Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[jblnut]

We dropped the little people off at my parents house and got to working on the bunk bed again. We got it 97% constructed. The only thing left is to cut a piece to go under the top bed.

Mrs. jblnut is really getting into the whole process. She doesn't like me taking pictures of her but I managed to snag one of her sanding the face frame of the bookshelf/columns.

If you've never used a Kreg Jig before it is the slickest thing for drilling pocket holes. Clamp the wood in and drill the hole. Perfect every time. Makes assembly fast and things look neat and clean with no exposed fasteners.

"Finished"

Mrs. jblnut and I went to town for lunch and stopped at the local alcoholmart on the way home. They have a build your own 6-pack deal so we each grabbed 3 things we hadn't had before. I grabbed something called MooJoos thinking it'd taste like chocolate milk ... WRONG. It was awful !! I also grabbed a Corona and although it was MUCH better than that damn MooJoos it was still nasty. The only thing I liked was the Dos Equis. It was actually pretty damn good !! The two nasty ones got tossed on the ground to drain. I took a 30mph run with the Ranger to get this far up this muddy hill

 

[Terrick down Under]

So.....how are you going to get the kids out of bed??????????????????????

 

[jblnut]

So.....how are you going to get the kids out of bed??????????????????????

Good question but I'm sure after a week of being the neatest thing in their lives they won't care anymore.

The better question is how are mom and dad going to get out once we're done changing sheets and stuff. It's built for little people, it's gonna be a squeeze for us !!

 

[C_F]

The brake light wasn't on before, now it's on letting me know the new brakes work !!!

That's probably the piston in the proportioning valve being off center from bleeding the calipers. It's been a long time since I've done that fix, but I think bleeding the rear brakes centers it again.
I think...

 

[jblnut]

That's probably the piston in the proportioning valve being off center from bleeding the calipers. It's been a long time since I've done that fix, but I think bleeding the rear brakes centers it again.
I think...

I'd imagine that's it. I topped off the brake fluid and the light is still on. The pedal is tight and the little truck stops on a dime now so the light can stay on until I can bleed the rears to make it go away.

It might get 2,000 miles a year on the high side so not that big a deal. I don't think I put 5,000 miles a year on the Ranger, Minivan, Jeep and Neon combined ... I do put over 30,000 miles a year on the work van though.

I bet I put more miles on tractors every year than the vehicles I own

 

[C_F]

I bet I put more miles on tractors every year than the vehicles I own

I totally believe that!

 

[Zexx]

Try stomping hard on the brake pedal a few times with the truck running. It can sometimes center the proportioning valve.

 

[jblnut]

It's been crazy busy at work again the last few days so not much extra has gotten done at home. I was informed on Friday that we were approved for some grant money to build a manure storage structure this summer so tomorrow morning we're going to get the papers signed and we can start moving dirt once the mud dries up.

I did manage to get all my various concrete anchors separated out of the pail they were thrown together in and put in a Durham parts drawer. They should be a lot easier to find now !!

 

[jblnut]

Try stomping hard on the brake pedal a few times with the truck running. It can sometimes center the proportioning valve.

Simple and easy. I like it !!

 

[ford33]

OK, I will bite. What's a manure storage structure look like and why do you need one?

In the city, a manure storage area is called the front lawn.

 

[jblnut]

OK, I will bite. What's a manure storage structure look like and why do you need one?

In the city, a manure storage area is called the front lawn.

The state will help pay for a manure storage structure if you build it to their specs. Their specs are over the top crazy but it'll be cheaper to build it how they want and get the grant money than to build it ourselves.

It will be 60'x152' with a 4' concrete wall around three sides. There will be a roof structure over the entire concrete pad to keep rainwater out. It will provide us with a location to store the manure the steers and chickens produce in one year. Currently we haul the manure to the field we will be spreading it in and store it there until we spread it on the fields.

The manure storage structure will keep it all in one place and prevent any runoff from escaping.

 

[cliftonbros89]

We’ve been trying to do the same thing except it’s for a winter cattle shed. Unfortunately, it’s a large list. Not to mention they seem to be favoring the larger cattle farms over the smaller.

 

[cliftonbros89]

The state will help pay for a manure storage structure if you build it to their specs. Their specs are over the top crazy but it'll be cheaper to build it how they want and get the grant money than to build it ourselves.



