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Leveling is a PAIN!!!!!

L

LarryT

Member
Spent the last week with a blade chasing me around on about 42 acres of field that hasn't been used in about 20 years. It's been plowed in the same direction I don't know how many times. Shot grade on it and had as much as 18" of variation. These two fields have been abandoned and people have dumped dirt in them and dug holes on them. Got them into shape close enough to shoot a laser on them tomorrow and try to finish them this week and get them planted by the 15th. And to think, people think I just ride around all day. Got to love it.

By the way, any of you in the Midwest and East use laser leveling much?
 
Larry, it's worthless here in my rolling hills, but down in the Mississippi bottoms not far from me they use it a lot (Southern Illinois). Drainage is a big issue there. We use it on road work, for instance, to maintain a trench grade in relation to the edge of pavement, and the parking lot contractors also use it and love it. On the trench grade, the trencher (huge wheel machine) tows the laser on a little wheeled cart rolling on the edge of the pavement, and the sensor is on the trencher.

Paul
 
I have a dewalt self leveling rotating laser. Love it. Not sure it's range, 100 yds? Great for construction work.
George
 
Not much use for it in the piedmont region of Md. where we are, too many hills to level out first...
 
We set up out grades at a .01% lengthwise and as close to dead level across as we can get them. Water is so valuable here. Everything is irrigated or dead. Dry land farming is watching the sagebrush and cactus grow. So dry out here there are only about 30% of the cattle grassing as we had 5 years ago.
 
Putting the land plane and laser on it Wednesday. That's why time is so crucial now. I don't usually work on Sunday but my burrow is in the mire. I have a total of almost 300 acres to laser in the next two weeks and get the seed in by the 15th. Then I have another 200 in alfalfa that I got to get the fertilizer on by the 30th of March.
 
In my part of the midwest (NW Iowa) the only time lazer leveling is used is in the construction and drainage business. The closest area to me that I know of that uses lazer leveling for entire fields is the flood irrigated areas of southern Nebraska and NE Colorado, but that's getting a long ways away from here. Jim
 
There's a lot of flood irrigating around me. I might need to learn this some day. When you get a chance to breath and share your knowledge/experience later this spring could you put up a few posts on how you do this. I know how to use a transit and have the basics of leveling but its always nice to learn tips/tricks from guys that do it a lot.
 
Around here no one uses levels except for carpenters (and only the good carpenters!) In the hay fields, you'd have a hard time finding a flat place large enough to set up the laser... :)
 
I have to take my tractors to a neighbors farm to chek the oil.LOL, but I can rollstart my tractors so all is not bad.
 
They used a laser level to layout a deainage terrace really was easy,fast & accurate.. I remember back in the days when they mounted a level with a mirror on a tractor to lay out the terrace on corn field in Iowa corn fields. In our area every thing was planted on the contour level with grass waterways to carry of the water.Think I saw some arond Marshaltown Iowa a couple of years ago. Sure pretty but could get lost awful easy. Now with GPS it is simple. gitrib
 
I ran a GPS guided scraper tractor for several months here in Nor Cal, two years ago. That thing was pretty impressive. First drive around the field to make a survey, then program which way and how much grade to put in it. It was mostly automated, but did require some input. Was fun to learn, but would have gotten VERY monotonous. Also, had the effect of degrading the land in certain situations, to the extent of scraping the top soil off and using it for fill, and exposing less desireable soils. Tried to avoid that as much as possible, but some was inevitable...

Ben
 
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