Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[XJSuperman]

Been thinking the same thing, but he was buying a house and thats a time consuming effort before you even get possession. Then the work starts. He's probably just busy.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Been thinking the same thing, but he was buying a house and thats a time consuming effort before you even get possession. Then the work starts. He's probably just busy.

You’re right on the money. I’ve been meaning to post on here. Just when I plan on it I get distracted and forget. Yes I have been very busy lately. Not as much with that farm as I have been with the house. The last few days before closing was quite a bit of paper work that should’ve already been done. Then we had the closing of corse. The day we closed we stated in on things. There was quite a bit of painting we wanted to do. Quite a bit of cleaning to do too.

I can fill you in on all the details later. But I’ve been doing quite a bit of work to the house. Been doing work on the farm. Also, spent quite a bit of time getting things moved. It’s been pretty busy. Not to mention everyone wants to come over and see the house.

I’ve been running around a lot lately. Moving things, buying things, checking on cattle.

Last week I had completely forgot all about GJ. Over the weekend I was meaning to catch things up a bit, but obviously that never happened. It just seems like the days have been moving even faster than they usually do. Do some stuff through the day. Next thing you know it’s after midnight and you’re planning on waking up about 5-5:30.

I plan to get back on track on here again. Plus I’ve been missing all the other post on here.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Good to hear from you, post when you can.

 

[dchance]

Glad that you are doing well. You were busy before, but with the house you have really kicked it up.

Dwight

 

[jblnut]

Good to hear you're finally moved in. It's a very exciting thing to have a place to call you own and do what you want with !!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well... just making another post that I’m still here. I plan to catch up on things here soon. Been a lot of back and forth between working on the house plus doing things for the farm.

House is moving along fairly well. I have a list of several things I’d like to get done before we get super busy at the farm for fall.

As far as the farm goes we’ve been a little busy. Trying to get several jobs done and finished. I plan to start really getting things ready to go for fall in the next week or so. We had a few rain showers on and off that we were definitely due for. It’s good for those later planted beans of ours. Corn is looking pretty good to right now too. Few more rains and a few more weeks and things will really start moving. Things at the house will for sure be on hold for awhile until we get harvest wrapped up.


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[jblnut]

Well... just making another post that I’m still here. I plan to catch up on things here soon. Been a lot of back and forth between working on the house plus doing things for the farm.

House is moving along fairly well. I have a list of several things I’d like to get done before we get super busy at the farm for fall.

As far as the farm goes we’ve been a little busy. Trying to get several jobs done and finished. I plan to start really getting things ready to go for fall in the next week or so. We had a few rain showers on and off that we were definitely due for. It’s good for those later planted beans of ours. Corn is looking pretty good to right now too. Few more rains and a few more weeks and things will really start moving. Things at the house will for sure be on hold for awhile until we get harvest wrapped up.


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Good to know you're still alive and kicking it !!

We've gotten some rain up here the last week and it has perked up our 1.2 beans very well. The 0.8's are well on their way to turning already which is both exciting and worrisome. It means game on soon but I'm ready to do more than check for aphids with these beans finally.

Do you guys cover crop down there ???

 

[cliftonbros89]

Ok. So I’m going to really try to get back on track here. I meant to last week. Unfortunately, it didn’t go quite as planned. I had a cousin unexpectedly pass away at the beginning of the week. Also, because of the funeral I had several other cousins in town who wanted to catch up.

I was also a groomsmen in a wedding for a friend last weekend. This coming week I’m a groomsmen in another wedding. Except this wedding is in South Dakota. So I have a big road trip coming up.

The last few weeks have not been overly busy. We have started to catch up on a few small jobs here and there that we have been meaning to get finished. We’re starting to try and get things prepped and ready for fall. I’ve also been doing some odd jobs at the house as well.


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[cliftonbros89]

Good to know you're still alive and kicking it !!



We've gotten some rain up here the last week and it has perked up our 1.2 beans very well. The 0.8's are well on their way to turning already which is both exciting and worrisome. It means game on soon but I'm ready to do more than check for aphids with these beans finally.



Do you guys cover crop down there ???

We do some cover crops. We’ll likely be sowing around 40 acres or so of rye in a few spots. We’re probably going to be doing another couple hundred acres of wheat as well. We haven’t really been able to justify doing more rye as a cover just to burn it down. But we’re looking into some ideas.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So as far as activity on the farm there’s been a variety. We mowed pastures, mowed road ditches along fields. Been taking care of the cattle. We’ve also had some calves end up with pink eye so that has been a fight.









