Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[Sifan]

Lot of people buying an acre of ground and building a house in the country, they have no idea what it is to farm. They know half the road is theirs and they are taking it, with no thought of pulling into a driveway to let a combine, steiger tractor pass by. Road to nephew's south farm in central Illinois had 20 homes ten years ago, now has 60+

Local dealership as a community service took a combine and tractor to the school and let the drivers education classes sit in them to see what the driver couldn't see. Decided not to do it again when knobs, buttons, radio and computer monitor went missing. Also someone cut big gash in air ride seat.

 

[Sifan]

Glad you were able to get a used one. Stop at Lambert's?

Nephew had to have a part made at a machine shop, couldn't get it from dealership. Part to extend and retract unloading auger, hind of important.

 

[Biff Lungren]

Thank you for your thread, I enjoy it. I bet a bigger battery on your impact would give more umph,

 

[cliftonbros89]

Lot of people buying an acre of ground and building a house in the country, they have no idea what it is to farm. They know half the road is theirs and they are taking it, with no thought of pulling into a driveway to let a combine, steiger tractor pass by. Road to nephew's south farm in central Illinois had 20 homes ten years ago, now has 60+

Local dealership as a community service took a combine and tractor to the school and let the drivers education classes sit in them to see what the driver couldn't see. Decided not to do it again when knobs, buttons, radio and computer monitor went missing. Also someone cut big gash in air ride seat.

That is quite accurate. On our end of the county there hasn’t been that much expansion, at least not of new people. People just don’t seem to care. It’s not often when even waving my air out the window with all the flashing lights that someone actually pulls over. I’d say maybe 5% actually do. Occasionally people do but they aren’t observant enough to pay attention to when road signs and mailboxes are also in the way.

***** that didn’t work out. In theory that’s really a pretty good idea. There should be something like that for adults too!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Glad you were able to get a used one. Stop at Lambert's?

Nephew had to have a part made at a machine shop, couldn't get it from dealership. Part to extend and retract unloading auger, hind of important.

No, didn’t stop in there. Dad was the one who made the trip down there anyway. I tired to make him stick to a schedule once too.

Yeah parts is a real pain right now depending on what you’re looking for. I’ve been hearing to expect worse next year.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Thank you for your thread, I enjoy it. I bet a bigger battery on your impact would give more umph,

Thanks. Yeah I thought about a larger battery too. Those big ones are crazy expensive though.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So. Getting back to it. After the combine wheel incident we just kept rolling.


I just kept loading trucks and unloading trucks.

We didn’t really have any break downs in the field with the combine. But I did have to replace 2 gathering chains and I think 4 of the chain idler sprockets before we were finished. Every year we seem to have at least one chain break or become damaged from one of the idler sprockets going out. Every year we seem to have at least 2 of the idler sprockets go out as well. I’m really not a fan of that idler design with the grease fitting block thing on top of it. Seems to be a really poor design that doesn’t really properly grease the idler bearing. I don’t know if they’ve changed that on the newer headers or not. So I always had odd jobs like that to do in the mornings.

My uncle usually never was much on participating in the daily maintenance of things. But this year he’s really bad. Dad and I have been telling everyone he joined the Union on us. He’s a union operator and that’s it. He drive the combine and that’s it. He will literally sit in the cab while I grease everything, fuel the combine up, and clean the windows. This is another reason why the deck plate issue on the header was never fixed. I’m running around getting everything else ready and by the time I’d get things set then he had to be on the move. Too impatient to make things work properly.

But we kept moving.

Occasionally after dark.

Everyone spilt their share of corn.
Yes, that even included me. I was watching the bin and didn’t make it down the ladder fast enough to shut the auger off. Corn spilled over the side of the bin. So that was a fun time cleaning that up.


One of the stirall augers broke in one of the big bins. There’s not getting it out and replacing in when the bin is full. So since the stirall wouldn’t be running anymore we just put in another load of corn.

