Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

Not much interesting stuff today. It's been wet and crappy the last few days so I've been working on some odds and ends.

I got the last of the soybeans in the bin.



I also repaired another tire on the big disc.


MR.DRIVESFAR: here is one of the 3/4" socket sets I have.


I intend to chop some corn stalks if the weather clears up a bit so I got that ready to go. I had to switch the PTO from 540rpm mode to 1000rpm mode. Not a big deal, just something that needs to be done on the John Deere's we own.


One snap ring and it comes right out.

There is a button that shifts the transmission from 540 to 1000 inside the PTO housing on the tractor when the shaft is flipped.


You can't see it real well but there is a hollow end on one side of the shaft and it's solid on the other so the button gets pushed in for one speed and doesn't for the other.


Back in and set to 1000rpm.


The PTO from the stalk chopper is hooked up and I'm ready to go.


On the International 886 both shafts are accessible all the time. It's handy but it's a weak gear case and needs to be repaired if used under a heavy load like the stalk chopper. It is used for light duty auger stuff mostly.


The old man is going to go attempt to do some discing. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Contract chicken barn? At one time there were a lot of them around here. I think most were closed down because the barns were obsolete. Too narrow at 32 and 40 feet and too short. Your 60 by 624 foot is the size of five or six of the earlier type. That is a lot of chicken poop. Hope you stuck a wet finger in the air before you selected the building site.

I understand that feeding chicken poop to cows is a common practice. I suspect that is the reason you are going into the chicken business. You take some of the corn you feed to your cows and divert it to the chickens. Then you make it up to the cows by feeding them the chicken litter. Almost like feeding the chickens for free. Ingenious.

 

[jblnut]

Contract chicken barn? At one time there were a lot of them around here. I think most were closed down because the barns were obsolete. Too narrow at 32 and 40 feet and too short. Your 60 by 624 foot is the size of five or six of the earlier type. That is a lot of chicken poop. Hope you stuck a wet finger in the air before you selected the building site.

I understand that feeding chicken poop to cows is a common practice. I suspect that is the reason you are going into the chicken business. You take some of the corn you feed to your cows and divert it to the chickens. Then you make it up to the cows by feeding them the chicken litter. Almost like feeding the chickens for free. Ingenious.

It will be a Gold'n'Plump chicken barn and I'll be raising broilers. Basically, I get them when they are a few hours old and raise them to 6.5lbs. GNP supplies all the feed and everything related to the flock other than the water and electric. The birds are 100% natural fed, no growth hormones or antibiotics. GNP has been this way for a few years now and it's working very well. It's quite the system and I'm sure I'll have some pictures to throw up here once it all gets rolling.

As far as the manure goes, I can cover about 250 acres a year with it so every third year everything will get chicken manure, which is perfect.

I am very excited to be a part of the GNP family, it's a good company to work for and adds a steady, reliable source of income to the farm.

 

[Stockblock]

I like it, I'm always fascinated with how different farming is for the rest of the country compared to new england farms. We raised 500 head of Angus and that was a big deal around here

 

[jblnut]

I like it, I'm always fascinated with how different farming is for the rest of the country compared to new england farms. We raised 500 head of Angus and that was a big deal around here

That's a big deal around here as well. 500 head is a pretty nice number without being too crazy.

 

[C_F]

I just saw your thread today & took a few hours to read it cover to cover.

I'm amazed at how much work you do on the farm, while still having a 40+ hour a week "paycheck" job. Very impressive! I have been fascinated with all the photos & description of how it all works. I've never seen inside a grain silo before, and found those photos particularly interesting.

Man, after reading 15 pages so far, now I have a burning urge to move to the midwest so I can pilot a big tractor all day! Hehe.

 

[Bib Overalls]

I signed up for a USDA price support program that paid you to not raise cattle. I thought starting out modest with 250 head and growing the heard from there was a good plan. Unfortunately, I was turned down because my property was not large enough to support the cows I was not raising.

 

[Ajustable]

Your new chicken barn will be quite an impressive build. Looking forward to following along in the build. Chicken manure contians allot of nitrogen, should save you on buying urea, good luck with all.

 

[jblnut]

I just saw your thread today & took a few hours to read it cover to cover.

I'm amazed at how much work you do on the farm, while still having a 40+ hour a week "paycheck" job. Very impressive! I have been fascinated with all the photos & description of how it all works. I've never seen inside a grain silo before, and found those photos particularly interesting.

