Garage Gazette
General Category => GENERAL DISCUSSION TO INCLUDE OFF TOPIC => Topic started by: skfarmer on April 26, 2019, 10:30:06 PM
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one of the saddest things for me was the loss of this old thread. lots of pics, lots of memories and most of all lots of time spent with my dad. losing him last year was tough. lots of things that i am having to do without him looking over my shoulder and giving advice, wanted or not. i have never had a growing season completely without him so.........
here is to you dad, wish me luck!
spreading fertilizer on the first field this evening. maybe we can get some seed in the ground in the morning.
in the pics below i am spreading dry fertilizer with my new holland t6070 elite and an old mobilty spreader. the t is a front wheel assist tractor with 140 hp but will hit 165 when boosted under certain applications. i use a trimble 500 light bar to control the autosteer.
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Thanks for starting this thread up again. I'm sure your father is riding along with you every single time in the fields.
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Good to see this thread back.
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I agree, this is a wonderful thread and a great tribute.
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I know how you feel. Coming up on 18 years without my dad. Hardly a day goes by that I don't think of something he said, can't pick up a tool it seems without remembering how he used it.
SK, the pain doesn't get less - for me it gets diffused. Sounds weird, but it's like the pain of the loss gets spread over more "life", and isn't so pointed and agonizing. Probably not making alot of sense - it gets more manageable with time.
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I'm glad you revived the topic Harlan; even if it is painful. I'm sure your dad would have supported that decision as well. Most of us suburbanites and city dwellers have no idea what happens on a working farm. It's a view that I was never exposed to, and I enjoy the pics and the narrative. The fact that you have a family operation makes it even better.
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I always enjoyed the old thread. It interesting to see what farmers do in different parts of the country.
Your just getting the year started and locally they have corn up 2ft or so.
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I always enjoyed the old thread. It interesting to see what farmers do in different parts of the country.
Your just getting the year started and locally they have corn up 2ft or so.
Its still so wet around here you can't get in the fields and Northern Maine still has snow in places.
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The only thing working in fields around here are ducks.
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thanks for the comments guys. i did this in a rush the other night as i didn't think i would be starting that day.
to start out and get all up to speed, this is a continuation of several year thread at the old place. i am small family farmer in se nd. i am larger than the average us farm but on the small side compared to many in my area. my grandfather and his brother moved down the road from my place in 1920 and within a short period of time lost it. his brother then moved back to iowa and my grandfather and his family moved to where i live now. i sleep in the room my father was born in and lived most of his life. none of that is really important but it does give some background,
i grow wheat, soybeans, corn and alfalfa as well as having a small pasture and a few head of cattle. as far as the workforce, i am pretty much it for full time. my sons help when they can but one is a full time paramedic and the other is a full time student. i also have a couple couple good friends who will help when it gets extremely busy. up until last year my dad was here nearly every day and was a huge help. he is greatly missed even if he didn't fo the hard labor as much as he used to.
there won't be pictures every day but i will try and get pics of important times and activities through the season. some days there is so much going on i don't know where to turn and other days nothing happen so that is what this thread will be like.
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in the pics above, my son aaron is driving my cat challenger mt765b. it is a 320 hp rubber track tractor and he is a pulling a new to mw 40 foot wil-rich quad 5 field cultivator. this the first field we have used it on. i bought it cheap and it needed some work but so far so good.
sorry about pic quality. sometimes the pics may not be so good but taking pictures in a moving vehicle don't turn out the way we want and what you get is what you get when i look at them later.
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i did get some planting done on saturday and sunday. in thes pics i am driving my cat challenger 55. it is a 225 hp tracked tractor and i am pulling a 30 foot 455 john deere grain drill. the 455 got all new discs, disc scrapers and harrow teeth since last year. lot's of people are shocked that i still use a box drill. simple answer is that it is paid for, works well and suits my needs. i'm cheap!
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Being cheap is not lethal. And, the younger generation doesn't know how to accumulate money: "don't spend it."
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Being "cheap" is kinda a farmer trait.
