Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[ford33]

American farming skills, science and technology is advanced. I believe US farmers are very efficient at growing more per acre than other farmers in the world.

But what is it that allows US farmers to be so good?

Anyone in the world can buy a better tractor or better seeds. So the hardware and source material cannot be what makes US farms so efficient. The climate is likely a factor but even short growing seasons allow bountiful harvests in the US.

JBLnut, you show pictures of the equipment and the fields but do not explain why you spent the last 10 days plowing. Why plant today and not later? Do you have access to weather forecasting tools that help analyze when to plant? Do you use scientific soil analysis to determine fertilizer and seed selection? Are decisions based on data analysis or from years of experience?

In large and some medium sized business we have computer "dashboards" that illustrate to managers how a business is running. With a quick glance, it is possible to see what products are selling and which are not. Which are profitable or not. Decisions are made after analysis of data is presented. It is a very defined process. It is also possible to predict the future of product sales based on historical events and product selling price.

How does this compare to farming?

 

[jblnut]

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

We do have a chisel plow and a field cultivator but use them sparingly as they dig up TONS of rocks. We have some heavier ground we use them both on, but not much.

 

[jblnut]

American farming skills, science and technology is advanced. I believe US farmers are very efficient at growing more per acre than other farmers in the world.

But what is it that allows US farmers to be so good?

Anyone in the world can buy a better tractor or better seeds. So the hardware and source material cannot be what makes US farms so efficient. The climate is likely a factor but even short growing seasons allow bountiful harvests in the US.

JBLnut, you show pictures of the equipment and the fields but do not explain why you spent the last 10 days plowing. Why plant today and not later? Do you have access to weather forecasting tools that help analyze when to plant? Do you use scientific soil analysis to determine fertilizer and seed selection? Are decisions based on data analysis or from years of experience?

In large and some medium sized business we have computer "dashboards" that illustrate to managers how a business is running. With a quick glance, it is possible to see what products are selling and which are not. Which are profitable or not. Decisions are made after analysis of data is presented. It is a very defined process. It is also possible to predict the future of product sales based on historical events and product selling price.

How does this compare to farming?

We have a fairly short growing season in Central MN so when the conditions are correct we go hard at it until we're done in the spring. Once the ground temp reaches 50F at 2" depth corn will germinate so that is one of the gauges we use. Since the growing season is shorter up here when the calendar says May 1st we will try to get in the fields if at all possible. It was that way a bit this year and we did some jumping from field to field as they dried out. We had 12" of snow less than a month ago on the ground so we're doing quite well so far this spring.

Most weather forecasting tools available to you we use as well. I usually go to the NOAA site for most of my info. I also use DTN as a resource for weather/forecasting info.

Every year we take soil samples from select fields and have it tested to see what nutrients are needed for an optimal crop. Each different crop type requires different nutrients in the soil for an optimal yield. I am VERY excited to have the chicken manure to spread on fields as it is very high in nutrients. Before I apply manure I take a sample to the DHIA Lab to have it tested so I know how much of what nutrients are in the manure so I don't over or under apply.

This is the analysis from the first batch of chicken manure. The three nutrients I have analyzed are Nitrogen, Potash and Potassium.

We make decisions about what to plant where based on what was in the field the prior years. A few examples -> Planting corn after alfalfa is great because alfalfa leaves a high amount of Nitrogen behind and corn needs lots of nitrogen to yield well. Planting corn after soybeans is wonderful as well because soybeans gather the Nitrogen in the soil for the corn to use. We try to rotate between corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa each year on each field. This helps keep the herbicide and insecticide costs down. Each crop uses the different nutrients and rotating crops lets the nutrients needed by one crop build up in the "off" years.

Farming doesn't really have a fancy dashboard where we can look to know when to sell and when to lock in seed/fertilizer/fuel costs. That comes from a lot of market watching and analyzing past market trends. For example, most years the crop prices are the lowest during harvest because farmers are hauling in the previous years grain to make room for the next crop coming in. These farmers didn't market very well, unless their marketing plan is to sell in the fall for whatever they get. We usually try to forward contract so we can spread out when we have to haul the crop in and it spreads our income out a bit.

