Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

Yesterday was a rather productive day on the farm. We got the barn cleaned out and hauled it to a pile in the field we will be spreading it in next spring.

Headed back for more !!!

Got the hay shed ready for the next project of the day ....

The rake takes a fair bit of abuse raking corn straw so it needs to be greased up !!

If you ever use a grease gun for anything you NEED one of these tips. Lock'N'Lube makes the best tip for a grease gun I've ever used !!

Baler guy called and is headed to the field. Looks like it's GO TIME !!!

The stalks are just about perfectly dry. This will be some really nice bedding

He was getting a bale made every 48-50 seconds and this was the sweet spot for me in the rake to keep ahead of him without getting too far ahead. In 9 hours the 7400 used less than 10 gallons of fuel just idling along

I couldn't find an empty 2liter bottle so I used an empty 1.75 instead

Baler guy has a Deere 7410 and a New Holland Roll-Belt 450. Damn nice setup.

Doing fieldwork in the fall is always fun because the sunsets are always incredible.

Started at 1pm and finished about 9pm. 416 4'x5' round bales. That will give us something to do this afternoon

 

[jblnut]

My sister brought her flying camera box over and let me run it. I need one of these !!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Pretty cool aerial shots. Those type of 7000 series JDs are a good series. We have a 7510 that has been great for us. I’ve been very pleased with it.

So how much do you like that locknlube coupler? I’ve seen reviews on here. Seen several on the internet. There’s a lot of places local in my area selling them now. I’m just not 100% sure on them. Just feel like there’s places they’d be to bulky for. I have a Univer-Co coupled similar to that. Just haven’t used it much. I have to many places where a standard coupler would work better. I also don’t have to swap out ends all the time to use it.


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[jblnut]

So how much do you like that locknlube coupler? Just feel like there’s places they’d be too bulky for. I have too many places where a standard coupler would work better. I also don’t have to swap out ends all the time to use it.

We have two of them, one on my hand gun and one on the 20v DeWalt power gun. I will not go back to a normal tip to grease the disc and the rock roller. Wipe the zerk off, attach the Lock'N'Lube coupler and pull the trigger. The only zerks I've found that are a bit clumsy are the lift cylinders on our skid loaders. For the real tight stuff I have a 90° coupler with a zerk threaded on. I hook the Lock'N'Lube coupler onto the zerk and I now have a 90° coupler that won't come detached from the gun. Works well but isn't used much.

 

[jblnut]

Over the last few days we've been hauling the bales home that we baled on Saturday. Dad likes to run the skid and I don't fight him for it. Loading bales is a pain sometimes, especially in the mud !!


After 8 loads it seems like nothing has gotten done. There are a ton of bales out here !!


The two trailers can haul 28 at a time home. They each weigh about 800lbs so the loads are bringing home a little over 11 ton each trip.


I don't like dragging mud on the road but I'm not sure how to prevent it this time. We need to get the bales off so the field can be chisel plowed before it freezes hard !!!


Once the sun goes down it gets interesting. The lights on the 7630 are pretty good but a few bales always seem to get missed in the dark.


Grrrraaaaawrrr look at all those lights !!!


It is getting too muddy and we were getting tired so this is the last load of the day. Gotta wait until morning when the ground will be frozenish again to continue.


They hay shed is full !! I packed it about as tight as I could. There is just enough room for the skid to get in and out !!


Something fun came in at work for me today


Hobart IronMan 230 MIG welder. Haven't decided on the gas to run yet but leaning toward C25 or straight CO2. We've run straight CO2 throught dads welder for a long time and it seems to work great. It makes a mess but it sure does bite into the metal.


This is a cow. Her name is 4352. She is a pain in the ***. She kept bothering me while I was working in this parlor yesterday. Licking my pants, bonking me in the back with her nose ... you know, being a pain in the ***. I think the red hair is the cause

 

[Finallygotit]

 

[C_F]

It must be quite the bouncy ride through the field in that little Bobcat. Is your Dad a couple inches shorter now?

