Chain harrow or grass rake

[Savingthefarm2017]

Hello,

My dad died last year so I'm learning as I go on the farm as much of what I do would be under his instruction...

We grow hay in the summer after having horses grazing on the pasture throughout the winter. When dad was alive we would chain harrow ourselves with old chains (probably my grandpas) and fertilise (using a local contractor).

This year the contractor suggested we grass rake. It's only a £100 more than harrowing (since I have pay to have the farmer next door to pull our harrows as our tractor died..)

Is it worth it? Can anyone help me?

 

[milkloss]

Sorry to hear of your loss but well done for stepping up and having a go!

If the horse field is knackered it might be worth putting some grass seed over it as well which might change the options a little. Anyhow, I personally would go for chain harrows because I know what they would do, I didn't have much success with tine harrows but there are better ones around now than mine were. More stiff and scratchy now I believe.

Are your harrows knotted metal tines or triangular cast 'teeth' bound together with rings?

 

[Savingthefarm2017]

Hello, thank you for your advice, they are knotted metal ones.

The grass rakes seems abit overkill I think from what I have read. The harrows will break up the manure which has been left over the winter and I think that's all we need really...dad never used grass rakes and I guess they have been around for a while....

 

[Great In Grass]

A rake will do more good pulling out thatch, old grasses and aerating the soil to encourage growth one with a seeder on even better as you can overseed to help rejuvenate the sward.

 

[Great In Grass]

I hope the link works .

 

[Goweresque]

Definitely rake. Will pull out more dead grass and allow for a better grass sward for hay in the summer. An old chain harrow would be OK just to spread the horse muck about, or level any mole hills, but if you want to actually improve the grass rake every time.

 

[milkloss]

Will there be any thatch if horses were on it over winter?

 

[Goweresque]

Will there be any thatch if horses were on it over winter?

Yes, I've got a paddock thats had two horses living in it all winter, plenty of dead tussocky stuff in there. What the OP needs to clean his grass up properly is some sheep............no harrowing required after a few hundred golden hooves

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Cheaper to buy hay

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

If it's anything like the horse ground round here you will want a heavy chain harrow as you will needlessly ruin the tines on a spring harrow. Spring tines ought to be for grasses and sheep ground, anything poached or in need of levelling the harrows are better, even if you need to do a few passes.

 

[tinsheet]

As above, chain harrow better for leveling dung ,mole hills etc,
Grass harrows better for rejuvenating the pasture .

 

[Great In Grass]

If you have old horse droppings & cow pats in the pasture these make for ideal habitats for weed seeds to thrive, obliterating them and spreading these weeds far & wide is not ideal.

 

[Bald Rick]

Rake is adjustable - either a light scratching or aggressive weed/feg removal. Chain harrow isn't.

Personally, I would lime the field, eat the horse and put something in there that pays it way

 

[milkloss]

Rake is adjustable - either a light scratching or aggressive weed/feg removal. Chain harrow isn't.

Personally, I would lime the field, eat the horse and put something in there that pays it way

Agree with eating the horse! But you can turn chain harrows over for less spike. If you've got the triangle and ring ones you can turn and twist for different effects.

 

[Bald Rick]

Agree with eating the horse! But you can turn chain harrows over for less spike. If you've got the triangle and ring ones you can turn and twist for different effects.

Never knew that! One learns something new every day.
All I remember about using a drag harrow is not leaving enough turning room at the headland and wondering how the hell I was going to get out of my fix. Bought a mounted one next time

 

[Horn&corn]

Suggest you leave a strip when you harrow/rake and see if you can see any difference come hay time. In my experience you can't tell so we've stopped bothering and we've tried this on lots of fields in different years.
Rake better in my experience if any thing. Keep questioning what you're doing and you'll learn loads from here!

 

[Savingthefarm2017]

Thanks everyone, so here is what I am doing -
1. Grass Rake 16 acres
2. Harrow 1 acre
3. Compare the difference when we bale.
(rest of land is used for equestrian rent out)

Re the state of the land - The pasture is really flat and no mole hills so I don't think I will ruin the tines on a spring harrow.

Using Sheep to graze - I have sheep on another parcel of land, I hadn't thought about bringing them over to help the field improve (but then I need to stock fence all of it ;0(...

Sell / eat the horses - Sadly 'horse farming' in the winter appears to be the best income on the land to date..Open to hear any other ideas!

'Cheaper to buy hay' well, so far it breaks even... Dad would say 'if farming was all about money we'd starve....' and it is fairly enjoyable..

Thanks everyone for the feedback - I will be back with my next challenge soon!

Rebecca

 

[Horn&corn]

Go on. Leave a strip and see if any of it makes a difference!

 

[Ali_Maxxum]

Go on. Leave a strip and see if any of it makes a difference!

Well of course, unless you mark where the strip is you probably wont see, with the amount of maintained ground around it it's usually enough to spur it on. But if it's poached why would you leave a poached strip, you will cuss every time you drive over it. If you left half the field then no doubt you would see a difference!

Unless you have sheep you're usually ok to leave cos they do as good a job as any harrow. But why you would leave cattle/horse ground year on year is beyond me.

 

[caveman]

Agree with eating the horse! But you can turn chain harrows over for less spike. If you've got the triangle and ring ones you can turn and twist for different effects.

Or you could lay another set on top to achieve more aggressive scratch.
That's what I've done this year. One pass pretty much levels cattle poach.