Agricultural tool

Crumbler roller, commonly used to compact soil after it has been loosened by a harrow

In agriculture, a harrow is a farm implement used for surface tillage. It is used after ploughing for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. The purpose of harrowing is to break up clods and to provide a soil structure, called tilth, that is suitable for planting seeds. Coarser harrowing may also be used to remove weeds and to cover seed after sowing.

Harrows differ from ploughs, which cut the upper 12 to 25 centimetre (5 to 10 in) layer of soil, and leave furrows, parallel trenches. Harrows differ from cultivators in that they disturb the whole surface of the soil, while a cultivator instead disturbs only narrow tracks between the crop rows to kill weeds.

There are four general types of harrows: disc harrows, tine harrows (including spring-tooth harrows, drag harrows, and spike harrows), chain harrows, and chain-disk harrows. Harrows were originally drawn by draft animals, such as horses, mules, or oxen, or in some times and places by manual labourers. In modern practice they are almost always tractor-mounted implements, either trailed after the tractor by a drawbar or mounted on the three-point hitch.

A modern development of the traditional harrow is the rotary power harrow, often just called a power harrow.[1]

Harrow action

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In modern mechanized farming, generally a farmer will use two harrows, one after the other. The disk harrow is used first to slice up the large clods left by the mould-board plough, followed by the spring-tooth harrow. To save time and fuel they may be pulled by one tractor; the disk hitched to the tractor, and the spring-tooth hitched to, and directly behind, the disk. The result is a smooth field with powdery dirt at the surface.

Action of a harrow on a ploughed field

• The mould-board plow leaves distinct furrows (trenches) across the field.

• The harrow smooths the surface of the ploughed field.

Types

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In cooler climates the most common types are the disc harrow, the chain harrow, the tine harrow or spike harrow and the spring tine harrow. Chain harrows are often used for lighter work such as levelling the tilth or covering seed, while disc harrows are typically used for heavy work, such as following ploughing to break up the sod. In addition, there are various types of power harrow, in which the cultivators are power-driven from the tractor rather than depending on its forward motion.

Tine harrows are used to refine seed-bed condition before planting, to remove small weeds in growing crops and to loosen the inter-row soils to allow for water to soak into the subsoil. The fourth is a chain disk harrow. Disk attached to chains are pulled at an angle over the ground. These harrows move rapidly across the surface. The chain and disk rotate to stay clean while breaking up the top surface to about 1 inch (3 cm) deep. A smooth seedbed is prepared for planting with one pass.

Harrowing with tractor and disk harrow in the 1940s)

Chain harrowing can be used on pasture land to spread out dung, and to break up dead material (thatch) in the sward, and similarly in sports-ground maintenance a light chain harrowing is often used to level off the ground after heavy use, to remove and smooth out boot marks and indentations. Used on tilled land in combination with the other two types, chain harrowing rolls remaining larger soil clumps to the surface where weather breaks them down and prevents interference with seed germination.

All four harrow types can be used in one pass to prepare soil for seeding. It is also common to use any combination of two harrows for a variety of tilling processes. Where harrowing provides a very fine tilth, or the soil is very light so that it might easily be wind-blown, a roller is often added as the last of the set.

Harrows may be of several types and weights, depending on their purpose. They almost always consist of a rigid frame that holds discs, teeth, linked chains, or other means of moving soil—but tine and chain harrows are often only supported by a rigid towing-bar at the front of the set.

In the southern hemisphere, so-called giant discs are a specialised kind of disc harrows that can stand in for a plough in rough country where a mouldboard plough cannot handle tree-stumps and rocks, and a disc-plough is too slow (because of its limited number of discs). Giant scalloped-edged discs operate in a set, or frame, that is often weighted with concrete or steel blocks to improve penetration of the cutting edges. This sort of cultivation is usually followed by broadcast fertilisation and seeding, rather than drilled or row seeding.

A drag is a heavy harrow.

19th century harrow

Power harrow

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A rotary power harrow, or simply power harrow, has multiple sets of vertical tines. Each set of tines is rotated on a vertical axis and tills the soil horizontally. The result is that, unlike a rotary tiller, soil layers are not turned over or inverted, which is useful in preventing dormant weed seeds from being brought to the surface, and there is no horizontal slicing of the subsurface soil that can lead to hardpan formation.[2]

Historical reference

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Spike harrow depicted on a 16th-century German coat-of-arms

In Europe, harrows were used in antiquity[3] and the Middle Ages.[4] The oldest known illustration of a harrow is in Scene 10 of the eleventh-century Bayeux Tapestry. An Arabic reference to harrows is to be found in Abu Bakr Ibn Wahshiyya's Nabatean Agriculture (Kitab al-Filaha al-Nabatiyya), of the 10th century, but claiming knowledge from Babylonian sources.

See also

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References

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What Are the Most Useful Tractor Attachments?

Four tractor implements everyone uses and one that will change the way you work forever.

If you’re a small farm owner or prospective homesteader exploring tractor attachments for the first time, then you already know there are dozens of implements on the market with specific use-cases. However, when it comes to what tractor attachments are the most useful, there are a few that have been the go-tos for dirt work and one that revolutionized small farm, arena, and property maintenance.

