Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

I started the day out with bedding the steers. They are happy again

You can't really tell but they're smiling.

Started a new field and the ground is rather moist.

The first of 9 times the combine needed a tug to get out of the mud.

On the plus side, the moisture of the corn is almost perfect for combining. At 19-20% moisture it combines really nicely. Anything below 18% and it starts shelling out when it hits the corn head and there can be significant losses. For every 2 kernels per square foot found on the ground it is a one bushel per acre loss of yield.

 

[jblnut]

We got everything moved to a bin we are renting from one of our landlords. Normally we don't use this bin but the yields are good this year and we won't have enough space for all the corn at home.




Terrick down Under asked about the torque tube earlier. Here is a photo of how that is put together. This is at the rear of the wagon looking forward.


We purchased a 100 gallon tank and 12v pump last fall and it has been VERY nice to have. I remember reading a thread on GJ a while back about these 12v pumps and tanks and how fast they drain the battery they are connected too but we don't have any issues with that. We can empty the tank 4 times before the 12v battery it's hooked to is dead. It's an old worn out Cat brand semi battery that struggled to start the truck it was on but works great here ! !


We usually only use the portable tank to fill the combine as we don't get home with it as often to fill it from this tank.


I've had to adjust the depth of the front discs a few times since we replaced them so everything works nicely again. The front wrench is about 4.5' long and the "smaller" rear wrench is about 3' long. Sort of a PITA to do this but it's not too bad.



On the way to the field. It sort of commands the entire road. Good thing there's not much traffic out here.



It looks much smaller in the field ! !


We rent land from a "retired" farmer and we always give him the chance to do the tillage on his land if he wants. It takes him about 3 days to get it all done and is a huge help to us. We actually purchased our combine from him when he retired.



And last but not least here is a teaser photo of the site I'm looking to build something on next summer. The excavation dudes are in the photo as well as a corner stake. The building would go from there to within 100' of the trees in the background .....

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: thanks for taking the time to document all the stuff you do to maintain and work a farm. since you are so handy and i'm more of a tool guy than a farmer any chance you have a few pictures of your workbench maybe showing the vise or vises you use? also when you work on these big machines is a 3/4 socket set big enough and how big of wrenches do you use?

also is all the corn just feed for your cows or do you sell off some to other farmers to fund your farm?

 

[jblnut]

JB: thanks for taking the time to document all the stuff you do to maintain and work a farm. since you are so handy and i'm more of a tool guy than a farmer any chance you have a few pictures of your workbench maybe showing the vise or vises you use? also when you work on these big machines is a 3/4 socket set big enough and how big of wrenches do you use?

also is all the corn just feed for your cows or do you sell off some to other farmers to fund your farm?

I'll use around 12,000 bushels of corn for the steers and the rest gets sold to fund our farming habit.

I'll snag some better workbench and vise pics today but get ready to be unimpressed. Most of the repairs are done with a tailgate being the workbench and a piece of cardboard being the creeper.

I have a 4" vise at home and dad has a 6"(I think) at his place. Pretty rare either of them get used.

It's typically a pretty bad day when we have to break out the 3/4" stuff and the swear jar gets filled when the 1" drive set gets dusted off. We frequently use up to a 2 1/2" wrench but the most common are 1/2", 9/16", 3/4" and 1 1/8" and some random metric **** mixed in on the newer stuff.

We do have a nice collection of tools but most of the $$$$$ spent is on the machinery and such.

Here is dad's shop. Tool wall and work bench. If you look close you can see the vice on a mobile cart.

Here's some misc junk he can't live without.

This is the "fabrication" wall. Welders, grinders, chop saws and drill press mostly.

I guess I shouldn't talk too loudly about the junk dad can't be without because I have my fair share as well ...