It will be 60'x152' with a 4' concrete wall around three sides. There will be a roof structure over the entire concrete pad to keep rainwater out. It will provide us with a location to store the manure the steers and chickens produce in one year. Currently we haul the manure to the field we will be spreading it in and store it there until we spread it on the fields.



The manure storage structure will keep it all in one place and prevent any runoff from escaping.

We’ve been trying to do the same thing, except with a winter cattle shed. Unfortunately, it’s a very long list. They also seem to favor the larger cattle farmers lately over the smaller.

 

[jblnut]

We’ve been trying to do the same thing except it’s for a winter cattle shed. Unfortunately, it’s a large list. Not to mention they seem to be favoring the larger cattle farms over the smaller.

I've been working on the this for over two years so I'm quite excited that it's finally happening.

The opposite seems to be true your here, they seem to have favored us little guys. I got a few extra points on their scoring sheet because I am a young farmer. They want to help the young Farmers to get into a position where we can be profitable and sustain our operation.

 

[jblnut]

The tires on the 7630 were getting VERY worn so we had new ones installed before planting began. They have just a little more tread than the old ones

We did not replace the duals as they aren't all that bad yet.

We had a 10,000bu contract to fill before the end of April so dad took a day and hauled it to town. These are the last two loads getting filled. Between the two of them we will haul about 1,200bu at a time or about 67,000lbs.

A few years back we installed a power sweep and a larger unload auger in this bin. It sure it nice not to have to mess around with the portable sweep !!

The first bin is empty, time to move to a different one !!

My poor little 2WD Ranger gets stuck just about everywhere so I put the big ******** a clevis and left it on the bumper. This way it not only is ready to get pulled out right away but the Ranger seems to be having fun pretending to be a big bad mud truck !!

I thought I'd share a little something something we've been doing for a while now. I always buy antifreeze as concentrate because I refuse to pay for water. Since distilled water is the best to use I collect the water from one of the dehumidifiers we have and keep it to be used in radiators. I put two gallons of water and two gallons of antifreeze in the 5gal container and have enough for a while again.

Back when we cleaned the barn out last time I hooked a water line and cracked it. I busted it up pretty good !!

I threw the ladder and tools on the Poultry Hawk and had it bring them along while we were doing chores. I sure do like this trolley !!!

Since the coupler was glued on I had to cut the pipe off before the glue so I needed a longer 3/4" piece. It actually worked out pretty good and only took about 5 minutes start to finish to fix it.

 

[cliftonbros89]

I strongly dislike portable bin sweeps as well! Not a fan.

 

[jblnut]

This morning we loaded the car seats in the van for a bit of a road trip.

Both the dirty man van and I were VERY out of our element on the busy roads down in St. Paul MN today. It is absolutely amazing how everyone is in a crazy hurry. A few notable rigs passed us like we weren't moving and a few miles later I passed them while they were hung up behind someone slow or something else dumb. This is why I don't usually speed or drive all crazy. It doesn't seem to pay off in the end anyway.

We had lunch by a fellow Garage Journal member and the children got to play with each other. I don't have many pics from the day but here is a funny one.

We normally would have taken Mama Bear's Forester but I needed the vast cargo space the man van has to offer. The previously mentioned Garage Journal member purchased a Weber Model 5,000,000 Grill and didn't know what to do with the old one. I told him I'd take it off his hands, no problem. My last grill was also a hand-me-down that I acquired whilst working at a junkyard. Someone brought it in because the burner rusted out. I've put new burners in it 3 times yet and it still makes meat taste good. The things some people get rid of

Here it is all setup in my yard where the other one sat for almost 4 years now.

It'll be nice to be able to have everything under the lid. I had to use the side burner on the old one to fry onions in my 8" Lodge skillet but it all fits on this one !!

I moved my custom made utensil holders over. They're made out of a pair of 1/2" Craftsman socket holders. I was going to throw them away until I decided to give them a useful purpose as utensil holders. They're horrid as socket holders but are awesome for this !!

 

[ABSTIFFGS]

Oh wow you even made a plywood base for my old grill!? Man, nothing but the best for my junk. Henri is a pimp, he would've gone if only the battery would last.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Hey, I would recommend trying a small 1 Quart air tank mounted between the white PVC and the reflux valve to reduce the water hammer on the PVC lines.

