no fertliser company is going to pay for research that shows you need to use less of it's products. But I think it is important to go an look with a spade to see where the compaction is first.

Derrick Hughes · Mar 2, 2021

Sid said:
It can be, but can also be beneficial on certain soil types.

But in the act of farming do we not learn to avoid the need to use manual rescue treatment, or farming with iron as the old people use to say , the man who religiously goes out every spring with his collection of metal toys to show his new tractor off, convinced he is doing gods work [emoji122] [emoji23]

Sid · Mar 2, 2021

Derrick Hughes said:
But in the act of farming do we not learn to avoid the need to use manual rescue treatment, or farming with iron as the old people use to say , the man who religiously goes out every spring with his collection of metal toys to show his new tractor off, convinced he is doing gods work [emoji122] [emoji23]

Ploughing or direct drilling much this spring to rectify poor sward management? Personally here that will be 1% of the farmed area.

I would much sooner assit the grass i have on this heavy clay soil rather than spend thousands reseeding.

We also get build up of iron in the surface caused by poor drainage.

Perhaps I should block up all the drains as well seeing as God will do the work for me.

Cab-over Pete · Mar 2, 2021

Will “he” feck as like.

Mother Nature does the work, we just need to persuade her now and again to our way of thinking.

Derrick Hughes · Mar 2, 2021

Sid said:
Ploughing or direct drilling much this spring to rectify poor sward management? Personally here that will be 1% of the farmed area.

I would much sooner assit the grass i have on this heavy clay soil rather than spend thousands reseeding.

We also get build up of iron in the surface caused by poor drainage.

Perhaps I should block up all the drains as well seeing as God will do the work for me.

Ploughing is like hitting your best China with a sledge hammer
Perhaps a better description would be tipping a can of petrol down an ant hill and setting light to it

Sid · Mar 2, 2021

Derrick Hughes said:
Ploughing is like hitting your best China with a sledge hammer
Perhaps a better description would be tipping a can of petrol down an ant hill and setting light to it

So you have abandoned the plough completely due to the environmental damage it causes?

Didn't you post a picture of a hedge being massacred by heavy equipment not long ago?

We use WW2 bombs now for cultivation purposes

grassland slitters

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100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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