Darn ground is HARD!!!!!!

[JD Seller]

Since we got the corn silage chopped and also some soybeans cut it would be a great time to deep rip some ground. With it being pretty dry the shatter will be much better than with it wetter. The field that had the corn silage cut I really wanted to shake up. It has been pounded the last two years with manure hauling and silage harvest. So I got out the 7 shank JD "V" style ripper. We have a 7 shank inline ripper that is better if you want the ground to be smoother after you rip but it does not shatter the ground as well. I picked the JD 4960 to horse it around with. Will do it some good to have the three point used.

I started out in the bean stubble and had no trouble running 7-8 MPH pulling it 16-18 inches deep. I measure from the frame to the ground, not the point up to where it shows wear. So I know it is going the depth I want. I wanted too really rock and shock this field. It has tile lines but still had some water issues this last year. You can tell where the trouble is when the engine barks. LOL

Then I went into the field that was chopped. DARN what a difference.

How the tractor is equipped. Dauled 20.8x42 tires with 16.9x34s on the front. 2500 lbs. of cast weights on each side of the back. Forty 110 lbs. weights on the front( special double stacked bracket we made when using the mounted rippers). Tractor turning 300 HP at the PTO. Draft control working correctly. I could not pull the ripper over 4 MPH and if I did not watch it even then the draft would stall the tractor in some places. Even then I had to skip the haul lanes. I could not keep the depth and go through them. So when I was done with everything but the haul lanes I dropped two shanks off and ripped them shallow twice. Then dropped to full depth twice more. Full depth is 24 inches to the bottom of the lift arm travel as they are set now. Looks like a rock patch with the chunks of hard dirt all over.

This field will not be getting any bedding pack manure this year. In a few weeks we will cover it with liquid hog manure that is injected under the surface. I hope we get a hard freeze this year. The frost will go deeper in the open ripped ground. The surface compaction issues will be much better come spring.

This field is close to the barns so it gets heavy traffic at times. The boys will have to keep off it more.

 

[SVcummins]

Can you post pics of the tractor and the weight bracket ?

 

[Bruce from Can.]

I believe soil compaction is the most over looked problem on many farms today. While I don't run much land ,I do try to say off wet ground ,and cross fields a few times in the spring as possible , before planting. This means manure is put out and ground worked in the fall. I grow a lot of alfalfa and clover, and they put down deep roots, and I will mole board plough . Our ground has some clay, takes some care.

 

[8850dave]

I am hoping to seed winter wheat this week would like to no til with JD 750 drill but may have to disc a couple of times to get a seedbed to plant then hope it rains to germinate the seed.

 

[coonie minnie]

A 750 will plant into asphalt. Just set the down pressure up, and keep the seed box relatively full.

 

[RBoots]

All of the mega dairies around here are famous for compaction and destroying the soil. Grow corn, chop it off, haul manure/sand continuously, plant wheat in the fall, chop it off in the spring, haul manure continuously, then plant late corn to chop again that year. All the manure hauling and silage hauled by semis. The one guy uses 10,000 gallon semi tanks for manure, and they pull them all over the fields, hundreds of trips a day with the other semis running on it as well. Their ground is like stone.

 

[JD Seller]

We have a fellow with a hose drag system apply all our liquid manure. That really helps limit compaction. We also only have 400 bushel manure spreaders too just to limit the load weight.

We try and deep rip a 1/4 to 1/3 of our ground every year. If harvest gets done with it still being dry we will rip all we can. This dry ground is perfect to rip.

 

[banjoman09]

We are still waiting to "dry out" to plant our wheat. Should start maybe tomorrow- now the weather man is calling for 1-2" of more rain- Tuesday thru Friday! Geezzzz..... usually done by now- or close. You will get rain.

 

[JLG]

I see you say you're applying liquid hog manure. Did you put up a hog barn? I was just curious. I thought I had remembered someone on this board considering putting one up a few years ago. Wondered if it was you all, I couldn't remember.

My grandfather had a farrow to finish operation with Pennfield Feeds for a while after he quit dairying. He always said it was REALLY good manure.

 

[in-too-deep]

Radishes?

 

[Kellyss]

Wish I could of been there to hear the 4960 work. I love the sound of the ole 4955's and 4960's getting a work out.

 

[JD Seller]

We put up a finishing barn on another farm last fall. This enabled my son to cash flow his farm. He can take care of the hogs before and after his town job. They will have to hose the manure about 2 miles. The fellow that does ours has six miles of hose and lift pumps.

 

[LAA]

JD
I have been looking at a 1994 4960 MFWD, clean and well cared for, 12000 plus hours but still runs strong, $32,000 is the asking price, does that price seem par for the hours? It seems reasonable to me when considering how much tractor it is but I have no clue what an engine and or transmission rebuild would cost.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 22:35:10 10/01/17) JD
I have been looking at a 1994 4960 MFWD, clean and well cared for, 12000 plus hours but still runs strong, $32,000 is the asking price, does that price seem par for the hours? It seems reasonable to me when considering how much tractor it is but I have no clue what an engine and or transmission rebuild would cost.

That sounds just stupid high if you look on Tractor House. The prices there are generally considered to be 15-20% higher than what you would pay, and the 4960s on there for that amount of money have half the hours.

 

[LAA]

The cheaper 4960's on tractor house that I saw all had problems or unknown hours, but like I said,
the $32,000 was the asking price. The other points are the tractor has had a new cab kit this year,
I know the seller and the tractor is not 1000 miles from me, it costs a bunch to get one that size
hauled. A good 4960 will bring $22,000 - $30,000 on auctiontime just about day in and day out, if
they need work they go down to $15,000 and real nice ones with provable low hours or recent
rebuilds bring in the high 30s.