More trucks and augers.

Things we going fairly well. We missed a few rain chances. We had a few light rains that didn’t hold us back long either.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I don’t recall if I posted it or not. But a few months ago we had both semi-trucks checked out. Both had a few issues that needed to be addressed. We wanted them to both be ready to go for harvest.

We have the International 9400 truck, which has really been a good truck. Then we have the slightly smaller International 8600 truck. We’ve had a few issues with it in the past. But at well over 500,000 miles there’s bound to be a few things at some point.

Things we rolling along good. But then one afternoon, leaving the field, I tried to start the 8600. Nothing. Had power, but the starter wouldn’t do anything. I had the key switch turned on and suddenly the starter went on it’s own, started the truck and everything. So it not only started itself, but it wouldn’t stop either. I immediately tried to shut the truck off. The engine died. But the starter was still firing at full speed. I quickly undid the battery cables before anything else happened. Tried to quickly look at it. Then used my dad’s solution to all mechanic issues, I hit it with a hammer a few times. Tried to hook the battery cables back up, but the starter just wouldn’t stop.

Finally, I got dad to stop a minute and he helped me pull start the truck. So I was just going to let it run.

By the next trip with the truck I could tell something wasn’t right. Something sounded different. I noticed something was off. The exhaust didn’t sound the same and I wasn’t hearing the usual whistle from the turbo.

By the time we had it full again it was time to quit for the evening. Dad brought the truck down the road. As soon as he got to the shop he was complaining that the truck didn’t have any power. I’d mentioned it hadn’t sounded right earlier in day. But no major check engine codes showed up. Gauges all were good. No major leaks. No obvious failures anywhere. I told him I was curious if there was an issue with the turbo. But the engine was warm, it was late, dad was angry. So we decided to let it sit over night and check it out in the morning when it was cooled down.
The next morning we looked. I was in the right area. The turbo gasket was blown. There was an issue with the exhaust manifold when we’d had it checked out prior to harvest. Apparently, in reassembly someone didn’t tighten the bolts on the turbo properly. You could shake it. No wonder the gasket didn’t hold up. Not to mention bolts on a turbo to an exhaust manifold usually don’t just work themselves loose. I called the shop. They said the would fix it. They were also going to check out the starter issue.

But now we had to unload it. We also had to pull start it again after it’d sat all night and had lost air.

The air tank on the truck had a diagnostic style coupler on it to put air in. Luckily, literally just 2 days before this I’d got a few of the female diagnostic couplers for these fittings. They’re commonly used on newer Deere stuff for diagnostic test points. I’d ordered a few of the couples to set up on gauges to have for future possible use if there was an issue on one of the tractors of the combine.

So I aired the truck up. We pulled started it.

We unloaded it on to the other truck. By this time we had all the bins at dad’s full of corn. We were going to need some room for beans so we had to haul some corn off straight out of the field.

There were a few other things on the truck I tried to take care of too. Blew out the radiator and air filters.

It was running low on coolant so I tried to look into that issue as well.

I tried the pressure tester for awhile. But it never did loose any pressure.

So we had it empty. Had it running. So we unhooked the trailer and made the trip to drop it off and have things fixed.

It definitely needed to be fixed. But, that also meant we were going to be short a truck. Being short a truck with corn doesn’t make for a very productive time.
So we found ourselves with 108 acres of corn to go. Last field. In the bottom. Better corn. But only one truck.

We were lucky things worked out. We were going to have to haul some corn off and sell it right away. The landlords portion was supposed to go to their bins. But they were running low on storage for corn as well. So they had to haul some off to sell as well. They have 3 of their own trucks. So they were nice enough to help us out for a day and haul their share off. So that made a big difference in what we were able to get accomplished for that day.

 

[bugnut]

Hear you loud and clear on providing room for equipment on the road. Township decreed that all equipment use state roads, so traffic becomes a parade of pissed off late drivers. Following equipment this year I saw a mailbox and guardrail take a beating.
Is combining beans over corn or corn over beans a business ($) decision or is it based n field conditions? I ask because yesterday the discussion came up in my rural location and I did not follow the logic.