 

[ford33]

An inquisitive cow. I never knew they had a personality. But then all the cows on food packages seem to be laughing, dancing, smiling or having fun.

I know nothing about cows but would a red haired cow be named Ginger? I guess farm animals don't have names.

If you haven't guessed...I am a city boy. Only animals I see are dogs, cats, rats and thieves.

 

[Lunker]

Nice update

A few questions
1. Are you guys milking those cows 2x per day? For some reason I thought you were not a dairy operation

2. What's the value on the corn bales. I know you ran the economics on the soybean trash bales and it was pretty impressive #'s. Can you sell the corn bales?

 

[jblnut]

It must be quite the bouncy ride through the field in that little Bobcat. Is your Dad a couple inches shorter now?

It's not so bad. There is about an inch of squishy foam in the seat to provide some relief

 

[jblnut]

An inquisitive cow. I never knew they had a personality. But then all the cows on food packages seem to be laughing, dancing, smiling or having fun.

I know nothing about cows but would a red haired cow be named Ginger? I guess farm animals don't have names.

If you haven't guessed...I am a city boy. Only animals I see are dogs, cats, rats and thieves.

Cows definitely have personalities. Most are fairly calm and don't give a **** but some are incredibly nosy and curious and others are just plain assholes. Kind of like people

I've been on farms where all the cows have names. There is a 1,100 head dairy not far from this one where the cows have names on their tags as well as their farm number. These dairy people spend all day everyday with these animals and you get to know them quite well.

 

[jblnut]

Nice update

A few questions
1. Are you guys milking those cows 2x per day? For some reason I thought you were not a dairy operation

2. What's the value on the corn bales. I know you ran the economics on the soybean trash bales and it was pretty impressive #'s. Can you sell the corn bales?

We do not have dairy cows anymore, these are on a farm I work on while at my "in town job". This is a 700 cow dairy about a half hour away from home. They milk 3x daily and average about 90lbs of milk per cow per day. I guess I should be more clear about whose farm I'm on sometimes

Corn Straw Math - 416 bales
7630 chopping the stalks took 9hrs and 7gal/hr - $154
I pay $6 to have someone else bale them - $2,496
It took 8hr to bale/rake them all.
7400 took about 9gal of fuel - $22ish
I'd pay $1/bale for the rake if I were to rent one from someone - $416
It took 15 trips to get them all home at about 45min/trip.
11gal of fuel in each skid loader - $54
7630 hauling the trailers probably took 4gal/hr average for 10hrs or so - $98
That comes to $7.79/bale cost.
If the straw were to be sold I'd add $6/bale for the cost of the nutrients in the stalk that is being taken off the field. I will be hauling the manure generated this coming year on the field the stalks came off of so I am not putting a vale on that.

They should be worth $25/bale.. That means they are worth a total of $10,400. $10,400 - $3,240 = $7,160 The equipment cost needs to come out of that yet but yes, we're doing ok on the bales

 

[jblnut]

Yesterday morning the toilet didn't want to flush properly so I let it all drain throughout the day and tore into it when I got home. Dad brought his sewer snake over and we figured we were in for a fight. This brand new section of pipe was where the problem was.


This is going down into the pipe in the basement floor. No idea how turds got through this at all !!


And here's the plug. Nasty ****.


On the good side of the day .... I won this whole mess of bins and hardware at an online auction and we're gonna go get them today !!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Bins and hardware looks awesome.


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[C_F]

To me, that pipe looks like someone has been pouring grease down the drain.

 

[fergus]

^^^ what he said. Soap can just build up over time too...

 

[jblnut]

To me, that pipe looks like someone has been pouring grease down the drain.

No grease, this is a bathroom only drain.

^^^ what he said. Soap can just build up over time too...

