Most Beneficial Machine For Grassland Farmers

TheClubMan

What do farmers view as their most important grassland machine or the one they couldn't do without for grassland management? E.g grass harrow, roller, topper, aerator etc.

Arrow in the Knee

TheClubMan wrote: »

What do farmers view as their most beneficial grassland machine or the one they couldn't do without for grassland management? E.g grass harrow, roller, topper, aerator etc.

1st Fertiliser Spreader
2nd Topper
3rd Grass Harrow

I never use a roller except for reseeding.

What do people think of aerators?

Timmaay

3.5cows/ha and a good contractor!

visatorro

Timmaay wrote: »

3.5cows/ha and a good contractor!

Have to agree. A good reliable contractor is the best piece of kit you could ever have around the place.

fanmanad

Was thinking maybe a sprayer would be fairly important. Better to grow grass than weeds!

orm0nd

sheep & good fencing,

carrollsno1

Geared reel

Dawggone

A plough....

keep going

a calculater

Bass Reeves

No one machine is the most benefical. You will not grow grass with out Fertlizer or Lime but both these cost money and you need to be judicious in there use. On dairy farms in normal years it is easier to control grass quality than on beef farms. Lower margins in beef farms do not allow for supplementation with silage and meal and farms tend to be more fragmented. This is not to say that it is impossible.

A fertlizer spreader is a must. Topping seems to being done away to a large extent on dairy farms but is still necessary on beef farms but I would prefer a disc mower to a topper for recovery. However Topper are cheaper and if on poorer ground more robust. A sprayer will on most farms increase o/p even on older pasture's it may be more economic to spray and get fertility right rather than seeing reseeding as the answer.

Not sure about a plough tend to disc or stitch grass seed here and have even done a field with a chain harrow and slurry at reseeding. Would like a grass harrow, conditioner(cock pheseant type) and afew other machone but hard to justify the cost of them. A lot is trying to get work load/profit balance right.

Muckit

Smartphone followed closely by laptop. DAFM text alerts, checking compliance with schemes and Agfood financial services for checking balances. Google and Moogle.

You talk about topping Bass. Ironically I'm better off out of the tractor seat as could easily be penalised.

patsy_mccabe

I found a chain harrow great for repairing badly poached ground.

Muckit

Bass Reeves wrote: »

A lot is trying to get work load/profit balance right.

Never a truer word spoken. Most profitable hours I ever worked were done at the end of the kitchen table.

When l wanted to play l went outside. Problem is now I'm not always let!!

Muckit

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

I found a chain harrow great for repairing badly poached ground.

I got a lad to build a heavy duty frame for mine with levelling bar on front. Great job. I wonder could they be galvanised or would it take the spring out of the tines?

Reggie.

Muckit wrote: »

I got a lad to build a heavy duty frame for mine with levelling bar on front. Great job. I wonder could they be galvanised or would it take the spring out of the tines?

Galvanising weakens steel

Muckit

But can you galvanise springs ?

patsy_mccabe

Muckit wrote: »

I got a lad to build a heavy duty frame for mine with levelling bar on front. Great job. I wonder could they be galvanised or would it take the spring out of the tines?

My tines are made from 1/2" . I'll be well gone to the farm in the skies when they fail from rust.

TheClubMan

I came across a chain harrow with three rows of tines to it's rear and a levelling bar to the front built on a galvanised frame in Galway. Can see myself buying something similar next year.

Reggie.

Muckit wrote: »

But can you galvanise springs ?

Doubt it as they would be prone to snapping I would imagine

mahoney_j

Tractor
Fertliser spreader
Mower
Tedder
Followed by tims 3.5 cows per he and contractor

Odelay

Muckit wrote: »

But can you galvanise springs ?

Galvanise the frame, doing the tines would be a waste of money as it would be scraped off after a few runs.

tractorporn

TheClubMan wrote:

I came across a chain harrow with three rows of tines to it's rear and a levelling bar to the front built on a galvanised frame in Galway. Can see myself buying something similar next year.

Saw that machine at grass and muck this year. It had a air seeder on it, it looked a serious job but it was priced at 4800. The seeder was 2500 which would nearly halve the price. That was list price could probably be bought for less.

Alibaba

TheClubMan wrote: »

What do farmers view as their most important grassland machine or the one they couldn't do without for grassland management? E.g grass harrow, roller, topper, aerator etc.

EU cash machine ..

Cattlepen

I have had nearly every kind of machine but the one I think was the most beneficial has to be the pan buster. It totally changes ground. With all the heavy machinery that's around now and paddock grazing I think it is going to become a very very important piece of kit ,be it owned or hired in

White Clover

Healthy soil with plenty of biological life in it.
Earthworms and more earthworms
Judicious use of a lime spreader

J.O. Farmer

tractorporn wrote: »

Saw that machine at grass and muck this year. It had a air seeder on it, it looked a serious job but it was priced at 4800. The seeder was 2500 which would nearly halve the price. That was list price could probably be bought for less.

It must've been a big one. I think I've seen 5 or 6ft similar sounding round the 1k mark on DD.

Edit: they're actually less than that.
https://www.donedeal.ie/harrows-for-sale/mandam-chain-harrows/12593056

tractorporn

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

It must've been a big one. I think I've seen 5 or 6ft similar sounding round the 1k mark on DD.

Edit: they're actually less than that.
https://www.donedeal.ie/harrows-for-sale/mandam-chain-harrows/12593056

It was a 6m one I saw at grass and muck. It wasn't a straight chain harrow either. Like the one theclubman saw it had 3 rows of chain harrow links followed by spring tines like this one only galvanised.

https://www.donedeal.ie/harrows-for-sale/3m-chain-and-tine-harrows/11972756

Reggie.

tractorporn wrote: »

It was a 6m one I saw at grass and muck. It wasn't a straight chain harrow either. Like the one theclubman saw it had 3 rows of chain harrow links followed by spring tines like this one only galvanised.

https://www.donedeal.ie/harrows-for-sale/3m-chain-and-tine-harrows/11972756

That's some looking weapon

tractorporn

Reggie. wrote:

That's some looking weapon

I'd say it would do a serious job on grassland. Wonder what sort of hp she would need?

kay 9

Cattlepen wrote: »

I have had nearly every kind of machine but the one I think was the most beneficial has to be the pan buster. It totally changes ground. With all the heavy machinery that's around now and paddock grazing I think it is going to become a very very important piece of kit ,be it owned or hired in

Hi cattlepen, have considered getting one of them but I'm not sure about it as we're in light enough ground here. What depth are ya looking at and what hp ya need to pull one them?

poor farmer

1 Fertilizer spreader
2 sprayer

blue5000

1. Welder
2.Angle grinder
3. Box of sockets

Try to keep every machine you have in working order for as long as possible, get a contractor for the rest. Repairs and contractor charges are 100% tax deductable.

Cattlepen

kay 9 wrote: »

Hi cattlepen, have considered getting one of them but I'm not sure about it as we're in light enough ground here. What depth are ya looking at and what hp ya need to pull one them?

The pan that yer trying to bust will vary on different soil types but the general run of my job was about 15 inches. The best thing to do is dig a hole with a spade. The pan is fairly obvious and measure down to below it. That will be yer depth. Be careful not to damage existing drains