 

[cliftonbros89]

More updates to come.

 

[MacTexas]

I really enjoy your updates.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Hear you loud and clear on providing room for equipment on the road. Township decreed that all equipment use state roads, so traffic becomes a parade of pissed off late drivers. Following equipment this year I saw a mailbox and guardrail take a beating.
Is combining beans over corn or corn over beans a business ($) decision or is it based n field conditions? I ask because yesterday the discussion came up in my rural location and I did not follow the logic.

No one has any patience anymore. They got somewhere to be and they’ve got to be there now. Why should they have to adapt their schedule to your day? I’ll take a county road if I can over a regular highway. Usually a lot less traffic and in most cases on a county road everyone has to slow since the road isn’t as wide.

Choosing to combine one before the other? There are multiple reasons for doing so I suppose. But I think those reasons vary depending on who you’re talking to.

For us we plant corn first. So it’s typically drier first. Corn is more time consuming to get out of the field and takes more bin space. Typically the start of the fall is nicer when it comes to the weather. So it’s easier and faster to do when the weather cooperates. Another reason being, as some guys may be dealing with now, after corn gets so dry the stalks don’t always stand up to the weather. But as we saw with that storm that went through a few weeks ago it can take some corn down to the ground. Granted that can come at any time of the year. Another reason is that corn is easier to dry with a fan on a bin. Especially, the later in the year you get it can be hard to dry down beans.

With beans the downfall is as they dry they can start popping out of the pod right in the field. So you definitely don’t want to mess around and wait to let that start happening.

I know some guys like to plant shorter season beans so they can easily no-till wheat after the beans are out. There are a few farms in the area that have contracts to make some good money baling those large straw bales off the wheat ground. So they’ll plant a short season bean the year before. That way they can combine the beans earlier therefore getting the wheat drilled earlier. Then there’s less of a rush to do so when you’re trying to combine corn or a bunch of other beans later on.

But there are also plenty of guys that drill wheat after corn. They like to get that corn out first so they can work that ground and then drill the wheat.

It all depends on where you are and who you’re talking to I suppose. I guess you can say money would be a contributor. But it all depends upon the operation you’re dealing with. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily ground conditions. Usually when it’s wet at one farm this time of year it’s wet everywhere. It’s a pain to go back and forth because you have to switch things over on the combine every time you do that. That could waste a lot of time.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So we had one day in the last field with help from another truck. But the rest of the time I was on my own.

Since I was hauling this corn off to sell right away trips to and from the field took longer. So that meant there wasn’t much of a need to run around with the grain cart. So dad started disking the other corn ground in the bottom.


This field was mainly an AgriGold variety and one of the Pioneer varieties from the other field. The AgriGold didn’t do as well. But it overall the whole field average about 213 bu/ac. I’m not complaining.

By the time I’d return with the truck my uncle would have the grain cart and the combine both completely full. So I’d have the truck full in about 5 minutes or so and be on the road again.

The elevator I was hauling to was closing at 5. This particular day was a Friday. We had the truck full and the grain cart and combine both full sitting to be emptied in the morning. We also had a fish fry to go to that evening. We were supposed to eat with 2 brothers that are landlords of ours. They each have a little over 50 acres a piece that we farm. One has ground in the bottom. The other ground in the hills that neighbors our pastures.

We would be able to finish with corn the next morning on Saturday. Luckily, we were able to get the other truck back that same Friday evening. That was a big help. Plus, Saturday meant we’d have an extra hand as Noah would be coming down to help.

Included a few damp rainy days it took about 2 and a half weeks to combine all the corn. All together it was 560 acres. Little less than we usually plant. But that’s the way it works sometimes.

 

[captain14]

Thanks.