Man, after reading 15 pages so far, now I have a burning urge to move to the midwest so I can pilot a big tractor all day! Hehe.

Thanks for reading it all, there is quite a bit !! I like photos so I guess I try to keep it picture heavy. Anytime you want to come drive tractor come on out !!

Your new chicken barn will be quite an impressive build. Looking forward to following along in the build. Chicken manure contians allot of nitrogen, should save you on buying urea, good luck with all.

I am VERY excited to have to "get rid of" all the manure. We buy manure from a few growers right now and it is wonderful stuff. Once construction starts it moves very quickly so I hope I'll be fast enough to snap some photos. The barn itself won't be build until next summer so the dirt has a chance to go over winter and do it's thing.

 

[jblnut]

Well it's another rainy day. I decided to try and disc anyway.

I was able to do about 25 acres before it got too muddy. It takes a fair bit of room to turn the tractor and disc around at the end of the field and I usually have to make at least 4 passes in a circle around the outside of the field to cover everything.



Not sure why but I took a picture of the hitch. It's largeish.

Here are some shots of the buttons, dials and gauges in the tractor.

Lights and engine speed control.

Climate control. This was one of those options that was well worth the $$$$. Set it to 70F and leave it alone.

The whole dash above the windshield. The every important radio is in the center.

The right gauge pillar. The tractor was still warming up as the coolant was only at 145.

The armrest controls float up and down with the air ride seat. The throttle and gear selector are on the left and the hydraulic controls are on the right.

240bu/ac corn residue.

After I gave up discing because of the rain I decided to start cleaning out the steer barn again.

First group penned up waiting for me to get my act together and clean out their pen.

Things are getting muddy ....

The picture doesn't really show how much mud is on the tractor ... It's gonna take a while to wash this all off ...

I had to put my manure pile somewhere else because there is going to be about 2' of dirt removed from where it had been sitting. I ended up getting three of the four pens cleaned out. I'll finish the last one Monday morning before my chicken barn construction meeting.

 

[jblnut]

Got the last of the manure hauled today. This is going to take more than a garden hose to wash off ...

I tried something new today and it worked great. I got the skid loader blade hooked up and decided to give it a whirl at being a road grader.

The excavation company started moving equipment in today. There will be a pair of these here for about a week moving dirt for the chicken barn.

They tried to start today but it's too mushy.

 

[drivesitfar]

are you having the same people build the Chicken coop/barn as you had build your last building?

just curious since you have some pretty heavy trailers and attachments to put on hitches are you pretty good at getting the tractors in the exact spot on the first try? any special tools need to hitch or unhitch that big buckle that almost looks like it should be on a train?

 

[jblnut]

are you having the same people build the Chicken coop/barn as you had build your last building?

just curious since you have some pretty heavy trailers and attachments to put on hitches are you pretty good at getting the tractors in the exact spot on the first try? any special tools need to hitch or unhitch that big buckle that almost looks like it should be on a train?

Gold 'N' Plump has their own building crew. All the barns are built exactly the same and have been for the last ~20 years to make things simple. They start on a Monday morning and are done by Friday I guess. The concrete takes a week and the electrical and plumbing take another week. They all move right along.

Growing up on a farm hooking things up cones second nature. It's rare I've got to reposition the tractor once I park it to hook something up. All of the implements we have need to be spot on but most of the trailers have extendable poles to help make it easier.

The 4wheel drive and it's implements aren't bad, there is a little dealio that drops the pin in when the disc hitch hits the back of the tractor hitch. I'll throw up a picture or two when I get a chance. It's a very simple dealio and works awesome.

 

[C_F]

Thanks for the "ride-along" in the tractor.

I was raised on a farm until I was 12, when my parents split up. We had two tractors, one a little smaller than your JD 7400 & a small old Massey Fergusen. I was allowed to drive the MF, starting at age 9...MAN was that fun as a kid!
We had a disc attachment for it & I learned one day why my Dad told me to raise the discs at the end of a row, before turning the tractor. I left them down & quickly found that it would not turn sharply with the discs in the dirt! I ended up running through a fence before I got the thing stopped. Dad wasn't too happy about that.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm continuing to enjoy your posts & all the cool photos.

 

[jblnut]

Thanks for the "ride-along" in the tractor.

