The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: Maysie on February 27, 2019, 11:07:59 am
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We are looking to get a harrow to pull behind our quad so we can do our own paddock and field maintenance.
The general consensus (from what I have read online) seems to be that spring tine harrows are far more effective than a chain harrow and are therefore worth the additional cost.
Has anyone any experience of both (using quad/ATV) and the differences they have noticed between chain and tine?
Our ground is quite steep in places and quite bumpy due to many years of molehills and very little previous maintenance to the fields before our arrival. We have about 15-18 acres to harrow.
There are some cheapo tine harrows on ebay from local agri-fabricators, but these generally cannot be lifted off the ground to cross tracks etc, so I am looking at the Logic Pro spring tine harrow at the moment as the lead contender as I am a 'buy well/buy once' kind of person and like things to just 'work'.
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Spring tine every time , looks a good machine and very easy to use
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We have both - we had the chain harrow first and whilst it is brilliant for levelling molehills it can't beat the spring tine harrow for scarifying and getting rid of moss. We have the logic pro harrow and thought it was a tad expensive compared to others, but I can honestly say that it has been worth every penny. It even has a different setting for a really aggressive going over when needed. We also have have some steep ground but if the atv can cope, then so can the spring tines!
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First off - it's a very large area to cover with a quad. The tines look quite weeny and are only single with wide gaps so may not deal with your long established molehills.
We got ours recently for the self-same problem - years of molehills on top of molehills, on top of..... Plus a few terrier diggings. The ground had become a real bone shaker. Our model is mounted on a three point linkage for manoeuvering (can't spell it) and the tines are double. We have just done about 7 acres and it took several short mornings, but has made a big difference. We'll see if we can get another pass before the ground nesting birds settle. The spring tine rake is definitely the way to go, but maybe something with double tines if you want it to last and be thorough?
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Thank you all for the replies, which are all very helpful.
The fields will not all be done at the same time due to rotational grazing, so the size of the acreage should (hopefully) be fine for us to deal with in smaller bites. The main (frequent) use will be on a 4 acre/2 acre paddocks, the remainder of the pasture will be harrowed less frequently.
I was worried about the spacing of the tines too, but their closely spaced version (the super harrow) is way OTT for what we need with the electric raise/lower etc. The tines are all genuine Einbock, so they should be decent quality, unlike others on eBay etc and Logic are a reputable brand so I hope it should be very well made.
The local supplier is offered to demonstrate the harrow on our fields, so based on Maggy's experiences we seem to have little to lose by having a demo.
Thanks again.
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I have a towable 5ft spring tine harrow (with wheels so you flip it over onto the wheels for transporting). I tie a couple of big logs on the top and it does a pretty good job. Money well spent. I have used chain harrows in the past but they are just to heavy to deal with and you need some spare space to "park them" (and then they get lost in the grass...:)).