When it's all said and done we usually go off what Grandpa taught us: Start planting corn when the ice is all off Pelican Lake. if you do one thing late, you will be late in all your work. Buy low sell high and many more wise old guy sayings that ring true every day.

 

[jblnut]

It was a good day until we tried to start the STX325. It started, ran, and died after about 5 seconds and wouldn't restart.


With no time for downtime we called out the most expensive repair guys this side of the Mississippi.


Turns out, the fuel booster pump that is used to prime the system was getting weak. Before the tractor starts it pumps fuel to the injector pump and shuts off once the engine is running and it can **** fuel from the tank without help. The solution is to mark by the fuel barrel and fill it up before restarting. The top of the tank is higher than the injector pump so the system will gravity fill until we get the pump replaced.


Back at it !!!! Sure is drying out !!!


I handed off the tractor and disk to Dad so I could run around and pick up a few rocks in a few fields. It's easier to use the Gator when there are just a few rocks as it doesn't rut the field up like the skid loader.


It wasn't long and Dad called and said he was having problems getting one of the harrow sections adjusted. Well it's hard to adjust it properly when you tear it off the disk !!!!


Something came loose when he was unfolding the wings and it twisted itself off and really messed a few things up. Good thing it's only metal and we know how to make metal do things.


We got the bent up bracket beat back into shape best we could and are drilling new mounting holes through the material we added to strengthen it.


The bit was quite dull so the Drill DR himself decided to sharpen the bit. I had my doubts but it actually worked very well !!

 

[Farmall450]

We do have a chisel plow and a field cultivator but use them sparingly as they dig up TONS of rocks. We have some heavier ground we use them both on, but not much.

That makes sense. Gotta fire up one of those slick rock pickers, although it seems like the things grow.

 

[jblnut]

Sunday was the best day of the flock !!! The little peepers left and we get a break for a few weeks.


We got the harrow fixed up and put back together. We had to beat a decent twist out of the support bar.


What a nice looking set of wheels !!!


Locally these pressure washer trailers with a tank bring close to $8k. I built this one with dads pressure washer and $10 in parts so it cost me $10. I'd say that's a win !!!


It works AMAZING !!! Way better than the generator/electric pressure washer last time. Less stuff to drag around and no hose to hook up this time.


There was rain forcast for the day and sure enough as soon as I went outside it started to rain.


The fan doesn't look all that bad in the picture ....


Until you see them clean !! There is a 1/4" of dust and **** on them that washed off.


These damn chickens get everything dirty. They sure do taste good though ...


Shiny clean water regulator !!!


In addition to the backpack blower we thought we'd try something new. The neighbor lent us his silage blower to blow off the ceilings. It's a 5' fan going 540rpms coming out of a 9" hole. It moves a ton of air.


I turned all 12 tunnel fans on to **** the dust out we were creating. There was an incredible amount of dust that flew off as I drove by.


Next the feed pans all need to be cleaned. This is very messy and I looked like a pile of feed when I was done !!


In comes the Housekeeper. I was cleaning up the corners with the fork during the picture. This new Housekeeper worked way better than the one I used last time. The shaker conveyor has larger holes so more bedding fell back down. I took out half the bedding this time.


Dad was hauling it to the field as fast as I could bring it out of the barn. Doesn't get much fresher than this

 

[BORING HOP YARD]

As I tell people that have never been around a chicken coop (their is a reason they call them fowl) Thank you for sharing your day to day, look forward to seeing your daily updates.

 

[Finallygotit]

Thanks for sharing that. I am amazed at the amount of airborne dust and stuff that you get in that building.

 

[C_F]

What a nice looking set of wheels !!!

Suddenly the Ranger looks very small. Those tires look like they came off the front end of a 747!

