Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[drivesitfar]

JB: i've been lurking a lot and haven't had much to say, but learning a lot about what it takes to run a HUGE FARM. thanks for sharing!!

just curious now that winter seems to almost over is the huge chicken business and big building's construction going to start soon or did i miss where it got built?

cheers

 

[jblnut]

JB: i've been lurking a lot and haven't had much to say, but learning a lot about what it takes to run a HUGE FARM. thanks for sharing!!

just curious now that winter seems to almost over is the huge chicken business and big building's construction going to start soon or did i miss where it got built?

cheers

Thanks for following along !!

The chicken barn has not been built yet as the dirt work was not finished last fall before freeze up. We are hoping to start field work late next week and the dirt work guys should be here about the same time. Hopefully a week for them to finish up and the foundation can be laid. If they start building right away it usually takes 6-8 weeks from starting construction to getting birds.

FYI the chicken barn is 60'x624'. I'll get my exercise walking it daily !!

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: while i'd never tell anybody not to walk as much as you can i'm wondering if you might be getting too much exercise so maybe a golf cart might be in the cards for the Chicken Coop inspector?

GO BIG OR GO HOME and you and your family are really getting the meaning of that.

good luck with all the new projects and i'll try to stop in as i have time to and see what you've been up to. as you might have seen i do have a few threads to check on and take care of and some ORGANIZING TO DO at DRIVESITFAR'S HOME HARDWARE STORE.

cheers

 

[jblnut]

JB: while i'd never tell anybody not to walk as much as you can i'm wondering if you might be getting too much exercise so maybe a golf cart might be in the cards for the Chicken Coop inspector?

I've thought about getting a golf cart for a long time but if I went in the barn with it I'd run the chickens over !! I'm planning on putting a trolley system in to help with chores. It's an automated basket that runs on a rail hung from the ceiling. It should help speed up chores as I'll be able to carry much more in it than I could in a pair of pails.

As far as your organization thread, we're approaching the time of year when the shop starts accumulating piles and messes galore as we fly in and out and only work in there when something is broken. It's a wonderful time of year but a messy one

 

[jblnut]

"Chicken Barn" cam is up and running. It doesn't see the far south side of the barn but that's okay for now. It's mounted on the east side of the steer barn and sticks up about 10' higher than the roof. The poles I used are 22' each so it should be 44' or so in the air.


It should catch most of the action.

 

[jblnut]

We brought the 4wheel drive home today. It was waiting patiently for us all winter parked in this nice shed we rent from one of our landlords.

Sitting all winter can cause a tractor to be a fickle ***** and the batteries were dead. Genny and charger to the rescue !!

 

[Terrick down Under]

Now that would be a good test for those small jump starter units, you know, the ones that you put in the kids glove compartment.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: a lot of members use a battery tender on their vehicles that are going to sit for a while which might help you from having to bring out the Genny and take up your time waiting until your batteries charge. i don't own a battery tender to tell you which one is better than the other, but maybe there is a thread about them.

that CHICKEN COOP CAM is a nice idea and looking forward to the build as i'm sure you are too.

cheers

 

[Big Daddy Chop Shop]

Love the thread, just one thing I noted......the worst tires ever put on a tractor, and you saddled that poor IH with them, the DT710, lol. In all seriousness, great story telling, and you have a lot to be proud of.

 

[jblnut]

Now that would be a good test for those small jump starter units, you know, the ones that you put in the kids glove compartment.

If you're talking about the ones that plug into the cigarette lighter to act as a jump pack I think it might take a few of them to get the ol' 8.9l to spin !!

JB: a lot of members use a battery tender on their vehicles that are going to sit for a while which might help you from having to bring out the Genny and take up your time waiting until your batteries charge. i don't own a battery tender to tell you which one is better than the other, but maybe there is a thread about them.

that CHICKEN COOP CAM is a nice idea and looking forward to the build as i'm sure you are too.

cheers

Yeah yeah yeah. Every year we talk a big talk about taking the batteries out and bringing them home over winter and all it ends up being is talk. The batteries just got replaced last year in that tractor and they were 12 years old. I think the annual winter freeze and drain down helped them last that long

Love the thread, just one thing I noted......the worst tires ever put on a tractor, and you saddled that poor IH with them, the DT710, lol. In all seriousness, great story telling, and you have a lot to be proud of.

That 886 spent a lot of time up and down the road when those tires were new and they can't be beat for road comfort. They do clean out nicely in the mud but their traction is so poor that they never see anything close to a wet field without fear of getting stuck. We actually purchased a set at 80% or so at an auction to replace the ones on there. Got them for a steal and for what that tractor is used for they'll be fine again.

Our local tire guy sells BKT stuff and it seems pretty decent. A damn side cheaper than anything from the big three and so far they're lasting just fine on the tractor we got them on.

