Chain v Spring Tine Harrow

[H-horse]

Hi,

We have been extremely lucky and realised our dream of having the horses at home. Our new place has approx 10 acres of pasture. I have an oldish 80hp tractor to harrow the fields amongst other things. However I am unsure which type of harrow would do the best job of spreading the poo and maintaining the grazing.

Any experiences and recommendations would be most welcome 👍

Thanks

 

[Tiddlypom]

We've upgraded after many years with a basic set of 6' chain harrows to a set of spring tine harrows, and the spring tine harrows win hands down. We tow ours behind a 4x4.

 

[Achinghips]

Congratulations on your new dream. So exciting! It's difficult to answer that without knowing your stocking rate as well as the length of your grass and the makeup of your soil. I prefer a chain Harrow if I have a churned field and want to spread poo, like after winter. If it's got some moss or shallow weeds I prefer a tine. I tend to use a chain Harrow coming out of winter for churned areas and a tine Harrow if the land is compacted, followed by a slit or plug Harrow. Of course you can add weights to adjust the depth of any type of Harrow anyway. But they all do slightly different jobs. Given the time of year, I'd opt for a chain and use it in the lighter setting

 

[Antw23uk]

A local farmer did a spring tine harrow on my paddocks last spring. to be honest I thought it was too late and I'd missed that small time frame of when best to do it but he did a great job and it all came back lovely. I am hoping to have a 4x4 soon and will invest in my own spring tine harrow for sure.