How to make Terrace's on new ground

[BobbyLummus1]

recently cleared 50 acres . I want to keep from loosing my topsoil . What is the best way and tool to make terraces ? asked around at recent farm auction and old timer suggested a turning plow.. any advice appreciated . I have browntop millet in place now until i fescue in fall

 

[JMJ Farms]

Local Soil and Water Conservation service (NRCS) should come and design them for you free of charge. Then, as you were told by your friend, throw them up with a bottom plow. (Moldboard plow is another term depending on where you live)

 

[Calhoun103]

There is a video I saw on YouTube that showed a 1 pass terrace maker. There was a lot of dirt flying.

 

[Ebenezer]

Use sod strips. Terraces dump out to create a concentrated water problem. So year 1 is grassed waterways. Then year 2 is terraces if all grows. Sod strips on the contour or close with low spots also seeded in cover with some hay mulch ASAP will do you more good with less dollars and no costs to terrace and no bouncing over terraces for years to come. I'm doing the same thing now on newly cleared land.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Use sod strips. Terraces dump out to create a concentrated water problem.

If they are designed incorrectly.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Use sod strips. Terraces dump out to create a concentrated water problem.

If they are designed incorrectly.

What do you know about soil and water.

 

[Ebenezer]

Use sod strips. Terraces dump out to create a concentrated water problem.

If they are designed incorrectly.

Wrong-o! Got to have a stable outlet. Need an encroachment permit to dump in a road ditch, some of the biggest gullies in the woods started out as a terrace outlet. Can use tile outlets if you have money to burn.
What do you know about soil and water.

Worked 33+ years as an SCS/NRCS ag engineer. Surveyed, designed and laid out miles and miles of them. Terraces have a place but were used too much early on. Whatever you want to do is fine. Just trying to help. I like easy.

 

[True Grit Farms]

If they are designed incorrectly.

Wrong-o! Got to have a stable outlet. Need an encroachment permit to dump in a road ditch, some of the biggest gullies in the woods started out as a terrace outlet. Can use tile outlets if you have money to burn.
What do you know about soil and water.

Worked 33+ years as an SCS/NRCS ag engineer. Surveyed, designed and laid out miles and miles of them. Terraces have a place but were used too much early on. Whatever you want to do is fine. Just trying to help. I like easy.

I don't know anything but I know JMJ Farms does.

 

[JMJ Farms]

I will explain it like this and then I will leave it alone. A properly designed terrace doesn't "dump" water. It slows it down. It keeps water from washing across the field thereby creating erosion issues. A terrace should be viewed more as a "dam" of sorts. BUT it shouldn't hold water for an extended time or it will of course drown the crop. Ideally it will empty slowly if the terrain permits. If you have "heavy" soils that don't drain well and your terrace holds water too long, then you need to install drain tile.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Use sod strips. Terraces dump out to create a concentrated water problem.

If they are designed incorrectly.

What do you know about soil and water.

Not as much as I wish I did :bang: but more than I used too :lol2: Another way to put that is "just enough to be dangerous :hide:

 

[Ebenezer]

I will explain it like this and then I will leave it alone. A properly designed terrace doesn't "dump" water. It slows it down. It keeps water from washing across the field thereby creating erosion issues. A terrace should be viewed more as a "dam" of sorts. BUT it shouldn't hold water for an extended time or it will of course drown the crop. Ideally it will empty slowly if the terrain permits. If you have "heavy" soils that don't drain well and your terrace holds water too long, then you need to install drain tile.

Choose words all you want; it does not solve the problem. Concentrated flow comes out of the end of a terrace. It requires a stable outlet for a concentrated flow. Sorry I offended you with the word "dump". Used pretty commonly, however. Tile outlet terraces are built with hickenbottom outlets or the equivalent. Nothing to do with wet soils. A way to help set up parallel systems or to eliminate waterways. I have too many thousands of acres of terraces under my belt to act like a dummy.