What about thoughts on a cultivator with those roller things on back end to smooth everything out? Sorry for the complete lack of technical terms.....quite obviously i'm not a farmer
Yep, great to have as well. Cultivators, plows, etc - all are for sure nice, especially when you got the funds, big tractors, time, etc. If I was "food plotting" - I'd probably make life a bit "simpler" & go with a disc though. It's not because it's the "best way to go" - it's just - how much stuff does a guy want to mess with? There's a lot of different implements and methods to get the same results, surely one isn't right for everyone and every situation. When I was a young punk, I got by with a 4 wheeler, sprayer and harrow. Now it's spiraled into a full farm operation with a repair shop & more back up implements, tools, and planting methods than a guy would want to mess with. But, I can get any Ag-field done in pretty quick time now. Lot of lessons learned.
Some guys have the units for 4 wheelers or tractors that have all in one... cultivator, disc, seeder, dragger or packer (don't know exactly) - theoretically can do all with one pass. Which in some cases you can, some you can't. Same with a drill & kinda the same logic of "one pass" but- it "skips lots of steps" kind of - are all of them critical? Sometimes, sometimes not. A guy can spend a lot of time analyzing each situation, I'll tell you that. That's why there's 50 gazillion different implements. I actually would spend some time analyzing your situation for sure though - it's not a waste of time to think this all out and ask questions. There's no "right answer" for your situation. I'll tell you though - you have a tractor (or maybe some type of UTV or 4 wheeler maybe) & either 1) a disc, cultilpacker, spreader/seeder & sprayer 2) A sprayer, drill, spreader (for fertilizer).... You can make "most things happen". MOST. (substitute tiller in there too of course) Then, you have to start looking at - what kind of soils (steep, erodible, etc), what am I planting?? Big difference between doing corn, grains or big seed that needs to go down 1-2" at specific rates VS clovers or mixes, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Million things to plant, million ways to do it and then you need to customized the plan to your exact situation. Just start asking questions and learning, take a LITTLE bit of info from each farmer around you, the local coop Agronomist, a little from the implement dealers and start your trial and error process. Try "XYZ" implement and learn from it - see if it is doing what you want with results you want. Be sure to get on things EARLY and have LOTS OF BACK UP PLANS! If you screw up (which you will and everyone does and even if you don't - can't control weather or many situations) - have other things to use, plant, etc. Good luck.