I was raised on a farm until I was 12, when my parents split up. We had two tractors, one a little smaller than your JD 7400 & a small old Massey Fergusen. I was allowed to drive the MF, starting at age 9...MAN was that fun as a kid!
We had a disc attachment for it & I learned one day why my Dad told me to raise the discs at the end of a row, before turning the tractor. I left them down & quickly found that it would not turn sharply with the discs in the dirt! I ended up running through a fence before I got the thing stopped. Dad wasn't too happy about that.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm continuing to enjoy your posts & all the cool photos.

I wouldn't trade growing up/living on a farm for anything in the world. There are more life lessons learned than can be counted.

Thanks for following along, things will slow down during winter but there will be more shop stuff hopefully.

 

[jblnut]

It was a busy weekend. Saturday we got the last of the custom work done.


With the wheat, beans and corn we combined almost 1,200 acres this year. We will be shopping for a larger combine this winter. I'd love to find a low hour 2588, 2577, or even a newer 5088.


After that I went off to finish discing the last soybean field. It is one of the wettest fields we farm and there is a giant wet spot in the middle this year.


As I took this picture I thought it might be a bad idea to drive through an area where there was water but I made it through, scratching and clawing my way out, but I got through.

This blurry photo doesn't do justice to how muddy things were.


I ended up backing in to get more of it and got almost all of it tilled this way.


I had some helpers for most of the afternoon. They are going home to have a snack and naps. The wee ones were getting CRABBY!!


Today I built a cover for the grinder mixer so the corn won't fly out whilst I'm unloading. It works awesome ! !


For now I just flip it open and closed with a piece of EMT from the ground. Simple and functional.



A couple old door hinges and a scrap of treated plywood have cut about an hour off my mixing time each week. Sweet deal.


Remember the picture of the steer I posted a weekish ago?? Here he is again

 

[jblnut]

I can put up with a lot when it comes to weird/inconvenient **** with my vehicles but I finally got sick of disconnecting the battery in the Buick because either the running lights or the headlights would stay on and couldn't be shut off by the switch. Time to dive in and fix this ****.

First place to look was the switch, it works because I can hear the relay clunking when I push it on and off. Time to find the relays, usually located in the lighting control module. Yup.

There they are. Left relay is running lights, middle one is a mystery (brights I suspect) and the right one is the headlights. I cleaned the contacts and they work great. Easy fix.

Now on to bigger and better things today.

 

[jblnut]

Dirtwork for the chicken barn began yesterday. These pictures are all from today with the first few being early in the morning. It was dark last night when I got home but a lot of dirt got moved !!




A 560hp John Deere 9560r and a 22yd John Deere scraper have done all the work so far.


This is the start of the pile of black dirt they removed to get down to the clay and sand.


Nom Nom Nom


There is 8' less dirt where I am standing than was here 24hrs ago.


This will be the turn around area for the semi's that will be bringing the feed, chickens and their bedding.


I also got a few other things done today. I replaced the aging and failing valve on my gas barrel today.


New everything including a large filter to help prevent all the gummy carbs I've been cleaning.


I picked 20ish acres of rocks today. It ***** going into the sun when the windshield is all dirty.


It didn't take long as this field didn't have many rocks this fall.

 

[donnie]

Have been enjoying this thread. I worked on a farm in illinois in the early 70s. The farmer has a JD 4020, 2 JD 3020s and 2 farmalls the 4020 was considered a big tractor than. Only the 4020 had a cab on it. I got to plow with the 3020 and haul the corn with the farmall.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Nice work!

 

[jblnut]

Have been enjoying this thread. I worked on a farm in illinois in the early 70s. The farmer has a JD 4020, 2 JD 3020s and 2 farmalls the 4020 was considered a big tractor than. Only the 4020 had a cab on it. I got to plow with the 3020 and haul the corn with the farmall.

A 4020 was the big tractor on dad's farm as well back in the day. I believe they had a Farmall 560 as the big tractor before it so it was a major step up in power. I do not remember the 4020 but dad has been looking for another one on and off for a bunch of years.

My inlaws have a half dozen 4020's and 3020's that they use daily and they just keep chugging away. It's amazing how long that old iron lasts if it's taken care of. I want to say my Farmall M is a '48 model so that beast is 68 years old and it runs like a champ. Some days it starts up like a hungover champ but once it's warmed up it runs great

 

[Growlertdi]

I have Enjoyed your thread. Keep up the great work!