I don't have many tools inside my shop as most of them reside in my work van. I robbed my shop of tools and didn't buy a second set of tools when I got a van. I by far have the best stocked van in the fleet of 10 vans. There's an off chance that it may serve as my service rig once in a while on the farm too

 

[Chuckleins]

Where in Upstate NY? I'm originally from near Lowville

 

[jblnut]

Albany MN

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: looks ok to me and was just curious. i truly wish i had all that space, but some days i surely don't envy your work day. you are a great troubleshooter and you have a GET R DONE ATTITUDE so i'm sure you'll do great even if the world stops eating as much beef.

i did notice the HUGE back wheel on what looks like an almost new red wagon. what's up with that? easier to pull your little one around the place or maybe you used it a few years ago sort of like a stroller?

cheers

 

[welder57]

Thanks for sharing what you do on your farm. I have worked from dawn to dusk before on my family farm a long time ago-now I work for a steel building manufacture here in the southeast. Keep the pictures coming and Have A Blessed Day!!!!

 

[jblnut]

This is the main vise at dads place.


The "Tool Wall". The big stuff is in the drawers or on a shelf somewhere.


Here is the "on a shelf somewhere" area.



I got sick of climbing a ladder every time I wanted to clean off the dryer so I goobered a 10' of 3/4" EMT onto the end of the broom.


Gawsh I love this time of year. Everything is so purrrrdy.


Well after doing some math we decided we needed to sell about 4,000 bushels to have enough room for everything so we hauled some corn to the elevator.

Loading it up.




Here is said elevator.


We had to drive through town to get there. Right around 3:00pm we hauled the first loads through. Just as the high school was releasing it's students we drove through. That sucked.


Once we get across the scale the elevator takes a sample of each load to know the moisture and test weight of the corn.


The corn gets unloaded into an underground conveyor system that can unload the 650 bushels in our boxes in about 90 seconds. There's very little messing around here !!



This is the weigh ticket we get after each load is emptied. Only 627/bu on this load.

 

[Bears Fan]

Great thread! Its pretty cool following along with you on a day down on the farm...I'm sure there's a country music song that could come out of that statement Keep posting! Good luck on the rest of the harvest

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: i'm guessing your Dad's vise is a Reed 106 and maybe you can look next time you are in the shop if you care. that would mean it weighs about 120 pounds and it has 6 inch wide jaws. his is in better shape than both of mine that both need new handles and some jaw work from getting beat on by the prior owner.

i love the big wheels on your welding cart and i bet that guy gets lots of use on your farm.

i saw the anvil on a nice hunk of wood sitting ready to take a pounding when you need to make or fix something.

thanks again for all the farming pictures showing how you harvest, store and even sell stuff and i'm positive it might help make a few farmers out of some of us looking in. looks like a lot of work, but also looks like a good life.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I grew up in a small town in SE Minnesota, one block away from the local elevator. I can still remember the sound and smell of their grain dryer running every fall.

 

[carlquib]

I have really enjoyed your thread. Farming in the upper Midwest is a lot different than what we do here in southern Idaho. You should definitely add the steering to your equipment, but be warned it is addictive. Here is what my day looks like, the view from my office.


And out the back at what is going on, topping sugar beets.


I don't know how you have time to hold down a job in town and still get your farming done. We run the large square balers here(4x8x8), but we don't get anything like the rainfall you describe. Our annual precipitation here in the high dessert is only 10".

Hello, my name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic

 

[jblnut]

I have really enjoyed your thread. Farming in the upper Midwest is a lot different than what we do here in southern Idaho. You should definitely add the steering to your equipment, but be warned it is addictive. Here is what my day looks like, the view from my office.

I don't know how you have time to hold down a job in town and still get your farming done. We run the large square balers here(4x8x8), but we don't get anything like the rainfall you describe. Our annual precipitation here in the high dessert is only 10".

We tried some GPS stuff out a while back and were impressed with it but we have such stupid small fields that it was a hassle with over half the acreage so we gave it back.

I stay busy alright. I like it but don't get much sleep sometimes but that's ok.

10" of rain is not a lot at all. Your fields must all have pivots on them then ??