We’ve had several new calves born. Been keeping a constant eye on them due to the pink eye. Some of our heifers started having their first calves and they’re doing good too.





We finished up the last few things on the new bin so it’s ready to go for fall. We also finished hauling off the rest of last years corn too.




We bought back the wrecked trailer from insurance that was hooked to the truck I wrecked. Dad did some work to it and we touched things back up to use it again.



We also hauled manure out of the feed lots


My uncle had some one attempt to weld the broke mount for the front axle on the 520. It was unsuccessful so we had to find a replacement. I found one in Indiana. I ordered it and we put it back together

 

[cliftonbros89]

Amongst other activities we made some more hay. Although it was a bit thin.



We just cut a bit more hay this week and plan to bale it tomorrow on Labor Day




I assisted dad in building a blind for deer season




One of our local seed dealers came to talk to us and set us up on a free full year trial of FieldView. It included the equipment and an iPad mount.


It uses GPS and satellite images to keep track of your planting, spraying, yield, and health of your fields. It uses 2 different apps to manage things. It lets us store each farm separate. It gives us fairly accurate rain fall totals for each farm when we have rain. It shows satellite images of the health of the crops. You can also use it for mapping and whatnot when planting. Although the ole 4440 and older Kinze planter monitor are not new enough to use for that. Then we can also use it in the combine as a yield monitor too. It keeps track of the planting and yield data. Plus keeps all the records together to have one hand right there. Seems really easy to use too.

Last week we bought another truck to replace the one I wrecked


We actually bought it on an online auction from a large farm auction that was up in northern Illinois. Dad picked it up last Friday

We put it in the shop and cleaned it up good. Changed all the filters and oil and greased everything up real good. It needs some tires, has an exhaust leak and needs a new cable to operate the hoist lift in the cab. But other than a few small repairs it seems to be a fairly good truck. Although not as good as the one I wrecked...

As far as the fame goes I’d say the most of the big highlights. Not too busy but it’s about to be. I still need to make sure the equipment is all ready to roll for harvest yet.

I finally got back in the shop this week.

It was kind of nice to be back in there for a day doing things. I was almost a stranger in there.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So the other project has been the house.

It’s in town. Just a little under 1,000 square foot all together built in ‘84. Most of the framing and trusses are actually i-beams. Which is definitely not something I’ve seen around here. Especially for the time it was built.

Majority of what we’ve done has just been cosmetic. Painting and things like that. We cleaned things up really well. It came with most the kitchen appliances. But we did buy a new Speed Queen washer and dryer.

Biggest thing so far has been ripping out the carpet in the finished part of the basement. Luckily the rest of the house is hardwood and linoleum. I ripped the carpet out and dad and I replaced it with a waterproof vinyl laminate

We need to do a few touch ups and replace the trim but I’m satisfied with the way it turned out.

It’s a nice quiet neighborhood for the most part. On the outer edge of town so it’s not very busy. One of my friends (who’s wedding I was in last weekend) is just down the street. So it’s alright for being in town. Not a very big yard. I don’t have a garage or shop. Which is a lot harder to deal with than I thought. But it has a decent car port a a small lawn shed.

It took awhile to get everything moved. But we’ve got it all.

We even moved the girlfriend’s cats and dog. It took a little while for them to adjust to things.

We’re working on a few other small fixes here and there and setting things up how we like.



The important thing is we got all the record players, records, cds, music posters, beer signs and deer heads moved in.

Even better she is fine with mixing my stuff in with with hers. So mine isn’t all secluded to some sort of “mancave” nonsense.

(Mine here being the model car I build years ago, American flag picture that belonged to my dear great aunt, Stone poster that was still original to the record I bought, and the skull of a small buck I shot a few years ago)
Not much in the house that reflects the farm but I’ll get around to it.

 

[lis2323]

Everything looks great. Just curious as I’ve lived on the farm my entire life (still). How far is “town” from the farm?


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[cliftonbros89]

Everything looks great. Just curious as I’ve lived on the farm my entire life (still). How far is “town” from the farm?


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It’s roughly 12 miles (one way) to the shop from my place in town.

 

[captain14]

First time viewing this thread. I opened the last page and have lots to catch up on .

Is the manure trailer the back end of a dump truck?

I’ll start at the beginning after I get everything done for today’s projects. 22pages.

 

[cliftonbros89]

First time viewing this thread. I opened the last page and have lots to catch up on .

Is the manure trailer the back end of a dump truck?

I’ll start at the beginning after I get everything done for today’s projects. 22pages.

