Anyone else have stones?

[Thunder]

Grandpa bought a field a few decades ago that was full of rocks. Got a good deal. I helped work it once. Every year he would use a ripper plow and then a regular plow and then rake them into a windrow and then used a rock picker. He had a mountain of rocks at least ten if not 15 feet high and 150 feet across and a pretty clean field. Only took a few decades. It was a mountain of rocks.

 

[SmokinM]

Love the Fendt. There's very few around here besides the ones the custom chopping guys bring through. I was lucky enough to find mine this winter well used from a grain operation where it had a gentle life. Decided to buy a little older with more hours in order to get a (hopefully) superior tractor. Fast, good on fuel and nothing to speak of going wrong so far. The Vario trans takes a few minutes to get used to but once I got on to it I wouldn't want anything else. Hopefully I have 7 or 8 years to scheme a way to buy.another.

Same here. If you see one a Mennonite boy between 16 and 22 is driving it and rode it all the way from Pennsylvania chopping corn or spreading liquid manure with a Hule tank.

 

[Col Reb]

Around here this is the last pass. Put some water in and push them down.View attachment 4434View attachment 4433View attachment 4435

Just curious...how do you get it disked up without tearing up a bunch of blades? Or do you just use a chisel plow or something similar? No big rocks in our fields in North Ms unless a gravel truck has an accident & turns over in the field. My uncle did have a combine burn & dug a big hole with the excavator & buried it where it burned but I doubt it turns up anytime soon.

 

[Rydero]

Just curious...how do you get it disked up without tearing up a bunch of blades? Or do you just use a chisel plow or something similar? No big rocks in our fields in North Ms unless a gravel truck has an accident & turns over in the field. My uncle did have a combine burn & dug a big hole with the excavator & buried it where it burned but I doubt it turns up anytime soon.

We use heavy discs. I have an old Hutchmaster with heavy notched discs and use of a newer Kello that's also quite heavy. I've only ever broke one disc but that was on a fair sized tree. They do wear out the discs quite rapidly though. The place I took the picture isn't even all that bad, there were stones up to beachball sized out there, it had been dozed and used for pasture but never cropped before.

Generally speaking if the field isn't too rough I don't even disc anymore. Spray it out and drill grain with a hoe drill with zero till openers and pack. After the first year you can start sprinkling cover crop seeds and harrowing. Year 3 alfalfa and/or grass if you want. I'm putting in over 200 acres of crop this year and I disced probably less than 20 acres, just the problem areas. The stones just make it too time consuming for one person with a job the traditional way. Last year I seeded 200 acres in 2 days by myself without packing.

 

[Rydero]

Same here. If you see one a Mennonite boy between 16 and 22 is driving it and rode it all the way from Pennsylvania chopping corn or spreading liquid manure with a Hule tank.

Most of the chopping outfits are Mennonite, lol.

 

[Ky hills]

On the subject of stone fences, this a brochure about them here in the county.

 

[jpbertel1234]

What about 3 point mounted rock crushers? Maybe will make the soil lighter and drain better? Wish I had a crystal ball.

 

[Rydero]

What about 3 point mounted rock crushers? Maybe will make the soil lighter and drain better? Wish I had a crystal ball.

There's someone doing that custom in the general area. I enquired about the price and how many acres/hr and it was slow and expensive. It's an appealing option but I have a head time imagining a machine that could live a long low maintenance life grinding up a zillion stones. Also running a narrow implement over 200 acres at a low speed isn't my idea of a good time.

 

[D2Cat]

Now days a quick attach rock bucket on a small tractor or skid steer would outwork a team of humans! The price ranges from a thousand to as much as one wants to spend..

 

[kenny thomas]

Now days a quick attach rock bucket on a small tractor or skid steer would outwork a team of humans! The price ranges from a thousand to as much as one wants to spend..

Do those work on rocks in a pasture field or does it have to be tilled.

 

[Brute 23]

I have hay field that rolls up pieces of brick every time I disk it. Does that count?

 

[Rydero]

I have hay field that rolls up pieces of brick every time I disk it. Does that count?

Yes if there's enough coming up to make you not want to disc it.

 

[Rydero]

Now days a quick attach rock bucket on a small tractor or skid steer would outwork a team of humans! The price ranges from a thousand to as much as one wants to spend..

Not just little tractors. Been seeing them around on big front wheel assist tractors too. Guys are picking bigger ones that won't pack when they're doing other passes. Lots of Rockomatic stone pickers around here too. They're pretty efficient, only issue is after you use one or do what you're suggesting you need to disc again and you just pull up different stones and still have to pack. If you stick with it or concentrate on a small number of acres eventually you'll get rid of most of the big ones anyway.

Do those work on rocks in a pasture field or does it have to be tilled.

Depends how big they are and how lodged in the sod.Tilled would be better. There's 3 pt things - just 2 big pieces of steel on an angle. You back into the stone and it rides up to the surface. You can get big boulders out like that. I know where there's one. I'll snap a pic next time I drive by it.