 

[carlquib]

We tried some GPS stuff out a while back and were impressed with it but we have such stupid small fields that it was a hassle with over half the acreage so we gave it back.

I stay busy alright. I like it but don't get much sleep sometimes but that's ok.

10" of rain is not a lot at all. Your fields must all have pivots on them then ??

Most of our fields are at least 1/4 mile runs and some are more. Every acre we farm is irrigated, you can't grow much out here except sagebrush and cheat grass without irrigation. We use center pivots, wheel lines, solid set, and hand line. I'm envious of the ability you have to leave for the weekend and go camping. We are tied here all summer, have to be here at six in the morning and six at night to move the water. I've been trying to mechanize it more, but it is a slow expensive process.
Our steering systems pay for themselves plus they add a lot of convenience. We pull a twelve foot ecolotiger after we dig the sugar beets, the steering lets us do skip passes plus it eliminates overlap. My biggest tractor is only a JD 8420. I would love to have a big pulling tractor like you have but we are actually trying to move to more no-till. I haven't had my plow out of the shed for over ten years now.

Hello, my name is Brian and I'm a toolaholic

 

[jblnut]

Well we've got 100hrs on the combine so far this year so it's time for an oil change !!


Since this box tipped over it's been eating the front right tire. Time to figure out why.


I picked up a spare tire and rim yesterday. $505 for a 445/65r 22.5 tire with 11/32 of tread and a brand new rim. Pretty happy with that.


The new hitch parts came in.


New vs Old.


How the old hitch looked. This wagon hasn't been unhooked from the tractor since it happened. We couldn't get the pin out and figured if we did get it out, we wouldn't get it back in until it was repaired.


Using my crude, but amazingly accurate, way of doing an alignment I determined the front left tire was almost 2" off.


The tools are out and **** is getting fixed.


This is a 1" thick piece of steel that bent when the wheel hit the ditch. It's amazing to me that the tie rods didn't give out or something else broke instead.


I shortened the left tie rod almost an inch to pull it all back straight.


I put the new tire and rim on the right side and made the chewed up one the spare. If a tire goes flat on one of these wagons the rim will more than likely take a beating so a ready to use spare is a must.


Each of the four corners has a surge brake to help stop the 20 tons of weight from pushing the tractor around so much. They help an incredible amount.


I painted a silver line on all four tires to see what wore down going down the road and all four lines where still there when I got back from a 4 mile round trip.


Started the day by breaking open a new field.


It just so happens this field overlooks my building site. Looks kind of cool I think.


Dumping into the gravity box.


Ended the day by setting up to transfer corn to another bin in the morning.


PLUS I had a helper for most of the day today. She sat so patiently in that rim while I unloaded each load. We had fun.

 

[jblnut]

I'm envious of the ability you have to leave for the weekend and go camping. We are tied here all summer, have to be here at six in the morning and six at night to move the water. I've been trying to mechanize it more, but it is a slow expensive process.

We went camping a whole 15 minutes from home and I went home morning and evenings to do chores so it was sort of leaving for the weekend, but not really


I built a multipurpose skid steer attachment last fall and finally got around to painting it today. The larger center tube is for a reciever hitch and the two smaller ones are for my snow plow. It was a little rusty so some sanding and the like was in order.


Then some primer.


Then a couple light coats of John Deere Green.


I also snagged the model off Dad's vise. Looks like either a 10A or 104.


Whilst filling the skid up with fuel I noticed a wet spot by a hydraulic hose. These damn skid loaders are nice until something inevitably starts to leak. It's a mess of hoses and wires and **** all crammed into a shoebox sized area that is almost impossible to work in.


There it is ...


The culprit is the lift hose for the boom. Not too bad. Only about 7 things need to come apart to get to both ends of this one.


And some more shop organization progress. I mocked up my two Lawson cabinets and a few other things in the Durham cabinet and I think it'll work.

 

[drivesitfar]

Troubleshooting and working on stuff on the fly around the farm looks like a full time job. nice work fixing and fabbing and keep posting pictures as you have time.

