Friday Farm Fun- Harrowing, a Spring Time Event

Me harrowing

Awhile back I mentioned harrowing in a facebook comment and someone asked what that was. We rural farm people forget city folk don't have a clue about farm practices we take for granted and that happen several times a year.

This time of year we harrow the pastures/fields where we've been feeding cattle. It happens more in smaller acreages than  on larger ones because feeding cattle in a small area means they are leaving multiple cow pies in that small area. Did you know that every time a cow stands up they make a pie? It was proven by our 4-H club one year at county fair. They kept a chart of every time a cow stood up and the ensuing pie they had to scoop up and pile in the wheel barrow.

But I digress, harrowing is a way of breaking up and spreading the cow pies around the field. Which as we all know is a great fertilizer and will help the grass grow but only if the pies are broken up and spread out. Grass has a hard time growing under a 3-4 inch high and 8-12 inch round pile of manure. Kind of hard to get any sunshine.

the harrow- it's like a large chain link fence
only with spikes on one side

The harrow is dragged around by a tractor at our place. It can be pulled by a four-wheeler or pickup if that's what is available. A field that was once filled with piles every five to ten feet can be leveled and look like a pristine palette after it's harrowed.

Be wary though, you can't harrow frozen pies. They won't break up and will just bounce around under the harrow like loose rocks.

We also harrow the fields where the horses have been. They tend to leave apples in an area, picked by them, just for apple dumping. For a horse pasture, we'll make many swings through that area dragging the apples over the full field.

A harrow can also be used to level dirt that has been plowed. But that's a whole 'nother tutorial.