OT - how to cleanup farmground with scrap everywhere

[TAS]

A couple of months ago we purchased 40 acres. There are a few acres near the house & barn that we will need to clean up before they can
be used for crop production. The issue is that the previous owner was a collector/hoarder. After he passed away, when his family was
preparing the place to sell, they made a mess. Some of it was probably a mess beforehand, but there are instances in which you will come
across a pile of nails spilled. There are also bigger things laying around, but those are easier to find and throw on the trailer to
take to the scrapyard. What I?m worried about is all of the nails etc., that are hard to find. So what I?m wondering is if anyone has
had any experience trying to clean something like this up. I can?t imagine how long if would take to try to use a metal detector to try
to find them all. In the last couple of weeks, in addition to many other things, I?ve pulled 2 chisels, a centerpunch and 2 screwdrivers
out of the weeds. Those would be pretty tough on tractor tires & I?m sure there?s more out there. It?s roughly a 4 acre area. Picture
shows what it looked like before they sold off his tractors & engines. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[WalJohn]

Maybe find a way to magnetize a length of pipe and drag over fiels. Using batteries and a heavy wire might work to create a magnet.

 

[WGM]

You can get a magnet on wheels to pick up the nails, etc. I have one about 2? wide. Works good. Any store like Menards, etc will have them. The bigger stuff you will have to pick up by hand.
Good luck!

 

[tomturkey]

Put up electric net fencing and graze it hard with sheep or goats. They will eat it down to the ground and you'll be able to see most all of it. Other wise, hope for the best and expect the worst. gobble

 

[BillinCentralMO]

We have a couple magnets about the size of a baseball - on a handle. Use to pick up roofing nails. That'll work well for spilled nails.

 

[Michael Soldan]

I have one on wheels, once picked 6 five gallon pails of nails from a burned building. They work great. I would pick up all I could and then run a harrow through and pick up again. May have to do this a number of times to get all the small pieces of metal and nails.

 

[MJMJ]

A magnet isn't going to pick up something that's buried in weeds/dirt.
Get all the big stuff you can, mow it, and turn it over with a plow.

 

[bigbob1939]

Fence off a small area as Tomturkey said run sheep and goats to clean down to dirt. Move criters to next area and get the scrape out of grazed down area. Just hop along until all done.

 

[rustyfarmall]

(quoted from post at 12:18:56 04/22/19) A magnet isn't going to pick up something that's buried in weeds/dirt.
Get all the big stuff you can, mow it, and turn it over with a plow.

Depends on how deep it is buried. I have a couple of magnets salvaged from an industrial machine. If the magnet can touch it, or get somewhat close, it WILL pick it up. Even out of weeds.

 

[RedMF40]

Keep in mind if you're going the magnet route that there are sharp and pointy things that are made of non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, and even plastics can do a lot of damage.

 

[paul]

I think in the end it will take a lot of time and work with 5 gallon pails and magnets and walking and re walking.

Goats can strip off any grass and shrub to make it easier, might lose one if they eat something metal and sharp....

Plowing it down will turn up bigger stuff maybe to re pick ,again, the small stuff will then be scattered and spread in a 8 inch deep layer, don?t know if that is better or worse.

Working it with an old steel wheeled tractor might save a tire the first year, but you probsbly just have to factor in losing a tire or two to the cost of getting it done.

Paul

 

[in-too-deep]

Pull a magnet behind your tractor. This company is in Ontario, but I bet there's an American version. Also, switch to tubeless tires and buy a good plugging kit. Safety-Seal is my favorite.
Quicker Picker Upper

 

[Russ from MN]

You could probably rent a magnet on wheels like roofers use, or you can buy some pretty strong small (6 inch) magnets from HF. The goat pasture idea would help if you want to deal with goats!

 

[David G]

Might cost you more to clean up than you could make out of farming, tires are not cheap.

 

[Roger in Iowa]

Skidsteer on tracks with a ripper on the back or front, after you have picked up all you can with magnets, as below. Then do it all over again.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Make yourself a couple of chicken tractors and put some chickens in each one they'll eat all the vegetation and scratch up all the metal.Just keep moving them around.