Dad's Reed is most likely a 104 that is smaller than it looked in the picture. if the Jaw width is 4 inches across that's what it is. great vise and i would have expected a bigger one on the farm with some of that big stuff you and he work on. or maybe he has a blacksmith vise? as i've said many many times on the main vise thread a good old 4 to 5 inch US made vise will do about 90-95% of most jobs it needs to at a home shop and looks like it does a great job on a big farm too.

thanks for the organized shelving pictures and if you need a few ideas or want to share a few of yours check out the ORGANIZING 201 thread i started in this section and here's the link. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=335623&highlight=201+organizing

hope the weather cooperates for you until you shut down for the winter.

good luck

 

[jblnut]

Because of the way we fix things on the fly, vises are not used all that much on a daily basis. Typically this **** that breaks while harvesting, or doing anything for that matter, can be fixed with a toolbox full of tools that you can carry wherever you go. With a basic set of sockets and wrenches, and a good adjustable wrench for all those made up metric sizes, you can fix almost anything if you have to. That and an 8" slip joint pliers. I've had the same Channellock 528 as long as I can remember, Dad's favorite is a John Deere 8" his dad gave him in high school.

We've made all sorts of different tool combinations over the years as well. The most used is a 8" slip joint pliers with a 9/16" and a 1/2" open end wrench head welded on each handle. I'll throw a pic up sometime. I also coined the term "HamWrench" with a number of adjustable wrenches with various different size and type hammer heads welded onto the ends. I've got an old 10" Hjorth that I welded a small ball peen hammer head onto when I was in high school. Sorry if there are any diehard adjustable wrench collectors reading this but I'd do it again. It is wicked handy.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: anytime you want to post up some pictures of your FARM TOOLS that you and dad made and maybe showing how to use them or tell us what they are for i'm up for that. no hurry and maybe a winter post since i bet you are really busy right now getting everything ready for winter.

good luck

 

[fergus]

I see you like a lil Red paint. Did that loaner 340 have the suspended front axle? I could see how it wouldn't pull as well as a big 4wd tractor. Most guys out here either pull bailers or just ridges on rice fields with something like that 340. Ever get your 325 back?

 

[jblnut]

DIVSFR:Long way to go before winter dude. We are almost 75% done with corn and have weeks of tillage left. If the ground doesn't freeze I have no problem discing the snow into the ground.

I see you like a lil Red paint. Did that loaner 340 have the suspended front axle? I could see how it wouldn't pull as well as a big 4wd tractor. Most guys out here either pull bailers or just ridges on rice fields with something like that 340. Ever get your 325 back?

I've been told if it's red, keep it in the shed. Sometimes the stuff gets out ....

The 340 had the suspended front axle but after about 5 minutes of run time it would throw an error and lock me at 25mph max. The tractor had less than a thousand hours on it and it had a bunch of issues already.

If the thing had some decent meats it would have pulled better I think. It was weighted to 36k and the power was there, it just couldn't get it to the ground.

The 325 came back almost 10 days after the 340 showed up and we were very glad to have it back !!

You share a screen name with our bus. The voted upon name for it was Fergus. Thought you should know



Well after bragging about my favorite Channellock 528 nothing less than 3 days ago I broke the damn thing. The search is on for a better replacement. This one only lasted 10ish years. What a letdown ...



Here is one in the "HamWrench" line of tools.



My youngest came home today with her name taped to her back. I guess they had a new gal at daycare and she was struggling to keep all the little people straight in her head. Not a bad idea. I suggested to my wife that I could wright the children's name in sharpie on their foreheads, you know that it would last longer, and all I got was "The Look" ....

