I'm considering dropping some coin on a Great Plains Turbo-Max (12') in part of my efforts to bring my hayfields up to snuff.

Anyone have any experience and thoughts of these?

https://www.greatplainsag.com/en/products/418/turbo-max%C2%AE

Can't help with any experience, but that looks like one awesome implement. Person could save alot of diesel and trips across the field. Pricey?

Check out degelman also. This is a neighbor's and is reportedly much better than the Great Plains " high speed disk" I was amazed to see it run in grown over laid out fields this fall and leave a good seedbed ready to plant after only two passes.
This one has reportedly been over 10,000 plus acres with zero needed repairs.

That degelman looks like a beast. I'm not familiar how it compares but know the TurboMax seems to focus on the straight vs curved coulters to minimize soil inversion.

That said, I'm looking at a pricey 12'. I'm tempted to go 15' since I have 168hp, but am advised that I should go conservative since I have some slight hills. Yet I'd think the 168 would have no problem.

EDIT: I found this info on comparing the Great Plains TM to the Degelman PT:

Key Differences:

Aggressiveness: The Turbo-Max provides adjustable aggressiveness with its variable gang angles, allowing for flexibility between light and moderate soil disturbance. In contrast, the Pro-Till is inherently more aggressive due to its concave disc design and heavier build, making it suitable for more intensive tillage operations.

Speed and Efficiency: The Pro-Till is designed for high-speed operation, enabling rapid coverage of large areas, which can be advantageous for time-sensitive fieldwork. The Turbo-Max, while capable, may not match the Pro-Till's speed in certain conditions.

Soil Disturbance: For minimal soil disturbance and maintaining surface residue, the Turbo-Max is preferable. If deeper soil mixing and residue incorporation are desired, the Pro-Till would be more appropriate.

Where are you located? What is the dominant soil texture?

SunrayAg said:

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Where are you located? What is the dominant soil texture?

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Between Calvert and Bremond (between College Station and Waco). On the bluffs of the Little Brazos River but most of the property is not in the bottoms.

When you say hayfields, do you mean like pasture bermudagrass, or something planted for hay?

The vertical tillage should be good for aeration without turning it over. If you are trying to plow in seed oats or wheat, there would be some strips left out.

Thanks for the tips. Yes, Coastal Bermuda for round bales. We won't be seeding anything.

It hasn't had much attention in a decade or more and has not been aerated to my knowledge in 30 or more years. Seems pretty compact so I hope the TM is enough. We scratched up a segment earlier in the spring and it was notably better than the rest.

My two cents worth…..

Hay fields will most certainly get compaction issues, especially with soils like your "yellow" ones (Shipps clay fixes itself). With proper cutting height, good fertility, and timing of cutting (sometimes it's too wet, but you have to get o there) this issue should be minimal. HOWEVER, if you are going to use such an implement, do it every 3 years or so and go deep to "shatter" rather than inverting or causing tons of surface disturbance - that's where weeds come from and it damages the grass more than necessary. Every year is likely unnecessary, and face it, it's an expensive machine that expensive to pull.

Rent one if you can.

I am still using an old Tuffline brand pasture renovator. It is small, and I only have a 45 hp tractor, but it was fine for our small hobby farm. I usually went over about 60 acres of pasture every 2-3 years. It is a three point implement and only 6 feet coverage. I think they made up to 12' for larger pastures. The tool has 4 rows of straight coulters followed directly by a small shank chisel that cut the vegetation and opened up about a 1" slot about 6-8 inches deep.

Our place has typical East Texas soils, sand on the hills and clay/sand in the creek bottom. Every time I run the renovator, I notice a definite improvement in side by side comparison with better growth and soil moisture retention. In the past, I knew some hay producers with coastal bermuda, that got positive results as well. This tool is much cheaper, but I always wondered if there was some compaction occuring just below the chisel depth.

Does anyone else have experience with using one of these?

I like this post from the "side by side comparison" aspect. Always a good idea when considering a practice. When someone approaches me with the idea of using some "super soil bug" or "super micro fertilizer" I usually recommend doing strips at first, and to not let visual appearance be their final guide. Actual production increase should be measured.

The VT tools are more commonly used in row crop applications, after harvest to chop up and size residue (stubble and stalks). If you are wanting to loosen up the bermuda the pasture renivator will be the better option.

There's Tera-Max that is a bit more aggressive than the Turbo-Max, and uses chisels I believe.

Since it's been decades since the pastures have been renovated or tilled, it seems like we have a great deal of compaction. Is there a "pressurometer(?)" that I could rent/borrow to check the compaction? From what I gather, it is desirable to have under 250psi about 4-6" down for this type of soil?