Leveling ploughed fields pre-direct/no tillage - ideas/suggestions please

Sorbaer

Member
Mixed Farmer
Family has arable fields on light chalky/flinty land (South Downs) which have been ploughed / power-harrowed /drilled / rolled for years (dont ask me why) and are very uneven and not level when going over the tramlines as seen in my very accurate diagram below. Is painful driving accross them at any sort of speed. Looking to level the fields probably over a couple of years with a min-till approch ready for a more direct drilling/no tillage approach what would peoples suggestions be? Also cant work out why they are so uneven, is it the powerharrow just making the ground unessecarily fluffy before 240hp heavy ish tractor with rolls comes along? As even new grass ley fields with same approach seem just as un level. Thanks
diagram.png
 

Humble Village Farmer

Member
BASE UK Member
Location
Essex
Direct drilling with a tine drill will level it out eventually. We had some rough fields which we disced very lightly then stubble raked. You have to pick your moment doing that though as straw building up can make it worse instead of better. After rape or beans would be best.
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
A couple of passes with a top tilth will leave it like a table top.just remember to do each pass at a different angle and not 90 degrees

View attachment 1027437
And of course proper dual wheels.... :)

Too many massive tractors floating about on what the owners have been told are LGP tyres..... Pah.

Either Terra tyres or duals if you want to eliminate ruts at source. Even better if plough and furrow pressed.
 
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rob h

Member
Location
east yorkshire
And of course proper dual wheels.... :)

Too many massive tractors floating about on what the owners have been told are LGP tyres..... Pah.

Either Terra tyres or duals if you want to eliminate ruts at source. Even better if plough and furrow pressed.
we have a few around hear running big tractors on single wheels.you can see wheelings everywhere. im shure they dont bother adjusting pressures between trailer work and top work
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
that has to be the ultimate in leveling.ive never seen one working .why do you need fields leveled
We are irrigating year round so wet spots don’t get a chance to dry out so get wetter and spread so we cart soil in and level it. However in places like California where use flood or furrow irrigation they use them to put a fall on a field. We’ve found it best not to move to much soil within a field as you cover good soil with bad .
 

Flatlander

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lorette Manitoba
My ground can get terribly wet and with bigger kit rutting can be an issue, fortunately it’s stone free best way I’ve found to level a field I’d to cultivate at an angle to the ruts then heavy harrow at 45 degrees until it’s level. You’ll be plagued with stone working their way up but if you want level then it’s a price you’ll have to pay. We’ve tried discs but they are only a last resort and only used if heavy trash load. Even if you plough it again try working it at angles with a set of spring tines with leveling boards.
 

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steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
We are irrigating year round so wet spots don’t get a chance to dry out so get wetter and spread so we cart soil in and level it. However in places like California where use flood or furrow irrigation they use them to put a fall on a field. We’ve found it best not to move to much soil within a field as you cover good soil with bad .
I saw laser levelled pasture paddocks in Oz in the early 80s for flood irrigation which amazed me, but once I thought about it, how sensible the technique is. Super low cost once the infrastructure is in...
 

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Always saw these about in the 80s on reseeds never see them used now fields were certainly smoother!!View attachment 1027563
Yep, quick and as said above, move a bit of soil as well.

I broke pasture land in 1995 that was not ploughed in the War. Massive lumps and hollows all over from old drainage ditches and the like, all over the place. Had a guy in with a big plough and tractor, crossing the hollows, then I levelled with a dutch harrow on the front and power harrow on the back, then drilled with dutch harrow on front and Fiona coulter drill on the rear. Job was almost there in one Autumn.

The dutch harrow is great at a spot of mild bulldozing when set up...
 
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Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
We are irrigating year round so wet spots don’t get a chance to dry out so get wetter and spread so we cart soil in and level it. However in places like California where use flood or furrow irrigation they use them to put a fall on a field. We’ve found it best not to move to much soil within a field as you cover good soil with bad .
when I was on the irrigated rice farm near Coleambally (Murray Irrigation Area, NSW), my employer told me, laser levelling the rice areas produced bigger bits to work, but was not a good idea, as you say, you ended up covering good top soil with subsoil.
 

Lowland1

Member
Mixed Farmer
when I was on the irrigated rice farm near Coleambally (Murray Irrigation Area, NSW), my employer told me, laser levelling the rice areas produced bigger bits to work, but was not a good idea, as you say, you ended up covering good top soil with subsoil.
I think it’s short term pain for longterm gain. The best thing is to bring soil from elsewhere so you aren’t covering topsoil with subsoil but eventually it works itself out. I usually fetch soil from ditches or drains as it has more life in it. I’ve worked on farms in California where the main cultivation work was just moving and levelling soil with big land planes so the water could move by gravity
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
I think it’s short term pain for longterm gain. The best thing is to bring soil from elsewhere so you aren’t covering topsoil with subsoil but eventually it works itself out. I usually fetch soil from ditches or drains as it has more life in it. I’ve worked on farms in California where the main cultivation work was just moving and levelling soil with big land planes so the water could move by gravity
it was certainly a pain working those fields, it was all working the butts out!
 

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