Yeah that’s what it is. Dad bought a wrecked truck years ago just for the back end to use it for that. The place he bought the truck from bought the rest of it back.

 

[1949 caddyman]

I see the carport becoming a garage with an expansion as wide or deep as allowed!

Bigger is better!

 

[cliftonbros89]

I see the carport becoming a garage with an expansion as wide or deep as allowed!

Bigger is better!

Unfortunately, my lot doesn’t go very far to the side from the edge of the carport. Not far behind the carport is a nice oak that I would prefer to keep.

The neighbors on the side of the carport actually have a double lot. I’m not entirely sure but I think they thinking of selling soon. I’m hoping I can talk them into selling the empty lot beside me separate from the house. Although I’m sure it’ll be every bit of $15,000+. Which is hard to justify.

 

[lis2323]

Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

Unfortunately, my lot doesn’t go very far to the side from the edge of the carport. Not far behind the carport is a nice oak that I would prefer to keep.

The neighbors on the side of the carport actually have a double lot. I’m not entirely sure but I think they thinking of selling soon. I’m hoping I can talk them into selling the empty lot beside me separate from the house. Although I’m sure it’ll be every bit of $15,000+. Which is hard to justify.

This will cheer you up:

6000 sq ft building LOTS close to my farm sell for $800,000. ( that’s eight hundred thousand dollars. Not a misprint )

 

[dchance]

Good to see a picture of the house. Does the 1000 sq ft include the basement?

I figured that it would not be long till the work really picks up.

Dwight

 

[cliftonbros89]

Good to see a picture of the house. Does the 1000 sq ft include the basement?

I figured that it would not be long till the work really picks up.

Dwight

Yeah that includes the basement. It looks small from the outside. I’m pretty pleased with it.

Yeah it’ll be here shortly. Lots to do.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well getting back in the habit again. Yesterday I raked hay, dad baled behind me. We were quite a ways away from the farm. I drove the tractor and rake and hour and 15 back to the shop.

Today we gathered up all the bales and took them down to the farm.

Another 71 bales of grass hay. Had quite a bit of foxtail in it but shouldn’t be bad. It was on someone else’s ground that we’ve never cut. They wanted it gone so we decided to take care of it.

We moved all the hay and I took the tractor and mower conditioner back to the shop too.

Lots to do this week. Going to be a hot and humid one too. But at the end of the week I have a road trip coming up. But it sounds like we may be ending up with some rain from the tropical storm down south by the end of the week. So I may not be missing much while I’m gone. We’ll see how it goes.

 

[XJSuperman]

I don't suppose you guys had any time to hit up Mt. Pleasant's Midwest Old Threshers Reunion this weekend did you? Went for the second year in a row and it was fantastic as usual.

 

[lango]

Thanks for posting this thread! It's interesting to see what all is involved in running a farm. Good luck with the house- I know you and the girlfriend will enjoy it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I don't suppose you guys had any time to hit up Mt. Pleasant's Midwest Old Threshers Reunion this weekend did you? Went for the second year in a row and it was fantastic as usual.

Can’t say I did. Been pretty busy with several other things lately.

Thanks for posting this thread! It's interesting to see what all is involved in running a farm. Good luck with the house- I know you and the girlfriend will enjoy it.

Thanks.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Today we put all the hay equipment back in the shed. For now anyway. After we cleaned it up a bit.

The rest of the day was spent weening calves.


We also had a few younger ones that I had to wrestle with to give a few shots to for pink eye. One of them was fairy big and didn’t want to cooperate. I was wrapped around it until it through it’s head back nailing my nose. Just about made the eyes water.

After taking care of the calves and spraying down majority of the cattle to in attempt to get rid of the flies that have recently become such a nuisance. I ground a couple of batches of corn for feed.

I finished grinding feed and discovered one of the big calves out on pasture had found itself a little ravine full of mud. It managed to get itself stuck. It was starting the really wear itself out by the time I found it.

We pulled it out with a rope and the Kubota. Got it to a dry spot, tried to wipe it down a bit and got it to sit up. Hopefully it’ll take it easy and not end up back there again. We’ll definitely have to keep at eye on it.

Just after dark I finished up. I went out to the retirement farm to check on the cattle. I managed to get all the cows and calves locked in the barn lot. Plans are to ween a few calves out there first thing in the morning.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Yesterday we weened some more calves. Also had a surprise new born when I got to the lot.

We took care of getting some equipment moved around. Got the corn head out to prep and get ready to go.

We also checked a few fields. Looked at some hay we plan to cut.

