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Breaking land

17K views 23 replies 17 participants last post by  Oat King 
#1 ·
I am in southern Saskatchewan dry land and want to break some old pasture and seed spring wheat. I have a 24foot chisel plow with spikes, and an old disc seeder we use just for discing. What's the best way to go about this, and if I work it enough in the fall can I seed it in the spring? What about spray?
 
#2 ·
I would assume its old regrass. In my dry area of the world, I would either spray it out of rip it up this fall and summer follow/spray it all next year. The grass has already took all the moisture/nurturance out so you go no reserve. Maybe in a heavy rain fall area you could seed it in the spring but not dry land. Other option in the spring is renting a breaking disk or maybe a high speed disk
 
#3 ·
I broke some pasture back in 2009. Carpet bombed it with heavy rate glyphosate in the spring, and once in the summer to kill it. In the fall I went in with a Whishek breaking disk i rented from flaman. Did 2 passes with it, and multiple passes with a regular disk and cultivator. Was a lot of work but seeded it the following spring and had a decent crop.

My neighbor sprayed a pasture out in the spring, one more time in the summer and again in the fall. He then seeded it with a disc drill the following spring and had a very good crop. A lot less work was involved with his method.
 
#7 ·
Then keep seeding with a disc drill leaving the sod to break down for the next 5 or 6 years. The benefit is practically no weed control required and minimal moisture loss. All those decomposing roots make water channels and that field will have tremendous water holding capacity. It will also have extremely healthy and active soil bacteria and fungus.

Or cultivate it and destroy all that.
 
#8 ·
Dose it with Gly and Clethodym asap

Tillage will only seed a new crop of pasture

Pick a later seeded crop to get another good dose right before seeding, seed with a No-Till disc drill even if you have to hire it done

If your up against predominantly grass don't seed a grass crop in it, use something like canola or flax so you have a good grass herbicide option
 
#9 ·
Agree with all these comments. If it's super rough that can be dealt with all these new fancy high speed disks but if you can find someone to direct seed it next spring do that. I broke some horrendously rough hay land and worked it down but those sods were the ****s. Ida been better to kelly chain it after spraying and seeded it. Most hay is still broke up with a combination of fall glyphosate, multiple spikings, a disking, and a harrow or two. Just plain labour intensive and you lose all benefit of the forage. Draft requirements in these hills used to spook a lot from seeding into grass but I think that's gone out with seed nagnets.
 
#10 ·
We have just sprayed it with high rate of roundup in fall again in spring and direct seeded into the sod. Have harrowed after we have seeded it to level out fill in some spots where the sod maybe didn't fall back into the seed trench.

We always find the second year after we have seeded into hay/pasture ground to be the best for yield.
 
#12 ·
We have just sprayed it with high rate of roundup in fall again in spring and direct seeded into the sod. Have harrowed after we have seeded it to level out fill in some spots where the sod maybe didn't fall back into the seed trench.

We always find the second year after we have seeded into hay/pasture ground to be the best for yield.
What did you seed it with. I have a single shoot concord with 4” openers. I wanted to do the same. Spray this fall and spring and try and seed it in the spring.
 
#11 ·
I made the mistake of breaking up hayland 4 years ago, multiple tillage passes, rolled & harrowed several times. Getting poor crops, my worst crops actually. And broken sprayer nozzles & booms because it's still Sooo rough. One more crop then back to grass, I'm actually going to be seeding several fields to grass that just should never be anything but. Put a fence around and spend more time at the lake.
 
#14 ·
I broke some grass a few years ago. Sprayed in September, then in October, disced 3 times with a smooth disc hutchmaster. Heavy harrowed twice, then spiked twice with 2in spikes on cultivator and heavy harrowed again. Then in May heavy harrowed twice and seeded (seedhawk). It was still rough as hell after burning all that diesel. Sods wouldn't breakdown.

I have more to break, wondering if a Degelman protill with notched blades is what I need. I would spray in September and protill it twice in October. Spray in spring and seed. Has anyone had good results with protill chopping sod, rather than just dragging or flipping it?
 
#18 ·
I broke some grass a few years ago. Sprayed in September, then in October, disced 3 times with a smooth disc hutchmaster. Heavy harrowed twice, then spiked twice with 2in spikes on cultivator and heavy harrowed again. Then in May heavy harrowed twice and seeded (seedhawk). It was still rough as hell after burning all that diesel. Sods wouldn't breakdown.

I have more to break, wondering if a Degelman protill with notched blades is what I need. I would spray in September and protill it twice in October. Spray in spring and seed. Has anyone had good results with protill chopping sod, rather than just dragging or flipping it?
Use the protill for breaking hay land and pasture all the time. Works great and leaves the field way smoother than heavy disc or plow ever would. 2 or 3 times in the fall and if needed once in the spring and your good to go.
 
#23 ·
Funny this thread was dug up again as I just worked down a bunch of grass with the cultivator. If it wasn’t so dry and the ground so rough I would probably have sprayed it out in July and left until next spring to direct seed a canola crop. I did that last year and aside from the drought and heat it is no better or worse than the stubble seeded canola beside it. The stuff I sprayed and worked down last fall has a great looking crop of oats. I just spiked twice and harrowed last fall then harrowed early enough in the spring again before seeding. Stuff I’m working right now didn’t get sprayed as not enough green to spray. It’s not ideal I know but hope to get a spray this fall when it greens up again with this bit of rain. Probably seed rr canola, truflex if there’s one that isn’t overpriced and wimpy, and spray well with some clorypalid second pass for the alfalfa.
 
#24 ·
I have quite a bit of experience breaking land. So far guys on here are talking breaking hay land. Breaking good land with brush and trees and big rocks is another animal al together. Also depending on the terrain you may also be dealing with peat patches or high water table. Also its getting tougher to set fires in the bush land now so good windrows with as least amount of soil stuck to the roots and getting burning permits. At least figure 800 bucks an acre to get bush land into cultivated land. I would love to try some of the machines hydro uses to clear paths for hydro poles.

Actually the biggest problem I had was the water table. When you dealing with a water table almost at ground level or natural springs pushing up you have to get in there with a dozer and try and drain those areas. On some of my land once I made a ditch from the spring the water ran for weeks until it dropped to a level that dried enough so I could get a tandem disc on it. Dont use a wishek disc, try using a summers diamond or a joker to work the land. I first tried a whisek disc but that leaves such a bumpy field finish its hard to work with after. Also go around and mark large rocks with a flag and dig out with a dozer. We lifted plenty of sofa sized rocks out of silty soil. Seed with a disc drill and fertilizer requirements should be checked with a soil test. I agree spray round up and in the heat in summer.

Sorry for rambling , its tough work but very rewarding seeing soybeans growing on once bush land. One worker stumbled into a peat patch and sunk my 2375 Versatile half way up the fuel tanks. I learned a good tow rope is critical and unhook what ever your pulling and attach a 200 ft tow rope to pull a tandem disc out once of course the tractor is pulled out.

I always laugh when some guys say they dont make more land. It can be done and with todays land prices all that breaking was well worth it. One thing some other guys are doing is putting in tile after breaking which would also fix a water table problem.
 
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