 

[jblnut]

Oh wow you even made a plywood base for my old grill!? Man, nothing but the best for my junk. Henri is a pimp, he would've gone if only the battery would last.

The plywood base was under the old one, don't feel too special

I'm going to make some new tent things for it out of 316SS at work. It's amazing how the original ones are absolutely shot but the burners under them are in perfect shape. Hopefully this grill lasts until you want to get rid of that fancy Weber for something even more expensive yet !!

 

[jblnut]

Hey, I would recommend trying a small 1 Quart air tank mounted between the white PVC and the reflux valve to reduce the water hammer on the PVC lines.

We've done this before by cattle waters that develop a nasty water hammer but that isn't the issue here .... the issue here was that I hooked the yellow drop line with the tractor and busted it all apart

 

[jblnut]

I don't think I could have timed this any better. The feed tank that holds 36,000lbs of chicken feed had about 25lbs left in it when I went to check in it this morning to make sure it didn't run empty !!

It was rather warm out today and I had 8-54" fans running to keep things cool in the barn. Each fan moves 25,000cfm's so around 200,000cfm's were moving through the barn. There are 4 more to be used if needed still for a total of 300,000cfm's when it gets really warm !!

After work we decided it was time to move some round bales around. I used the pallet fork so I could stack them higher in the shed. It worked really well actually.

Pops was grabbing two at a time and hauling them to the shed while I was stacking them up.

Stacking them four high really fills things up !!!

 

[C_F]

Nice timing on the feed tank.
Looks like things are drying up nicely now, I assume you can officially call it springtime now?

 

[jblnut]

Nice timing on the feed tank.
Looks like things are drying up nicely now, I assume you can officially call it springtime now?

It is officially spring and we have started field work !!

 

[Finallygotit]

It is officially spring and we have started field work !!

Somebody is a happy camper!

 

[jblnut]

Yesterday was a busy day !!

We hauled the little manure pile by the steer barn to get it out of the way for construction of the new stacking slab.


We also cleaned out the steer barn as long as we were hauling.


Look at all that poop spread nicely



All cleaned out and ready for new bedding.


Last fall I thought it was a good idea to test the new chisel plow out on the rockiest field we've got to see if it would dig out rocks. It sure did !! I don't have any pictures of actually picking them but it took about 3hrs to pick a field that should have taken an hour. We took 4 loads out with the dump trailer. Normally we'll get a load max out of this field. Good grief !!


This is how it looked after everything was picked. Much better !!


Once that was done Dad spread fertilizer on this field and one other.


I got the disk hooked up to work the fertilizer in Dad just spread.


Sure is dusty !!


About an hour in I noticed two of the harrow sections were hanging down more than the others when the disc was out of the ground while I was turning around. This is the adjuster that regulates how much down pressure is put on the harrow.


Since this is not a part I had with I had to make due with what I had along. I chained it up and bolted the chain together to finish out the day.


The other side broke the bolt that holds the harrow to the frame of the disc. This is after I replaced it. It's a Grade 5-3/4"x6" bolt. I think the both broke at the same time when the disc bounced over a rock. Not sure what else would have caused two things at once on opposite sides of the disk to break.


Say what you will about adjustable wrenches but they sure do come in handy for fixes like this. You always have the correct size along without having a full set of tools.


One always has to be on the lookout for deer antlers in the field. We've had them poke tires and wreck them more than once.


The family came out for supper and rode along for awhile. Everyone had a good time and poor Alyssa was on the other side of the tractor and didn't fit in the picture.


The planter is ready to go and wants to see some action !!!!!


Dad finally gets to do his favorite part of spring field work. Planting. Feels great to finally be putting seed in the ground !!


Last night when I finally got all the fertilizer disked in that Dad had spread earlier we took the disk apart to see what parts we needed.

 

[jblnut]

Somebody is a happy camper!

I'm happier than a tornado in a trailer park !!!!

 

[jblnut]

This morning I got the tunnel curtains working. Terry from GNP came out earlier this week and set the limits so they know where top and bottom is. This morning I timed them so the computer knows how long it takes them to open and close. This way, when they're set to 30% (or whatever) it knows how long it takes to get there.

After chicken chores were done I headed to get parts to fix the disk.