Had a few small unexpected showers. Pop ups due to the storm from the gulf.

As for today, I was on the road by 4 to head to South Dakota. Wedding is Saturday so hopefully we’ll have some time to play around and see some sites

 

[cliftonbros89]

I also went back out to the retirement farm yesterday evening to check on the new calf

 

[Toothaker]

You're a really good photographer - good composition. Your thread is one I have to check every time I'm on GJ.

 

[cliftonbros89]

You're a really good photographer - good composition. Your thread is one I have to check every time I'm on GJ.

Thanks!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

So I left out Thursday and headed for Custer State Park in South Dakota. A friend of mine had a small wedding there. Spent a few days there. It was pretty awesome. Got to see a few sights.




Needless to say I’m ready to go back. Awesome place, great weather. I had a ton of beer and quite a bit of whiskey. But Sunday I had to get up bright and early to travel back.

Monday morning came too quick. I got up and took care of the calves we weened last week. Had to straw the barn for them, fix the float on the water trough, and feed them corn. They all seem to be doing pretty good so far.


Oh, did I mention while I was over 1,000 miles away that we had over 6 inches of rain due to the storm down south? Over 6” at every farm. Things are wet. So of corse with all the rain it’s caused the river to go up. Threatening our beans on the outside of the levee once again. I haven’t drove down to see how bad it is yet.

Monday afternoon I finally got started on a few things. One being getting the corn head, checked, greased and ready to go.

The corn isn’t quite ready to go yet, especially after the rain. But I saw from my trip across part of the country, it looks like a lot of corn wasn’t quite ready to pick yet. So we’re not the only ones. Although a few guys have started around here. But it’s the same guys that always start first. They seem to think it’s a race. But we’re not in a hurry.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So today we had to go to the retirement farm first thing. I don’t think I mentioned it, but last week when we weened calves out there one escaped on us. So Monday evening right before dark I went out there and managed to lock it up in the lot. So first thing Tuesday morning we picked him up and took him to my uncles with the other calves.

The big calves, on the other hand, aren’t doing so well. A few are looking sick, we even had one die while I was gone. So first thing tomorrow they’re all getting shots.

Majority of today I spent working on the combine.

Getting things greased, chains lubed, belts and things adjusted to be set up for corn, and looking other things over. I also changed the oil and filter and replaced the fuel filters.

Dad and I also did a few odd jobs in the shop. Then we had to give the weened calves some hay.

So we’ll have a busy day with the big calves tomorrow. I’m not sure we’ll try to get in the corn fields this week. But we’ll see how things go.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Back to things today we took all the calves through the chute to give them shots and wormer. Hopefully this will help some of them. I also picked up some supplement to mix with their feed.

I took a drive to pick up some samples of corn to test the moisture.



Not looking too impressive. I grabbed some from 2 of the bottom fields. It all tested between 18.5% and 20%. The tester is usually off by 1%. The combine tester is usually more accurate and usually test 1% higher than the tester.

The 6” of rain we had didn’t help the corn. Noticed this one is trying to sprout out at the bottom from all the extra moisture.

So we’re thinking we may hold off on the corn for a few days. We may make some more hay.

This afternoon I ran to Deere to pick up a satellite receiver to use on the combine. I also picked up that feed supplant.

This evening we worked in the shop. Dad was working on doing some welding on his friends wood splitter.

Then we finished the day by checking over the augers. Greased and lubed them up. Checked the tires and bearings. On the big swing auger we switched the PTO shaft to the opposite side and switched the swing auger as well on it. It should make it easier to pull the trucks in to unload them.

Not sure what’s on the list for tomorrow. But there’s lots to do.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Today I started the day by catching a nice sunrise on the way to the farm.

I kicked things off checking on and feeding all the calves.

Dad did some work to his friends wood splitter again and finished welding it up today.

That friend of his also came to help me out a bit today. We did a bit of musical chairs with equipment in the bottom shed. First we had to move the 4440 and 8760 out of the shed. Hooked the 4440 to the planter to move it over and out of the way. We then pulled out the 8400 that was still hooked to the drill.

We wanted the drill to be somewhat ready to go to sow some wheat and possibly some rye for the fall. So we greased everything up. Checked over things on it and gauges all the tires.

After that was finished we unhooked the 4440 from the planter and used it to pull the grain cart out of the shed. Then we backed the 8760 in to pull out the 32’ disk that was behind the grain cart.

We pulled the 8760 and disk out and unfolded it.

We greased up the tractor and the disk, checked the disk blades and scrapers, and gauged all the tires.

