offset disk or regular for hay meadow?

[Dan in North Houston]

County extension agent has recommended that we disk up and re-seed about 50 acres of hay meadow. I don't have a disk, and need your recommendations / comments.
I have a JD 4020, so I can pull a good size disk. Would a heavy offset disk work better, or would a regular disk be OK? I have located a 10' offset disk that looks pretty good. I don't have any experience with one, but I assume that it would have no trouble cutting the sod, whereas a regular disk might.
 

[JMS./MN]

A good offset disk will cut up sod, but it is a primary tillage tool, so you still need a finishing disk or field cultivator, and harrow to prepare the seedbed.
 

[thurlow]

A good, heavy 10 ft offset is gonna be a LOAD for a 4020; we pulled a 9ft PKH JD for many, many years with a 4020D w/dual 15 inch tires......in 3rd gear. As JMS has said, you're gonna need something for some secondary tillage; an offset is gonna leave the soil in about the same shape as would a moldboard plow, 'though it may be slightly better pulverized.....depending on what the sod was like.
 

[RickB]

You want to kill sod, either moldboard plow it or spray it with Roundup and 2,4-D. A heavy 10 foot offset disc is more than a stock 4020 wants.
 

[JMS./MN]

Hey, Turlow- it's phantastic if you pardon the phun you allow me with yer name over the years......I'm thinking of what a phriend used for years....an 8 foot Bush Hog ophphset disc....primary tillage on sand/light clay.....with a 190XT....had a 7 phoot before on maybe an 830 Case....all they wanted. 190XT is 93 hp, 4020 is 94 hp.....pretty much even match on hp and weight. And third gear? I'd get really bored with that- would have to pack a sammich to get across any field! BTW- I know you have a history of cotton.......sort of a rouph idea where you are- would love to phind a cotton picker, like maybe on a WD AC.......great show item in the cold north of MN! Saw one at Amana Colonies some years ago, for sale.......
 

[RodinNS]

That much offset will be a load for the 4020. Probably want duals and. A lot of ballast... And more power. If you don't do a burndown with glyphos first you'll be rewarded with a big mess.
Personally I'd sooner moldboard plow. Something like that.

Rod
 

[thurlow]

I've seen a couple of old A-C pickers sitting in phence rows, but can't remember where; I 'spect the cost to ship 'em would be prohibitive. I'll start paying more attention; never can tell what I might run across.......
 

[JMS./MN]

Shipping cost can be replaced by road tripping! Sounds like a good trailer run in the middle of a MN winter!
 

[ohio dick]

A 4020 and ten foot offset should be real good match. we pull a 13 foot miller with 3688 and duals no problems.
 

[ss55]

Will you use a heavy disk, duals and extra ballast for your 4020 very often? For only 50 acres, if you won't the stuff again in the next five years why buy all that to have it sit in the shed and deteriorate? Maybe rent a smaller heavy disk that you can pull with your tractor as-is, hire someone to do the work, or use a smaller molboard plow, they are cheaper than a disk.

In most soils a 4020 would pull a 5 bottom plow or a 4 bottom plow in a higher gear and get about the same amount of work done either way. Take it easy on the old girl and pull a smaller implement in a faster gear.
 

[donjr]

Depending on how smooth the ground is already, if it isn't overly rough, let me throw this out. Burn it with a dose of gramoxone, and smooth out any really rough spots with a lighter disc. If you have a quarrel with gramoxone, use a heavy dose of roundup. But get a really good kill. Fertilize and lime it to test, then rent, if you don't have one, a good no-till drill, such as a John Deere or Great Plains, with a grass box. Set it at half the recommended rate and criss-cross the piece at a forty five or so degree angle twice. I think you might be impressed....
 

[randallinMo]

You are going to pull the bells off that 4020 with a 10' offset disc.....that is if you try to put it in the ground. If you're determined to buy a disc, I'd buy a lighter one and go over the field a couple times. I know you could pull a 14' finishing disc probably in 5th and possibly in 6th gear with the 4020. Plus, after you've gone over it a couple times you'd be ready to plant. Does the guy with the 10' offset think you can pull it?