I’m glad someone enjoys them. I know I’m tired of seeing trucks and augers.

I think you only see them as broken down trucks and damaged equipment along with the repair time.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I think you only see them as broken down trucks and damaged equipment along with the repair time.

There are plenty of times through the day I find myself say, “what a worn out piece of ****”. Although usually not that PG.

 

[Sifan]

I share your truck pain ... 1/2 mile from ADM, blew radiator hose, limped in saw had enough hose to cut off end and reattach, but no antifreeze. Called and got other truck to bring antifreeze. Managed to get it going with only one burn on elbow when I got to close to the HOT turbo.

Back to farm, one dump cart and one combine hopper later, back on the road to ADM. Got within a 100 feet of last spot I blew radiator hose and blew it again. This time I fixed it right with a new hose. And I'm a slow learner, burnt another spot on the HOT turbo. Sometimes you just have to shake your head and laugh at yourself.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I share your truck pain ... 1/2 mile from ADM, blew radiator hose, limped in saw had enough hose to cut off end and reattach, but no antifreeze. Called and got other truck to bring antifreeze. Managed to get it going with only one burn on elbow when I got to close to the HOT turbo.

Back to farm, one dump cart and one combine hopper later, back on the road to ADM. Got within a 100 feet of last spot I blew radiator hose and blew it again. This time I fixed it right with a new hose. And I'm a slow learner, burnt another spot on the HOT turbo. Sometimes you just have to shake your head and laugh at yourself.

Luckily, I didn’t have any issue quite like that. But we blew a hose on a truck before going down the road. It was on the truck we had before we got out 9400. Dad was driving it and the upper radiator hose blew. He was at least able to get off the road and into a gravel parking lot.

Another reason I try to really look things over.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So come that Saturday we finally finished up with the last of the corn. We were ready to pull out of the field just a little after noon.

Beans were ready to be cut. So we headed back to the shop. We swapped things over on the 9770, greased everything, cleaned air filters, made some adjustments to things. Then by shortly after two we were heading back down the the bottom to get started cutting beans right away.

Within about 2 hours we’d finished one job and were ready to start on another. We moved the 9770 back to the bottom and had the grain cart and both trailer trucks ready to roll. We tried it out. Everything was working fine and the beans were dry so away we went.

Since things were working well we moved the 9500 and the tandem truck to another farm and got it going.


Both machines were running. I took care of a few other jobs. Then I’d got a call from my uncle. The last few loads of corn from earlier in the day I’d hauled off to be sold. At that elevator there are guys that unload the truck. You pull up to the pit. They’re standing there to open your hoppers, crank them wide open and let it go. But apparently on the last trip one of the guys didn’t get on of the hoppers closed all the way…. I can’t say it was my uncle’s fault. It’s hard to see under the trailer from the combine. Also the combine can unload pretty quick.

So there was a mess. A big one.

So I grabbed a scoop shovel and took the 7230 to the field and loaded it up. I completely filled the bucket on the loader twice like this. But the loader made it easy to just put right back on the truck. The stuff on bottom that got mixed in with dirt I dumped on the header on the combine. Running it through again cleaned it up.


So one we went. We got quite a bit knocked out the first several days.




My uncle and I kept things rolling. Both trucks and the grain cart we were getting quite a bit done. Beans weren’t too bad either. They were making lower to mid 60’s. I won’t complain about them.

We covered the bottom fields and bigger fields. My dad stuck to the small farms with the 9500 and tandem truck. We also swapped out so he could use the cart in a few places. We also had to swap the 4440 for the 8400 on the grain cart. We put the 8400 in the drill so we could start getting some wheat in the ground.

We tried to stay ahead of some rain a few times as well.

 

[cliftonbros89]

We had a few rainy weekends. I’ll go over those activities after the bean update.


We kept things moving. In between we were trying to do wheat, spread fertilizer, take care of cattle, mowed around a few fields, among other things.