 

[jblnut]

They keep chipping away at the dirt work. They've been out here for 12hr days all week so far and have about another week left. They brought a D6LGP out today with a laser to start shaping the banks and getting it all level.


So far the south 1/3 of the barn site is level and ready for final grading.


The middle 1/3 is almost there and the end 1/3 needs about 10' of fill still.


Also .....

Being in the right place at the right time usually ends up being a good thing and this time was no exception. IR 2475 with nothing apparent wrong with it. I'm gonna change oil and fire it up this winter and repair it if it needs it and it isn't too extensive.

 

[jblnut]

More progress today. They guys knocked off early to go kill deer. My phone doesn't do a panorama view so here is the next best thing.






It's a shame these pictures don't do the site justice. It really looks much better in person. It's just SO much dirt getting moved around it's hard to capture it whilst on the ground.

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

You need a drone to capture the magnitude of what's going into this barn.

 

[jblnut]

You need a drone to capture the magnitude of what's going into this barn.

Chickens are going into the barn, not sure I need a drone to fly around in the barn and take pictures of them.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

 

[C_F]

I know what you mean, it's hard to capture the three dimensional difference you see in person onto a photo. I'm sure the area looks much different in person...especially an area THAT large!

Looking good, and as always, I enjoy peeking in on your thread for updates.

 

[jblnut]

I know what you mean, it's hard to capture the three dimensional difference you see in person onto a photo. I'm sure the area looks much different in person...especially an area THAT large!

Looking good, and as always, I enjoy peeking in on your thread for updates.

Thanks for following along !!

The area that is being leveled out for the barn is going to be about 100'x800' plus a large turn around area on the end of the barn for the trucks to turn around.

My dad and I got a bunch of wood cut today. I need about 3 loads to keep my tools warm and dad needs about 10 to keep their house/garage/workshop warm. We got a small load done today among other things. We can do about three loads a day but we kept getting distracted. We had to go to Subway for lunch and looked at a different cattle chute for the barn and drove around a bit looking at some stuff we hadn't seen in a while ... you know, the usual Saturday stuff on a farm in the fall after fieldwork is all done.

We cut this tree up .....


And put it in here ...


And then in here ... It's a stack about 7'x7' with 2' pieces, about 3/4 of a cord of dry elm.


Over summer I filled this bay with scrap lumber mostly from the buildings we tore down.


I ran the 4-wheeler out of fuel so I had to get the fuel barrel plumbing done sooner than later. It all works great and flows out MUCH faster.

 

[jblnut]

Last day of tillage for 2016. I guarantee the posts from here on out will get much less interesting for all of us.


We don't normally work the soybean ground in the fall but we had lime spread on this field and needed to work it in.


Plenty of soggy spots filled with water to go through. I made it through everything somehow.


Damn flying rats kept following me ....


I also got another load of hauled. If you want it to look like you got a lot done use a smaller trailer !!

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: i hear you on the flying RATS cause we have crows here that might take over the world some day.

just curious what the program is for the Chickens with that company that builds the building and provides the chickens. are you responsible for feeding and Vet care or what is your end and do you get paid sort of like if you rent a field or do tell if you are able or want to share?

how long do you have to keep the contract before you can keep the building and stop or go on your own?

great looking field pictures and i agree an overhead drone or google satellite pictures of your farm would be interesting.

cheers

 

[jblnut]

JB:Just curious what the program is for the Chickens with that company that builds the building and provides the chickens. Are you responsible for feeding and Vet care or what is your end and do you get paid sort of like if you rent a field or do tell if you are able or want to share?

How long do you have to keep the contract before you can keep the building and stop or go on your own?

I take out the loan for the project and own everything inside the barn once it is constructed. I sign a 10 year contract with Gold'n'Plump saying that they will pay me rent monthly on the barn and I need to provide the labor to take care of the chickens. They have a bonus system in place to give the growers an incentive to do a good job and fix/repair whatever is needed and to look out for the health of the flock.

The initial contract is for 10 years as that is the length of the terms of the loan. After that is gets renewed annually and I don't foresee letting the barn sit empty until it's no longer usable. I won't ever go "on my own" as I'd have to find both a source for and a market for the chickens as well as the feed, bedding and everything else that goes along with.

