Recreational Tiling

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I'm come to the conclusion that some local farmers have more money than sense.  Pattern tiling on steeply rolling ground?  That must cost $600/acre on ground that one doubts will pay it back and one wonders if there are any drainage issues in the first place.  In the draws or a sidehill seep, yes, but pattern tiling?

Well, I'm grumbling because I have a draw I want tiled out and I can't get anyone to come and do it.  They're all booked up. 

[illiceman11]

Getting someone to do small jobs is a problem bought a small cat 302c track hoe several years ago and have laid over 12,000 ft.of tile over the last few years.No problem when slopes are involved.

I feel I was able to do the job within reason as far as costs go.You can lay alot of feet per day when you have one helper.No need to go over 26-30 in deep.Good luck,

[kraft-t]

Tilers are notorious for not showing up when they say they will. A large part of the problem is large projects are more profitable  and those projects often get larger when the tiler is in the field..

Some of the pattern tiling is done because of plugged or broken tiles and the owner does not have tile maps showing the existing tile. When in doubt do it all.

[djsinseia]

I agree.

We have had our own tiling machines for years.  I do all my own tiling on hill ground and I know that by knowing the ground and where to put the tile, I can probably get the same effect with 25-30% of the tile as compared to pattern tiling - and you won't touch pattern tiling for $600/acre.

I have an old Vermeer 600 tiling machine.  I do lots of little jobs of 500-1000 feet that you could never get a custom tiler in to do. 

I did have a new creek bottom farm pattern tiled last summer.  Put in 60,000 feet.  Would have taken me years to do that - and I don't have a laser or gps on my machine.  I think it was worth the investment.

I don't know how a lot of people can farm without a backhoe of tiling machine of their own for small jobs and fixing blowouts.

BTW, I do have an old PT-12 tiling machine that hooks behind a tractor and uses a cable winch to move it through the field.  It has been sitting in my shed for 10 years since I bought the 600.  I might part with it if you are interested.

[buckfarmer]

I have been tiling wet seeps on hills in southern Ohio for a few years. I think most of it has paid off in less than 2 or 3 wet years. Pattern tilling may be harder to figure return. I just got a 10 year lease with one of my landlords. I felt I could spend about 800 an acre (some pattern, some seeps only).

[buckfarmer]

I told my tile contractor about this post. He says all the tiling he does is recreational to him.

[kraft-t]

Actually, some of us have farmed for years with poorly tiled farms and now we have the means to do it for the next generation. About like the guy that always dreamed that he could build a milking parlor and after he builds it he decides to retire. That has happened more than a few times.

Thus good land has been made better and if the heirs farm it they will farm better land and if they sell it they should harvest a better price. 

[Kay/NC]

I would venture that almost every farmer has dream items or actions that would make their farm 'perfect'.  This tiling or that parlor probably fall into that category. 

We are working on one aspect of this place, and a smaller, related item, at present.  It is about the only thing on our list for now.  Then again, as soon as you get one done, something else very likely comes to mind. 

[Jim Meade / Iowa City]

I'm doing some tiling this spring.  One string to drain a long-standing wet spot and another two strings to drain a draw that has standing water.

But, neither are pattern tiling steep hill country, which is what the OP was about.  Judicious tiling is a money maker.  Pattern tiling clay knobs?  I wonder. 

[Kay/NC]

Jim, this is why I so frequently refer to bubble behavior;  people acting like taking out one bottleneck - in this case, drainage problems - is worthwhile.  Unless the land is superior otherwise, they will just run into another limiting factor, which is either insurmountable or too expensive, under even today's commodity prices, to hurtle over.