A bit of harrowing, by quad

Conmaicne Mara

Ok, harrowing is officially THE most tedious farming job ever!

Aside from that, what do ye reckon of the results?

The harrow itself is only 50kg in weight. Am considering adding a couple of tires on top to add a bit of weight.

It's hard to tell from the photos but most of the field is considerably more brown than before, particularly mossy areas. In harder areas it didn't make such an impression.

Question, when I spray off the grass for the reseed, will the harrow make more of an impression in the dead thatch?

The attachment titles are self explanatory. Sorry for the quality, must replace the phone, lens is scratched.

moy83

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Ok, harrowing is officially THE most tedious farming job ever!

Aside from that, what do ye reckon of the results?

The harrow itself is only 50kg in weight. Am considering adding a couple of tires on top to add a bit of weight.

It's hard to tell from the photos but most of the field is considerably more brown than before, particularly mossy areas. In harder areas it didn't make such a bit impression.

Question, when I spray off the grass for the reseed, will the harrow make more of an impression in the dead thatch?

The attachment titles are self explanatory. Sorry for the quality, must replace the phone, lens is scratched.

Is that after one run ? If so I dont think its too bad but might take another couple of passes .
Its alot less tedious than pull furze bushes would have been ! I might not have been far wrong about throwing one of those big stones up on top of it :-)

Conmaicne Mara

moy83 wrote: »

Is that after one run ? If so I dont think its too bad but might take another couple of passes .
Its alot less tedious than pull furze bushes would have been ! I might not have been far wrong about throwing one of those big stones up on top of it :-)

No, unfortunately that's after a few runs.

moy83

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

No, unfortunately that's after a few runs.

Its still not looking too bad , I suppose the lime will take care of the dead stuff anyhow . The most thing would to be make contact with the soil for the seed to take and I'm sure another couple of passes will get that as good as you need .
Its easier said than done but for the next piece of reseeding could you fence in a couple of horses maybe to blacken it over the winter . It would make light work for the chain harrow then to flatten it off nicely

Conmaicne Mara

Just looked at the "harrowafter" photo, it's misleading, pay no attention.

Conmaicne Mara

moy83 wrote: »

Its still not looking too bad , I suppose the lime will take care of the dead stuff anyhow . The most thing would to be make contact with the soil for the seed to take and I'm sure another couple of passes will get that as good as you need .
Its easier said than done but for the next piece of reseeding could you fence in a couple of horses maybe to blacken it over the winter . It would make light work for the chain harrow then to flatten it off nicely

Horses and me don't get along, but I see what you're saying. Was thinking about a few pigs, will have to let things settle down first though, probably blown the years budget already

Genghis Cant

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Horses and me don't get along, but I see what you're saying. Was thinking about a few pigs, will have to let things settle down first though, probably blown the years budget already

Would ya chance a section of a pin harrow? It would surely have more bite if you could pull it.

Or make up a small "einbock" type with haybob tynes or the like.

Conmaicne Mara

Genghis Cant wrote: »

Would ya chance a section of a pin harrow? It would surely have more bite if you could pull it.

I don't have access to one. With our great level land here we have no need for machinery Will try another bit of weight on it first.

Hoping the roundup will weaken the thatch also.

Username John

When will you spray it Con?

Would you not want to spray it before you do too much more harrowing? I wouldn't know the most about reseeding now, but I would have thought you'd want the grass growing nicely, and impeded to take in the spray well and... Too much harrowing before spray you'd imagine could go against this

But, like I say - I wouldn't be the best man to ask

Conmaicne Mara

Username John wrote: »

When will you spray it Con?

Would you not want to spray it before you do too much more harrowing? I wouldn't know the most about reseeding now, but I would have thought you'd want the grass growing nicely, and impeded to take in the spray well and... Too much harrowing before spray you'd imagine could go against this

But, like I say - I wouldn't be the best man to ask

I was just "playing" with the harrow this evening TBH. Thought since I had it I had better see what it was like to work with before I sprayed anything. I do plan on spraying off first, but will have to move sheep out of the place now before I do that since I haven't got the new fence up yet.

micraX

Harrowing is not tedious! Harrowing is great craic, the only thing better is POWER-harrowing or ploughing.

