We just bought our tractor a month ago with a FEL, bucket, auger, rake and grapple claw. I almost feel like it’s what to fix when. We have one pen that’s been used as a dry lot (totally wet, uneven, on flood plain, standing water in hoof prints, etc.) Another pen is filled with pine needles, so we got a rack. How many ways can a box scraper or harrow be used? Trying to decide what’s best to buy for my wet pen. BTW, I intend to put a dry lot in the wet pen. It’s been drying out and was dry when we bought it, we’ve just had an incredibly wet winter. Of course, there’s a pond on the other side of the fence, so we have some runoff. Thanks in advance!
Grapple claw! I’m jealous! What’s the HP of your tractor? Is this a decent sized grapple where you can pick up 6-8 or more bales?
Box scraper: cut into the ground, spread materials. Adjust it so it’s not level but one corner is turned down and swivel it, and you can cut in a shallow drain area, then fill with rock. What I don’t like about it: like any 3 point attached implement that is not independent with it’s own wheels, it follows exactly where your tractor goes. If not careful being aware when to adjust it up or down, you can end up with wavy ground.
Harrow: freshen up compacted paddocks, spread and disintegrate poop in the pasture, drag pastures to level out bumps. Some people use in their arenas. I never would because it would ruin the base. I have an arena groomer for that.
I have a box scraper and 2 different sized harrows. I rarely use any of them. The most I ever used the box scraper was when I built a riding trail. I had to carve out the trail into the side of a sloping field. It worked well. I’ve also used it a few times for leveling some gravel. That’s about it. It’s been sitting for about 10 years. I don’t like harrows a whole lot because you can’t pick them up while you’re driving to your destination. You can attach them upside down to drive them somewhere, but both of mine are heavy to flip over and they also get tangled. If they were mounted to a frame where you could lift them off the ground, that would be ideal.
If making a dry lot in an area where you have runoff, you’ll need to build the land up with drain rock then gravel to get above the flood zone. If you scrape down, you’ll only create a muddy mess. Your box scraper could be used to help spread and level the drain rock, gravel, and then the final footing.
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Your other equipment can do the jobs of the box blade. The chain harrow to spread manure piles in the pasture is essential. I use the FEL to lift and transport the harrow when needed. A frame on the 3 point is much nicer, but the FEL does the job. I overlap each pass of the harrow as needed to get a good manure dispersal.
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Grapple claw! I’m jealous! What’s the HP of your tractor? Is this a decent sized grapple where you can pick up 6-8 or more bales?
We had 10" of snow in December, so unusual for Atlanta. When we had about 10 trees go down, we decided on a grapple in lieu of the box blade. Now we’re going back for the box blade! I haven’t tried to pick up a lot of stuff with it. We used it to grab ahold of a tree that wasn’t quite on the ground yet and then chain sawed the tree into smaller pieces. We haven’t taken to a burn area yet as we had 3 large pines down between two of our pens. Those of have been cut down by the sewer easement people; we just need to move everything. We haven’t tried moving bales with it; I don’t think it will hold 6-8 bales though. It’s not one of those monster one - makes me jealous too!
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Your’s is probably a root grapple. My mind went to a hay grapple, which has talons that dig into bales like claws. A root grapple would be handy for round bales or large square bales. You could probably pick up a few smalls with it without too much damage.
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Wow! I didn’t even know there was a difference. When we went to purchase the tractor and grapple, we explained about having downed trees and having to chainsaw and move them. The guy showed us one that would work, so we went with that. So many toys - how to choose - LOL.