Do you use straight water in your pressure washer tank, or some sort of soap solution? Looks like it does a nice job.

 

[dchance]

Great job using old equipment to solve new problems.

Dwight

 

[jblnut]

As I tell people that have never been around a chicken coop (their is a reason they call them fowl) Thank you for sharing your day to day, look forward to seeing your daily updates.

They are stinky creatures and I don't understand why ANYONE would ever want one as a ... ahem ... Pet ???? Chickens aren't pets ... they're food. Someone needs to tell that so my sister'n'law as they have a chicken that is an INDOOR pet

Thanks for sharing that. I am amazed at the amount of airborne dust and stuff that you get in that building.

The bedding is comprised of oat and sunflower hulls ... as well as some bird **** and tons of feathers so yeah, there's lots of dust

Suddenly the Ranger looks very small. Those tires look like they came off the front end of a 747!

Do you use straight water in your pressure washer tank, or some sort of soap solution? Looks like it does a nice job.

So far straight cold water. I was thinking of trying something in the way of a soap stuff but haven't found the correct product yet. It seems to do okay with nothing so I don't know

Great job using old equipment to solve new problems.

Dwight

We use what we have because the price is right, not always because it's the easiest

 

[jblnut]

I decided it was past time to have the right tools along. I put a complete metric set from 6mm-50mm and an SAE set from 1/4"-2" in the tool box. I also threw in the extra harrow adjustment bolt and a handful of the 3/4"x6" Grade 8 shear bolts that like to break in the rockier fields. That 15" metric set looks small next to the 24" SAE set


Rocks ****. They just plain ol' ****. They're heavy and ugly, they stink and I'd imagine they taste bad. No real reason for them to be around. Like mosquitoes ... why do they even exist ??????


I brought the big rock bar along today. A couple bonks with this bad boy and out that pesky rock came !!


Dad was picking rocks in a field I was disking and he found a big one. He couldn't get it out of the hole with the skiddy so we wrapped a chain around it and I drug it out with the tractor and disk.


It was a largish chunk of granite that he struggled to roll to the edge of the field.


Last fall we left these corn stalks standing because you couldn't walk where they were it was so wet. This spring I marched through every single wet spot we had with very little issue. It's a weird deal.

 

[jblnut]

Time to fill the planter up with soybeans.


We have the soybeans delivered in bulk and have them put into a pair of gravity boxes. We use a cut apart 55gal plastic drum and a 5gal pail to get them into the planter. Lo-tech and labor intensive but it works.


We use a RiteWay 4231H rock roller to level the seed bed and push down small rocks when we plant soybeans. It has a 42" diameter drum and it 31' wide. Each drum had a rather large bearing that needs grease every so often.


All folded out and ready to go to work !!


Dustier than a Nuns ....


Dad and I ended up in the same field for a bit and the planter has the right of way so I get to wait.

 

[Finallygotit]

You have no idea now much I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and processes here.

Thank you!

 

[C_F]

Wow, the rock roller is huge! I was expecting just a single drum. If you put a ******** function on that thing, you could level the new asphalt on an entire roadway in one pass!

 

[jblnut]

You have no idea now much I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and processes here.

Thank you!

You have no idea how blown away I am that this thread has almost 225,000 views. I started posting pictures of the random **** I do and never in my wildest dreams thought someone would actually care.

Thanks for following along

Wow, the rock roller is huge! I was expecting just a single drum. If you put a ******** function on that thing, you could level the new asphalt on an entire roadway in one pass!

There are much smaller rollers on the market but they do not do as good a job and you have to drive slower. We felt this one was just the right amount of overkill for what we needed so we made room in the shed for it

 

[jblnut]

Awhile back I posted a picture of this little IT room and today was the day I got to start nerding out in it. I got a Tripplite SRW15U rack hung up as well as the firewall and 16 port switch for the parlor. Notice the 3/4" conduit I used to make extensions for the short table. They work great and are holding up very well !!


