Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Pasture Terraces?

Just like farm over terraces on crop ground. The local soil office is talking 5 foot high structures with tile.

Not sure how "farm over" some of them are.

I have several places I do brush cutting on with those terraces. Most you have to follow the terrace and the contour... You can't run up and over the berm with any pull behind equipment. Especially a large batwing cutter, or something similar that pulls from the drawbar.

While I understand why they do it, and can see the benefits, they sure can be a pain to deal with.

Here's a photo of me cutting a pasture with terraces. The land was done in terraces in the 50's. I still have to ride the top of the terrace and follow the contour, then ride the next one in the opposite direction, then cut the ground in between them. Notice how the wings are downward on both sides when riding the crest.

Slows things up a good deal. Much faster without having the terraces to follow.

That's it Barry. Keep the water where it works!

around these parts, if a pasture has terraces it's because the land was tilled at some point, and then turned back to pasture after someone figured out that the land doesn't produce crops for squat.

Down here you usually see it in pastures within a close proximity of a watershed where runoff causes erosion.

My Dad started farming the crop ground in 1959. Folks that don't understand contour farming make fun of it.

I hunt a place with some serious terracing done decades ago when it was a popular practice and put in CRP plus some pasture. Some was put back in crop recently where the terraces are a royal pain slowing equipment down, the terraces are also not needed with notill planting.

Same here. Cotton was king a century ago. I know where there are some rock terraces on a steep hill next to a creek. Most are just plowed terraces. It's all woods now, mostly planted pines.

I have about a 10 acre field that is terraced. Probably done back in the 1940's. Although it can be a pain to farm, it's needed.

I may need to drive the soil conservation man to the terraces, and show him.

Thanks all.

My pasture has tarraces probbly put in in the 1950 with government money. It has not been farmed I’m my lifetime 60 years but probbly was back then

That’s exactly the case on some of the land that my grandparents owned, both sets of grand parents, in west central Ks.

Yep. Same here.

Other than to help control erosion, I can't see why anyone would go to the expense of terracing cattle pastures.

Keep the water on the hill where it will grow grass.

I'd want to see a cost/benefit analysis.

There is enough mud in the Mississippi River now.

There is quite a bit of land here that is classified as HEL, highly erodible land. Terraces work well on that kind of land, and in some occasions may be the only way to keep that from becoming useless as far as cropland. Pasture is a little different, but if that land is needed as pasture, I can see the benefit.

That's it.

Those I see down here may or may not have been farms at some point, but the terraces I see are in steeper runoff areas and not only do they control erosion, but the retain the rainfall much longer on the acreage so the grass can benefit.

I agree that terraces can be very useful on crop ground. They've fallen out of favor around here for dry dams/water and sediment control basins. Most often designed with a backslope that can be farmed across.

I wouldn't tear out terraces on pasture ground that had them, but I do not think it would ever pencil to put them in on existing pasture. Better grazing practices and appropriate renovations/overseeding would be a more cost effective practice.