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Just as many openers to work on with an air seeder vs a conventional. And no air tubes to get plugged with dead, rotten mice. And no hyd leaks into seed tubes that take a fire hose to clean out. Things I wish I didn't know for $200 please.
Greyson
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Harlan, here's an issue that I've been wondering about. It's been in the news and concerns the fact that farmers are fighting with the big equipment monopolies to get access to repair information. What's happening on that front, and are you affected by it in any major way?
For those not aware of the issue, see the linked articles below.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-23/u-s-farmers-need-a-better-way-to-fix-their-tractors
https://www.wired.com/2015/02/new-high-tech-farm-equipment-nightmare-farmers/
There are some grassroots efforts on the legislative front to address the rights of farmers to fix their own equipment, but I haven't heard much lately.
If you feel this issue is inappropriate for this thread, feel free to move it into a separate section --
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Just as many openers to work on with an air seeder vs a conventional. And no air tubes to get plugged with dead, rotten mice. And no hyd leaks into seed tubes that take a fire hose to clean out. Things I wish I didn't know for $200 please.
Greyson
i have tossed around going to something different but as you said, they all have issues. they also seem to be more expensive to work on and require a lot more monitoring equipment.
if i had to guess i covered about 25-30,000 acres since i last did this project. that puts my cost per acre at about 10-12 cents. pretty cheap in my book.
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SK, glad you restarted this thread.
As to the drill, if its getting the job done in a timely enough manner, and you know how to maintain and repair it, why would you change unless there is a big economic benefit.
My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting SK at the family homestead. Couple of observations. Real friendly, down home folks. Proud of their state and hometown. Good kids. Well equipped shop. Older equipment but well maintained and not beat up. Well liked and respected in their community. Chevy people ;D Definitely flat landers :)) (said the guy who grew up among rolling hills) Well maintained property. Most of you already knew this about SK but might be a few newcomers who don't know him yet.
GF, as to the Right to repair issues of the manufacturers, if that doesn't get sorted out, look for lots of small farmers to get bought up by the big ones.
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Harlan, here's an issue that I've been wondering about. It's been in the news and concerns the fact that farmers are fighting with the big equipment monopolies to get access to repair information. What's happening on that front, and are you affected by it in any major way?
For those not aware of the issue, see the linked articles below.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-23/u-s-farmers-need-a-better-way-to-fix-their-tractors
https://www.wired.com/2015/02/new-high-tech-farm-equipment-nightmare-farmers/
There are some grassroots efforts on the legislative front to address the rights of farmers to fix their own equipment, but I haven't heard much lately.
If you feel this issue is inappropriate for this thread, feel free to move it into a separate section --
no problem ray. i will gladly talk about it.
the problem is real. i run a fairly low tech operation. not much stuff around here that i can't do without but it is becoming a real issue. any new tractor or combine is high tech, planting equipment has a lot and even tillage equipment is getting it. it all needs to communicate and work together and any little glitch can shut the whole thing down to a dead stop.
just last week, the display on my 765b failed. i mean it worked one day and not the next. through that display, i see what gear the machine is in, ground speed and and it monitors almost every aspect of the machine. through it i set ground speed, engine speed, shift sequences, hydraulic flow, etc.
you do not want to know what it cost to replace it and get it programmed to the tractor. it is available only through the dealer and there is no reman or aftermarket parts available. i was lucky that it would move yet and i was able to take it to the dealer to finish the repair and avoid a second service call.
phil, are those compliments or something else? ;)
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GF, as to the Right to repair issues of the manufacturers, if that doesn't get sorted out, look for lots of small farmers to get bought up by the big ones.
i am not sure if small farmers are the only ones getting pinched there. downtime is downtime and it hurts no matter how big or small. that is one reason that older equipment is holding its value. it is generally lower tech and honestly can be fixed by anyone. it requires no def, no regeneration and no computers with brand specific connectors and software to diagnose.
a bigger problem may be lack of equipment. i am finding it more difficult to find equipment that fits the size of my operation. used equipment usually comes from larger farms and is too big for smaller farms to use when it is traded in.
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Haha, I assume you are referring to the Chevy and flatlander comments. I was a Chevy guy until I bought a Ford last year, now I am still a Chevy guy who happens to drive a Ford.
