Reconditioing and old pasture ??

[BigAl]

I have a front pasture in need of some serious repair . I am thinking of using a bottom plow along with a good disking . I will also land level before planting White Clover . Any old ranchers out there care to throw in their two cents ? I am wide open to ideas .
The old past rancher left wire ,tools and crap everywhere in the field . I have since got it cleaned up but now I need to eliminate the Ground Squirrel holes . The old grass is thick with about a 3" matting . I doubt it has been maintained ever .
I want to do this right and fast !!

 

[XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq]

You said you want it done "right and fast" - no mention of cheap.

Buy one of these:

http://www.kubota.com/f/products/m8540.cfm

and one of these:

http://www.suokone.com/english/crusher.htm

then drive over the pasture once.

 

[Melensdad]

I have a front pasture in need of some serious repair . I am thinking of using a bottom plow along with a good disking . I will also land level before planting White Clover . Any old ranchers out there care to throw in their two cents ? I am wide open to ideas .
The old past rancher left wire ,tools and crap everywhere in the field . I have since got it cleaned up but now I need to eliminate the Ground Squirrel holes . The old grass is thick with about a 3" matting . I doubt it has been maintained ever .
I want to do this right and fast !!

I renovated about an acre, so mine was pretty small scale. Not sure how big your area is.

First question is can you do a controlled burn of the pasture? I've found controlled burns do a good job of getting rid of the plant debris but not killing the native grasses. In my area it is very common to see controlled burns, but it is something I didn't ever see until I moved out here. Its amazing how good an old pasture looks about 2 weeks after it is burned.

For smoothing rough spots, without totally tearing up the ground, I found the aggressive use of a landscape rake works nicely. It leaves much of the grass in place but does tear out some of it. By aggressive I mean set your top link long so the tines of the landscape rake engage the ground, it will work sort of like a low impact box blade, but with a box blade you tear out everything and you do it too deeply. The rake will make small tears and will only affect the surface soil, but it will, with several passes, smooth things out.

Overseed after all that fun stuff.

Oh, pocket gophers . . . 22LR, 22 Hornet or 223. Or, just watch them have fun.

 

[BigAl]

First question is can you do a controlled burn of the pasture? I've found controlled burns do a good job of getting rid of the plant debris but not killing the native grasses. In my area it is very common to see controlled burns, but it is something I didn't ever see until I moved out here. Its amazing how good an old pasture looks about 2 weeks after it is burned.

I wish I could burn it ,but the pasture has many springs above it and it remains wet well into the fire season . Most of the ranchers have already started prepping their pastures but it will be at least 2 more months before I can plow mine and start preparing for a seed bed .
By then the grass will be 3 ' high !!! The only reason I can even drive across it now with my tractor is because of the thick grass matting ,otherwise I would sink outta sight . The one advantage is the Elk seem to love my pasture and always show up there first when they return each year . Its funny to watch the hunters line up in their trucks on the Main road and drool knowing they can't touch them . I allow hunting but not in front of my house and the Elk seem to know that !