Is an aerator a good piece of equipment?

mihurl

Hi am thinking of buying an aerator and am wondering if its a good piece of equipment?

Grecco

Thinking on the same lines myself, but like you I`m not sure are they of any use especially on muddy land

reilig

Good job on land with a good depth of soil and good underlying drainage. If your land has shallow soil or poor underlying drainage then you need to be thinking about a subsoiler (its name is where it goes - SUB SOIL) or a mole plough if you want to improve drainage.

Muckit

I'd agree with Reilig. Speaking of subsoilers, I seen a pic in the farming indo of a lad at the ploughing selling a single leg one with the hydraulic ram reset (instead of shear bolt) Anybody see it or know a price for it?

RE aerator
Being the doubting Thomas that I am, I'd love to see a stripe done in a field and come back to it three weeks later to examine the evidence

MfMan

I have one and use it occasionally, when time allows, rather than more regularly. Was fairly effective last April when I put out the slurry on the silage ground. Very hard drying conditions then, (Oh, them were the days!), allied to the fact that I rolled the land prior to the slurry meant that the fields were rock hard. I ran the aerator on them to alleviate the compaction and the contractor when lifting the silage remarked that the grass was like ryegrass.

Their benefit is probably more slight rather than drastic, though I wouldn't think it's any harm to give fields a regular rub of them. Would have practically no impact on the saturated fields currently being experienced.