As to the flatland, you know I have always been amazed at how flat your part of the world is. I remember sitting in your backyard and you pointed out some dust clouds caused by folks harvesting and said they were 3 to 5 miles away. In my area you are lucky to see more then a 1/2 mile unless you are on top of a hill and then you can just see to the next hill.
My comment about the big farms buying up the little ones was the bigger ones can better absorb the cost of repair and are more likely to have spare equipment to cover downtime. I may be off base though.
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finally back in the field yesterday. i may or may not have said it before but i am usually in the field before the snow is gone in the road ditch north of my yard. in fact i started over a week ago and as you can tell. quite a bit of snow actually.
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spend a lot of time with this as my view, looking out the front of my 55. i really like running this old girl. its way over 20 years old but starts and runs better than much of my newer equipment. yesterday she finished seeding my first field and largest field of wheat. took me over a week but its' done. i have another field worked and ready and another ready to work.
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GF, as to the Right to repair issues of the manufacturers, if that doesn't get sorted out, look for lots of small farmers to get bought up by the big ones.
i am not sure if small farmers are the only ones getting pinched there. downtime is downtime and it hurts no matter how big or small. that is one reason that older equipment is holding its value. it is generally lower tech and honestly can be fixed by anyone. it requires no def, no regeneration and no computers with brand specific connectors and software to diagnose.
a bigger problem may be lack of equipment. i am finding it more difficult to find equipment that fits the size of my operation. used equipment usually comes from larger farms and is too big for smaller farms to use when it is traded in.
Ding ding!!
Some of the 20-30 year old tractors in the 250-300 hp range are actually going up in price. Dad and I went to find some bigger hp a couple of years ago and I was very surprised in equipment prices. We wound up buying a 55 Cat like SK's that was pretty much trashed inside, after a summers full of work and $10,000 in parts we now have a very nice machine that has vastly improved productivity and we can work on it.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190506/f0fe6d3ac8111cce454472ca6409cf34.jpg)
Done
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190506/54d4d7c877ead94960410c303113b0fe.jpg)
New tracks this winter
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190506/838259671b5bd52b67c61d908623a2d7.jpg)
When we brought it home. Most of the glass was out of it and the cab was in bad shape inside.
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GF, as to the Right to repair issues of the manufacturers, if that doesn't get sorted out, look for lots of small farmers to get bought up by the big ones.
i am not sure if small farmers are the only ones getting pinched there. downtime is downtime and it hurts no matter how big or small. that is one reason that older equipment is holding its value. it is generally lower tech and honestly can be fixed by anyone. it requires no def, no regeneration and no computers with brand specific connectors and software to diagnose.
a bigger problem may be lack of equipment. i am finding it more difficult to find equipment that fits the size of my operation. used equipment usually comes from larger farms and is too big for smaller farms to use when it is traded in.
Ding ding!!
Some of the 20-30 year old tractors in the 250-300 hp range are actually going up in price. Dad and I went to find some bigger hp a couple of years ago and I was very surprised in equipment prices. We wound up buying a 55 Cat like SK's that was pretty much trashed inside, after a summers full of work and $10,000 in parts we now have a very nice machine that has vastly improved productivity and we can work on it.
Highland -- Are they going up in price because of the fact that you can still work on them and don't have restrictions put on them by the manufacturers?
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GF, as to the Right to repair issues of the manufacturers, if that doesn't get sorted out, look for lots of small farmers to get bought up by the big ones.
i am not sure if small farmers are the only ones getting pinched there. downtime is downtime and it hurts no matter how big or small. that is one reason that older equipment is holding its value. it is generally lower tech and honestly can be fixed by anyone. it requires no def, no regeneration and no computers with brand specific connectors and software to diagnose.
a bigger problem may be lack of equipment. i am finding it more difficult to find equipment that fits the size of my operation. used equipment usually comes from larger farms and is too big for smaller farms to use when it is traded in.
Ding ding!!
