Between the River Hills & the River Bottom

[cliftonbros89]

Ah yes, the joys of working with family who do no wrong...

Good luck on the truck search. Any thought of buying a cheap beat up pickup and swapping the engine? I know you'd still have other issues to fix but might be cheaper than trying to buy a decent used one right now.

I can't believe how expensive it has become to swap engines. Last I heard some engine replacements in new semi trucks are up around the $30-50k mark. Guys who have had to replace an engine in the Deere S series combines/9R tractors are dropping over $100k

I’m not sure what to do yet. I have a feeling it’s not going to be the easiest to find a decent engine for it. The guy that put the last one in would likely be able to find one. But like I mentioned. I don’t know if I want to take that chance and end up in the same situation in just a few years. Those blocks are notorious for having issues. Always have been. So I hate to dump another couple thousand in to it just to possibly end up in the same boat again.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Sorry about the nut, I hate it when that happens.
Just as a note, you may know this already.
Torque wrenches need to be backed off when not in use to prevent them going out of calibration.
Depending on the brand of TQ wrench you might be able to get the calibration checked.
My Snap on guy sends them in and has them checked for free.
Back in the day "aircraft manufacturing" if you found a TQ wrench not backed off it went to be checked and not used until it's verified to be within cert.

Yeah I always keep the torque wrenches turned down. It’s a Snap On. It’s not one of those older style spring loaded ones either. It one of the other kind (why I can’t remember what those are called I don’t know). But I always back them off after each use before I put them away.

My Snap On guy will send them off but it cost like $90 or so for them to look at those 3/4” torque wrenches. It may even be more than that I can’t recall. But the Snap On guy in this area really *****. He won’t cut a deal on anything, won’t meet me anywhere that it’s convenient for me, I’m also pretty positive I know more about tools than he does.

But a few years ago I sent it off to have it recalibrated just calling Snap On I didn’t do it through the dealer. It was a flat rate to have it checked then too. I just know they initially told me the price for a 1/2” drive and then later tried to charge me for the regular 3/4” drive price. But they finally let me get by with the 1/2” price after I argued with them because it was the price they told me before I sent it in.

Yesterday I also checked it with my long 3/4” breaker bar and a pipe. The breaker bar was bending and it didn’t budge. So if it wasn’t quite at 600 it had to be close.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Not much going on today. Nice and hot. Humid and muggy. I ordered the nut for the hydraulic cylinder. Then I was kind of at a stand still.

Cleaned up the 2520 this morning.

There’s a tractor ride this weekend. Dad is taking the 320. Uncle is taking the 420. Then my dad’s cousin’s girlfriend is taking the 2520. My dad’s cousin, several years older than him, passed away earlier in the year. Used to farm, had an excavating business, owned thousands of acres. He used to go on all the tractor rides in the area. He had a couple 3020’s he’d always take on the rides. He drive one and his girlfriend would drive one. Dad saw her in town one day and talked about the up coming ride. Dad said she was more than welcome to take the 2520 if she wanted to go. She said she would. So I cleaned it up today.

2520 had a loose flasher on the left fender. The nuts on those are hard to get to and have the wire sticking down through the nut. Nothing would work. The nut was turning hard. So I looked for a solution.

I dug through out spare wrench and socket bucket.

Found an already broken 3/4” that just said Taiwan on it. It looked to be the perfect candidate.

Made a slot on the side for the wire to stick through and it fit right up in the hole on the fender for the nut. Got the job done. But the housing for the light is cracked and will likely need to be replaced soon.

Got that job done. Had some phone calls to make and emails to send for the tools business.

Picked up some pegboards to make some displays for my open house. Got to get some more lumber though.

Got some more Trusty-Cook hammers in for stock.

They had some deadblow extenders in stock for once. So I decided to see if I could move some of those too.

Checked on the cattle this evening. None of them seemed to be enjoying the heat.

Dad returned from camping and fishing this afternoon. Not sure what he’s got planned.

Hopefully, going to pick my truck up from the shop in town tomorrow.

But it sounds like first we have to haul a tractor for a neighbor/land lord. I can’t remember what mode it is. But he’s got an older JD with a loader. Doesn’t run very well. From what dad told he the transmission is messed up. It will only go in reverse. So it sounds like we’ll likely have to push it on the trailer. But we should be able to unload it no problem. We have to take it to a guy so it can be worked on. Retired, former Deere mechanic. So we’ll have to unload the 2520 and 320 in the morning.

I’m hoping the cylinder nut arrives in the morning. I’d like to get that job finished up so I can do something else. It still aggravates me. This cylinder job is taking way too long.

 

[cvairwerks]

I can sympathize about simple stuff taking way too long to get completed. We had a cylinder that ran a 24” diameter sleeve valve that failed an o’ring. Tore it down and found the bronze guide bushing all chewed up. Three days to create a set of prints so we could send it out for machining as our two internal shops were backed up for about 3 months.