Dad and I decided to have one of our fields tiled out. There are always a number of wet spots that we either can't get planted or can't get harvested. They installed roughly 20,000' of 4", 5" and a little 6" tile to get the job done. The field is 54 acres and probably 1/3 of it got touched with tile the last few days.


Remember kids, safety first. Always travel with your transport locks installed !!


They remove with a single pin and are stored on the disk frame. If a hydraulic hose were to brake or something else would happen that would cause the disk to drop to to the ground while traveling down an asphalt road it would make a mess.


The tile plow went up to 5' deep and left quite a mess in the field. I tried to squash the dirt back in the trench with the outside dual of the tractor while the Wishek disk followed along and leveled things off a bit more.



You'd never know what happened once I went over it twice.


It works

 

[Terrick down Under]

It’s amazing how those little things can make you soooo happy!

 

[cliftonbros89]

Looks like you need an auger on that gravity wagon for seed!

Plus one of these Auger Mate pumps

It’ll make filling the planter a faster one man job in no time.

 

[jblnut]

It’s amazing how those little things can make you soooo happy!

We've done some tiling with our mini-ex but can only do 100' an hour or so. These guys did 20,000' in two days. Not bad. This will help a lot of things in a lot of wet spots !!!

 

[jblnut]

Looks like you need an auger on that gravity wagon for seed!

Plus one of these Auger Mate pumps

It’ll make filling the planter a faster one man job in no time.

We only do 300 or so acres a year so it's not that bad but yeah, a brush auger would be a VERY handy thing to have !!

That portable hydraulic pump setup would be a neat tool to have. I'd find all kinds of uses for that.

 

[jblnut]

I picked up a couple gallons of mosquito killing juice this morning. Quite excited to spray this everywhere tomorrow.


Got to work and made a to-do list. The first thing I put on there I had already done but it's nice to be able to cross something off right away


The first jack of the day I messed up. It's on the wrong side of the patch panel


I brought some parts down for the plate cooler. This is a 3" air operated water valve. The tag says it develops 1,657in/lbs of closing power. That'd be 138ft/lbs .... good grief !! It will be used to start/stop water flow to the plate cooler while the system is washing. You don't want cold water flowing through the plate cooler while it is washing or the wash water will cool off and that's not good.


This is the plate cooler and the quad filter setup to filter and cool the milk before it goes in the tankers. The filters are 4 7/8" in diameter and 33 1/2" long. I don't know the specs on the plate cooler but that is my Channellock 528 pliers on top of it ....


Dad is planting the last of the beans tonight. That dusty spot off in the distance is the tractor and planter.


Headed home with the disc. Going to have to wash it and get it ready for fall tillage. May as well be ahead of the curve. There are a few wear items that need attention before it used again.

 

[Muzzy]

You guys have been busy! Feeding us chicken and our side dishes.

You'll want a needle valve on the air supply to that 3" valve so it doesn't bang open/close and give you water hammer. Hopefully the guys who designed the system thought of that and its already in the solenoid panel...

I would love to see the nameplate on the HX you're putting in. Roughly what size dairy is that for?

 

[jblnut]

You guys have been busy! Feeding us chicken and our side dishes.

You'll want a needle valve on the air supply to that 3" valve so it doesn't bang open/close and give you water hammer. Hopefully the guys who designed the system thought of that and its already in the solenoid panel...

I would love to see the nameplate on the HX you're putting in. Roughly what size dairy is that for?

The electric solenoid that operates it has adjustable exhaust filter deals so you can adjust the speed. We use DynaQuip valves on tons of installs, this is just the largest I've seen to date.

I'll gladly take a picture of the data plate. We are installing a 60 stall GEA Rotary ProQ robotic parlor and they are going to expand from 1,500 cows to around 2,000 cows once everything is running.

If you go back a few pages you can see some pictures of the last one we installed. This one is only about an hour away from home so we're home every night, which is awesome !!