Some of the 20-30 year old tractors in the 250-300 hp range are actually going up in price. Dad and I went to find some bigger hp a couple of years ago and I was very surprised in equipment prices. We wound up buying a 55 Cat like SK's that was pretty much trashed inside, after a summers full of work and $10,000 in parts we now have a very nice machine that has vastly improved productivity and we can work on it.
Highland -- Are they going up in price because of the fact that you can still work on them and don't have restrictions put on them by the manufacturers?
Anyone can work on them at home, no DEF or other emission control systems that randomly require you to stop to allow the system to clean it's self, very wide selection of "cheap" parts, any tech or "jail braking" of tech has long since been figured out and is now very reliable, and the cost of initial purchase. For an operation of our size its really the only option, but even some of the large growers in our area have stopped buying new tractors, one has stopped buying red and green and has started buying AGCO yellow. Reason behind his decision is simple, $$, and the AGCO GPS system works with red and green.
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Anyone see what boxcar magnums and 50/55 series deeres are bringing lately! :-\
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quit just before dark this evening. sometimes a short walk in the evening, just taking in the shadows and the smell of the dirt is good.
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a good sign when the trucks get empty and you have to refill the seed trucks.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190506/54d4d7c877ead94960410c303113b0fe.jpg)
New tracks this winter
glad you like it. always make me nervous when someone makes a purchase based on your experience,
good looking track. i bet it hooks up well with that.!
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It better :-\
It did ok last year with the belts it had but these where definitely needed. Now if it would just stop raining.
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Anyone see what boxcar magnums and 50/55 series deeres are bringing lately! :-\
Go back even farther and look at what the 88 series IH and 40-45 JD's are doing. I still cant figure out what the draw to the 4440 is, they demand big $$ and I dont know why.
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4440? Good hydraulics, decent cab, quiet, a 2 speed powershift, a transmission that acts like a shuttle between forward and reverse, parts availablity and maybe more telling is that well cared for ones often go to 10,000 hrs without touching the internl engine, clutch or tranny.
My 4440 started yesterday like it had been ran the day before and I literally had not looked at it since December.
50, 55 and 60 series just kept getting better features and kept all the ones that were already great. I could hop in 40 series and up jd, new holland genesis or an early slab side magnum and run it all dayong witbout much fuss. An allis, white, case, massey or ford of that vintage......um, no thanks.
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My biggest gripe with the 40 and up JD's awkwardness of getting in the cab, and the pillar in the windshield. But I was also raised on a 5088 or an open station AC 190 so maybe Im biased. We had a JD 6300 for a few years, that was a nice little tractor. I would hate to think how many acres of hay I raked and moved with that thing.
I love the early Magnums, probably the best looking tractor ever produced imo.
Any opinion on the flat track Challenger's? (65,75,85) I have been watching them sell and they have slid off in price, most are bringing less than the Magnums and JD we have been talking about.
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My buddy has an old 65 and loves it. He doesnt use it a lot but wont get rid of it either. This is a guy who has a pile of late model john deere equipment if that means anything.
I never thought the center post on 4440 was a big deal. It lined up with the exhaust and air cleaner so vision was blocked there anyway.
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a good sign when the trucks get empty and you have to refill the seed trucks.
Looks like you are using that mid sized tractor you bought to run the grain/seed auger
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I do not care for the 88 series styling one bit.
It seems the biggest problem people find with a piece of equipment is because they just arnt used to it. While someone whos been running the same machine for years sees no problem with it.
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been an off and on week behind showers but the wheat is in. regrouping and or moving today, next field is corn and it is 20 miles away. going to move the planter and seed/fertilizer trailer first.
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Been a crazy week. Got the corn in and been rolling hard on soybeans all week. Should get done before the rain sets in for the weekend. If my old junk holds together. :))
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late night work
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planting corn and soybeans at the same time. we had rain in the forecast all week and missed it until late friday night.
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josh planting soybeans with the 55.
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old school! this a 1979 4440 with my oldest autosteer, still works! i planted soybeans into last years corn stalks. the seed bed wasn't real good after planting so we hit it with a drag. it leveled the field and knocked more dirt from the root balls. it looked pretty good after that.
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hi elroy!
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lots of long days this week.....