 

[jblnut]

1st day of field work yesterday !! Dad disked a couple smaller fields in the morning so we could get some spring wheat planted. I rolled them before planting to create a smooth seedbed and drive any rocks back in the ground where they belong

This is the rock roller. It'll push most rocks smaller than a football back in the ground. The larger ones need to be picked and piled elsewhere.


The field is left quite smooth by the finishing disk on the left but the roller makes it glassy smooth and level on the right.


All rolled and smooth. Looks much nicer in person.


Pops is following right behind me with the grain drill planting spring wheat.


Today we are suppose to get some much needed rain. I hope it happens. There is an 80% chance of rain ..... Ever wonder how that 80% is calculated ??

Here's how -> Every morning 10 high paid "meteorologists" sit around a table drinking coffee with a little "Irish Creame" and decide on the forecast for the day. If they're ambitious they'll take a stab at the next few days too. The leader of the group starts the day off by asking "How many of you's think it's going to rain today?" 8 of 10 hands go up. That roughly translates to an 80% chance of rain. The reason forecasts change so often is directly related to how much Irish Creame goes in their coffee throughout the day. It's that simple.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: well you started my day off with a great laugh and i read it to my wife and she has tears coming out of her eyes from laughing so hard. thanks for the weather report.

we have a different 10 meteorologists too I'm guessing but ours are located all over the state instead of at the same table so we get a statewide version of the weather reports. our best way to predict the weather is to look outside and look up and since i have a little view west i can see some clouds better than most.

you guys sure have nice rigs to do your work. WELL DONE!!

 

[jblnut]

JB: well you started my day off with a great laugh and i read it to my wife and she has tears coming out of her eyes from laughing so hard. thanks for the weather report.

we have a different 10 meteorologists too I'm guessing but ours are located all over the state instead of at the same table so we get a statewide version of the weather reports. our best way to predict the weather is to look outside and look up and since i have a little view west i can see some clouds better than most.

you guys sure have nice rigs to do your work. WELL DONE!!

I'm glad I could bring some laughter to your day

The equipment looks nice because it's clean ... for now

 

[jblnut]

The United Package Smasher guy dropped off some goodies yesterday.

Time to clean up this mess !! I got everything except one NanoBeam power brick removed from this wall.

It all went in here. I eliminated two eight port switches and tons of short patch cords. It's far from perfect but it's much better. I am okay with it for now.

Oh yeah. That looks MUCH better !!!

 

[C_F]

Today we are suppose to get some much needed rain. I hope it happens. There is an 80% chance of rain ..... Ever wonder how that 80% is calculated ??

Here's how -> Every morning 10 high paid "meteorologists" sit around a table drinking coffee with a little "Irish Creame" and decide on the forecast for the day. If they're ambitious they'll take a stab at the next few days too. The leader of the group starts the day off by asking "How many of you's think it's going to rain today?" 8 of 10 hands go up. That roughly translates to an 80% chance of rain. The reason forecasts change so often is directly related to how much Irish Creame goes in their coffee throughout the day. It's that simple.

Hahaha! I call 'em "weather guessers", and I now see that you do too.

 

[jblnut]

Hahaha! I call 'em "weather guessers", and I now see that you do too.

The weatherologists were 80% correct on this one. It did rain but not very much ... I don't think it rained 80% of what they said it would either. What a bunch of overpaid squints.

Oh well. Dirtwork guy is supposed to show up tomorrow to start finishing the chicken barn dirtwork. We'll see if he shows up.

 

[jblnut]

Well it's getting warm and it's time to get the garden filled up with dirt.

Gonna have 11 tubs this year. I said "Not again!!" to the straw bale garden so it's all dirt for this guys plants.

I recently had a Cub Cadet 4125 weed whip donated to me and since it is "attachment ready" I decided to get a tiller for it. A TrimmerPlus DC702 was the chosen unit.

I gotta say that I'm decently impressed. I was comparing the amount of work it took to get the clumps out unfairly though ... Tiller vs. a shovel ... Tiller wins !! It does a nice job. The poor power head has it's pants full though. Kind of a puss .... It was free and I'd imagine it was all it's previous owner could handle

The "blades" remove with a single spring clip so any goober that wraps around can be quickly cleaned off.

 

[jblnut]

Dirt work guys showed up today !!

I have renamed the camera to what shall be it's permanent name This shows the scale of the project well. That is a D6 dozer on the right and a John Deere 9560r with a 22yd scraper on the left. They don't have much left. They got the driveway roughed in today and started to put some topsoil back around the barn.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: interesting raised bed garden that is for certain. just curious what you are growing in them or did you say and i missed it? potatoes, tomatoes, basil or do tell?

great looking picture of the dirt guys doing their job and looks mighty professional too.

