Starting to disc

I thought I would have my hay field dug up by now.  Back in September Wyatt said he could plow my hay field in October once the grass and alfalfa were killed.  Then I would drag a disc over the field to break up the dirt clods, then a harrow to make it smooth and fine.

Well, Wyatt - though laid off, is still working in helping the company to shut down the plant.  This will continue into December.  So he doesn't have time to plow my hay field.

But he said since I sprayed and killed off the alfalfa and grass, that dragging a disc would be sufficient.  He lent his disc a few years ago to a woman down the road and would get it back so I could use it.  I checked a few times and he still hadn't gotten the disc.  Finally he said he had another disc out in his back field.  We measured the disc and it would just fit through my gates.  My gate is 16 ft and his disc is a little over 15 ft.  First he had to put in a hydraulic cylinder and replace the hoses.

Once I took a shower, washed two loads of clothes and then picked up and stacked a pickup load of logs, I got the disc this afternoon. While I still have a few more pickup loads of logs to get and stack, cutting up the field before Winter is more important.

The disc barely fit through my gates.  I had to be really precise in pulling the disc through the gates.

After I got the disc through the first gate I noticed one tire was flat. The tire is old and had sat in the sun.  The thread came apart.  The tires are only really needed when lifting the disc up and transporting it.  With the tire flat, even with the disc lifted all the way up. the back row on that side slightly drags on the ground.

So I am pulling the disc now to cut up my hay field and will wait till later to pull the wheel off and have Wyatt replace the tire.  In the video below look at the tire on the right side to see the tear.

The disc is very noisy.  Very noisy.   Squeak!  Squeak!! Squeak!!!   I don't think it had been used in a long time.  I shut my tractor window and turn the radio up.

The disc cuts the ground but I find I will have to pull it around my hay field many times to cut up the ground good.  In my original plan where Wyatt first plowed the field I imagined I would have spend only two to three days to disc and harrow the field.  From what I got done in three hours today it looks that it will be much longer than that. 

Brown: sprayed.  Green: not sprayed.

Here is a 30 second video of the disc in action:  https://youtu.be/uQd3V3DnOsM