I've been told soap can build up over time. This pipe has been here since the 60's so I'm sure it's possible

 

[jblnut]

This morning I got the hay shed about as full as it'll get for the winter. No idea how many bales are in there, I need to take a fall/winter inventory soon.


I was greeted by a delivery truck this morning on my way over to dads farm.


The chicken coop guys got the feed bins delivered and anchored down today !! If I remember correctly, they will each hold 12 tons of feed.


Dad and I went and picked up my auction winnings this morning. What a project that was !!!


The bins are stacked three deep in the back of the truck and there are still about 20 on the skid loader trailer.


The first set of shelving up and almost filled with bins. There is everything from 16D Stainless Sinkers and 80D Hot Dipped pole barn nails to 4D Finish nails and everything in between !!! I am very sure my kids will be selling this stuff when I'm dead and gone because there is no way I will be able to use it all in my lifetime !! The 16D coated bin is so full dad and I struggled to move it. Unreal.


These will go in the other rack we have to put back together.


Made by the Sioux Steel Company. I have all Sioux Steel gates in my steer barn. Kind of neat. The retired owners of the lumberyard were on site when we picked it all up and he said the bins were installed when he was 3. He's almost 70 now. Neat.

 

[C_F]

Holy **** that is a lot of hardware! I bet you could build four houses with all that. Nice job winning that auction!

 

[jblnut]

We got the other hardware shelf back together and got all the hardware bins on the shelves.


There is well over 100lbs of 16D Sinkers in this bin. Not all of them are this full but a lot of them are damn heavy !!


After we were done messing around I mixed up two batches of feed.


Fill er' up !!!


Empty it out !!


I was gonna spend some time in the bus this afternoon but the radio didn't come on so it was a no go. The battery was as dead as could be.


I find that putting a trickle charger on a battery this dead for a few days usually brings them back to life ... at least for a little while. These battery tenders don't seem to know they're hooked up to something if there is less than 5V DC in the battery. To combat this I have a 9V DC wall wart I clamp under the charger clamps for the first 10 minutes or so until it's holding above 11.75 and the tender will charge happily after that.




Since I can't work in the bus without a radio I decided to bring the H home for the winter. It'll go on my generator if needed. I think I'm gonna hook it all up tomorrow and make sure it has enough cojones to run the ol' genny.


My sister came over with that flying camera box and I got to pilot it again. Look at all those corns straw bales !!! If I counted correctly there are just over 300 outside.

 

[welder57]

If you want less splatter when welding-try 85co2 and 15 argon. There is anti splatter spray you spray on the steel and use a putty knife to clean it off the beads of weld. Any weld supplier has those. Love you kids-they say and do the most wonderful things.

 

[Lunker]

Will you go through all that corn bales for bedding in 1 year?

 

[jblnut]

If you want less splatter when welding-try 85co2 and 15 argon. There is anti splatter spray you spray on the steel and use a putty knife to clean it off the beads of weld. Any weld supplier has those. Love you kids-they say and do the most wonderful things.

Thanks for the welding gas recommendation. I didn't know that blend was available, I'll check on Saturday when I go get the tank and wire.

I love the kids too They get their looks from their mother for sure. They get their smartass attitudes from me I'd imagine

Will you go through all that corn bales for bedding in 1 year?

I use between 8 and 10 bales a week and I brought home 125 the first round and the final count on the second round was 420. 540 bales will be more than enough for a year. One of the neighbors always runs out about June so I should be able to sell some to him

I will use the bales piled outside until the netwrap starts to freeze to the bale and then I'll start using the dry protected ones in the hayshed. Once things thaw out next spring I'll carry as many as I can into the shed and use up what's outside first.

 

[jblnut]

Monday I had to make a trip to Windsor, ND to do routine maintenance on five Lely Milking Robots. It just so happens that it was forecast to be snowy and ****** on Monday. The forecast was correct. We took state highways and county roads all the way out there to avoid the Interstate and all the drivers that panic the first time each winter when they see a snowflake. The driving wasn't bad at first ....