It took 3 weeks to get a new section of rod and a week for machining and delivery. Ended up having to polish out the bushing as it was at the bottom of the tolerance spec and the piston rod was at the top. It was 5 weeks from tear down until I had that wind tunnel back in operation. Only thing that helped take the pressure off me, was the grad student running the research project had to be out of town for two of those weeks and was out sick another.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I can sympathize about simple stuff taking way too long to get completed. We had a cylinder that ran a 24” diameter sleeve valve that failed an o’ring. Tore it down and found the bronze guide bushing all chewed up. Three days to create a set of prints so we could send it out for machining as our two internal shops were backed up for about 3 months.

It took 3 weeks to get a new section of rod and a week for machining and delivery. Ended up having to polish out the bushing as it was at the bottom of the tolerance spec and the piston rod was at the top. It was 5 weeks from tear down until I had that wind tunnel back in operation. Only thing that helped take the pressure off me, was the grad student running the research project had to be out of town for two of those weeks and was out sick another.

Wow! Yeah that’s quite a while. It *****.

I feel like that type of thing happens to me in winter. I tear something apart. Then next thing I know we’re working cattle, hauling off grain, get ******* working on something else. Then next thing you know it’s a month and that job still isn’t done. It’s like me with that 4010 last year. That thing was in the shop likely 3/4 of the year last year.

 

[captain14]

Have you thought about marketing that custom 3/4 Taiwan socket to JD for that specific job?

As much as they charge you for parts, you could recoup some money on custom building those sockets for them to sell.

Good luck on the truck. Is this the service truck or your pickup with the bad cylinder. I must have missed when you had problems and sent it out.

Is your nephew around this summer helping out?

 

[cliftonbros89]

Have you thought about marketing that custom 3/4 Taiwan socket to JD for that specific job?

As much as they charge you for parts, you could recoup some money on custom building those sockets for them to sell.

Good luck on the truck. Is this the service truck or your pickup with the bad cylinder. I must have missed when you had problems and sent it out.

Is your nephew around this summer helping out?

That’s true. I suppose it’d be worth a shot. But I bet Deere would make it to their advantage. I’m sure.

Yeah it’s my service truck with the issue. Think I’m going to look for something different.

That’s been my girlfriend’s cousin that was helping out in the summer time. He left June 1 to go to tech school. Plans on being a heavy equipment operator. He’s been in town a little on the weekends. But he’s had other things to do.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Fairly slow day today. We were supposed to load and haul the neighbor’s tractor to be worked on. So we unloaded the 320 and 2520.



So just as we got them unloaded, the neighbor called, he said it wasn’t going to work til Tuesday….

But since the trailer was empty we went to town to pick up the service truck.

Brought it back for now.

Then reloaded the tractors. My uncle was going to take the 420. All 3 tractors wouldn’t fit on the gooseneck and we quickly found out the 420 was to wide to go on the 16’ trailer.

So 420 and 2520 went on the gooseneck.

320 went on the 16’.

So we had some time today. So we took a drive to look at some trucks. But nothing good.

Then back to the shop for the evening. Luckily, the hydraulic cylinder nut came in.

It made it to the drop box in town by the afternoon.

So it was finally done. The cylinder was put back together. Nothing broke this time!

Got it mounted.

And it worked! I was glad to end the week on a high note. Everything worked right and no leaks. Replaced all the seals, the bushing and the o-rings on the fittings for the hoses. So it should be good for awhile.

Tool box was a mess and I had that job done everything was cleaned up and put away.

 

[cliftonbros89]

The Trusty-Cook extended deadblow worked out pretty good to hit on the cylinder.
Less of a chance of damaging anything that even a brass punch.

Few more thing I want to check out but the 8400 is just about ready to go for fall.

Still lots to do. I feel like fall is going to be here in no time. Just got to make sure I figure out something to do with the truck.

 

[captain14]

What shape is the service body in?
Can you transfer it to a newer chassis?
Is that feasible in your situation?

The used truck market as a whole I think is not very good at this Time. People trying to sell junk and keep what they have if it runs decent.

I understand completely about putting a new engine in the old truck just to have something else come up that’s major problem.

 

[cliftonbros89]

What shape is the service body in?
Can you transfer it to a newer chassis?
Is that feasible in your situation?

The used truck market as a whole I think is not very good at this Time. People trying to sell junk and keep what they have if it runs decent.

I understand completely about putting a new engine in the old truck just to have something else come up that’s major problem.

Yeah, the service body is still in good shape. We’d probably consider painting it if we’d swap it over to another truck. Putting the bed on another chassis is definitely an option to keep open.

You’re right. The used truck market is ridiculous right now. It’s a nightmare really. I saw a 3/4 ton Chevy yesterday, can’t remember the year, somewhere around 2013, was a company utility truck. The setup on the utility bed wasn’t practical for me anyway. Smaller boxes, different setup than I currently have. But it already had right around 200,000 on it, “rebuilt transmission”, interior was destroyed, the only thing it had going for it was 4wd. But they still wanted like $25,500. This thing wasn’t any better shape than the truck I have now (before the engine issue). It is just absolutely crazy.

