Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[sgfarm]

I was talking to my sons hockey coach tonight he mentioned one field the monitor peaked at 80bu/acre. he finished the field out at 1.5 ton / acre. Very happy with that yield. Some guys that flooded are down below 0.5 ton /acre. Hardly worth the fuel to harvest.
I am surprised to see you bale the bean straw. Everybody up here works it back in. I know not garage related but I enjoy the farming side of the operation.

Thanks

Mike

 

[jblnut]

I was talking to my sons hockey coach tonight he mentioned one field the monitor peaked at 80bu/acre. he finished the field out at 1.5 ton / acre. Very happy with that yield. Some guys that flooded are down below 0.5 ton /acre. Hardly worth the fuel to harvest.
I am surprised to see you bale the bean straw. Everybody up here works it back in. I know not garage related but I enjoy the farming side of the operation.

Thanks

Mike

We've seen the monitor climb over 80bu/acre in a few spots as well. Too bad it doesn't stay there !!! Our average keeps climbing and we're up to about 47bu/acre over 120 acres so far. I can't tell you how happy we are with that for the year we've had so far.

We baled the bean straw because it's something we can do with the large square baler. We don't have our own round baler yet to bale corn straw with. Corn straw is really hard on a square baler so we hire a neighbor to bale enough corn straw to fill up the shed so we have enough bedding for the year.

Today we are going to drive 5hrs to pick up a little tractor I purchased. I'm excited to say the least !!

I will put up a picture of my garage just to keep the "Garage Journal" theme alive and well in the thread

 

[jblnut]

After staring at this windshield for a little over 5hrs we arrived at the VanWall John Deere dealer near Nevada, Iowa. We cruised down there around 65mph stopping once for fuel and food.

I purchased a 1981 International 884 with 2,800ish hours. We've been looking for something this size for a while and thought it was worth the drive to go get it. This is the first time on the way home we fueled up. It rained just about the whole way home.

Second time fueling up. This poor little truck has a 351 under the hood and was not happy to be pulling 10,000+ lbs down the interstate. I kept it around 55mph with no O/D and it was fairly content until we got to an incline of any kind. I'm sure I pissed off a few people on the way home going 55 but nothing broke and we had zero issues !!

Home all safe and sound 12.5hrs after leaving this morning.

We put on 612 miles and used 82 gallons of fuel. That's around 7.5mpg ... not too shabby. We also realized that this was the first time the skid loader trailer was ever out of the county since Dad purchased it 6yrs ago. It was build by Midsota in Avon, MN 5 miles away from the farm and hasn't gone that far away until today !!

 

[red]

That 1981 International 884 is a sweet looking machine!

Congrats! Will you be installing a ROP on it?

Wondering if the tires were loaded? That would put the 351 over the edge

 

[jblnut]

That 1981 International 884 is a sweet looking machine!

Congrats! Will you be installing a ROP on it?

Wondering if the tires were loaded? That would put the 351 over the edge

No ROPs is one of it's perks. The chicken barn has a low ceiling and it will fit in there quite nicely. With a cab or a ROPs it would be too tall.

I think the tires have fluid in them but I'm not sure. This truck is a puss all around but it gets the job done !!

 

[Lunker]

I saw a field today in central Wisc and they were raking Bean debris. Doesn't look a lot of bang for the buck as far as effort and fuel goes. You ever do the math on it?

 

[jblnut]

I saw a field today in central Wisc and they were raking Bean debris. Doesn't look a lot of bang for the buck as far as effort and fuel goes. You ever do the math on it?

I'm not real busy so let's do it right now

72 bales off of 34 acres or a little over 2 bales/acre. The 886 burns 3 gal/hr tops on the rake and it took a little under 2hrs to rake so that's 6 gal plus the 14 gal the 7810 took and the 5 gal the 7400 and skid loader took to get them home. That is roughly $75 in fuel. I rent the rake out to others for $1/bale so that's $72. The whole project took around 6hrs so at $30/hr for the tractors and skid loader that's $180. We charge $8/bale to custom bale and figure $5/bale profit so that puts it at $206 for the baler and twine. Looks like $522 total or $7.22/bale. There is a certain fudge factor built in, I used easy round numbers for fuel and tractor cost but you get the idea.

We are selling nice clean wheat straw for $30/bale and now I am able to sell another 72 bales for an additional $2,160 of revenue or $1,106 additional in my pocket after the expense of baling the soybean straw, and the wheat straw it is replacing, that will be around to use so I can sell the wheat straw. Soybean straw isn't quite as nice of bedding but it seems to do just fine and the steers seem to like it.

That is $184.33/hr income in a roundabout way. Not too shabby

 

[jblnut]

I will put up a picture of my garage just to keep the "Garage Journal" theme alive and well in the thread.