Moving from one farm to another. Moving augers to other bins. Moving trucks. Take some beans to the bin. Hauling other beans off to be sold right away. I’ve put on a lot of miles in the the last 2 months.


We had a few set backs here and there. But for the most part we just kept trying to keep things moving. We were starting to make some ground and get quite a bit knocked out. Things have been frustrating. But things were also working pretty good too.

 

[cliftonbros89]

And more beans.

We finished our full season beans. Cut 50 acres of beans custom for someone else. Then it was time to move on to our double drop beans.

Double crop beans didn’t turn out the greatest. But they had a lot of stress to deal with. It was pretty dry for them. We had a few hill fields that didn’t do that great either. But especially, one farm in particular, that never does great. Beans outside the levee did good, despite having lost so many from flooding back in June. One field outside the levee actually had the best beans out of all this year.


We knocked out one farm of double crop beans with both machines…oh and only one truck…again…I’ll get to that later.


We actually finished up with the second crop beans, which was the last of ours yesterday (Thursday, the 4th).

But Wednesday we’d got a call. If you recall last year we had to end up cutting some beans for a guy after we were finished up. Well he just called Wednesday asking if we could cut them again.

He’s a full time electrician. None of the family really helps him out much, that I know of. So it’s just pretty much him. I think they might have a little over 200 acres that they farm. Most of it in the bottom and some in the hills. So we told him we’d do it. So we started on that yesterday.

My uncle and I took that job. Dad went back to drilling wheat. We had just about 50 or so more acres we wanted to drill for wheat. But we also have a bunch of oats we’re going to try to drill for cover crop.

Those 3 big rains we’ve had this past month really set is back on schedule. Had we not had so much rain I think we would’ve been done with everything before the end of October. Hopefully we can get some warm days to let that wheat and oats get a good start before the cold really sets in.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Everyone has really been getting after it the last few days cutting beans. Hauling off beans yesterday I spotted 20 combines running in the field as I drove through the bottom, not counting ours.

Couple yellow ones, could red ones, most of them were green. Saw about 16 going today driving through.

The bottom ground is really staring to clear out. Some wheat has been drilled. Due to the rains there’s still a whole lot of ground to be worked for the fall. Some wheat to drill yet I’m sure as well. But I’d imagine by middle of next week there won’t be much left down there. As far as I know I think there may be only 2 fields left down there with corn in them.

I’ve seen quite a bit of corn and beans standing in the hills yet. It seems some guys must be slacking. I’m not sure why. But some of the corn is looking pretty rough. Those heavy rains, winds and storms we’ve had has done a number on the stalks. If some of those guys wait much longer they’ll have one hell of a time trying to get that stuff out.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Thursday evening we started down in the bottom on the last of it for that guy. Friday morning was a cold one.


Hard to tell in the picture. But everything was frost. I never like when it gets like that. Have to sit and wait for everything to warm up. Defrost windows. Scrape windows off.


Ran all day with just one truck.


Close to getting done. Naturally, it wouldn’t be bean harvest without a header sensor issue. The header kept wanting to tilt all the way to the right every time you’d lift it with the header height resume. It kept throwing a code about the right header height sensor voltage. But the voltage was fine. My uncle, lacking patience, insisted he keep moving because he “didn’t need the all that contour stuff in the bottom anyway”. But the code still kept coming up and would come across the screen beeping all the time. I guess now that all the beeping was about to make him crazy he insisted it be fixed.

The thing was it would work. The only time it wouldn’t work was when everything was at high idle. So I was going to have to do some investigating.
So after we stopped last night I spent over an hour running through diagnostic ****. But I should’ve started a little more basic. I completely took the sensor off. A terminal in the harness end of the connector seemed loose. I fixed that. Then I just swapped the sensor out too and while I had it apart. Them everything worked!

I guess the vibration of the high idle was causing the loose connection to make even less contact. It had enough contact to get the correct voltage reading on the diagnostic screen. But I guess wasn’t getting enough to work properly. I guess the beep really was driving my uncle crazy. I think there was over 60 counts of the sensor code when I checked it last night.