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as you may have guessed by now. i am caught up with planting. i finished about 7 on friday night and have been just trying to catch up. here are some interesing facts from this springs planting.
24 days start to finish. 17 of them actually doing field work such as tillage, planting or spreading fertilizer.
we did field work 14 of the last 16 days.
this is the first year a crop has been planted on this farm without my dad in a long, long time . he was born in the house i live in in 1929 and had planted crops here since the 40's and likely the 30's. my sons and i did all of the planting and tilling on all but one field of fertilizing, no other help. somehow we filled a large empty space but it surely wasn't the same.
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hi elroy!
Excellent composition. :-*
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I know what your feeling, we lost granddad last year during planting. Although he hadn't been working with us in the fields for awhile, he was still there with us "supervising" everyday right up till the end. I know harvest last fall was hard but time goes on. I'm just glad I was able to have my son with me in the tractor one day during planting last spring, that made 4 generation of us in a field that goes back 6 generations in the family.
Glad to hear your done with planting, we only have 40 acres in. Every time we get about a day from being dry enough to plant it rains another .5"-1.5".
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absolutely. the wealth of knowledge and experience that the older timers had is something that can only be had by watching and working the land for a generation. maybe he only gave rides or felt the soil in his hands or checked the depth of seed but he was someone to bounce ideas off of and had seen many thing change but many stay the same over the years.
good for you on having your son in the tractor. my wife changed jobs when my youngest son was about 3. because of that he spent much of the time before kindergarten with my dad and i. lots of sandwiches, fruit snacks, naps on the floor of the tractor cab, trips to the sale barn and every other thing i did for 2 years. i don't know if he will be a farmer but he will be in the ag business in some form. i think much of that seed was planted when he was a small boy hanging with his dad and grandpa.
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It will stick with him, look at you, look at me. I think when sons hang with dad they tend to follow the same path, I know I have.
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been raining almost every day for a week. i have been pretty lucky to be done. not much water damage but we are full to capacity! a good start for the wheat.
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all the machinery is parked. once i see everything is up and no skips i will start pulling pins and putting things away.
here is the mt765 and the wil-rich quad 5 i picked up this spring.
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the challenger 55 and john deere 455 drill.
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the t6070 with john deere planter. not a lot of 8 row planting stuff around here anymore but it works for the acres i need to put in rows.
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my trusty old kw t800. i only have 2 trailers. one of them is this 28 foot reefer. it came out of texas and as you can see was a labatt meat trailer. i will have to get some more pics of the inside but it has a 1650 gallon flat bottom and a 1850 gallon cone bottom tanks. it also has a 190 gpm transfer pump, a bench, 2 mix cones and all of the assorted plumbing and hoses to get everything where it needs to be. there is enough room to get about three pallets of seed, supplies and chemical in there depending on whether i am planting or spraying.
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apple trees are blossoming and one of the garden boxes is planted,
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calves are out in the pasture.
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brought some new babies home today. mrs sk said how about white ones? they had 2 british white angus and 3 white parks. they will look good with the blacks.
my dad always told me that when he was gone, so would the cattle be. i proved him wrong. i don't think he would have picked white critters but i think he would approve.
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There is something very relaxing about watching cows -- (unless you have to smell them of course). Used to live next to a dairy farm back in the 90s, and the cows would often break the fence and get into our little pasture. They just liked our side better (guess the "grass was greener" --LOL). Very friendly critters, I believe they were the Guernsey (SP?) breed.
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Sk, did you used to complain about the steers to your Dad or did he just do most of the work for them? I would certainly keep them if for no other reason then you know where your meat comes from
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Just the other day I was driving to town and traffic came to a halt. There were loose cows and calves on the road.
One day as a friend and I were driving through the dairy farms in Chino CA after flying his Stearman he asked me if I thought the cows were as bored as they look.
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Hopefully everything comes up ok and doesn't get flooded out or ate off at the ground. Seems like there's about a million different things that can ruin a field in the first 2 months.
