Advice on chain harrows please

Marigold4

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I'm looking to buy a chain harrow to go behind a small Kubota 20 hp tractor. This year and last I have let my grass grow long as "foggage" on two acres of my 5 acre field. This has resulted in a kind of "mat" of dead material at the base. The harrow needs to be able to rake this dead material out from underneath. Anyone got any suggestions what type of harrow I need? I'm guessing more than a loose chain harrow as this would just bounce over the top. Would a spring tyne harrow be too much? Perhaps a chain harrow with a frame and tynes?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 

Tiddlypom

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We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

642A193A-7C24-4EA8-9D9F-2E6EFD9D825A.jpeg

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc.

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow
 

Lady Jane

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We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

View attachment 85269

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc.

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow
Very interesting. Do you know the HP of your Quad?
We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

View attachment 85269

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc.

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow
@Tiddlypom And what width do you have?
 

Tiddlypom

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Very interesting. Do you know the HP of your Quad?

@Tiddlypom And what width do you have?
We've got the 2m wide grass harrows. We don't have a quad, we tow them with our old LWB Shogun, which is pretty beefy. They do take a lot more tugging than plain grass harrows, I'm not sure that most quads would be powerful enough, but I'm not a quad expert. Arenamate would advise on that, though :).
 

Marigold4

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We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

View attachment 85269

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc.

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow

Thanks for replying. That looks perfect! I'll investigate.
 

Joeyjojo

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I originally got a chain harrow which was OK, but we have quite a lot of debris in our fields so decided to upgrade to a tyne harrow so we could raise and lower it and manoeuvre it more easily. It's so much better, its transformed our rutted fields. Its an arena mate, like the pp and I think it's brilliant. I'd thoroughly recommend one. Admittedly though they are significantly more expensive than a chain harrow.
 

cauda equina

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We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

View attachment 85269

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc.

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow
How do you get the dead stuff out of the tines?
I've got a sort-of similar but much smaller SCH dethatcher with just 2 rows of tines
It does a good job but gets clogged up after a bit; to get the debris out I unhitch it and tip it up on its back end which works well but is slow and laborious
 

scruffyponies

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A basic chain harrow works fine, especially if it's a good, heavy (usually older) one. They are usually reversible, with longer tines on one side than the other. Personally I find they are more effective the faster you go, which is terrific fun on a vintage MF35 with no suspension :D
 

Goldenstar

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I have a five foot chain set of chain Harrows with weights quite a lot you see second hand have lost their weights .
I tow them from a SWB defender they certainly do the job you describe because it’s exactly how I sorted out the mess left after my experiment with froggage .
I gave the field a good go with the chain harrows then topped with a mulching deck then rolled and let nature and topping sort it out .
 

Lady Jane

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We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

View attachment 85269

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc..

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow

Arenamate say I can tow their grass harrow with a 500cc quad and are calling me back tomorrow. Looks just what I need. I bought an Arenamate leveller for the menage a few years ago and it has saved hours of digging out the sides which was back breaking.
 

Marigold4

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A basic chain harrow works fine, especially if it's a good, heavy (usually older) one. They are usually reversible, with longer tines on one side than the other. Personally I find they are more effective the faster you go, which is terrific fun on a vintage MF35 with no suspension :D

Thanks for replying. I think I'll try heavy chain harrow first as they are so much cheaper, and upgrade if needed.

I bought a Kubota 20 hp in end. Absolutely love MF 35s but couldn't justify hogging so much shed space - I have to share with boat-mad husband.
 

Marigold4

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I have a five foot chain set of chain Harrows with weights quite a lot you see second hand have lost their weights .
I tow them from a SWB defender they certainly do the job you describe because it’s exactly how I sorted out the mess left after my experiment with froggage .
I gave the field a good go with the chain harrows then topped with a mulching deck then rolled and let nature and topping sort it out .

Thanks for the tip about the weights. I'll start with a secondhand chain harrow and see if that works. Good to know it sorted out your foggage. Never again!
 

PurBee

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We used to have a basic set of 6' chain harrows, which were a lot better than nothing. A few years ago we upgraded to an Arenamate grass harrow with spring tines, and they are a completely different ball game. They pull out thatch with ease, and are easy to manoeuvre. They are much more thorough than chain harrows.

They are excellent at levelling up poached ground.

View attachment 85269

They can be raised and lowered if needed to get through gateways etc.

We tow ours behind a SORN'd 4x4.

https://arenamate.co.uk/arenamate-grass-harrow

I too use a spring tine harrow - glad i went for that rather than chains as im able to press the tines in with the 3 point linkage and gouge deep if wanted - handy for mossy areas and to get air to the roots.

The tines can get clogged (if field/thatch/moss is damp mostly) but i stop at the edge of the field after a couple of lengths and using the up/down jolting of the back tractor arms am able to shake off the debris and restart more lengths.

Best to harrow when its been dry for a while, but not bone dry drought, as youll be ripping grass roots and they’ll want moisture to re-grow. Harrowing when ground is soggy wet and you’ll have the tines getting clogged easier/faster. If the mulch material you want to break-up is dry it usually falls off the harrow as you go along.

Best to go at quite a good pace to help the mulch fall off the tines, i find.
 
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