Well after reading a few threads about how this is NOT the "Pole Shed Journal" I'm not sure this counts as a picture of my garage or not BUT the gas man got the 120gal propane tank set on Friday and stubbed it into the shed for me so all I need now is a heater !!



Miss Lily and I unloaded the 884 this morning and went over it in dads shop. The loader joystick linkage was very sloppy so apart it came. I put new pins in and threw a few washers in to tighten things up and it's a lot better now !!

 

[Lunker]

I'm not real busy so let's do it right now

72 bales off of 34 acres or a little over 2 bales/acre. The 886 burns 3 gal/hr tops on the rake and it took a little under 2hrs to rake so that's 6 gal plus the 14 gal the 7810 took and the 5 gal the 7400 and skid loader took to get them home. That is roughly $75 in fuel. I rent the rake out to others for $1/bale so that's $72. The whole project took around 6hrs so at $30/hr for the tractors and skid loader that's $180. We charge $8/bale to custom bale and figure $5/bale profit so that puts it at $206 for the baler and twine. Looks like $522 total or $7.22/bale. There is a certain fudge factor built in, I used easy round numbers for fuel and tractor cost but you get the idea.

We are selling nice clean wheat straw for $30/bale and now I am able to sell another 72 bales for an additional $2,160 of revenue or $1,106 additional in my pocket after the expense of baling the soybean straw, and the wheat straw it is replacing, that will be around to use so I can sell the wheat straw. Soybean straw isn't quite as nice of bedding but it seems to do just fine and the steers seem to like it.

That is $184.33/hr income in a roundabout way. Not too shabby

I like your numbers.

I didn't realize you could move so quick bailing 34 acres. But you are a professional !! Nice work !!

 

[C_F]

Your latest addition to the fleet looks pretty nice! The photo at the 2nd fill-up sure makes it look like a monster compared to the truck.

 

[Terrick down Under]

keep posting...I love it.

 

[jblnut]

Parts have arrived to fix the slip clutch on the baler so it is time to do so.


Almost apart !!


Old parts are out and it is definitely time to replace them. This is a friction slip clutch design which means that the inner shaft is connected to the discs and the large red plates sandwich them and power is transferred between them using friction.


New on the left, worn out on the right. The worn ones are all glassy and smooth and the new ones have a nice rough surface.


It is now much more better !!

 

[Finallygotit]

Is there enough material (thickness) left on that old plate to resurface? Just a thought to keep a spare around as I have no idea how long one of those would last or even cost.

 

[jblnut]

Is there enough material (thickness) left on that old plate to resurface? Just a thought to keep a spare around as I have no idea how long one of those would last or even cost.

The new discs were just shy of $100 each. I thought about having them resurfaced or re-embedded with new material but I don't know where I'd start to think about bringing them to have it done. These lasted almost 20,000 bales so I feel we got our money out of them I guess.

 

[jblnut]

All sorts of fun was had whilst I was at work today.

Dad broke a bean bale while loading them up to bring them home. He and Mom brought it home on the skid loader trailer and pushed it into a steer pen.


And then pieces of an inner tube were found on the road ....


And a chunk of rubber .....


I'm not big into betting but I bet just putting a new tube in won't be enough to seal up this air leak


The rim wasn't damaged so a new tire will go on tomorrow morning and we'll be back up to three spares ready to go again !!

 

[Terrick down Under]

You will need a Binford 6100 vulcanizing patch on that one, for sure.

 

[welder57]

When farming there are always hills and valley of life!!!! Keep the pictures and stories coming!!!!

 

[jblnut]

The drying setup is all ready to go, looks like it's time to put it to work !!


Seems to be going pretty good !!




Well it was going pretty good !! The fields are VERY wet this fall and this is the first time the combine got stuck. Probably not the last either but we'll see.


A 6" tow strap and a 150hp tractor popped it out !!!


Very muddy tires !!


Holy smokes the lights do work


There were a few well yielding spots in the field.

 

[Lunker]

Awesome ! How much corn and how much beans you have? Seems like a lot of fields are beans this year around me are they paying better?

 

[STClurker]

I definitely hear you on how wet the fields are, our skidloader with the winch box has been out a few times getting things un-stuck.

 

[jblnut]

I definitely hear you on how wet the fields are, our skidloader with the winch box has been out a few times getting things un-stuck.

Yikes. For someone to call you guys in things have to be all sorts of stuck !!

 

[STClurker]

Yikes. For someone to call you guys in things have to be all sorts of stuck !!

just a little bit

 

[jblnut]

Before the sun was up we took the loader off the 884 to see how tough it was to do. It was actually very easy.


