Drag pastures?

[Gators Rule]

Thanks for the good info. My grandma swears that's what my grandpa did and what I should be doing, as our pasture has a decent amount of patties. Do I need to drag before a rain or does that not really matter?

if grandma says that's what grandpa always did...then do it regardless of its value, if for no other reason than respect. Personally, we have always done it at least once per year.

 

[Greg]

I drag my pastures every spring. Its next on the to do list.
Dont know if it helps, but looks a heck of a lot better.

 

[Douglas]

Dragging is good to release the crabgrass seed around here, an underappreciate summer grass.

 

[brandonm_13]

I use chickens. They scratch out the patties, spreading them around. They remove many of the bugs, and they reduce their own feed cost while giving me farm fresh eggs.

 

[Stocker Steve]

That's why we use a sacrifice area for feeding hay. It's a spot that needs some fertility anyway or it's one of those spots that you really can;t do much with otherwise.

We used to bale graze pairs all winter and ended up with quite a mess over a wide area. If you limit feed or have sandy soil or moldboard plow it could be different for you.
Now we bale graze in early winter and them move to a sacrifice area. Still have a mess but more contained. Then push it into a big no mixing compost pile and then get out the drill and hook the Misssouri drag behind it. If it are some really bad areas I will make a pass with the spring tooth first.
I don't drag the entire place but we cover the thin or plugged spots. Usually over seed with meadow fescue, orchard, and red clover.

 

[tripleBfarms]

Drug some this afternoon. The kids wanted to ride the 4 wheeler, so we chained up the tires and rode over the field for awhile. Sowed some seed this week so maybe it covered some of it up. I noticed some fescue coming up through the patties, spring is just around the corner.

 

[Animal Track Farm]

I dragged one pasture last week. Looks good and really spread the piles out. I unroll my hay to help spread the piles around also. I have a small herd so it is easy.

 

[novatech]

If you drag a pasture when it will dry out quickly then you are less likely to spread whatever you don't want passed on to the other cattle. However if you do it and the manure stays damp then the worm eggs and what ever else will stay alive a lot longer. After it is spread the cattle can no longer eat around it. They will consume what ever is dead or alive. Wither you do or don't is a toss up as far as economics, IMO, but if you do I think you should at least make sure it dries up before turning cattle on to it.

 

[ga.prime]

Do you any of you drag your pastures to spread the patties? If so when do you do it?

Yes, when the hay feeding ends- where needed. No use in dragging where the manure piles are 100 foot apart, but very worthwhile around hay feeding areas and other areas of concentrated manure.