Hey guys, I am curious hearing your strategies for foodplots when you start talking 10+ acres. Are you still roto tilling everything in and planting your small seeds (Brassicas) with a hand held broadcaster? Or you do jump up to just using a disk chisel or some other form of an ag soil finisher and plant with a 10ft grain drill and alfalfa box? This next year I will be jumping up to that 10+ acre range and I am wondering if I should get a 7ft tiller for ground prep or just a digger/disc. A new tractor is already in the plan, probably a 60 hp +/- older tractor with a 3pt and live PTO minimum. Even if I get a 7ft tiller, your still looking at about 1 acre/hour, but your soil bed is going to be by far better than a digger or soil finisher. Also, debating if I should use our fertilizer spreader to spread our brassicas seeds as well or keep planting those by hand with the red broadcaster? I did a test plot this year to see the seed coverage with the atv spreader. Curious to hear your guys systems for larger foodplot operations!
10 acres will take you all day with a tiller. I did 6 acres with a 6 ft tiller and it took 7 hrs. Get a disc.
It can still be done with the same equipment but if you have the means, bigger scale I'd use bigger equipment. No way I'm working 10 acres of ground with a 7' tiller. Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
Have a local farmer work it for you. For me, tiller leaves the soil bed too fine a majority of the time. Why such a large plot?
It is a combined 10 acres, and each year we expand. Not all of the ground would get tilled at the same time. The biggest plot next year, until we expand something else again, will be 6 acres, divided into strips of corn, beans, clover/wheat, and brassicas. The thing that makes me hesitant on a disc is that it seems too rough for small seeds like brassicas. Would discing, cultipacking, seeding, and then re-packing be the solution?
You can get a nice harrow to drag in the small seed or a cultipacker would also work. I've used bed springs more times than I care to recall but it worked. Personally I just spray a burn down and no-till.
Yeah our ground isn't very good no till ground... I think it would be hard to convince me to go away from the tiller, it makes the soil perfect for seeding up here in our heavier soils! Sent from my SM-G930V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
I tried a disk on a 70 yr old cattle pasture and it would only scratch the surface. Bought a tiller and it took 2 passes to get down 4-5".
