C Brlecic

I find it interesting that having milking animals on a forage diet is considered cutting edge.
Am I wrong or isn't that how they naturally ate since the dawn of time? lol

I'm all for reusing things. But has anyone has thought about this... unless you know exactly where the pallets have been used, and what they've come in contact with, there's no way to know what chemicals it may have come in contact with. I'm multiple chemical sensitive so chemical transference is always on my mind. I know pallets can come in direct contact with any number of very toxic materials by ruptures, spillage, placement on toxic substances etc.. Food for thought.

To clarify, we "have to" hay (or sometimes just mow down the grass) until we can afford animals. Once we can afford animals we won't be haying anymore. And why we need to mow/hay, we have a huge amount of wetland, ponds, lakes around the area, that are not necessarily healthy and definitely lack biodiversity, and so there is a lack of beneficial insects and predators of biting bugs. I will be remedying this as well. The amount of biting bugs are so great that we cannot go outside without full bug jackets and being fully covered and there is no time of day when we are not attacked. Not so nice when we have hard work to do and its hot outside. What doesn't help is that my children and I cannot use bug dope (my children even react to citronella but I found that is ineffective here anyhow). And I've tried every natural alternative on the web, we even own a mosquito magnet. We find that keeping the grass down helps keep the bugs at a distance as the house is mainly surrounded by pasture. It's a matter of survival until we get the farm up and working which will not be for quite a few years. This is why the ground needs to be somewhat level, so we can safely run a tractor across it.
Good point, haying is not fallow. It was fallow last year: we didn't have time to mow it down. The soil is good, and I love the clay, we never have to water. But the low permeability needs to be addressed a bit, we have a lot of run off and that wetness stays for days, if not longer, on the surface. We need it to permeate a little faster. That's what I mean by the clay needs to be addressed.
As I mentioned before we plan on buying/renting a deep plow (subsoil plow, yeomans plow, whatever you prefer to call it) to not only address the clay, but because the past owners ruin the ground they created wet areas in every ditch, depression, tire track, etc that they made: thus adding to the mosquito and no-see-um population. However, I'll be able to build a natural swimming pond without a problem here I've spent 4 years now looking at everything on this farm and addressing the issues holistically. That's why we are cleaning the slate, the previous owners were so ignorant of nature and her processes, that they did everything wrong (and I mean everything) which has caused so many serious issues that it's too numerous to talk about on this forum. And I know people will ask "well why did you buy the farm", it was literally "live here or die" what would you choose?
So this is where we are and as I've said, my only issue is trying to mitigate the unlevelness with the least amount of damage and resources. Would just using a deep plow level the ground? I've never used a deep plow before so I have no reference to draw from and I cannot find any mention of this on the web. Or would we have to use a deep plow and a light harrowing? I don't know. That's why I'm here asking you veterans. Thanks again for all you input, I really do appreciate the help.

A brief back story... I am sort of new to permaculture (didn't know my way of thinking had a name) and a green farmer. I have limited "old" farming knowledge from my father who grew up on a generational rural farm. That's how I came across permaculture, I knew we could work with nature rather than against her. Before I even heard about permaculture or Sepp Holzer my ultimate long-term plan was to have a 100% certified organic property and produce that doesn't require the resource inputs that most conventional farmers put in. I wanted it to be self-sufficient, but it doesn't need to be a huge money maker (though I will continue to work towards that too). My property and everything on it has major issues and so we are cleaning the slate and starting completely new. I have researched and found appropriate solutions to all issues except one:

Problem... our 160 acre farm housed too many cattle and the previous owners ran heavy equipment when the ground was very wet (we have high clay), both have utterly destroyed the ground. We need to repair the land before we can consider having animals of our own (bison, turkeys, and a few goats). In the meantime we've been haying the pastures (which is about 70 acres the rest is in trees), and to give you a sense of how bad the land is, we have been almost thrown from our tractor haying. I am currently looking for a deep plough, as this will help with surface run off and pulling organic matter further into the clay rich soil. The land has been left fallow for 4 years now and all we've done was hay, so its in pretty good shape other than the unlevelness. But how to rectify it with the least amount of damage? How do I level it without ripping "the crap out of" the surface (harrowing), or risk compaction by using a roller. Once it's been corrected I will not use equipment on it again unless I absolutely have to. I plan on designated roads for equipment throughout the property and want only animals on the pastures.

Problem complication... I have multiple chemical sensitivities that almost killed me (unfortunately so to do my two very young children) which forced us to buy this farm away from cities before we were ready. Because I am still very sick and we do not get help out here, my husband is doing most of the work himself in evenings and weekends. I try to help as I can. So we have very limited resources of all kinds. We need to correct the unlevelness in the most time, cost, and energy efficient way while doing the least amount of harm. If there is such an animal.

Any suggestions achieving the above would be awesome!!! Thank you!