 

[2510Paul]

Maybe you have or could find an old tractor with bad weather checked tires of a common size you could use to brush hog and dig up the ground, all the while dragging a magnet. The common size will help you find cheap replacements.

Just a thought I am sure you have already thought of.

I do like the chicken and goat ideas but will take a while to do 4 acres.

We recovered the farmstead where I grew up. We buried everything but the house. The renter complains he is always pulling up metal even though we hauled a way many dumpsters of steel. And my dad wasn't even a collector. I cannot imagine how long you will be pulling up metal.

Paul

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Or get a scrap guy there to get a small pile and point to the place you want cleaned up and tell the scrap man not to touch anything there, leave for a few days and when you get back
it'll all be gone.

 

[Janicholson]

A steel wheel tractor is really the solution. If not steel for yours. Then a spring tooth drag to "lift" the FOIF (foreign object in Field. Jim

 

[showcrop]

Looks like you need a Caiman tractor magnet. You could rent a small crawler to pull it, and maybe even set up a cultivator to mount temporarily on the dozer blade.

 

[coshoo]

Might not be worth the effort, but if you want to clean it up, start at an outer edge and spray a workable sized area with Roundup- when everything dies back, burn the stubble and go over it with yard rakes and magnets as best you can, pasture harrow it and repeat, and then move on to the next area. Grandkids are helpful with projects like these. Looks like you've got a lot of vehicles and bigger stuff to get out first, before sweating the small stuff.

 

[flying belgian]

I like the below comment about killing with roundup then burning. Do not drag a harrow or any other kinda tillage across it. As it sits now the bucket of spilled nails or bolts are all in a pile but if you start disturbing it they will be scattered all around. There just would be know reason the nails are scattered at this point unless they burnt down a building and then they would still be in an area only the size of the building. Pick the larger stuff by hand. That is why God created Grandkids.

 

[dzc3]

MJMJ has it right pick up all you can and then plow it as deep as you can.

 

[jeffcat]

You have a HUGE mess. Now pick up as much as you can find. Next is something like this from harbor freight. Now a crazy thing is working in your local car junk yard. Some of them have those cranes with the big electro magnets. You can't believe how strong those darn things are. Take a couple of days but they would pull a heck of a lot of stuff out. See if you can work a deal with somebody.

 

[LAA]

4 acres is not that big, that is the average size of a super wal-mart, our on the right track with the metal dector, they sell them at harbor freight, you could do a grid search and clean up in a weekend. If you covered 2.5 feet left and right that is 5 feet wide per round, 4 acres square is approximately 417 feet per side, 417 X 5 = 2085 square covered per swath, 86 swaths and every square inch is covered, a roughly 7 mile walk.

 

[TAS]

Thanks for all of the replys. Some of these ideas I'd already thought of but there were also some good ones that I had not yet thought of.
I had purchased a nail sweep a year or two ago for a different project. It hasn't worked very well out there due to the rough terrain & in some areas the amount of ground cover. I think putting better (bigger) wheels on it may help, so I'll try that also.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 20:22:34 04/22/19) 4 acres is not that big, that is the average size of a super wal-mart, our on the right track with the metal dector, they sell them at harbor freight, you could do a grid search and clean up in a weekend. If you covered 2.5 feet left and right that is 5 feet wide per round, 4 acres square is approximately 417 feet per side, 417 X 5 = 2085 square covered per swath, 86 swaths and every square inch is covered, a roughly 7 mile walk.

LAA, it sounds to me like the objective is not to just ID where they are but to remove them too. I think that finding PLUS removal by that method would take probably thirty weekends, the way TAS has described the problem.

 

[LAA]

I'm always surprised how much I can get done in a short period of time if my Wife provides the
proper incentives, which she has rarely failed to do.

 

[DoubleO7]

Burn it off, after it has rained good, small stuff will be easier to spot.
And the magnet idea will work better too.