Yeah I’m having a hard time getting behind the idea just swapping the engine in mine. It may initially be the cheaper option. But I feel like I’d just be throwing more money at something that could do the same thing at anytime. I know no matter which route I take, I’m going to loose value on it. But band-aid and patch jobs can just keep costing. By the time you’ve done it a 2-3 times you’re better off to have put that money toward something else you might get a little more use, a little more life out of, with less headaches.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Day off today. Had a thing to go to. Took care of the yard this evening. That pretty much sums it up.

 

[jollygreengiant]

Yeah, the service body is still in good shape. We’d probably consider painting it if we’d swap it over to another truck. Putting the bed on another chassis is definitely an option to keep open.

You’re right. The used truck market is ridiculous right now. It’s a nightmare really. I saw a 3/4 ton Chevy yesterday, can’t remember the year, somewhere around 2013, was a company utility truck. The setup on the utility bed wasn’t practical for me anyway. Smaller boxes, different setup than I currently have. But it already had right around 200,000 on it, “rebuilt transmission”, interior was destroyed, the only thing it had going for it was 4wd. But they still wanted like $25,500. This thing wasn’t any better shape than the truck I have now (before the engine issue). It is just absolutely crazy.

Yeah I’m having a hard time getting behind the idea just swapping the engine in mine. It may initially be the cheaper option. But I feel like I’d just be throwing more money at something that could do the same thing at anytime. I know no matter which route I take, I’m going to loose value on it. But band-aid and patch jobs can just keep costing. By the time you’ve done it a 2-3 times you’re better off to have put that money toward something else you might get a little more use, a little more life out of, with less headaches.

Ever thought about a 5 ton truck? Something like an International 4700 or a Freightliner FL series. You could probably pick one up a lot cheaper than $25,500 that would be in better shape. And it would have a lot more capability than a pickup.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Ever thought about a 5 ton truck? Something like an International 4700 or a Freightliner FL series. You could probably pick one up a lot cheaper than $25,500 that would be in better shape. And it would have a lot more capability than a pickup.

That is something that’s crossed my mind before. But I haven’t looked into it much. The thing about it though is that I feel like it may not be as practical for a daily driver. Plus, pulling trailers and wagons, the fuel trailer that type of thing it’d likely be overkill for. I’m not sure it’d have the maneuverability in certain areas as a regular truck would.

But I do agree on the cheaper initial cost. I’m sure you could likely find one in better shape than the trucks I looked at Friday for cheaper.

 

[No heros]

What about a 5.3/6.0 LS swap in your truck? Those gmt400’s make it pretty damn easy, and then you’d have a lifetime of reliability for a very reasonable cost. I LOVE that truck of yours, and since you originally posted it in the thread years back I’ve been low key looking for one.

whatever happens to it, I hope it ends up going to a good home if at all possible

 

[cliftonbros89]

What about a 5.3/6.0 LS swap in your truck? Those gmt400’s make it pretty damn easy, and then you’d have a lifetime of reliability for a very reasonable cost. I LOVE that truck of yours, and since you originally posted it in the thread years back I’ve been low key looking for one.

whatever happens to it, I hope it ends up going to a good home if at all possible

Thanks. I definitely like it more than the last 2 trucks I’ve had. Wish I was able to set things up differently though.

I’m not sure about all that though. I’m still leaning toward looking for something different. I’ve got a little time yet.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Well not a lot going on this week. Which I’m ok with. Trying to get things set for my open house next week.

Monday and Tuesday I helped dad get the last of the beans sprayed. Another job out of the way.

Finished looking just a few things over on the 8400. Should be good to roll for fall.

Put the 8400 back in the bottom shed.

Got the 4440 out of the shed for a few things.

Been looking over the cattle. Got them all locked up the other day for weening calves.

To show you how much dad pays attentions to things he was thinking we’d have maybe 12-15 calves to ween. I knew it was going to be a full lot. Ended up with 30 all together.
Mowed off the couple fescue patches we usually cut for hay. It’s been getting dry again. So not much has been growing. But the Johnson grass has been growing. I cut all of it down to make things look a little better for awhile. Didn’t want that **** to go to seed.

Dad helped me get my display set up together for my open house next week.

I’d got some paint to put on it. But it seemed at though it had separated. I’d grabbed an oil based. But after I brushed it on it looked like a stain. Super thin. So I quit on paint. I got a different can this evening. So painting will probably be on the to-do list tomorrow.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Pretty easy going day today as well. I checked on all the cattle. Gave the weened calves some corn.

This one decided to jump up in the barn while I was dumping out a bucket of corn. I had to run through the lot around to the other door in the barn to keep it from escaping. If I wanted it to do that it would’ve never done it. But sure enough when I don’t want it to it just hops right up there like it’s a daily thing.

With my open house for the tool sales being a week away, and being caught up on things for the most part, my main focus is going to be setting things up.

I painted my merchandise display pegboard this morning, since I had exchanged my paint yesterday. Also, pictured is the Wera banner that I received today. The guy I deal with for Wera dropped it off this morning. I wasn’t sure what I was getting. While I’m not sure the Wera adjustables will be big seller for me, it looks good.

I figured out the side of the display board is just the perfect size to display some of Macnaught hose reels. This will be a good way to demonstrate the difference between their standard reels and their reels with the adjustable retraction speed.