 

[Skeetobite]

The first jack of the day I messed up. It's on the wrong side of the patch panel

Man, I can't tell you how many times I've been thinking about something else and did the same thing! I don't mind making and fixing mistakes, just can't stand the lost time

 

[Terrick down Under]

Lost time is correct Skeetobite, It happens when we are talking about something while installing a new submersible pump, you plug it in and test to make sure there are no leeks, then you realise that you did not pull the cable thru the grommet first. Ahhh another 10 minutes, because the septic is all stirred up and you have to reach in under the lid just at full arms reach.

 

[jblnut]

I agree in that the rework doesn't really bother me other than the lost time. If you think about it you're actually losing it three times. If you spend 10 minutes doing something and you have to redo it it will more than likely take you 10 minutes to undo it, and 10 minutes to do it properly again. You just spent 30 minutes doing a 10 minute job. That is what eats at me.

 

[jblnut]

We have been working on and off at installing a Smartbow Cow activity system at one of our farms at work and today we got to work on the Outdoor Wireless Receivers. They will be mounted in the pasture in a grid with ~250' between them. I believe there are 34 of them we will be mounting at this farm. There is a TON of equipment installed inside the buildings as well. I thought this was a neat deal and thought it was worth sharing. This company is based out of Austria and there are two company guys here helping with the install.

Here are a few complete units ready to be deployed.


I brought my yard trailer down to help haul them around.


This is the most bizarre and neatest tool I've seen in a long time. There is a 3' screw driven into the ground by the drive unit on top.


The top opening of the screw is around 6" and it takes a ton of force to drive it into hard ground. The bar sticking out is a giant lever that rolls up to the tire on the Ranger to hold the unit from spinning around if we can't hold it in place.


Only takes a few minutes and the screw is driven into the ground.


The mast is slid into the screw in the ground. There are four bolts in the side of the screw to help level and stabilize the tower antenna. It is roughly 12' tall.


Each guy had a full set from 4mm to 29mm of these wrenches. I thought they were neat.


When I got home tonight there was a very high quality pocket knife waiting for me in the mail. It came from the guys that made my Housekeeper that cleans the chicken barn. Each Housekeeper is custom made ad built to order and it's neat that they take the time and money to send a nice gift out.


Dad was busy today. He got the wet spot he got stuck in worked up and planted. He used our "new" 4 row planter and my 884. He said it worked very well.



Tonight we worked on getting the barn ready again for new chicks on Friday. I showed some pics of the spreader we use to spread the PLT (Poultry Litter Treatment) last time but missed a few things so here goes.


Nice action shot !!! We spread 1,500lbs of PLT in the brood side of the barn, or about 1lb per 12sq/ft. It helps reduce the amount of ammonia in the barn when the chicks come.


Something new we're doing this time is putting paper down under the waterlines. It's suppose to make noise when the chicks walk on it and make them want to come over and see what's going on so they drink more water.

 

[dchance]

That is a cool looking wrench

Dwight

 

[Farmall450]

It's nice to see the tile running. Just don't go by any trees!

 

[Terrick down Under]

I LOVE THE SCREW DRIVER!!!! oh, the rest of the job looks great too.

 

[C_F]

I like the idea of the big screw to hold those masts, much faster installing than digging a hole to hold the base.

 

[jblnut]

That is a cool looking wrench

Dwight

I thought so as well. I looked them up and it is a wicked expensive set !! The closest one I could find online was over $400.

It's nice to see the tile running. Just don't go by any trees!

All these tile runs are under field ground so no worries about roots and other goofy stuff !!

I LOVE THE SCREW DRIVER!!!! oh, the rest of the job looks great too.

I like the idea of the big screw to hold those masts, much faster installing than digging a hole to hold the base.

When these guys tried to describe what they were talking about before they got here I thought they were nuts but it works amazingly well !!

 

[jblnut]

It was looking like we were finally going to get some rain but it went just North of us. The storm sure put on a light show !!