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

It was all I could handle. ****.

 

[jblnut]

JB: interesting raised bed garden that is for certain. just curious what you are growing in them or did you say and i missed it? potatoes, tomatoes, basil or do tell?

great looking picture of the dirt guys doing their job and looks mighty professional too.

The totes are 275 gallon chemical totes I get from work. The orange/brown ones had products heavy with iodine and the clear ones either had a chlorine cleaner or an acid cleaner in them.

4 with tomatoes
2 with onions
1 with radishes
1 with beans
1 with peas
1 with cabbage & lettuce
1 with carrots
1 with peppers
1 with herbs/spices

that looks to be 13 .... I guess I need to make two more !!

 

[Bib Overalls]

A lot of old chicken houses coming down around here and I don't see any replacements going up. Chicken ranching must be moving North. In the summer the smell of thousands of chickens in one place can be overpowering. Even if your house is upwind your going to get a ration from time to time.

 

[jblnut]

A lot of old chicken houses coming down around here and I don't see any replacements going up. Chicken ranching must be moving North. In the summer the smell of thousands of chickens in one place can be overpowering. Even if your house is upwind your going to get a ration from time to time.

All of our neighbors farm and have livestock and so do we so the smell doesn't scare us nor will it bother us. I always tell people that grumble about the smell of manure that it's the smell of MONEY !!

 

[jblnut]

There are 18 new calves on the place !!

Dirt work guys made me laugh a bit today. In their haste to get the barn pad done last fall they buried part of the black dirt pile and had to dig it back out today.

It was neat watching the tractor and scraper dig a "slot" as they called it. It was a tight fit, the tractor tires were rubbing on the dirt walls.

They also got a good chunk of the driveway area laser leveled and ready for crushed concrete.

When I got home today they were working on the driveway going out to the main road. They had to dig down to clay so the approach would hold up to a total of 21 semis going in and out every 8 weeks.

You can see the 5 20' long x 18" diameter culverts in the background.

Culverts are placed and they started to haul fill in. It's looking like the approach to the road will be 70' or so wide. Should be wide enough.

 

[jblnut]

It was all I could handle. ****.

I know, that's why I said that Can't handle the smoke belching & fire breathing dead dinosaur powered weed eater so you buy a cute battery powered one. How many AAA batteries does that thing take anyway ??

 

[C_F]

The chicken coop pad is looking pretty nice now. Congrats on your new calves, they all look happy to be there!

 

[jblnut]

The chicken coop pad is looking pretty nice now. Congrats on your new calves, they all look happy to be there!

The calves are happy to be here except for one. One of them decided to kick the bucket already. Good thing prices have come down and we didn't pay all that much for them. Still makes me mad though.

Chicken coop has the black dirt spread on the south and part of the west side.




We use the 7400 over winter on the mixer because it has 4wd but we need it all summer long to do other things so the 886 will be promoted to mixer duty this summer.


State of the art cockpit from back in the day.


Well ****. It rained enough this morning to make a snotty slippery mess and the 886 couldn't do much in the mud. Had to put the 7400 back on to get the mixer into the barn.

 

[wasfast]

You have some LARGE SCALE dirt projects there. Seems you never have an end to projects of all kinds either.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Sorry to hear about the calf dying. What caused it, what to do with the body? If edible would it be veal? Hope that's not too much to ask. I'm a city boy & know little of farm life but I'm sure glad we have folks like you that do!

 

[jblnut]

You have some LARGE SCALE dirt projects there. Seems you never have an end to projects of all kinds either.

The chicken barn is 60x624 and the overall flat and level spot will be about 100x825. There was not a level spot to start with so lots of dirt gets shuffled around !! I'd have to dig out the original bid but I think there was close to 40,000yds of dirt to be moved.

I like to be busy and there is never a shortage of things to do on the farm. Add in working 45-50hrs a week off the farm, owning a busy DJ company and trying to keep things peaceful in the house with Mama Bear and the cubs and I barely have time to play around on GJ !! I make time for that though

Sorry to hear about the calf dying. What caused it, what to do with the body? If edible would it be veal? Hope that's not too much to ask. I'm a city boy & know little of farm life but I'm sure glad we have folks like you that do!

I'm not 100% sure what caused it but these are by far the smallest calves we've purchased and I think he gorged himself on corn. The symptoms he was showing looked like pneumonia of sorts so I treated him with some respiratory medication. The medicine has a meat withhold of 60 days so there would be no eating him for 60 days because I treated him.

There is a company that picks up dead animals and processes them into something. Don't really know what, never asked ....

I like sharing what I do out here and if I can show the world even 10% of what goes into farming I hope it helps show where our food comes from. If you have questions please ask away !!

