[bigtimeoperator]

I'd mentioned earlier on the forum that I would like to get my land cleaned up of numerous potholes/sloughs and thought the Vwing ditcher might have been the way to go, but general consensus was that a pull scraper and pull dozer would be better suited to my needs.

http://www.thecombineforum.com/forums/19-planting-tillage/158250-pulldozer-v-wing-ditcher.html

So now I'm looking for this tag team combo to allow me to get the land straightened out. I farm in Southwest Sask where land is rolling and topsoil is at a premium. There is no bush, just potholes/sloughs that are farmable on the dry years and under water when its wet.

So in looking for a scraper what make/size is good for a farm application? What do you look for on a used scraper when you are considering buying it? What are the weak points? The ones I'm seeing are all cable to hydraulic conversions. Cat 463, 60, 70, and 80's seem to be mostly whats for sale. Are you guys that have done scraper work on your farm eyeballing it, using transit, using laser, or using GPS? Does anybody wish they would have just hired out the scraper work to a couple ukes and done the finish work with a pulldozer or is it best to do it all yourself? Where did you buy your scraper? Anybody deal with Quick Drain Sales out of Humbolt?

As for the pull dozer component; I know the one for Bridgeview is the granddaddy of them all but it is also twice the cost of something like a Landmaster. Is it necessary to have such a heavy monster when you the scraper to do all the tough cutting? Anybody have a Landmaster (or other non Bridgeview) and was it built well enough/been heavy enough for your application?

I think what we are trying to achieve is more filling than draining of these low spots. I'm assuming you want to strip the top 8-10'' back with the pull dozer on the high and low points, then use the scraper to move the high point to the low point, then use pull dozer to pull topsoil back over these spots and finish everything off so it farmable again. I assume these low spots will have a lot of good growing soil to a greater depth so maybe take more from them to move to the hill top as well?

Any experience/info is always appreciated. Thanks.

 

[morb1lee]

Ashland scrapers are second to none. You can use it to place your top soil where you want, as it is premium and do not want it wasted. you can dig down into your clay to remove it and place you top soil there (in the high spots) or you can skin the top soil off the pot holes and fill it in with clay from the high spots.

I'm a small part time farmer I borrow my uncles Leon (way under built but better then nothing) scraper and eye ball for drainage. this fall I rented a GPS system to put on it....will never clean or add ditches again without it.

 

[shmiffy]

A box scraper probably needs worked soil to work good. I have a master industries box scraper. It's a 14', very solid, can add on a lot of weight to and I wouldn't worry about hurting it. They told me a guy sets a round bale on it for weight to level truck ruts and that wouldn't hurt it. They're good for dragging snow out if the yard in the winter too.

 

[BrianTee]

Get a buggy, and you're done. Or a proper scraper pulled behind a good tractor. strip the spots, cut the high, dump in the low profile it exactly, put back the black dirt.

 

[keldifornia]

435 Cat scraper
Premium machine
40,000$ firm
Pm if your serious

 

[meskie]

Quick drain sales in humbolt seem like good people from the dealing I've had with them. Also is lever industries from humbolt also. They have both been doing it for a long time and have parts for your scraper if you ever need any.