I planning on having things set up for people to handle and check out, maybe that way they can see the difference in what I have compared to what they’re currently using.

I got a few things to set up a side by side display demonstrating the ability to release under high pressure between the Macnaught KY-Plus locking coupler and the Lock ‘N Lube locking coupler. I’ve never used the LockNLube coupler, but I’ve heard they can’t release under pressure. This one is actually dad’s that he never used.

Next is a piece I’m putting together to show off some of the features of Wera’s products.

This will show off the “holding function” featured on some of Wera’s tools as well as being able to try the open end on the Joker wrenches. I drilled and tapped all the hose in a piece we had on the scrap pile. I’m thinking of adding a few other things as well. But then I had to come up with a way to attach it to something so I can display it on a table top.

So I’m doing things like that. Dad is leaving Sunday to go camping for a few more days then going some place else next Friday and camping somewhere else over the weekend.

Next week will be getting the shop cleaned up and ready to go. My pegs for my pegboards should be arriving tomorrow. I’ll be setting up my stock on the pegboard and a few tables. Setting stuff up to try out. I’m going to have a bunch of Macnaught pumps set up to demonstrate on my cart. That along with the two pieces I talked about above. I’ve got a bunch of different catalogs and hand outs for things to set up.

I want the shop to look good. I’ll have food to make. Coolers to fill with ice and drinks. My cousin backed out on me on bringing his food truck so the cheapest route would be for me to just do it myself. I’m hoping some free food will entice some sales.

I was thinking of cleaning up a tractor or two to have by the shop to show use of tools as well. Such as crowfoot wrenches. If you follow along you know I love my crowfoot wrenches. But I don’t think some guys will really think they’re necessarily something you need til you can present that situation in which you could use it and how it’d be to your advantage to have it. The same with Martin pump/service wrenches and angle wrenches. While I by no means consider myself a mechanic I’ve found use in service wrenches and angle wrenches. They’re super useful for hydraulic hoses. I’m pretty sure majority of guys replace hydraulic hoses themselves. It can be a pain in the *** sometimes taking a hose loose with just a regular old Craftsman combo wrench. Especially, once you get into larger sizes like 1-7/16”. You don’t always have the room for a regular combo wrench.

So we’ll see how it goes I guess. I’ve got lots to do. It will take awhile to get things cleaned up too. I just hope people actually show up for it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Not a lot going on today either.

Took care of the cattle.

Since we’re pretty much wrapped up on the spraying we won’t be needing the wagons for water. I pumped the water into the tanks on the trailer.

Took them down to the rental farm and put them in the rental farm and put them in the barn. Had to move the fertilizer spreader and corn header out of the way. Then backed them all back in again. Be getting the corn header out before long.

Didn’t have enough room for corn header right now anyway. Shed is pretty full.

Dad is planning on having a guy help him with the cam on his A so it’s degrees right. But it’s going to be awhile til that happens. So we pulled it out of the shop for now.

I spent majority of the afternoon getting the shop cleaned up. As usual there was a bunch of stuff sitting around. Put a bunch of stuff away and picked things up. Got rid of all the scrap metal from recent repairs that was sitting in the corner. Just trying to get things ready for Friday.

 

[jollygreengiant]

How big is your shop? Judging by all the projects and stuff going on I assumed it was a fair size, but that last pic makes it look small?

 

[cliftonbros89]

How big is your shop? Judging by all the projects and stuff going on I assumed it was a fair size, but that last pic makes it look small?

The pictures can be deceiving at times. The finished out part the “shop” part of the building is about 30’x50’. But once you consider work benches, tools boxes, the parts loft, the stairs for the parts loft. It definitely shrinks.

The other section of the building (I’ll commonly refer to it as the “truck shed” is about the same size. It is no finished out. Just gravel. It has a loft as well. Where we keep oil and store other things.

When I was a kid we only had 2 dump bed tandem trucks and that’s where the were stored, hence the term “truck shed”. When we got our first semi-truck it was short enough to fit in there as well.

Now days the truck shed is typically full of two cylinders, junk and either one or both of the Ford trucks. Although currently it’s being used as storage for dad’s new camper until he can put up a new shed for it.

I’ve been on dad for several years now to finish out the “truck shed” part of the building. Put in concrete. Insulate it and make it look like the shop. Also, add more lightening. We thought if we would finish it we’d like to add an office. Possibly a bathroom. But that would eat up space quickly. Plus, it all takes time and money.

I’d be a good place to pull in the semi trucks to service. It’d also be a good place for my dad and uncle to play with their pulling tractors without taking up my space to work on things.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Gave the calves corn this morning.

I had some of the tools I have in stock at the shop. But majority of them were at my house.

I loaded up everything in my truck and took it to the shop.


I started setting things up on the board. I’m expecting some more stuff to arrive before the end of the week. Plus I needed some more pegboard hangers for some of the other stuff. There’s more that doesn’t have a hanger that I’ll have to put on a table.

I picked up a few tables. Picked up a few extra coolers for refreshments as well.

