I love the sound of a good tractor working in the dirt.

My food plots get quite compacted toward the end of a growing season, must be the plants sucking the moisture out of the soil and the hoof action. With that and the stubble, it can take a lot passes with the disc so I went ahead and purchased the Dirt Dog APP 85-9. I will use it to break up the plots, single pass, and then disc it out.

When I first started buying implements, I was afraid they would break the bank. Now that I have gotten into it I find there are pretty good deals out there if you are patient and keep eyes open. I purchased a 96" two row disk, very heavy duty, in almost new shape, for probably less than 40% of new price. I built my own drag, and find good implements on CL and at auctions pretty regularly. And instead of paying more for 3pt versions, I purchased a good broadcast spreader and a sprayer that I pull behind UTV. So far they have worked pretty well and I plan to use until they fail, or I find replacements for a bargain. If I was farming my land for commercial purposes this wouldn't be feasible, but for hobby needs like planting food plots, it don't have to be perfect.

And Navasot, I was in you neck of the woods this past Saturday and almost stopped to introduce myself and kick some tires. Ran out of time on this trip, but looks like my oldest will be a aTm next year, so I'm sure there will be more chances.

Dirt Dog arrived, looks good!

Ranch, would you mind giving a run down of your implements and which you find to be "necessary" vs just toys vs just fun?

I will be in the market for some implements very soon, already have a 8ft dual spindle mower for cutting lanes and fence line and a good heavy 8 ft drag harrow (can pull behind track or UTV), but don't know what else I would find indispensable for food plotting and general ranch use...400 acre mixed land of woods/field, plan to do around 8 acres food plots this spring/summer and general ranch house-keeping stuff as well. Soils are loamy to clay, in Oklahoma, not south texas. I know I really want a pull behind disc (feel thats almost required) and want a pulverizer/packer, but after that....

Would love to hear what you got and what you use. PM if you prefer.

With the mower and drag harrow, plus the addition of a heavy disc harrow I would think you are well set.

When I bought my first seeder that incorporated a packer, I thought I would probably end up selling my pulverizer/packer, but I've found too many uses for it outside of seedbed prep. In a nutshell, anytime I use the disc harrow, my tooth harrow might follow but the packer is used. I use it with fire breaks and for road maintenance as well.

The chisel plow was bought to cut my discing time down. By the end of a growing season, my food plots are tough from the hoof action, and it should reduce the number of passes it takes my disc to bust the soil and start mixing the remaining growth back in. I open all my fire breaks every year and it is the same thing with them.

There are a lot of ways to get fertilizer, lime, and seed in the ground. I would suggest you look at what implements are available from the local Farmer's Co-Op and any other agencies that support farming in your area. For instance, here on the middle coast, The Nature Conservancy owns a lot of property. If you are planting anything that benefits wildlife, they will let you use their seed drill for a very small fee.

Those grappling claws to the left of my dog are used as much as any of the other stuff. You need a frontend loader and forward hydraulics, but they will make short work out of trees that fall where you don't want them.

Appreciate the info, pretty much what I need to know. Thanks!

You're welcome. I'm sure you understand that you can get by with a real minimum, but as you up the acreage, your equipment becomes very important. You cannot always get the lend or rental equipment when you need it. Not sure about where you are at, but my planting window in the fall can be as little as 1 to 3 days. That's it. If I miss it, it's gone. From that opportunity, it is going to be either too wet or too dry. I missed it this year, by choice, because I felt the heat that followed the tropical ran would lend to the armyworms. Because of the worms, I waited until it got colder but then it got real dry. My irrigated plots saved my bacon, but the dryland plots were short lived.



The Nature Conservancy guy came by last week, and his comment was, "Holy crap, that's a lot of food!" Since the end of hunting season, I have 27 bucks on this 2 1/2 acres, and they cannot keep up with the growth. We have been getting good rains, so as soon as I can get in the back and soil temperatures are above 65°, I will get everything planted for the spring/summer. I will let the irrigated winter plots play out so all the deer can work towards the back. High temps don't matter in the spring with the irrigated plots; they come up overnight.

Ranch, what are you planting for the summer? Have you had any experience with whitetail institutes power plant?

I plan to put in 4 (four) 1.5 acre plots of that this spring summer as well as an acre of chic magnet and make my extreme plot about an acre and some change.

Would be very helpful to have my own equipment to do this, maybe next spring summer. Hope to have my own tractor and disc for the fall plots. By then I should have my barn built. Was hoping for it to be done by now but snags keptmot from being built and they are supposed to lay foundation forms Monday. Can’t wait!!

Yeap, I do. My first choice. Planting about 5.5 acres of it. Older picture, but my deer love it. Been using it for 13 years.

If you own the land I would say that you are missing the point. I love the time spent on caring for my properties. Beats the hell out of the time I had to listen to people complaining about their water bills and the open holes in the street. Riding the tractor, radio on to an oldies country station. I would take that any day over sitting in traffic in this metro mess.

I'm looking to plant in sandy soil, well mostly sand, north of Abilene. Any good suggestions?

with the disk, make sure you raise it out of the ground when turning

^^^ I like how the exclusion cage is nearly invisible

Definitely, a "city boy" attitude and won't work here. We're to busy to do chores for non-resident landowners. If you don't like it, why do you have it?


Specifically what type of suggestions are you looking for; equipment, seed types? Might be worth opening a topic specific to your needs. I think there are quite a few members farming or familiar with the Abilene area.



There is some good advice and applicable to just about any implement that is running more than a few inches in the ground.



Thanks, Navasot! Sometimes, it just works out better than you expected.



Yeah, almost can't see it the stuff is growing so rapidly. Not the usual. What I've liked about WI's Pure Attraction is the hogs have "farmed" right up to it, but won't get in it. In the photo below, the field is on ends on the very edge of the right frame. This has been the closest the hogs will get.



My dogs, love it for some reason. When I let them out in the morning, they tear out to the closest field and fill up. That's crazy! The hound on the lower left has claimed the spot he's facing as his own! That is where the seeder sat during calibration.