The Classic “Must Have” Tractor Implements

Box Blade 

Anything that moves across your driveway, arena, farm, or yard will feel variations in the land. Uneven ground can result in poor irrigation and increased risk of injury for the people and animals who use it, which is why leveling is often one of the first steps of any land-ownership experience. 

You could fill holes, spread dirt, and otherwise level your gravel, dirt, or footing by hand with a rake. But that is unnecessarily laborious and time-consuming. And that’s where a box blade comes in. Many homesteaders and property owners seek out a box blade as their first tractor implement due to its usefulness from the backyard to the driveway, small farm, or garden. Box blades are commonly used to fill in holes, smooth out lumps, and generally improve hard, uneven soil. 

Landplane 

Popular on small properties, landplanes do have a simple design for smoothing surfaces, especially gravel. While landplanes are able to perform grading and leveling tasks, their design is less versatile than a box blade as they are built for smoothing surfaces and little else. 

When it comes to driveway maintenance and surface finishing, however, landplanes are a commonly used basic attachment. Long, driveable paths are within a landplane’s sweet spot as their two, diagonal cutting blades are positioned to level out the surface; and the walls on either side of the cutting blades help prevent spill-over, so you don’t have to continuously re-work the gravel or dirt to get it even. 

Landscape Rake 

For many, a traditional landscape rake is the go-to tool for gravel driveway maintenance. The curved tines are made to loosen small rocks, roots, and debris, in an effort to prevent compaction and minimize potholes. Used before leveling or grading, a landscape rake helps break up the top layer of the ground you are working with, to help loosen it. The curved design holds debris as it’s pulled up, making the clearing out process simpler. 

Landscape rakes are effective in clearing out vegetation and preparing ground. It’s a hefty tool to be used for one step of the process when doing dirt or gravel work. 

Chain Harrow 

When it comes to maintaining the health of your property, chain harrows are considered by many an essential tractor attachment. Typically used after a box blade, chain harrows offer numerous benefits to your homestead or small farm. They’re useful for a range of tasks including breaking down and distributing manure clumps, and pulling weeds with shallow roots.

When used after a box blade or landplane, it provides a relatively complete surface finishing. But that finish requires all four tools, which is why ABI’s co-founder Kevin Keigley combined the box blade, landplane, landscape rake, and chain harrow into the ultimate tool for grading, finishing, and surface maintenance. 

The Best All-in-One Tractor Attachment

That brings us to the TR3, the all-in-one attachment that saves you storing space, time switching out attachments between jobs, and cost with only one implement to buy and maintain for your ripping, leveling, and finishing needs. 

The TR3 can do everything a box blade, landplane, and chain harrow can do–but better, faster, and more efficiently. 

But we’ve been in the industry long enough to know that not all property needs are the same, which is why our TR3 has different models for both property and equine use-case, for your sub-compact or compact tractor. 

The Best Tractor Attachment for Arena and Landscape Work: TR3e Equine Edition 

In the same way that the right tractor attachment improves pasture health and makes gravel easier to maintain, the right arena drag bolsters your horses’ performance. The TR3e Equine Edition gives you all the tools you need for effective landscaping while also working as an intentional, efficient drag that makes the feel of your horses’ steps match their expectations. The TR3e Equine Edition eliminates hidden compaction and uneven spots that distract your horse while training or performing and can be the cause of serious injuries.

Using the TR3e Equine Edition, you can be confident that your arena, pasture, paddock, and driveway will be optimized for your horses, property, and lifestyle. It works for sub-compact and compact tractors, making it friendly for any small farm or homestead that also needs an effective arena drag. 

The Best Attachment for Compact Tractors: TR3 Rake

Compact tractors can break through hardpan, rip out vegetation, push debris, and create the perfect seedbed for lawns, gardens, or food plots with the power of a TR3 Rake. Best of all, the TR3 Rake makes the work simple by using our patented drag bar to automatically level the ground while you drive the tractor. 

Don’t take it from us, take it from The Stony Ridge Farmer who tested the TR3 Rake for himself. 

“This is hands-down the best thing that I’ve put my hands on for smoothing and leveling land after we cleared. You can run over it once or twice, not four times, no hiring to get the work done. Doing this you’re just ripping the ground up, getting a seed bed prepped, smoothing the land out. You’ve got a ridge. You work it down with this and you pull that ridge out and you’re ready for seed.”

-The Stony Ridge Farmer 

What’s the Best Attachment for Sub-Compact Tractors: TR3-E Property Edition 

Landowners with a sub-compact tractor will benefit from the extreme adaptability of the TR3-E Property Edition. Like the other products in the TR3 line, it comes with the utility of a box blade, landplane, chain harrow, and landscape rake. With the TR3-E Property Edition, you get the extra bonus of purchasing an optional disc system that replaces even more common tools like a disc harrow, rotary tiller, and plow. It’s the best way to manage your land, big or small, and complete your work better and faster than ever.    

Ready to Replace Three Tractor Attachments with the One that can Do It All? 

Our TR3 product line includes variety and options to fit your exact needs on the farm. Call a product specialist at 877-788-7253 to determine which implement sizes and styles are right for you.