I won’t be actually setting things up until Thursday evening and Friday morning. But you get the idea. I’ve got some catalogs. Some tools to try out. You get the idea.

I wasn’t able to find any folding tables in town. I had to travel south to get those. Along with a few other things. After dropping that stuff back off to the shop there were some clouds in the sky.

Got a little bit of rain. We could use it. This looked a lot worse on the radar than it actually was. I don’t think it amounted to much more than just a few tenths, if that. Supposed to be nice and hot this week. But there’s another chance by Thursday. It’s supposed to cool down a little by Friday.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Monday was another Monday. Got some jobs knocked out before the heat set in. After taking care of the calves, checking on some of the cattle, I had to grind a couple batches of feed.

Ground a batch for the big calves. They’d ran out and became very vocal once I’d arrived. Even more so after they heard the tractor.

Then a batch for the tank in the barn to use to bucket feed the newly weened calves.

Then it was time to give the both groups of calves hay. A few groups of cattle needed some hay as well.

After taking care of all that and making sure things were good to go it decided to get started in the shop. Being sort of caught up, having the shop empty, and dad not being there I decided to start cleaning stuff up more for my tool open house. I’d picked a bunch of stuff up over the weekend. But it definitely needed some cleaning.
I used the air hose and blew out a bunch of dirt. Cleaned up oil spots. Then I swept. Cleaned the windows. Cleaned the worst spots on the walls. Wiped down all the tool boxes, cabinet, work benches. Swept again. Took out some of the clutter for now. Like the vacuum, bucket and brushes for washing equipment, jack blocks, things like that. Took out my buckets of scrap metal and put them on the pile of scrap metal outside. I wasn’t worried about getting too carried away, like pressure washing everything, but I’d like to have things at least look presentable. I have to say it’s nice having my area cleaned up good once. It’s always good to come up with some sort of even once or twice a year to clean the place up a bit.

After getting things fairly clean I started somewhat setting things up. Even though the open house isn’t til Friday I don’t want to have to rush everything. So I started on that. But then took a break to go check on the rest of the cattle I hadn’t looked over well in the morning since they were already way out in the pasture and in shade.

But then back to the shop.



By no means ready to go. But I was just trying to get a feel for how I wanted to sit things up. Going to definitely need some more tables.

 

[cliftonbros89]

For today it was sort of a day off. But more of a day of running errands in town. First thing I checked some of the cattle and fed the calves.

After that it was back to town. I had to pick up a few things for the cattle. Get a new battery for dad’s truck (he was getting ready to leave with the camper Sunday morning and his truck battery was dead. He stole one out of one of the two cylinder tractors). Take a tool to a customer. Take of some recycling for my grandma. Make a trip to the bank. Renew the license for my Silverado (which is what I’ve been driving since the service truck is down). Then I had to meet up with an uncle (one of dad’s sister’s husband). He lost his hearing aid in a field he was mowing in. He wanted to borrow a metal detector to find it. Showed him how to use that. I picked up some pocket screwdrivers I had made to hand out to customers for the open house Friday. Dropped off some work shirts for patches for the tool company to another place. Then it was back down the road to the shop.

The guy we bought some hay from awhile back said he had some more left over from another field he wanted to get rid of. So I met up with him at about 12:30, when it was real nice and hot. We unloaded the bales off his trailer onto our wagon in the barn.

But then it was right back to town. I had to pick a few things up. Plus, I dropped a few tools off to a place as a donation for a silent auction for a benefit on Saturday. Local farmer got his leg caught in an auger sweep in a big grain bin. Sounded like it pretty much took all the meat off the bone at the calf. Doctors tried to save it. Twice. But neither procedure worked. So they had to amputate his leg from below the knee and down. So this weekend there’s a benefit for him. Meal and silent auction to raise money for his medical bills and physical therapy he has to go through.

Dropped that off and had to go pick up some more things I had on my list to get for Friday. But then it was right back to the shop.

Luckily, between yesterday and today some of the things I ordered last minute to have to show for Friday had arrived. I have one more order, but I’m not sure if it will make it in time. So I got back to cleaning and setting up.

Definitely still not done. Things will for sure be rearranged more before I’m done. But it’s coming along. I’ve got Wilde, Trusty-Cook, Martin, Wright, SK, Lang, Induction Innovations, all US made of coarse. Then a bunch of Wera. Quite a bit of Macnaught. Then some Mayhew, Sunex, Gearwrench, Knipex, Irwin, Redline, Tiger Tool and I think that’s it. For now. I’ve got catalogs on everything I’ve got. Plus, what I can get. It seems like a lot. But it doesn’t seem like much variety either. Hopefully it’ll be enough to gain interest. At least find more of what people are looking for. I’ve definitely got a lot invested in it though.

Still plenty of stuff to set up. I’ve got plenty to do for in the next few days. Hopefully I can get everything done in a timely manner.

Checked on cattle this evening too.

Missed some more rain. Went just north and just west of it. Real hot and humid though. This afternoon the weather channel app on my phone said “feels like 109°“ it was nasty out. Got a few more days like that as well.

River has really fallen. Corn is making a change. Beans could use a good drink. Grain prices have fallen considerably as well.