And then literally a mile down the road this happened. We drove in this **** for almost two hours before it let up. It was so windy the trailer crept into the other lane and tried to pass the van. It made for a fairly interesting trip.


The van and I were thirsty so we stopped to get fuel in Jamestown, ND. The guy riding with had to put some serious effort into getting out of the fan as the passenger door was frozen shut


When we finally made it to the dairy we were greeted with this. The total snow fall wasn't much over an inch but it is so flat in ND with very few trees that it all gathers in the corners and on the South sides of buildings.


We decided to stay the night and finish up on Tuesday as we got onsite almost 3hrs late. The hotel had a nice restaurant and bar so we had some apple juice


Good thing we stayed the night. We got the maintenance done today and headed home on clear roads at 75mph with the wind on our back.

 

[C_F]

That white **** sure doesn't look very inviting, but the apple juice sure does!

 

[jblnut]

That white **** sure doesn't look very inviting, but the apple juice sure does!

It was a tolerable end to a rather crappy day.

 

[1949 caddyman]

Never saw apple juice with a head. LOL!

 

[Finallygotit]

Never saw apple juice with a head. LOL!

Obviously you haven't had good apple juice!

 

[C_F]

Obviously you haven't had good apple juice!

This reminds me of some of my ill-spent youth in the early 80's. Back then, there was a "sparkling apple cider" made by Martinelli's, that sold in three different sizes IIRC. The "sparking" part was some carbonation added to the juice, and if you shake it a little, it develops a decent head to it. From a few feet away, the 12oz size looked remarkably like a Miller beer bottle.

Sooo back then, my friends and I would spend almost every Friday & Saturday night cruising the main drag (State street) in Salt Lake, a bit of street racing, doing burnouts, picking up chicks, you know. Back then of course, the cops were a bit more relaxed than today, so one day we decided to mess with them.
My friend & I bought a couple Martinelli's & headed to go cruise (I was 18 or 19 at the time). As we rolled by a couple motorcycle cops, we each took a swig from our apple juice bottles...the cops (and backup) were on us like stink on ****!
Officer at my window; "Do you know why we pulled you over?"
Me; "Not a clue, I wasn't speeding"
Officer; "Don't get smart kid, give me that beer."
Me; "What beer?"
Officer (rapidly losing patience); "That bottle of miller right there!"
Me; "Sir, this is apple juice."
Officer; "Let me see that."
He sniffed it, then took a swig. (LOL) Then gave it back.
Officer; "Sorry, that really looks like a beer. You should just keep it out of sight, so you don't get pulled over."
Me; "Will do!"

So the rest of the evening, we got pulled over about 6 more times by different cops, then about a dozen more over the course of the next few weeks. After a while, all the cops knew what we were doing & would just smile and wave at us as we rolled by swigging on our apple juice...rats!

Anyway, that's my "good apple juice" story.

 

[jblnut]

As we rolled by a couple motorcycle cops, we each took a swig from our apple juice bottles...the cops (and backup) were on us like stink on ****!
Officer at my window; "Do you know why we pulled you over?"
Me; "Not a clue, I wasn't speeding"
Officer; "Don't get smart kid, give me that beer."
Me; "What beer?"
Officer (rapidly losing patience); "That bottle of miller right there!"
Me; "Sir, this is apple juice."
Officer; "Let me see that."
He sniffed it, then took a swig. (LOL) Then gave it back.
Officer; "Sorry, that really looks like a beer. You should just keep it out of sight, so you don't get pulled over."
Me; "Will do!"

Well now that reminds me of a scene from a rather humerus movie

 

[C_F]

Well now that reminds me of a scene from a rather humerus movie

Haha!