So hopefully it stays in good shape long enough to finish up.

 

[cliftonbros89]

On the Harvest side of updates that will bring us to today. Another frosty, foggy morning.

I hauled off the 2 loads we had ready to go first thing this morning. Luckily, the elevator is open til 4 today.

If all goes well we should finish up today. That’ll be it for harvest 2021.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well that’s it. We finished up with all the beans yesterday. Combines were going like crazy everywhere yesterday again.

But there’s no taking it easy yet. Dad got started drilling oats for cover crop. So that job is getting started on. But we’ve still got to work the ground in the bottom, but it needs another few days to dry. Then there’s mowing around all the fields. Getting all 3 headers and both combines cleaned up and put away. We’ve got a group of calves that need they’re second round of shots. We need to ween another group of calves too. Lots to do before I start on maintenance on everything.

 

[bugnut]

Congrats on getting all of the harvest done.
Seeing a few folks around here planting radishes for cover/manure crop anybody doing so on a large scale in your part of the world?

 

[cliftonbros89]

Congrats on getting all of the harvest done.
Seeing a few folks around here planting radishes for cover/manure crop anybody doing so on a large scale in your part of the world?

I know of some guys putting some radishes mixed with some stuff here and there for cover crop. But not a ton.

We found some bin run oats for a decent price so we’re doing a couple hundred acres of that. I’d be for doing more if we didn’t have to front the cost for it all. Some landlords aren’t in favor of such things.

 

[XJSuperman]

Glad to hear you made it through the hard part of harvest. I see you managed to sneak in some red and orange tractors. I haven't seen then before, are they yours or do they belong to landlords?

I think things are winding down up here too for harvest. Anhydrous application started like clockwork this week.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Glad to hear you made it through the hard part of harvest. I see you managed to sneak in some red and orange tractors. I haven't seen then before, are they yours or do they belong to landlords?

I think things are winding down up here too for harvest. Anhydrous application started like clockwork this week.

Thanks. Yeah those non-green machines belong to landlords! Definitely not ours.

I didn’t drive through the bottom today. But I’m sure there were more beans came out today down there as well. There’s not much fall anhydrous goes on here. Some in the county north of us. But very little here. I’m sure some guys are holding off with the way the price is on anhydrous right now! It’s crazy!!

 

[bugnut]

Thanks for the replies to my questions! I saw lots of combines today gathering mostly beans. Some corn standing and I think the weekend farmers are trying to get everything combined before more rain.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Thanks for the replies to my questions! I saw lots of combines today gathering mostly beans. Some corn standing and I think the weekend farmers are trying to get everything combined before more rain.

No problem.

Everyone around here has been hustling to get things out too. Right now it looks like a good chance of rain here by Thursday. Looks to be another cool front coming in. I think everyone is trying to beat that as well.

Everyone must’ve hit it pretty hard over the weekend. As I type this I’m sitting in line at the elevator. I’m hauling off the last load we cut Saturday afternoon. This is the first time I’ve had to sit behind more than 1 truck to unload. I think when I arrived I was about the 18th truck in line.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Awesome pics! Glad to hear of no serious breakdowns with the combines. Did you get the truck issues sorted out?

It's been crazy busy here the last couple days around here. We finally have a week of good weather; last time we had that was in September. So needless to say every combine in the county has been going in both corn and beans.

 

[welder57]

Do Y'all check to see how much grain you're loosing thru the combines at any point in the harvesting? We see the a lot of field here in Lowndes County, MS. that looks like they just planted corn after the harvest. And most of those are Green Combines, some are the Case brand as well.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Awesome pics! Glad to hear of no serious breakdowns with the combines. Did you get the truck issues sorted out?

It's been crazy busy here the last couple days around here. We finally have a week of good weather; last time we had that was in September. So needless to say every combine in the county has been going in both corn and beans.