I got a load of feed mixed up in the dark. Kind of a pain in the *** but it works.


We're headed out to the field for the first loads of the day. Everything up to the tree line needs to be combined.


My sister out and about with her flying camera box. It was really windy and that little thing held quite still. Pretty neat.


Chomp chomp chomp.


One of the outside snouts got a little sideways and I was worried it may have gotten all bent up ...


No big deal, a bolt fell out. T'was a quick fix.


After I had hauled 1,200bu to the wet holding bin I started the dryer. The first thing it does is start the fan and heaters and gets it up to temp.


It gives the dryer 2 minutes to warm the corn back up before it goes into "Stabilization Mode" for 120 minutes.


The dryer ran out of wet corn to dry around 4:30am so there is dry corn on the bottom and nothing in top few feet. Because of this it runs the discharge rolls at a preset, fixed, speed for 120 minutes to let all the corn work its way though the dryer. After it's done stabilizing it goes into automatic mode again.


Fan is on and the heater is firing !! It'll burn though 1,000gal of LP in less than a day.


This is the sight glass that faces the control room window so I can see at a glance if the burner is firing.


Towards the end of the day it decided to rain. Not a little drizzle sort of deal, it was a full on downpour !!


The corn doesn't come out real well when it's been rained on. There was water running out of the bottom of the box graviety !!


The grain dryer gets all steamy when it gets rained on.

 

[jblnut]

Usually we take Sunday's off but we're a couple weeks behind so we decided to get stuff done. We got the steer barn cleaned out in the morning and headed out to the field after lunch.

I took our 4yr old with today and got to listen to all sorts of fun stories. While following the combine she said we were going on a bear hunt because we were following this narrow little trail. The stuff she comes up with makes me laugh.

"Holy potato ships !!! Look it's Grandpa !!" I asked her if she meant potato chips and she said, "Just go with it Dad". I think she gets her sass from her Mother

We got out and looked at the corn and picked a few cobs.

I showed her how to pull the kernels off and she was determined to get them all off.

Lily wanted to ride in the combine so Dad and I switched. This is easier so I didn't complain

Lily brought the corn in the combine and was more determined than ever to get the kernels all off. She said she was helping the combine by taking the corn off the cob. I agreed

We were moving right along. The combine starts getting grumpy with anything over 1,500bu/hr so I usually use that as a benchmark on how fast I can drive. We're about half done with the field and it's averaging 197bu/acre so far. Quite happy with that. The 238bu/ac displayed is the estimated yield for the last hundred feet or so.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Your corn is far better than ours here in southeast Missouri. Our soybeans are terrible too! Overly wet spring, plus a late drought, and bugs on top of that. Not a good year.


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[jblnut]

Your corn is far better than ours here in southeast Missouri. Our soybeans are terrible too! Overly wet spring, plus a late drought, and bugs on top of that. Not a good year.

You guys can usually throw seed on a gravel road and get 250bu/acre. We usually work our asses off to get 160 so the last few years have been quite enjoyable !!

 

[jblnut]

When I got to the farm yesterday morning the dryer was still running. The corn was a tad wetter than we thought as it usually shuts down about 4:30am.


Gotta get all the equipment fueled up and ready to go.


These are just a few of the parameters that are monitored when in auto mode.


It was incredibly windy yesterday so to keep the auger planted I put a bucket full of dirt over the axle.


Pops is coming up to a wet spot, one of many. Hope he doesn't get stuck.


Good thing we have the big strap.


Well he got stuck. The left side just dropped away. If I remember correctly this is about where I made some very large ruts this spring while doing tillage. I'm sure they haven't settled yet and were extra mushy.


We moved everything up to our other farm and needed to bring the auger to fill the bin there. It's 75' long and is quite interesting to drag down the road.

 

[cliftonbros89]

You guys can usually throw seed on a gravel road and get 250bu/acre. We usually work our asses off to get 160 so the last few years have been quite enjoyable !!

Around here we do good to get 200bu/acre on a great year. This year I don't think we barely got 140.

 

[jblnut]

Around here we do good to get 200bu/acre on a great year. This year I don't think we barely got 140.

Oh wow !! That is not definitely not good !!

 

[jblnut]

Wednesday morning I got the rest of the steer manure hauled onto the field to the North of the steer barn. I was making a turn every 10 minutes so I was moving right along !! The grapple on the skid loader has once again proved to be a good buy.

Some of it has been piled up since April so it has had plenty time to compost and heat up. The spreader does a pretty good job of getting it nice and evenly spread.

Dad wanted help putting the last little bit of corn in the bin we are renting from a neighbor so I went over there and was volunteered to climb in and check things out.