Since things were out of the way we backed the drill in the back of the shed since it’ll be about the last thing we need for the fall. We parked the 4440 in the shed, backed in the 8760 and disk, then started on the grain cart.

We greased the grain cart, checked the tires, made sure the tank was clean and everything on the hydraulics worked properly after we hooked the 8400 to it. We fueled up both the 8760 and 8400 as well. So now we just about have everything ready to go for corn.

Last week we dropped off that new truck to have some tires replaced, we also bought some aluminum rims for it too. The same place also was welding a crack on the bed for us too.

Dad picked up the truck today and also hauled a load of grave with it. He definitely doesn’t like it as much as the truck I wrecked. But it’ll work for us.

He did discover a leak this afternoon that suddenly started. The oil line to the turbo developed a pinhole in it.

But it gave him an opportunity to try out my new step from the Matco guy I picked up this week

Also all on his own, dad discovered how useful my crowfoot wrenches are

But no worries I’m getting a new one tomorrow. It’s a Cat engine and luckily there’s a dealer just south of us.

This evening I grabbed a few more samples of corn at another farm. But more of the same



So looks like it’ll be a little while til we try a go at it as well.

I did happen to spot that someone lost their cookie cup somehow in one of the fields

I’m sure someone is missing that thing.

 

[mfg0772]

I just got caught up on your thread. Found you via 'Out on Quaker Rd". I'm enjoying following along.

 

[captain14]

GA. I spent several days reading the entire thread. Lots of interesting information you have shared about today’s farmers and the issues they have to address daily.

My grandfather had a farm that was much smaller than your operations in Western Pa. He started with horses in the teens(?) and at sometime must have got a tractor. I think I remember my uncle using 2 tractors for the implements. He had a dairy operation along with growing the crops. Two bank barns (one had hay lofts above the cattle and the other one had the silo where the few hogs/pigs were housed) that one had the silo next two it.
I think it was basically a family run farm and there was one hired man for a while. Of course there was a butter and egg route in town.

Is all the corn that you have tested so far for the livestock? Some of the information you have shared have brought back memories my grandmother used to tell us.

 

[cliftonbros89]

GA. I spent several days reading the entire thread. Lots of interesting information you have shared about today’s farmers and the issues they have to address daily.

My grandfather had a farm that was much smaller than your operations in Western Pa. He started with horses in the teens(?) and at sometime must have got a tractor. I think I remember my uncle using 2 tractors for the implements. He had a dairy operation along with growing the crops. Two bank barns (one had hay lofts above the cattle and the other one had the silo where the few hogs/pigs were housed) that one had the silo next two it.
I think it was basically a family run farm and there was one hired man for a while. Of course there was a butter and egg route in town.

Is all the corn that you have tested so far for the livestock? Some of the information you have shared have brought back memories my grandmother used to tell us.

We’ll only keep roughly 4,000 bushel for the cattle. The rest we’ll sell. Depending on where we sell it, it can be used for lots of things.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Friday arrived and the first thing I did was take care of the cattle.




Dad started cutting hay


While dad cut hay I picked up the parts for the new truck. Had to drive down to the Cat dealership.

Got to break out the ole crowfoot wrenches again to put everything back together.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I finished with some things Friday evening before dad finished cutting hay. So I wasn’t at the shop when he got back. I returned Saturday morning to find he had a problem.

He accidentally hit the wrong hydraulic lever and ran the cutter in to one of the seep wells down on the berm of the levee. Good thing we should be done cutting hay for the year. I’ll worry about the replacement parts when the Deere dealership has a parts sale this winter.

I spent the rest of the day doing things around the shop.

Sunday arrived and we got to work on making the hay.




I spent majority of the day raking ahead of dad. He baled everything. Another 131 bales. I’m not sure what our total is for the year. I’ll have to look that up.

 

[cliftonbros89]

This morning we decided to try out the corn. We got things moved and got things ready to go. Set up the auger. We tried things out around noon.

I set up the iPad to try out this trial of the FieldView set up.

I didn’t really get to check it out too much since I was driving trucks and not actually in the combine.

I also loaded things up in the truck just in case. Impacts, manuals, electrical tester, moisture tester, Ipad, a few other things. It seems as though if I keep myself prepared it lessens the chances of something happening.

Things seem to be turning out pretty good so far. Corn still has some moisture, but we’re rolling with it.



We’ve got the fan and the stir all going. That should help things out.

Sounds like we should have a least a few clear days to run this week. We’ll see what we can get knocked out. We finished the day with 8 trailer truck load and a load on the new tandem truck.