Damn busy day today. I wandered out into a few corn fields to check on progress. Most of it is up and is about this size. It is all looking pretty good except where the soil is dryer, it didn't come up as evenly.


We have good intentions to use the bus this summer so I had to drag it out of the spot is sank into. It doesn't look like it but those spots are almost 4" deep. I had to use the mini-ex to help drag it out !!


The drive belt on the ol' lawn mower blew apart a few days back and I finally picked up a new one. As I was laying on the dirt under the mower I saw a pulley and cable hanging from the rafter in the shed. Never seen that there before !!! Looked like something I could make good use of !!!


What a PITA to get this thing in. Standing on my head to see anything plus having no idea how it's suppose to be routed made for an interesting little project. It's on and working better than ever now ...... finally ....


Today is also chick day. We are getting a new batch of chickens !! That is the good part, the crappy part is we will not be getting the truck with the forklift. Luckily a neighbor has a custom made pallet deal for bringing in the stacks of chicks.


I lift it up to the level of the back of the chick delivery trailer and the chicken bringer dude rolls 6 stacks of 10 trays on at one time. There are 100 chicks in each tray so I'm hauling around 6,000 chickens at one time !!


The paper we put down under the water lines works great. The two lines that do not have the paper were in the air when we brought chicks in. They were raised so we had more room to move around while unloading the chicks.


I got ambitious and washed my skid loader for the first time ... in three years


It looks just a little cleaner.

 

[C_F]

^^^ Hey look at that, the rims are orange!!

 

[jblnut]

^^^ Hey look at that, the rims are orange!!

Yeah. To say it was time for a bath was an understatement !!!

 

[jblnut]

Dirt work has begun for the new farm shop/machine shed !!!

We hauled dirt over to the East side of the chicken barn to fill in some ruts the construction putz's made when they put tin on the roof.

Mama Bear and the little people wandered out and brought us some drinks. It was 94F here today !!

There wasn't enough dirt around the hay shed so while Dad was hauling the dirt behind the barn I bucketed some top soil to the hay shed.

I think Dad hauled 15 loads over here. It looks like a lot more dirt when it's on the trailer than when it's dumped on a pile

I think it looks nice but I guess I have a bit of a bias

Yup, doesn't look like we did anything yet !! We'll be borrowing a neighbors scraper to make things go faster sometime this summer.

I finished the night off with a beer and some chicken. The barn needs to be around 92 on day 1 and the fans were struggling to keep it that cool. Weird as the heaters are usually running quite a bit to warm it up and the fans hardly turn on at all !!

Tomorrow and Monday are suppose to be 95. I think I may drink more beer with the chickens, it feels pretty good in the barn when it's "only" in the low 90's

 

[Terrick down Under]

Well then sit down and enjoy your “stubby and chook”, I usually have mine at the pub.

 

[Skeetobite]

Dang, it's gonna be a hot one here tomorrow too. It was 90F when I mowed the shire today. Took me 4 hours, and I forgot a hat. Burned my bald spot!

Thanks for all the updates. This is by far my favorite thread.

 

[jblnut]

Well then sit down and enjoy your “stubby and chook”, I usually have mine at the pub.

I enjoy their company, especially when they're this size. They're pretty easy to take care of right now. The barn needs to be hot, which is good because it's damn hot outside already. It'd be awful trying to keep the barn at 70F when it's 95F outside !! Also, very few of them "pass on" at this age so there are very few mortalities to deal with. Plus, they're little so they are very easy to walk through !!

Dang, it's gonna be a hot one here tomorrow too. It was 90F when I mowed the shire today. Took me 4 hours, and I forgot a hat. Burned my bald spot!

Thanks for all the updates. This is by far my favorite thread.

If you wouldn't have so many garages and all that wonderful landscaping to mow around it wouldn't take nearly as long

Your thread is one of my favorites as well. I love the four garages with different purposes and the office area you built in the one is awesome !! Plus the rest of the house and exterior lighting, damn man, it's nice !!