This is a batch drying bin. All the corn goes in wet and comes out dry. The augers stir the corn up and bring the warm corn from the bottom to the top so it drys evenly. This is a much slower way to dry corn but it works. We could dry the corn in this bin with our continuous flow dryer at home in right around 24hrs, this one will more than likely take 3-4 days, if not more.

And then I went back home to get a load of feed mixed up.

By now it's about 10am and time to start combining again. This was the ditch/driveway we had to bring a half dozen loads through. It was rather spooky but nothing got stuck or broken so all is well.

You can see how deep the muddy water was by the marks on the wheels .....

I got a call from my round baler guy that he had time to bale some corn stalks today so I went back home to chop them up for baling. It is suppose to snow Thursday night into Friday so I wanted to get as much done as we could. He got 156 4'x5' round bales done today. That'll be enough for 3 months or so. I am hoping to get more if the snow melts and drys up enough.

Then it was back up to the other farm to help combine again.

What a busy day. When I finally got home I made some potato/onion/green pepper/jalapeno stuff in the ol' cast iron skillet and washed it down with a rocky mountain kool-aid.

 

[jblnut]

Yesterday morning I went out to do chores and noticed some wooden stakes in my field. I wonder what will go here

The gas man came to dig in the propane line and made a huge mess of my driveway. He "backfilled" the trench and drove over it a few times with the mini-ex and was going to call it good. There was an 8" high clay bump all the way across the driveway !! I was already in a pissy mood because the dryer had issues overnight and shut down so I went over there and asked him to make it all level and push the extra dirt to the side of the driveway so I didn't have to bounce over it all winter. He forcefully told me it needed to be there so it could settle. I asked him how he would react if I came to his house as a contractor and make a bump like this over his driveway that is sure to freeze long before it could settle. He jokingly said that his wife would be pissed to have to bounce over it all winter and got an "oh ****" look on his face. I smiled and walked away as he pushed the extra to the side of the driveway. What a *****. /rant

Since the dryer didn't run all night the wet corn bin was still full so I decided to work in the manure I spread on Wednesday.

Dad was easily able to stay ahead of the dryer since he can combine about 800bu/hr and the dryer was only drying 280bu/hr so I kept doing tillage. We ended up with a little over 40 acres worked today so not all was lost I guess.

 

[Bighead38]

Cool seeing all the farm work.

 

[Finallygotit]

That looks kinda tasty!

 

[jabin]

Love the farm work, please keep it coming!

 

[jblnut]

Cool seeing all the farm work.

Love the farm work, please keep it coming!

Not a problem !! I'm glad that others think it's interesting too. I'm just having fun doing what I do and posting pictures

That looks kinda tasty!

It was quite satisfactory. I see you're one of the few that knows how to properly quote pictures. I appreciates that

 

[jblnut]

Well this will shut us down for a few days. Dad is going to keep doing tillage but the combine will be parked until this white **** disappears.

It gave me time this morning to use my fancy newish MasterCool Hydraulic Flare device. This is the first time I've used it and I had them both perfect the first time. It is VERY simple to use and took only 5 minutes to set it up, learn how to use it and flare two fittings onto a copper gas line.

20k BTU Glo-Warm heater should keep the shed in a shed warm this winter. It came with the camper bus and I kept it because I figured I'd use it someday. Good thing I did

Whilst I was at the store getting copper tubing and flare nuts I noticed a box of stuff on the clearence rack. This hardware store used to be owned by a fellow that ran a gigantic flea market down south somewhere and there was always a bunch of "junk" for sale in the back corner of the store up here. They put the remaining stuff 75% off so I started digging. Nothing in here was marked so I asked what they wanted for the whole box. I gladly handed over the $25 they thought it was worth after the 75% off.

 

[Lunker]

How much do you have left? I assume the beans are all out?

 

[ford33]

I am city dweller. Thanks for posting the farming pictures and story. I have no idea how farming works and it is interesting to me to read your posts.

 

[jblnut]

How much do you have left? I assume the beans are all out?

Beans have been done for a little over a week now, thank goodness !! I know of a fair few that are still in the field because the fields are too wet to drive in !! We are over half done with corn and will be about 10% done with tillage by the end of the day. Dad is working up some ground today that we will be renting for the first time. It's nice and close so that is just wonderful.

I am city dweller. Thanks for posting the farming pictures and story. I have no idea how farming works and it is interesting to me to read your posts.

Thank you for following along !! I love farming and enjoy sharing it with everyone. I think it's important for the masses to know what we do and what goes into a bag of Doritos and how much work and care goes into a thick juicy ribeye

 

[carlquib]

I got a bunch of those knotted stainless wire wheels with the 7/16-20 thread. Lucky for me the centers were soft and easy to open up to 5/8-11 to fit my grinders. Nice score though.

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