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: i'm guessing you were kidding when trying to remember your kids names by marking them with a sharpie. i bet you love your kids and they love you too with all the pics i see with them in them.

or maybe your wife was coming out to find you working your rear off and snapped some shots you posted. it can get confusing some days that is for certain and i'm happy my youngest of 5 is now 26, but then there are the grand kids.

sorry to see you broke your pliers that you call channel locks cause of the brand name. can't say i've ever seen a pair broken that way, but i bet they earned their keep. also thanks for posting your crescent hammer tool.

cheers and hope you have a great friday and weekend. sorry about trying to rush winter on you, but some members north of you are posting pictures of snow so it isn't too far away now.

 

[jblnut]

JB: i'm guessing you were kidding when trying to remember your kids names by marking them with a sharpie.

My youngest came home today with her name taped to her back. I guess they had a new gal at daycare and she was struggling to keep all the little people straight in her head.

sorry to see you broke your pliers that you call channel locks cause of the brand name.

Well after bragging about my favorite Channellock 528 nothing less than 3 days ago I broke the damn thing.

Not sure what to call it I guess if I can't call it what it is. It is a Channellock 528. There is no such thing as a tool called a "Channellock" as far as I'm aware. I'd imagine you're referring to their tongue-and-groove pliers, which most people refer to as a "Channellock" because that's what it was called up through the mid 60's when the Champion–DeArment Tool Company changed it's name to Channellock to ride the wave of recognition of their most popular tool design.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: I know your daycare or preschool teacher put on the tape and also thought you were kidding about marking their names on their foreheads with a sharpie. with all you have going on i bet it's hard to remember your own name some days.

i'm old so pliers were maybe a generic term and the ones that open up wider for plumbing or bigger items were called channel locks as far as i remember and i don't have very many tools newer than 1980's.

have a great weekend.

 

[jblnut]

Back at it again !!!


Look at those monster cobs !!


On top of a 445/65r 22.5 tire which is I believe 13" wide.


Had to put a different tractor on the auger as we had issues with the other one. No question there will be enough power to run the auger!!


I'm going to have the corn stalks baled by my place because I need the bedding and it'll make it easier for the Cat's and scrapers to do their thing in a few weeks.


This is my raking rig. International 886 and a Sitrex QR10 cart rake.


Everyone loves an action shot !!


The factory radio is more on again off again than a high school romance so I took matters into my own hands.


This is the end result. Doesn't look like much but the windrows are 4' wide and almost 2' tall. Lots of straw ! !


I do not own a round baler so I had one of the neighbors roll them up for me. He wasn't having the best day with the ol' Claas baler as the net wrap kept getting torn until we found a tear in one of the belts and fixed it.


Gonna take a while to pick them all up.


My trailers are setup for square bales and the rounds have to be laid flat so they don't roll off.

 

[jblnut]

The ol' International is cold this morning.


Gotta fill it up with fuel.


What I got hauled home in the evening.


Every man needs to know how to sew. It is an incredibly handy skill to have. I beefed up the discharge chute on my grinder mixer last night.


See, there are many many fewer holes now.



We are harvesting the best crop we have ever had and I don't think we'll have enough room for it all. We are filling everything up to within a few inches of the roofs to try and keep as much around as we can !! I captured my dad checking the bin and hollering "Put the damn camera down and shut off the auger, it's full !!"


And because my normal auger tractor is in the shop we are using a 150hp tractor on an 8x51 auger. The 20hp Farmall H would run it fine. A bit overkill but whatever.


I broke the chute that came with the auger 25 years ago and didn't want to spend the $300 for a new one so I made my own. Works great and cost $0. Win.


Peek-a-boo, my tractor is back.



Nothing like hanging out by the lake on a beautiful fall day.


This poor little combine is maxed out. At 1500bu/hr things start plugging up because the clean corn can't get into the hopper fast enough. Living life on the edge ! !


Unloading on the go !!


The day ended like yesterday. I picked up another 40 or so round corn straw bales and got them in the shed.

 

[hicketts]

Thanks for updates. It's nice to see what harvest is like in different parts of the country. In our parts it's mostly dairy and the busiest time is September. It's chopping corn and hay all month and then October is shelling and manure spreading.