I love seeing the different regional styles of equipment. Around here, everyone has a flatbed with a tank as a water truck and buggy on a trailer for spraying. Our field entrances are usually so tight you have to park on the road shoulder and load the buggy there. An enclosed trailer wouldn't work very well here. The big change here in the last 5 years has been the move to liquid fertilizer 3/4 of the time. The number of power bins and buggies with dry boxes is thinning out.
There's a canuck farmer on youtoob a friend of mine sent me that's a goof ball, but tells it as good as anybody. Not a valid youtube URLvideos
Even if you're not a farmer, it's a good watch.
Just the other day I was driving to town and traffic came to a halt. There were loose cows and calves on the road.
One day as a friend and I were driving through the dairy farms in Chino CA after flying his Stearman he asked me if I thought the cows were as bored as they look.
Been there...
(https://i.imgur.com/PEifdzol.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/1LL6OFPl.jpg)
Greyson
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Those are some widebodies for sure Greyson. Not too far from dropping some calves.
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That was Christmas eve a couple years ago. I think they were still almost a month out from calving, but getting moved to the feedlot in preparation.
Greyson
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Sk, did you used to complain about the steers to your Dad or did he just do most of the work for them? I would certainly keep them if for no other reason then you know where your meat comes from
good question phil. he loved the cattle and i mean that. he could watch them for hours. not so much that he did more work but he paid more attention to them. he just knew that i didn't feel the same way. not that i don't like them or care for them, but then maybe i am getting more like him............oh boy..
i do like to know where my food comes from.
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There must be something about old men and cattle.
At the dairy farm I worked on through high school the grandfather of my boss was about 93. Everyday after his breakfast and when we were done milking and the cows were back in the free stalls he would walk from the house up to the stalls just to watch the cows.
My grandfather would sit on the porch swing at the farmhouse and just watch the cows when he got to old to really help out much on the farm.
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am i old? i like to watch the cattle as well. i may not watch them for hours on end but i really enjoy watching them from my deck, my kitchen window or my screen house. better yet with coffee in the morning, a cool drink in the afternoon or an adult beverage in the evening. i bet goodfellow would enjoy watching cattle while enjoying a fine stogie!
i think the "old guys" enjoy watching cattle as it brings back fond memories of the old days when if you took care of the cattle the cattle took care of you. everyone had a few cattle, a few hogs and a few chickens. if you had them you had something to create some revenue through thick or thin ot at least put food on the table.
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I was referring to your father when I said "old" lol but I can't count the hours I spent just watching cattle myself. So I think it's more a mentality thing and I think your right on thinking back on the past.
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We finished with tillage about 2am last Sunday. Everyone in the area is freaking out due to the lack of acreage planted, but what can you do.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190610/f3a59d9ffe75fa2cb8cf24111101e445.jpg)
Weeds have almost taken over
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190610/3af51c274e72570614a289e554c047fe.jpg)
Good photo opp after a bathroom brake
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190610/652919f99d92ad309218d259e3322464.jpg)
Next to last pass after 18 hours of running
Should be done planting by the end of the week.
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You guys wet as well? Guys are a little behind around here, bit seems most fields are in and rising
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A little behind isn’t even the word for it. There are thousands of acres that haven’t even been touched yet. The tallest corn I have seen between southern Indiana and the Dayton Ohio area was maybe 8”-12”. We are usually hip high this time of the year. What little corn is up is also struggling with cold wet dirt. Even my garden looks pathetic. Good year for hay though!
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Can't argue with any of that. Remeber when i daid i fi ished for the first time. Many here did not and since that time i have replanted some wheat and corn and about 30% of my soybeans.
We did get the hay cut and baled it yesterday. An excellent first cutting.
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Everybody is planted here though running a little later then usual but nobody seems concerned. Wet spring but has been decent lately. Moisture seems just about right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,at least my lawn is happy.
