Posted by Hal/ Eastern WA on March 24, 2013 at 14:30:47 from (97.115.158.171):
In Reply to: plowing back field posted by mjsnodgrass on March 22, 2013 at 20:33:11:
It depends on lots of things, like where you are: the climate and what grows well there;like what is growing there now: like what kind of soil you have and if it has been farmed previously; like what your long term plans are for the field; like how much time you have to work on the project(s); and probably many more factors.
If it is very weedy now, you probably will end up needing to spray the weeds, no matter what else you do. Most weeds produce lots of seeds, and you WILL be dealing with those seeds for years. Some weeds can be dealt with by spot spraying, but most will require more thorough application.
If the ground was previously tilled and used for crops, it probably could be tilled again fairly easily and with some fertilizer, it probably would grow things again. On the other hand, if it has never been tilled, or it is a very long time since it was tilled, there is probably a reason, like too many big rocks, worn out or bad soil, or not enough moisture ever available for crops. Most good appearing land has, at one time or another, been tried as farmland. Lots of marginal, or poor land has also been tried, but often farming it was abandoned after the farmer decided it was not profitable.
It is fun to plow ground up, but then you really have to do something more with it. To get it ready for planting a crop, it needs to be disked, harrowed, possibly leveled and maybe other passes with machinery. If your ground is like some of mine, you will also need to pick LOTS of rocks off of it and put them someplace else, hopefully not someplace where you will need to move them again. If you just plow the ground and do not do anything else with it, you will get LOTS of weeds, which will require spraying, possibly multiple times. If you do nothing, you will probably make your neighbors mad at you, and even possibly local government might give you grief over the weeds.
Unless you get lots of rain and it is a fairly warm climate, I would not plan on raising more than a couple of steers on property of that size. Unless the ground is ULTRA productive, you will end up buying lots of hay and other feed if you try too many head of stock. BTDT! Never again.
It is a lot of work building fence, but this time of year is the time I like to do that job, since with the ground soft, it is fairly easy to pound in metal T posts. I like to use railroad ties for corners, gate posts, and occasionally along a fence run, but they require digging a hole, which can be challenging in my rocky soil. But it is a lot easier to dig now than it will be in the Summer when the ground is dry. I like my cow fences to be at least 4 strands of tight barbed wire on mostly T posts.
I think that I would start out by building a good cow tight fence around the property and then try putting a couple of feeder steers in that fenced area for the Summer. Then I would see what they would eat, and what they would not eat of what is growing on the property as it is. Then in the Fall, I would feed them some grain for a couple of weeks and then have them butchered. The steers would need a constant water supply, a salt block and not too much else for the Summer, unless it gets really hot there.
And plowing the ground? I probably would not do it this year, as you most likely have lots of other things to do getting settled. I would build the fence (although a fence is something you have to miss all the time with any equipment), try a couple of steers, and I would walk the property many times, seeing where things grow well, where there probably are rocks or other obstacles, and I would plan just what I wanted to do with that field. I would spot spray any weed patches, pick up any rocks or other junk on the property and really get it ready to farm, if that is what you truly want to do with the property. Tilling property and farming it requires lots of attention, time and machinery. Leaving something as pasture requires very little, and that might be a better overall choice for a small plot. But it is your decision of what YOU WANT TO DO. It takes some time for ground to go back to natural grass and other ground cover, which it probably now has. Good luck!
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