Somebody please explain land rollers to me

[super99]

I see land rollers advertised in the Iowa Farmer Today and have seen some on dealer lots west of Des Moines. Here in NW Illinois, everyone tries to avoid compaction, looks like that is all the roller would do. Why use one??? Chris
 

[rrlund]

I don't think overall compaction is all that much with that weight spread out like it is,but put it all in one spot,like when it hits a stone,and it mashes it right down in the ground so you don't hit it in a hay or soybean field. Same deal with breaking up corn stalks with them and flattening them out before no til.
 

[JD Seller]

They are not heavy enough to cause deep compaction. They are to smooth out fields. Many guys swear by them on their planted soybean fields. They also are used in areas with rocks that freeze heave up. They try to use them early in the season while the hay ground is still fairly soft so they can push the rocks back down below where a disk mower would hit them.
 

[Bob Bancroft]

Here we use cultipackers. Brillion labels them "pulverizers". At least what used to be Brillion. I'm shopping for one now.
Typically here it's pulled behind a disc or field cultivator to create the "loose, but firm" seedbed, if that makes any sense.
 

[JD Seller]

Bob these rollers are not like cultipackers. They are a single large roller that maybe 3 foot in diameter. They maybe forty feet wide. Here is a picture of one companies, Rite way.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Used to be some rollers around here. And a few old narrow front tractors with the bands on the wheels they tried to smack the heaved alfalfa back down in with. But not much any more. All cultipackers- many 30' wide.
 

[tomstractorsandtoys1]

There are a few in my area, some roll before planting beans and some go in after the planter.I wonder which is better?
 

[Jerry/MT]

We have cobbly, silt loam soils and plowing raises a lot of rocks. Anything over 3-4 inches gets picked and he rest are rolled down with a roller after seeding.
A lot of our hay farmers roll their hay land in the Spring and one neighbor says that since he started it, they haven"t broken one guard due to rock impact.
 

[Rich Iowa]

There are at least two farmers around here that use the rollers in their soybean fields. Can't remember though if they use them before or after planting.
 

[Mark-Ia]

We use them here after the beans are planted, but not up. It pushes the small rocks and corn stalk root clumps down. Makes a smoothe field for combining in the fall.
 

[DiyDave]

we used to use them on the sod farm, in the spring, to make the field smoother, for harvesting the sod. Back when sod farming was profitable, when houses was being built, in the good ole days!
 

[paul]

They actually have a low weight per square foot, they don't compact, but they take the high points out.

Push down rocks and root balls.

One of the quickest adaptations of an implement around here, didn't know what they were 5 years ago, now most bean acres in the county are rolled.

Paul
 

[super99]

OK, Thanks for the reply's. Are the rollers empty or do you fill them with water or something for added weight?? Chris
 

[dboll]

some use them around here, when the wind picks up those are the first fields to blow, and a heavy rain is like pouring water on a table, they are creating ideal conditions for soil erosion, I will never use one, if you have rocks then pick them, there has never been a proven yield increase, the only benefit is the smooth surface for combining soybeans, as far as I am concerned it's another trip and more fuel used, just another case of machinery makers having something that you can't farm without, I have seen many such implements sitting in the trees after 5 or 10 years
 

[Brendon-KS]

Rollers have been popular for many years in vegetable growing areas to provide the fine, smooth soil surface that the precision seeders require.