Combines were pretty good shape beside a few minor things. The truck is going again now. But we had to have it worked on twice since we started. This last time we were without it for a week. I’ll cover that stuff soon.

There have definitely been a lot of beans cut around here in the past week. Everyone is getting with it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Do Y'all check to see how much grain you're loosing thru the combines at any point in the harvesting? We see the a lot of field here in Lowndes County, MS. that looks like they just planted corn after the harvest. And most of those are Green Combines, some are the Case brand as well.

We check on it. Usually have to adjust things quite a bit when we get started. But the combine also has a monitor for that. Sometimes it happens though. This year I’ve seen more come up in the field afterward than I have in several years. We had a few spots like that. But nothing major. They all do it. Yellow, red and green. There are a number of factors that can cause that though. It can be the way certain things on the combine are set. But there can also be loss at the header as well. That can depend on moisture of the corn, size of the cobs, how the header is set up. I think a contributing factor to so much showing up here this year was temperature and moisture in the ground. It was about perfect for some corn to grow. Other drier, cooler years it just kind of lays there. No matter what anyone says there is always waste when it comes to combining a field. It may be little, very little, but there’s always some. It’s impossible to run machines like that, that quick, taking that much in and not loose some. Conditions are never perfect.

This year and last year we had a guy from the USDA contract is to pick a field to check. Last year he checked a corn field. This year he checked a wheat field. He takes samples before harvest and gets an estimated yield. Then come back after and examines spots for estimated loss. When he checked the wheat field for estimate loss he had it estimated at less than or equal to 1 bushel per acre loss. Which is really good. But still it never gets it all. Even if it would average 1 bushel per acre loss add that up to the 250 acres of wheat we had. Wheat for January is at 8.11 a bushel. That’s over $2,000 loss.

 

[welder57]

Thanks for the telling me what the causes are for those amount(s) of grains that are everyone is loosing. Will Y'all plow under the corn fields this fall?

 

[cliftonbros89]

We’re only working the bottom ground for the fall. Chisel plowing the bean ground and ripping the corn ground.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Thanks for the telling me what the causes are for those amount(s) of grains that are everyone is loosing. Will Y'all plow under the corn fields this fall?

We’re only working the bottom ground for the fall. Chisel plowing the bean ground and ripping the corn ground.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I’ll catch up on the last few days. Then I’ll go back to the rest of the activities from the last few months.

Sunday I used to catch up on things with the cattle.




I bottle fed calves, ground a batch of feed for the big calves, fed mineral and buckets of corn, put out some hay, fixed the electric fence and my uncle’s and got things prepped for Monday.

 

[cliftonbros89]

First thing Monday I hauled off the last load of bean we’d cut Saturday.

There was plenty of moisture in the ground yet, but with another chance of rain for Thursday and more chances for the middle of next week dad decided he wanted to work ground. He got started running the chisel plow on the bean ground with the 8400. It’d be nice if we had a larger chisel plow. But he ended up with an issue. The blower for the a/c went out. He ran all day with the door open and the back window open.


I got the 8760 going with the disk again. I finished disking over the corn ground.

Then just before the sun went down I unhooked the disk and hooked to the ripper.

I was planning on running later. But dad called. He got a new blower motor for the 8400 and needed help replacing it.

Of corse it was in a nice tight space to remove. Then as usual dad’s patience was running thin….and I reached my 10 pic limit…

 

[cliftonbros89]

Dad broke the tabs off the center of the blower motor impeller. The tabs that hold it on the motor shaft. If you may not know anything about parts from Deere, just know that everything comes separate. The blower motor, the impeller, the clip holding the impeller, and the foam gasket to seal off the blower, all separate parts, they don’t just come all together. So aside from a $230 blower motor you’re also separately buying a $30 seal and a $32 impeller, when it breaks. We didn’t have the impeller so we couldn’t put the blower in.

So we put things back together without the blower.