North Dakota is a great place, with great people. We were traveling through two years ago, with our 5th wheel, and stopped in Fargo for a visit and then on to Jamestown ND. When pulling in to the lake area there were a hidden set of train tracks and I nailed them at about 45 mph, I didn't think much about it right then. We pulled to our campsite and stayed a few days. Met the Campground/Store/Boat Ramp/Cook Manger, he was a really nice guy. Then when we were leaving on Friday July 4th morning, headed to Madora ND, I looked back at the trailer and I saw way to much of the rear wheel. I stopped looked and the rear spring perch was ripped off the I-Beam frame. So we parked in the gravel lot by the lake and asked to manager if he knew of any mobile welding services in the area. His response was priceless "Well it's the 4th and Larry would, but he has a huge party and wont be right for a few days". So the manager says if all I need is a welder he would run home get me his Lincoln 110 and a grinder and mask, and I could just weld in there. He left me watching the store for a while and he returned with all I needed. It took me about two hours and felt good enough to get back into town and pick up a better Hobart at Tractor Supply. Finished the job and we were on the road after lunch, and made it to Madora for the fireworks that night. He really helped to save our trip and keep us on schedule, but we would go onto find out that North Dakota is a great place to visit with great people.

 

[Terrick down Under]

I love these pics of a day in your life, makes me feel like I have learnt something. Its really interesting how we become complacent.

 

[jblnut]

I'm only showing y'all what I do on the farm. I put in 45ih hrs/week at a "real job" as well. I'll snap some interesting things tomorrow from work. Robotic stuff.

On Sundays during harvest we eat a solid breakfast, go to church in the morning and get back at it.


As we get the bins full we have been moving the auger from one to the next. It is all setup so all we have to do it move it over. It pivots in an arc around the bottom end.


This is the old drying system inside the last bin to fill. We don't usually bury the equipment but we can get around 1,500 bushels more in the bin if we do and we need the space this year. I put plastic bags around the two electric motors on the rig so all should be well.


Look at all that corn ! !


While I was unloading the first load of the day I checked over the old bin dryer. It is a model H28, which means it has a 3mil BTU burner. Huh. It's not usually looked at this close unless it doesn't fire up I guess.


There is always quite the pile of fines to clean up after the dryer gets shutdown for the season.


And we're back off and running again ! !


I get to spend another day by the lake. For those of you that hunt, we've been chasing a pair of LARGE WhiteTail bucks around the last few days. One is a 12 pointer and the other looks to be a solid 10.



Well we got the bins all full and still have about 40 acres to do so we decided to pick up the last of the corn straw bales.


If you've been following along you've seen pictures of my broken baler. It puked out whilest bailing Soybean straw so I had the guy bale the rest of that up too that I couldn't get.


The guy we rent the field from must have gotten bored because I got out there this afternoon and they were grouped up for me already !! That'll save some time !!


The last of the rounds to be unloaded.



The shed is almost full. There are 125 meadow, 360 wheat straw, 115 soybean straw and 127 corn straw bales in the shed. It should be over a years worth of bedding. Wonderful.



And to cap the day off I found a massive bolt/screw/nail (not sure yet) in another gravity box tire while doing chores.

 

[dubjager]

I really hope you never tire of posting. Love checking in every day and seeing what you post.

Going to have to purchase a smaller grain bin for my family farm next year and love seeing your much bigger ones in action (we are only looking at 1 ton sizes). Looking to store silage to supplant during the winter for our cows!

Looking forward to more!

 

[jblnut]

I really hope you never tire of posting. Love checking in every day and seeing what you post.

Going to have to purchase a smaller grain bin for my family farm next year and love seeing your much bigger ones in action (we are only looking at 1 ton sizes). Looking to store silage to supplant during the winter for our cows!

Looking forward to more!

Thanks for following along

How many cows do you have ?? Smaller bins can often be located used on the cheap. I purchased a 3 ton bin with a 10' long 4" diameter auger with a 2hp motor for $300 at an auction a few years ago. Hauled it home in the back of the pickup

 

[jblnut]

Not much happened today. Sorry for the letdown.