$125 for a new adjuster shaft/screw. Good grief. I had them order another one to put on the shelf for next time so I can fix it right away when the next one breaks. I got the use the 24" Proto Adjustable I have because we only had one 1 5/16" wrench.

Gotta fill up with fuel for the day and grease the disk up. I put 125gal in the fuel tank. It was full yesterday morning

Gotta shift gears for the afternoon. I had a good buddy getting married this afternoon and he asked if we would DJ his wedding. I pulled the trailer out of the shed and had no choice but to drive through the soft spot in the driveway.

The trailer sank in over a foot and the ol' Jeep was scratching in 4wd to pull it through !!

 

[jblnut]

We all had a good time at the wedding Saturday night. The DJ did a really good job

Didn't do much on Sunday. I got a couple loads of feed mixed, we did chicken chores, and I helped Mama Bear put primer on the princess castle bunk bed.

I decided to see if I could dig out the soft spot in the yard where the DJ trailer sunk away. I would MUCH prefer to use the MiniExcavator but the electrical service and the septic for the house run through here somewhere. There is two feet of black muck down there. I think the previous owners put 6" of gravel over what looks to be a damn bog and called it a driveway !!

Today we're going to do our best to get over 100 acres fertilized, disked and planted. Tomorrow night it's supposed to rain quite a bit so we hope to get as far as we can !!

 

[Skeetobite]

Wow. Lived on farms as a kid in foster care. Really enjoying this thread. And being a super nerd, I love all the Ubiquiti equipment ;-)

Subscribed - thanks for all the updates.

 

[jblnut]

Wow. Lived on farms as a kid in foster care. Really enjoying this thread. And being a super nerd, I love all the Ubiquiti equipment ;-)

Subscribed - thanks for all the updates.

I got a good chuckle out of your screen name

Thanks for following along !!! I also love all the Ubiquiti equipment

 

[jblnut]

Day 35 of the chicken farming thing. They are scheduled to go out next Monday night. They are big and UGLY !!!


Always had a thing for red hens, er I mean red heads


We went through the pen of fattish steers and decided 9 of them were fattish enough to send to market so off they go !!!


Then it was off to the field. We had a goal to plant 160 acres today and we'll see if that happens. I first spread fertilizer over everything. We use the John Deere 7810 to pull the spreader. A bit overkill but the extra power and the 4wd is nice when the ground gets a bit spongy.


The place we get fertilizer from finally decided to invest in Stainless Steel spreaders. The regular ol' metal ones seemed to last about 5ys and they'd rust through. The fertilizer is very corrosive. It takes a 50' swath and the metering roll is ground driven so I can drive as fast as I can hang on, which is about 10mph or so.


After the fertilizer is spread it gets worked in. Sound familiar


I can move right along with the tractor and disk where there are no rocks. 4.5mph taking a 32' swath each pass gets me right around 16 acres/hour.


The other day when I broke a bolt that holds the harrow on I replaced it with a smaller one that I had with. I was proactive and picked up some new bolts but forgot to replace the smaller bolt with a new larger one. Well I went for about an hour and got into a rocky patch and it snapped.


No harm, no foul. All back together again with the correct hardware.


I literally drove about 100' and saw a section of the disk was plugged up. Upon investigation it turned out a rock wedged itself in between the mud scrapers and the disk blade. Rocks ****. They annoy me more than hearing a Taylor Swift song on the radio. I can't switch the station fast enough. Worst thing is sometimes the damn radio stations gang up on me and the one I switch to is also playing some of her BS !!! /rant


Back in action again !! Don't drive in the water .... it seems as if it may be wet there ....


A couple of the fields we farm have some pretty serious hills and valleys.


When I went through a soggy spot I called Dad to tell him to go around it. Once again we confirmed that planters don't like mud. It took 45 minutes to clean the mud out of the various places it crammed itself into. I guess he listens to me as good as I listen to him


We both ended up in the same section of the field for a bit. We don't usually like working near each other because it is best to let the ground dry a bit before planting. It lets it dry up a bit so nothing sticks to any part of the row units. I'll try to get some detailed photos of one of them. There is a lot of tech in each of them and all they do is plant corn


Looks like it's going to get late before we get the last field finished.


The wimpy camera on my smartphone doesn't do justice to the amount of light put out by the 16 lights on the tillage tractor. You can see for over 100' in every direction clear as day. It's quite nice.