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this topic went upside down. for lots of reasons i just couldn't motivate myself to keep it up. the short version of a long story is that this growing season started out wrong and never changed. every twist and turn of the season put me farther behind. july was cool and the crops just didn't gain much traction from being planted late. excess rain and cool weather are not what we needed. wheat harvest was late and stretched to nearly labor day and it was a struggle to get the ground worked once much less twice.
the weather finally improved and i thought i caught a break. i started soybean harvest the last week in september and was almost half done when it started raining again. i had 3 inches of rain on the 28th. on top of already wet soil it spelled disaster. between more rain and then snow i didn't harvest another soybean for over 5 weeks. i did eventually finish soybeans about 2 weeks ago and just finished corn yesterday. with lots of teamwork between friends and neighbors almost all of the crops here are finally out, mostly on frozen ground. the crops were okay but just miserable to get. i only managed to work about 75% of my corn ground and less than 10% of my soybean ground.
the last 4 days were a hard, hard push, today i just put most things away filthy dirty and will worry about it later. i am just glad to be done and thoroughly beat.
i feel somewhat fortunate as the only thing we wrecked is a set of tracks on my challenger 55. lots of tracks, transmissions and hydro pumps and motors taken out this fall. i think they can be rebuilt but they need to be taken off and shipped out of state. a winter project i guess.
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Bummer to hear about the tough season Harlan. Take to winter to recoup and reflect and here's to a better season in 2020!
Despite the (now seemingly normal) we spring here our crop grew and almost all the crops are off. My uncle finished up his beans and only has some corn to go yet.
His neighbor picked up a rock and broke almost all of his finger off his feeder house drum. After that he thought he wanted to get plastic ones!
Sent from the twisted mind of the Mudman
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I, too, am sorry to hear about your woes SK. I'm no farmer, but from what I read about the spring floods and early fall freeze I figured it looked bad for corn and soybeans. Just been a bad year for many farmers in the Midwest. I hope you weather it well.
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Wow -- good luck Harlan. Have a happy holiday and put this season behind you ASAP. It's tough to be a farmer these days.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/theyre-trying-wipe-us-off-181648150.html
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Wow -- good luck Harlan. Have a happy holiday and put this season behind you ASAP. It's tough to be a farmer these days.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/theyre-trying-wipe-us-off-181648150.html
They are trying to wipe out small business period. Not sure how any farmer makes it today. If you sat down and figured it out most probably make less than minimum wage. They just work 7 days a week to make up for it. The rural way of life is slowing dying. Maine is a perfect example of it
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They are trying to wipe out small business period. Not sure how any farmer makes it today. If you sat down and figured it out most probably make less than minimum wage. They just work 7 days a week to make up for it. The rural way of life is slowing dying. Maine is a perfect example of it
^^^This^^^
Independence and self-determination are the two attributes that set us apart, and the powers that be can't allow either. Any and all business must be controlled by the government, and they will do everything in their power to bring us under their umbrella.
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thanks for the concern guys. i am ok. i am tired and stressed no doubt but other than a twisted ankle from a misstep from a ladder in the dark several weeks back i am well. i know what i signed up for many years and i knew i would sometimes have time like this. ten years ago we ended up in a situation like this. i am happy because rather than finishing the day before christmas we finished the day before thanksgiving. sooner than i thought.
global warming? climate change? i didn't know about that but i do know we had way above average snow last winter with cooler temps. excess moisture and cooler than normal temps persisted all summer and are continuing. the cooler temps actually helped me get done earlier than i thought as the frozen ground supported harvest equipment that would sink out of sight only days before. i may be jaded but i have seen much of it before and and my father who lived through the 30s saw even more. one of his favorite sayings was that it always rains after a dry spell. he also said it can get wet one heck of a lot faster than it can get dry.
as i came home from my farthest field yesterday i stopped at the cemetery to visit my dads stone. i told him not to worry that we got done but we sure could have used his help.
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Here in Eastern Nebraska most guys have gotten finished up with the harvest. Haven't heard any numbers yet, but its been awful late just waiting for the and to get dried up and grain moisture to come down. All spring we had too much rain, and along the Missouri River many tens of thousands of acres got river water on them, that never went awayl The river was high all summer, corp of engineers kept the release from the dams up high, some of the highways were flooded off and on all year. Ground hasn't froze yet, but the crops got out anyway, know several guys that got their combines mired down, got to be careful pulling out $490K machines. Down near Missouri is the same, places flooded, grain bins popped, everybody is hoping for a normal year in 2020.