 

[jblnut]

This past week was very busy at work and I got very little done at home.

I went to our very first, and the second in the USA, farm with a Lely Vector. The farm also has two Lely Astronaut robotic milkers and three Lely Luna cow brushes. I installed an 8 camera system in the barn a few months back and the dairyman wanted an additional 2 more installed.

The Lely Vector is an automated and robotic feeding system. The MFR (Mixing/Feeding Robot) goes along the bunk and scans the amount of feed in front of the cows and will mix more if needed. Here is it pushing the feed up to the cows.


The feed door is open and it is dropping feed in front of the cows.


The MFR parks in the center of the "Kitchen" where it is loaded with the various feed types. The farmer places the feed in the Kitchen and tells the computer where each feed type is using the yellow squares on the floor. The MFR is loaded by the overhead crane with an attached clamshell style bucket.


Here are the two Lely Astronaut robotic milkers. The cows come get milked on their own. Each robot can milk roughly 60 cows, 3 times a day average.


Here is one of the Lely Luna cow brushes. It's basically a motorized back scratcher and turns on when the cows rub on it.


Mid-week we fixed a tire that I poked a hole in doing something dumb. I don't have a lot of pictures of the boot and stuff we put in but here are the tools we used to take it off.


This is the bead breaker. There is a space molded into the tire for this tool to fit into.


Here is said molded into space. It is officially called a "Leverage Notch"


Dismounted so we can get inside.


I didn't snap a before photo but the hill that was here used to be about 8' higher. This is the "borrow site" for the chicken barn pad.


Mother nature has been playing very nicely lately with very above normal temps and we got slapped back into reality yesterday with 8" of sloppy wet snow and blizzard conditions.


Gross.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Can't really tell from the photo but this stuff is under water and not salvageable.

Hopefully today goes smoother .....

I'm guessing the local deer were mighty happy.

 

[jblnut]

I'm guessing the local deer were mighty happy.

I drove by quite a few times after it spilled and a few times I saw people with pails picking some up.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I went to our very first, and the second in the USA, farm with a Lely Vector. The farm also has two Lely Astronaut robotic milkers and three Lely Luna cow brushes. I installed an 8 camera system in the barn a few months back and the dairyman wanted an additional 2 more installed.

The Lely Vector is an automated and robotic feeding system. The MFR (Mixing/Feeding Robot) goes along the bunk and scans the amount of feed in front of the cows and will mix more if needed. Here is it pushing the feed up to the cows.

Amazing machines. Technology has come a long way since the last time I milked cows, carrying buckets by hand back and forth to the bulk tank.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Surprisingly fascinating thread ! My grandparents were the last in our family to farm, so it's cool to see what you do. It brings back some memories, of course they were never this modern. I have to say I was shocked when you mentioned your other job. I don't know how you do it, makes me feel bad about how lazy I am. Also cool to see that black dirt. I used to fly in to Minneapolis some to visit a plant down in Owatonna. First several trips there was snow cover, but the first time I went in the spring, I was shocked. I went back to NC wondering how anything grew in the clay and sand that we called dirt.

Thanks for sharing !

Jason

 

[jblnut]

It's cold and I'm not a huge fan of being cold so the M gets to hibernate for the winter and the 7400 gets to be on mixer duty.

I only put half as much as normal in the wagons as the roads are less than ideal.

 

[Ajustable]

We had 65 degrees here last week, man was that ever easy to take!

I found the First cold snap of the season Is always the toughest, then by January you are wondering what all the complaining was about, In the end Spring is the best time of year.

Its Long johns time. Ha

 

[Terrick down Under]

Gee, I miss a couple of days and your out having so many adventures!

 

[C_F]

Here are the two Lely Astronaut robotic milkers. The cows come get milked on their own. Each robot can milk roughly 60 cows, 3 times a day average.

So you're saying that the cows walk up to those milkers all on their own to be milked? Amazing. I guess to them, those machines equate to a big relief of full udders.

Here is one of the Lely Luna cow brushes. It's basically a motorized back scratcher and turns on when the cows rub on it.

That one made me laugh! That's got to be a bunch of really happy cows.

I have to say I was shocked when you mentioned your other job. I don't know how you do it, makes me feel bad about how lazy I am.

I know what you mean, I feel like such a slacker each time I pop in here to this thread.