Still got to look for some truck options. Been loosing a little focus on that with this tool thing this week. But I’ve had it planned for over a month. So I can’t back out on it.

 

[ambenz]

......After taking care of the calves, checking on some of the cattle, I had to grind a couple batches of feed.
Ground a batch for the big calves. They’d ran out and became very vocal once I’d arrived. Even more so after they heard the tractor.
Then a batch for the tank in the barn to use to bucket feed the newly weened calves.
Then it was time to give the both groups of calves hay. A few groups of cattle needed some hay as well...... took a break to go check on the rest of the cattle I hadn’t looked over well in the morning since they were already way out in the pasture and in shade.

I like your rolling display stand. I made something like that for my wifes craft sales projects for use during shows she goes to but the one I made folds so it can go in a hatchback. I take it you got a trailer for all your stuff to sell.

Not to derail your setup for selling your tools at the show and being a bit of a city slicker, I am always curious about the interaction you have with the cattle. You mentioned the cattle got very vocal. So they know the chef personally!!! LOL! The picture above hints that the cows are a very curious bunch...looks like they are curious in what you are doing. Do you interact with the cows by name or see them individually? Is there a Elise? Ferdinand? Clarabelle? Do you chat with them and do they "perk up" and get interested and curious in what you do? Are they comfortable enough that they come up to you and nudge you or moo at you? Or get squeamish when you come by? How do they interact with other family members or people who visit? I am just wondering if you treat them like you would a pet or maybe just a walking steak? I never in my life got too close to a cow but I would imagine I would be a bit afraid they might **** me or muscle in and be a bit unwieldy.... But, if I could, I would scratch an ear, maybe a pet and a rub....just curious...

 

[cliftonbros89]

I like your rolling display stand. I made something like that for my wifes craft sales projects for use during shows she goes to but the one I made folds so it can go in a hatchback. I take it you got a trailer for all your stuff to sell.

Not to derail your setup for selling your tools at the show and being a bit of a city slicker, I am always curious about the interaction you have with the cattle. You mentioned the cattle got very vocal. So they know the chef personally!!! LOL! The picture above hints that the cows are a very curious bunch...looks like they are curious in what you are doing. Do you interact with the cows by name or see them individually? Is there a Elise? Ferdinand? Clarabelle? Do you chat with them and do they "perk up" and get interested and curious in what you do? Are they comfortable enough that they come up to you and nudge you or moo at you? Or get squeamish when you come by? How do they interact with other family members or people who visit? I am just wondering if you treat them like you would a pet or maybe just a walking steak? I never in my life got too close to a cow but I would imagine I would be a bit afraid they might **** me or muscle in and be a bit unwieldy.... But, if I could, I would scratch an ear, maybe a pet and a rub....just curious...

The stand is likely just staying at the shop for now. I haven’t gotten to crazy with selling stuff yet. If I go anywhere it’s usually just to a small local business or an individual’s place. I’ll usually just load of a small variety of things I have to show them have I have and what’s available.

Well, cattle, like all animals are each individually different at times. The calves are smart enough to start bawling if they’re out of feed and want more. Especially, when several of them start to chime in. Our calves are definitely not the type to come up to you. Especially, being on a feeder they don’t get daily interaction. So they can be a little wild. They like to run away. Run around. Sometimes they just take off from the slightest thing.

Cows on the other hand. It depends. The older ones have more trust. They’ve had more interaction. They’re not as bad. But they can still have their moments. They’re similar to the calves the the feed aspect. Especially, after last week they usually know when they hear that little diesel motor on the Kubota and see it coming there’s a good chance they’re getting corn. So they’ll come up for that corn. That something I try to keep them in routine with. It makes it a lot easier to move them around, ween calves, or just get them up to the barn to look them all over good. They’ll get close when you’ve got a bucket of corn in your hand. Most of them aren’t shy then. Some of them will just about knock you down if you’ve got corn.

There are very few that you can really touch. Even fewer that don’t freak out if you do touch them. Which I’m fine with really. I like to follow a good line of respect. They know they don’t need to run away from me. But they know not to try and push me either. I’d rather not have them trying to rub up against me. Cattle know they’re tough. But they don’t always know their own strength either. One swing of the head could knock you over in no time.

They don’t really respond to talking to them. We have a call we’ll use when we feed them. They recognize that. It also helps, like the Kubota to persuade them to follow. This actually makes a difference if one gets out or is somewhere they shouldn’t be. They make that connection and a simple call can help them chance their mind on the direction they’re going. I know they can’t understand stand me if I get angry and yell at them. But they do respond more to a loud yelling voice when you’re angry.

As far as other people. At times I have noticed them reacting differently to someone they haven’t seen. Cows at least. It seems like it doesn’t matter to the big calves they just always run. But it seems like at time that can also come down to control and respect. Even if they don’t necessarily “know” you. If you’re leading the way and you let them know you’re in charge they won’t react differently than if it was me.

As far as my view. Definitely not as pets. They’re employees. They are brought in to do a job. For our set up a cow’s job is to reproduce. She’s provided with food, a home, a health care plan. All she has to do is raise a calf. If they’re incapable of doing so they’re fired. If they can’t follow directions properly they’re fired.