I did send this beauty to the butcher shop today. I love being able to pick out my steak by how they look when they're alive

 

[dubjager]

Thanks for following along

How many cows do you have ?? Smaller bins can often be located used on the cheap. I purchased a 3 ton bin with a 10' long 4" diameter auger with a 2hp motor for $300 at an auction a few years ago. Hauled it home in the back of the pickup

We have 15 cows at the moment! Looking to get another bull next spring/summer to start another herd.

I was actually thinking of just going the used route... Just haven't seen any pop up just yet. I will have to get the area set up with anchor points...likely when I finish the rear of my garage and put two horse stalls and get rid of all the hay I'm storing back there. (will have to start a whole thread on that!)

I know what you mean about getting to pick out your meat on the farm. It is a great feeling know where your food comes from, that's for sure.

 

[jblnut]

We have 15 cows at the moment! Looking to get another bull next spring/summer to start another herd.

I was actually thinking of just going the used route... Just haven't seen any pop up just yet. I will have to get the area set up with anchor points...likely when I finish the rear of my garage and put two horse stalls and get rid of all the hay I'm storing back there. (will have to start a whole thread on that!)

I know what you mean about getting to pick out your meat on the farm. It is a great feeling know where your food comes from, that's for sure.

Cow/calf operation or do you milk them ??

Something will pop up, always does. As far as anchors, I used some old tires laid down with concrete in them and a piece of ready rod in the center. bolt the bin to it and you're good to go. Even when empty, it hasn't blown over yet. I'll snap some photos sometime to show you what I mean.

I haven't purchased beef at a store for a very long time and I do not intend to have to do so for a very long time. It is satisfying to raise your own.

 

[Terrick down Under]

It is good when you have good neighbours that will just help out and not expect something! I have got a couple like that, and I try and think of things to help them out.

 

[jblnut]

It is good when you have good neighbours that will just help out and not expect something! I have got a couple like that, and I try and think of things to help them out.

We usually give some beef to the neighbors when they help. It certainly doesn't discourage them helping

I purchased a new tool the other day to help with chores. The steers like to stick their feet in the corn whilst eating and it makes a mess. Look at all that poopy corn.

So I purchased this close tine fork dealio.

It makes cleaning the poop out of the corn was faster. I was using a dirt rake but it was slow and didn't work all that well.

They are fed and happy again !!

In other news, on Monday I'm meeting with an excavation company and a construction company to build a contract chicken barn. It's gonna be 60x624 and from the initial estimates 25,000 yards of dirt will need to be moved ... yikes.

 

[jblnut]

Well we got almost 2" of rain here the last few days so we're at a standstill in the fields for a while again so I decided to get something done in the shop I've been wanting to do for a long time now.

The plan is to take this pile of stuff and make it pump water from a bucket up to a faucet so I can wash my hands in the shop. I've got an old faucet from our previous place I'm going to use.

The plan is to put a bucket under one side and catch the water in it. When it's full I'll pitch it outside. Simple.

Faucet is mounted.

FloJet pump is mounted. 14mm Festo air line on the left is the suction side and will come out of a bucket, right side is discharge to the faucet and the small blue 6mm line is plumbed to a shutoff valve and then into the air loop in the shop.

And now I remember why we replaced this faucet at the old house. The stupid thing leaks. Why oh why oh why don't I just throw things away right away instead of thinking I could use them sometime down the road. Oh well. I'll have to go with plan B another night.

 

[MNSam]

What part of Central MN are you from? My FIL does a lot of tire work for farmers up that way.

 

[jblnut]

What part of Central MN are you from? My FIL does a lot of tire work for farmers up that way.

Albany. We can change tires and I have many sources for free/cheap 385's, it just *****. On the plus side, I just checked the pressure and it hasn't lost a single pound since last night so I'll probably just leave it for now. The box goes 2 miles every other week so I'll deal with it later. Ha.