We put a liquid fertilizer on with the corn planter. It is placed 2" below and 2" away from the seed. Once the corn starts growing it finds it and it helps it get a boost. I finished disking about 11pm and Dad finished planting around 1am. Argh we're tired today !!


It was raining this morning and I got a call yesterday that my Housekeeper had arrived at the dealer so we went to pick it up.


Shiny and new and all mine !!! (well half mine, Dad bought half)



My 5yr old Miss Lily wanted to contribute to the thread so here are some of her ramblings.
lily likes kiiiiiiiittiiiiiies.alyssa likes pppuppies.

 

[jblnut]

The chickens are getting big and ugly again ..... They sure do look tasty though !!


We have a neighbor with a chicken barn and he has a Chandler Litter Spreader. It is a much better way to spread the chicken manure as it spreads a nice fine layer over about a 30' swath.


Spreading poop behind my house.


It rained on and off all day but it wasn't enough to stop fieldwork so away we go !!


The Chicken Barn North camera finally caught something interesting !!


Since I was close to home I stopped and brought the little people out with me for a while. They had TONS of questions and I couldn't answer them fast enough. I even let Lily "drive" for a little bit. Absolutely made her day


Dad thought he'd try working up a few wet spots and got stuck. The 4wd pulled him out no problem.


He unhooked the field cultivator and I hooked on to see if I could get more done. I got through most of what he couldn't but there is still a 100'x200' patch that is way to wet to drive through.

 

[Farmall450]

Wow, thanks for all the pictures. Looking good. Nice Steiger.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Looks like the harrow on the disk does pretty good. I wish ours had one. We’d like to have a good chisel plow with a harrow too. Seen several of those do a good job too.

I wish we had a stainless dry spreader too. We have an old one. Unfortunately, it needs several parts. It’s a Dempster. As of a few years ago they were apparently having some legal issues which was making it hard to get parts. So it’s just sat since. I plan on looking for some alternatives. That’s on the project list for next winter.

 

[cliftonbros89]

Found a deer shed too this week. Actually the only one we’ve seen so far this year.

 

[jblnut]

Wow, thanks for all the pictures. Looking good. Nice Steiger.

It's just a little Steiger now

 

[jblnut]

Looks like the harrow on the disk does pretty good. I wish ours had one. We’d like to have a good chisel plow with a harrow too. Seen several of those do a good job too.

I wish we had a stainless dry spreader too. We have an old one. Unfortunately, it needs several parts. It’s a Dempster. As of a few years ago they were apparently having some legal issues which was making it hard to get parts. So it’s just sat since. I plan on looking for some alternatives. That’s on the project list for next winter.

Found a deer shed too this week. Actually the only one we’ve seen so far this year.

This disk does an amazing job when it's dialed in. The harrow REALLY helps level out the ridges !! We had a drag bar on our old chisel plow but the new one has nothing. You have to field cultivate or disc before even thinking about picking rocks !!

The SS spreader is nice but unfortunately it is not ours. The CoOp charges $2/acre to rent it and we can keep it until we're done. We'd have to rent it for quite some time before it made sense to own one. Even so, when it breaks or something goes wrong we call them up and we have a new one very quickly.

I've found a few more sheds and cuss at all of them. Every one of them is a potential flat tire so I always pick them up !!

 

[jblnut]

This has been my office for the last 10 days or so. It's got the usual amenities you'd expect to find in an office. A radio, climate control, heated air ride seat, adjustable side console, buddy seat with flip down cup holder, toilet paper stash, front and rear sun visors and a lunch pail !!

I hooked on to the Wishek disk today. It has 32" diameter blades and is our primary tillage tool. It does a very nice job and doesn't dig up very many rocks !!

Every office needs a good headset to making talking to your other tractor buddies easier

Nothing much to say about this one, just thought it was a neat picture.

Look at those monster blades !!

I found a few wetish spots today. The one spot got mud all the way up here !!

This nice piece of sod tossed itself on top of the disk early in the day whilst going through yet another wet spot. We likely won't plant in all the wet spots but it's nice to get them stirred up so they can dry out a little.

 

[Farmall450]

That's one hell of a disk. No chisel plow/field cultivators for you fellas, just different disks?