For example, 3 of the heifer dad bought this spring are awful. Very anxious and high strung all the time. They often like to run away. Won’t follow. Won’t stay. They run. Cattle have that herd mentality. If one of them decide to run for it, the rest typically follow. That can make it a nightmare when you’re trying to work with them. Not to mention the ones with that type of attitude can be the ones that may run at you instead of away from you. None of that is any good.

Another issue with that is when they have calves. If mom is running around acting stupid, that calf is going to learn the same behavior majority of the time. That isn’t worth a **** either. Sure she can do her job. But when she’s constantly causing problems she’s going to be sent down the road as well. That’s likely what’s going to happen with those 3 heifers as soon as their calves are big enough to ween.

I guess that somewhat sums things up.

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

Looks great on the display set up, I hope it generates new customers for you.
Have you ever ridden a cow, nothing like a horse. We had a dairy cow that would let you ride while another while someone held a feed bucket, that was great until the person holding the bucket would take off running.
Good luck and great returns on the tool fair!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Looks great on the display set up, I hope it generates new customers for you.
Have you ever ridden a cow, nothing like a horse. We had a dairy cow that would let you ride while another while someone held a feed bucket, that was great until the person holding the bucket would take off running.
Good luck and great returns on the tool fair!

Thanks. I’m hoping to goes well. Hopefully the heat doesn’t keep people away. Bad thing is I tried to have it when I lot of farmers have caught up on things. The bad part being several are taking breaks, on vacation or somewhere else.

I can’t say I’ve ever tried to ride a cow before. I’ve always been sure it wouldn’t go well. But I’d imagine it is much different than riding a horse. Now there has been a time or two I’ve gone for a ride on a calf.

One example being when we couldn’t find a calf for a few days. It was basically big enough to be weened. So big enough hurt you. We found it and it had pink eye in both eyes. We roped it to try and catch it but it was still getting away. I finally just jumped on its back and got it in a headlock. It took me for a short ride before it went down. That also ended up in it slinging it’s head back which resulted in a busted lip for me. Good times.

 

[captain14]

Good luck on Friday night. Hope there’s lots of interest in the tools and some sales for you.

Have you figured out your food plans yet?
Yiu don’t want to be going back and forth for food and missing the interaction with the customers in the tool capabilities.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Good luck on Friday night. Hope there’s lots of interest in the tools and some sales for you.

Have you figured out your food plans yet?
Yiu don’t want to be going back and forth for food and missing the interaction with the customers in the tool capabilities.

Luckily, dad is returning from camping this evening. So tomorrow we’re going to be trying to get everything prepped and ready to go. Planning on doing some pulled pork. So we’ll smoke it tomorrow. Then it’ll be ready to go with a few other easy things for Friday. Going with stuff I can just let sit in a slow cooker and stay warm while people are there.

 

[Andy8430]

Good luck on your sale. If I was a bit closer, I'd like to make the trip and attend, but my bank account probably wouldn't like it. Glad to see more recent updates on here, I always appreciate reading along.

On the cattle interaction question... I thought I'd add our experiences with cattle. Our family purchases feeder cattle (around 800 lbs) and finishes them for packing houses (around 1500 lbs). Cattle do vary a lot, depending on their genetics and, as you mentioned, how often they interact with other people. We've had bunches of cattle that hit the back fence at any noise or person, but we've also had "pets" along the way. They are big animals, so you need to be careful, however they can act tame and friendly. One steer we had, my nephews (around age 4), could call his number and he'd come to the fence for a head rub.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Good luck on your sale. If I was a bit closer, I'd like to make the trip and attend, but my bank account probably wouldn't like it. Glad to see more recent updates on here, I always appreciate reading along.

On the cattle interaction question... I thought I'd add our experiences with cattle. Our family purchases feeder cattle (around 800 lbs) and finishes them for packing houses (around 1500 lbs). Cattle do vary a lot, depending on their genetics and, as you mentioned, how often they interact with other people. We've had bunches of cattle that hit the back fence at any noise or person, but we've also had "pets" along the way. They are big animals, so you need to be careful, however they can act tame and friendly. One steer we had, my nephews (around age 4), could call his number and he'd come to the fence for a head rub.

Thanks. I’m hoping things go well.

We’ve never had any that would come if you call their number. But we’ve had some fairly gentle easy going cows, usually the older ones. Most of our bulls are all easy going as well. But yeah those are all factors in behavior. It’s interesting to see how other people’s cattle behave sometimes.

We have a neighbor that tends to have cattle get out. But typically they’re easy to lead somewhere. Once some of their heifers ended up at my uncle’s house. All I had to do is open the gate to the lot and they walked right in. No issues. But the other neighbor it’s a little different story.

 

[west_perf]

Drove though your area last week - prior to the heat wave, the crops were looking good and healthy.
Hope that heat wave last week didn't dry out out too bad.
Camped in the bootheel one night at a friends' place beside a rice patty and the heat and mosquitoes were pretty tough.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Drove though your area last week - prior to the heat wave, the crops were looking good and healthy.
Hope that heat wave last week didn't dry out out too bad.
Camped in the bootheel one night at a friends' place beside a rice patty and the heat and mosquitoes were pretty tough.