 

[jblnut]

I put some miles on the ol' man van today. I got a door for the bus at an RV surplus store for $150. Once I begin installing it all I'm sure I'll annoy you with more pictures so I'll just do this one for now

I picked up some 0.035 wire for the welder. Not sure if one brand to another really matters but this is what we've been using for a while and it seems to glue the metal together just fine

I decided to try C25 gas (75% argon/25% CO2) and see how that does. I also found some stickers to goober on there.

This is the second time I am typing this because halfway through the first time my PC shut off and wouldn't restart. The power supply died. Never had one shut off while using it, when they fail they usually don't power back on. The PC was built in 2006 and is an AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, 16Gb OCZ DDR2 1066 and a 500Gb WD Black. It was a well equipped machine then and 10yrs later, still isn't all that bad. I went upstairs and here we are finishing the post. A new PSU is on it's way to get the ol' girl up and running again.

 

[welder57]

Looking good-esab is a good brand for wire-just don't buy a plasma cutting machine from esab. My luck with that cutter is not so good.

 

[jblnut]

I got the old door out of the bus. It was kind of a major pain in the rump to remove but it's out !!


I spent countless hours in my younger years in the front seat behind the driver staring at the top of the door wondering how they open in opposite directions and now I know. It's quite simple actually.


I went shopping at the local steel ranch known as "Dad's Place" and came up with some goodies to be used to frame out a new door and steps.


I think 1/4" x 3" x 3" angle iron will be heavy enough to hold the door in


It's roughed in but there is still a lot of work to be done before Mama Bear will let me call it finished.


I am in the middle of a camera install project on a dairy and I needed a dust proof enclosure to put a Ubiquiti 8 port POE switch. I took a Kraloy 12x12x6 box, a pair of filters off a Hitachi scroll air compressor and an 80mm 24v fan and mashed them all together. I don't know if this fan is going to move enough air to keep everything cool but I guess I'll find out in a few days.

 

[jblnut]

I stumbled across a mini crock pot at Sam's Club last time I was there and it has made lunch on the job site much more enjoyable. Plug it in around 10am and it's nice and hot by noon !!
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I hung up the power vented enclosure I put together and it is working awesome. Best part is, the POE Unifi Switch that'll be in this box puts out 24v DC so I put an RJ45 end on the fan wires and it'll draw power from the switch. That means that I can turn it on and off remotely


One of the cameras coming out of this box will be looking at a Doda Manure Separator. It takes liquid manure in and squeezes the liquid out and dry fluffy manure solids come out. It is them composted and used as bedding under the cows. When the machine is running it needs a close eye to keep everything working and a camera will allow the dairyman to do other things instead of babysitting it the whole time.


This dairy has almost no cell reception in the office area so we also installed a SureCall cell booster. These are not the least expensive units out there but they work VERY well. The whole thing took only a couple hours to hang up and we went from zero service in the office to full strength signal.

 

[jblnut]

#903 has been sickly and getting picked on in the big pen so we built a little pen for him today. It's been on the to-do list for a while now to build a little 12x24 special needs building but there are a lot of things on that to-do list so this will have to do for now.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Bless you buddy.

 

[C_F]

Poor little guy, I hope you will be able to bring him back to health.

The manure separator is interesting. Pretty cool idea!

 

[jblnut]

The chicken barn guys are back at it again. Finally. They got a lot of odds and ends wrapped up in the control room.


Dad and I also got the loading chute completed.


The truck/trailer will back in on the far side and we'll chase the cattle onto the trailer and help them along by closing the gates as they move farther toward the trailer.

 

[dwhoyle]

This dairy has almost no cell reception in the office area so we also installed a SureCall cell booster. These are not the least expensive units out there but they work VERY well. The whole thing took only a couple hours to hang up and we went from zero service in the office to full strength signal.

Do you happen to have any experience with the SureCall Fusion4Home? My dad has a 1,200 sq ft shop with metal roof and siding. The signal outside is good but once you go inside it's basically nonexistent. Any recommendations would be much appreciated. Thanks!