Conmaicne Mara

micraX wrote: »

Harrowing is not tedious! Harrowing is great craic, the only thing better is POWER-harrowing or ploughing.

My apologies, it was indeed a positively riveting experience

Reggie.

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

My apologies, it was indeed a positively riveting experience

Don't ever make such a statement again ya hear

Conmaicne Mara

Reggie. wrote: »

Don't ever make such a statement again ya hear

:eek: The dead have arisen!

Reggie.

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

:eek: The dead have arisen!

Always here my friend

Conmaicne Mara

Not many chancing an opinion on the harrowing

Reggie.

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Not many chancing an opinion on the harrowing

Ok never mind this messing around. You want a 4.5m einbock harrow do it all in one run

I said

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

No, unfortunately that's after a few runs.

Stick a bit of weight on it a railway sleeper or something like it will give it plenty of bite

Conmaicne Mara

I said wrote: »

Stick a bit of weight on it a railway sleeper or something like it will give it plenty of bite

Yeah, will go with chaining on some old car wheels I think, must text a fella I know might have some lying around.

Reggie.

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Yeah, will go with chaining on some old car wheels I think, must text a fella I know might have some lying around.

The counter to that is traction. Careful not to tear up the ground as you go along

Conmaicne Mara

Reggie. wrote: »

The counter to that is traction. Careful not to tear up the ground as you go along

This will be for reseeding after spraying off, thought removing thatch/tearing up the ground was the whole idea.

Reggie.

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

This will be for reseeding after spraying off, thought removing thatch/tearing up the ground was the whole idea.

True but you wand the quad to control the harrow not the other way round. If your hills are as bad as you say the quad could dig in while travelling up them if harrow is too heavy

exercise is the antidote

Why would one go over with chain harrow before spraying?
Would spraying not be first?!?

Muckit

I think that harrow is doing a good job Con.

I would agree with other posters. Spray first then harrow. The chain harrow mat is excellent for you as it will follow hilky undulating ground better than a more rigid tine machine. A bit of weight hanging from behind will keep harrow stretched and stop tge corners flipping over.

When you get harrowing right after spraying off, it should ball the thatch up if there's a lot of it. It's easy then gather it up by hand and dump it.

You've made two great long term machinery investments that should see you out for the duration of your farming career. Well wear with them both.

How did the poly tunnel fair out btw? Did you get it up fully (the shed now l mean)?

Bodacious

hi con, good luck with the harrow/ quad.. well wear... I reseeded with same set up but 2 pieces were where I had digger in to drain/ level etc.. chain harrow I found struggled to get enough tilth on a sprayed off established sward it couldn't get the scraws lifted .. I got tine harrow and tractor to get one good rip on it but chain harrow several directions after no problem.. I use mine after each grazing if I can to tear up the cow pats and it definitely encourages a better sward if a man was never to reseed.. great tool

jt65

Bodacious wrote: »

hi con, good luck with the harrow/ quad.. well wear... I reseeded with same set up but 2 pieces were where I had digger in to drain/ level etc.. chain harrow I found struggled to get enough tilth on a sprayed off established sward it couldn't get the scraws lifted .. I got tine harrow and tractor to get one good rip on it but chain harrow several directions after no problem.. I use mine after each grazing if I can to tear up the cow pats and it definitely encourages a better sward if a man was never to reseed.. great tool

agree totally with above post

we try to chain harrow most fields a couple of times a year

keep at it Con, in places you are not reseeding it will take a year or two for the full benefits to show ,

Conmaicne Mara

Muckit wrote: »

How did the poly tunnel fair out btw? Did you get it up fully (the shed now l mean)?

Once the lambs started appearing the tunnel was put on the long finger. The foundation and stub walls holding the ground pegs are all done. The other materials are either on site or in lock up. I'll finish it off when the weather warms up as it'll save me the cost of renting a space heater for stretching the plastic as I had planned for an early Spring construction.