Heat wave is definitely slowing things down. We had a little rain last week. But we sure could use some more.

I bet the mosquitoes were bad down there. It seems like they aren’t bad around the shop and barns. But once you get to the woods it’s awful. Certain areas in the bottom get bad too, especially when there’s water. Ones near the river get real bad sometimes. Big too. Like the old saying, “there were mosquitoes big enough they had ticks behind their ears.”

 

[livingandlearning]

How did things go with the tool sale?

 

[cliftonbros89]

How did things go with the tool sale?

Not too bad. I had people show up and buy some stuff. I’ve been meaning to get to that and all the activities of the almost past 2 weeks.

Its hot this week! No rain. It’s dry. Had the tool sale. Last week I had to order quite a bit of stuff and search for some things for some customers. But it seems like the cattle are really trying to work on my patience lately as well.

Hopefully, I’ll be getting things updated soon. No luck on an answer for the truck issue yet either.

I have several seed meetings to attend in the evenings this week. But hopefully by the end of the week I can catch everyone up.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So I think we left off with the tool open house.

Took care of the cattle and then it was on to finish setting things up. Plus, I wanted to have things set up to take some pictures to send to some of my reps.

Got everything set up and was good to go. I’m not exactly sure how many people I had show up I never have wrote it down and counted. But I’d say probably close to 50. Basically all farmers. I never had a slow time. It started at 4. The first truck pulled in at 4:05. I didn’t turn the lights out til 11. I was constantly showing things off, answering questions, or writing out a ticket. Definitely the best week I’ve had. Sold a few things that week, plus had some guys order things that night. So it was pretty decent.

At least it was an opportunity to get my name out there and show everyone I have and can get more than oil pumps.

The following day on that Saturday I packed everything back up and put things away so we could actually use the shop again.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So I guess we’ll do this by subject rather than day to day. Makes it a little easier.

Starting with cattle we’ve been putting out quite a bit of hay. Areas of the county have been getting some rain but at our place we are dry. Pastures are really starting to get some brown spots in them. We could really use some rain. We finally had a little today. But I don’t think it amounted to much. It looks like we may end up with some from this storm that hitting the gulf.

Within the past few weeks we’ve had more issues with calves than we have all year.

First we had this on a Sunday afternoon. My uncle called complaining he kept hearing a cow bawl, finally heard a calf bawl but couldn’t find it. Well, we found it. It found a hole in the woods. An underground hole. Luckily, it had through hole. But I guess the calf felt there were too many roots and it couldn’t make it through. The hole it went down into went straight down. I’m not a big guy and this hole was just big enough for me to get down into. So after getting constantly hung up on roots I managed to get the calf and myself back up out of the hole.

A few days later my uncle calls again. Found a calf, alone in his pasture, where we hadn’t had the calves for a couple weeks. I’m pretty certain this calf was the neighbor’s. But he didn’t claim it. But neither did any of the cows we have at my uncle’s. So we wrangled him up and are now bottle feeding him.

Then we had a couple geniuses get their heads stuck in the wire panels in the fence at dad’s. Two of the calves from the new heifers did it with in just a couple days of each other.

Then there was this little heifer calf. Born from one of the cows at dad’s it ended up through the fence with the group of heifers. They didn’t want anything to do with it. None of the cows where it came from would come to it. So we put it in the barn with the other calf.

So it’s busy. That little heifer calf is wild as hell. You have to chase her down to catch her to take a bottle. The bull calf was used to the bottle. So you have to stand by him and keep bushing him back to the bucket. He likes to stop and then try to come get the bottle that the heifer is drinking out of.

Last week we ran the calves through the barn to cut and get their first round of shots.

Saved a treat for out buddy Noah from that day.

We finally sorted the heifers at dad’s too. The newest heifers that aren’t due til later on, we left them with the cows at dad’s. There were 7 with calves. They went out to the retirement farm.

 

[cliftonbros89]

So the heifers and calves went to the retirement farm.

They’re getting used to things out there. As are the cattle that were out there. A calf that was already there disappeared. I spent over a few hours out there walking around trying to find it. Then yesterday evening it just suddenly appeared again.

then there were 4. These 4 had calves with them when dad bought them this spring. Calves are weened now. These 4 are wild as can be. I’ve had it with them. The bull has been with them a couple times. So they’re going to be preg checked. But bred or not they’re going to the auction barn on Tuesday.

Speaking of the auction barn. We hauled off 31 of the big calves, mostly steers, to go to auction this past week.
That allowed room to bring the recently weened calves from my uncle’s to dad’s. We held back another 11 from the last group. So there will still be 41 calves there.



Also, still been grinding feed, putting out mineral and keeping the backrubbers loaded up regularly.

 

[captain14]

Sounds like you had a good crowd for the tool event. That a made a long day if you closed down after 1100 PM though. Or shall I say a long week?

You seem to have at least one calf to bottle feed each season.