 

[jblnut]

Well the chicken barn pad looks like this .....


SO we decided to get the planter seed plates changed this morning so it's ready to go in a few weeks (or less hopefully) when we need it to plant corn.


This is where the corn seeds get stored until they go through the planter row units and into the ground. There is one box per row for a total of 12 rows on 30" spacing so with every pass it covers 30'.


The seed plates for soybeans were still installed so they needed to be removed and cleaned for storage.


The seeds are held into the holes in the previous picture with vacuum. This is the seed unit with the plate removed.


The corn plate is installed and it has to be put back together. One row at a time. Stick with me this is wicked exciting !!


After that was done we went steel shopping at the local-ish steelmart. $418 later we left the warehouse. The steel house is 60x300 and has everything from 1/8" round rod to 4x8 sheets of 5" plate steel. Stainless, Alum, Galvanized, mild steel, hardened steel .... you name it, it's there and if it's not they can get it quite quickly.


Let's get it cut to length !!!


Oh what could it be ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Not done yet is what it is so far. Don't worry, I'll put a picture up when it's all done

 

[C_F]

I had previously assumed that the planters were just gravity fed, I had no idea that they are actually kind of high tech machines. Pretty neat. Thanks for learning me something new today.

 

[jblnut]

I had previously assumed that the planters were just gravity fed, I had no idea that they are actually kind of high tech machines. Pretty neat. Thanks for learning me something new today.

Kind of high tech is an understatement for the new John Deere Exact Emerge planter. <- Watch the video, it'll be the best 2:48 worth of planter videos you'll watch on YouTube today !!

 

[C_F]

Kind of high tech is an understatement for the new John Deere Exact Emerge planter. <- Watch the video, it'll be the best 2:48 worth of planter videos you'll watch on YouTube today !!

Amazing! That planter machine is completely high tech! Thanks for the video link.

 

[jblnut]

Old skool Makita Portable Chop Saw. Back before they were that HORRID blue/green/nasty color.

I'm getting better at this welding game. Old Blue does most of the hard work though.

It turned out pretty good for an entire day's work. It's probably over-built as the skid loader plate is 3/8", the angles are 3x3x1/4" with the front one being 5/16" thick and the square tubing is 2x2x5/16".

It works quite well. I tried to beat the snot out of it to find the weak points so they could be fixed before it leaves the shop and it held up great. This will be much nicer to use on the driveway than the bedspring I had been using !!

The driveway grade didn't take as long as I thought so I got started on the next project. We're gonna put some 2' long pieces of 1 1/2" angle on the corners of the posts in the steer barn. The critters were chewing on the posts and I figured over the next 40 years they may just chew all the way through and we can't have that.

I stacked the 20' lengths up 3 high when I cut them. Gotta put a vise grip on the end to keep them from being tempted to jump around whilst being cut.

 

[drivesitfar]

JB: nice work on the design and build of your skid plate and looks like it worked too.

when does the Chicken Coop build start or do you still need to wait a month or so for weather and the ground to dry up and settle in for final grading?

I hope the angle iron on your barn's posts keep the critters from chewing them up and great idea.

 

[jblnut]

JB:when does the Chicken Coop build start or do you still need to wait a month or so for weather and the ground to dry up and settle in for final grading?

The weather has set dirtwork back a bit but shouldn't hold up the barn. The footings are poured in place with a curbing machine and the machine is being used in Wisconsin right now. They're going to wait until there are a few barns ready to pour here in Minnesota before they truck it over here.

 

[jblnut]

My Bobcat has gone faster in reverse than forward since I purchased it and it was high time to fix that. It wasn't a tough fix as it's old enough that it's all still mechanical. I adjusted the two flat bars in the center and away it went !!


Dirt work guys got some of the last stuff done earlier this week. Here he is cleaning out black dirt that has washed downhill.


We borrowed a John Deere 2700 9 shank subsoiler to break up the compaction the scrapers caused in the parts of the field where the barn isn't. It has the ability to work the soil to a depth of 16". It more than fills the road and was a challenge to bring home with all the traffic that afternoon.


Hooked up and ready to go !! We removed two rear shanks as we didn't think our little 4wd tractor could pull all 9 in the ground.


Pops making the first pass.


After he had his fill of fun with the new toy I finished the field. It pulled HARD but did a great job !!


A few parts of the field were quite wet from all the rain we've been having and it built up between the duals on all four corners. This REALLY makes a mess and is tough to get out ....

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

You should really get back to rambling about building a hay shed or something...

 

[jblnut]

You should really get back to rambling about building a hay shed or something...

You should get on with building your garage so you have something to ramble on about. I'll even provide as much phone support as I think is sufficient. I'd probably even come down and drink beer in it to make sure you built everything correctly and such.