Above 1200 Sq/FT Out on Quaker Road

[Toothaker]

The chickens pretty much get out of the way when we're walking through the barn. When they're little you gotta do the penguin shuffle if you want to walk through a bunch of them or you'll squash them !!

It really seems like it wants to warm up but has still been dipping below freezing every night. I am SOOOOOO ready to get in the fields and play with my tractors !!!

The kids love it and although it takes 34 times longer to do anything with them, I enjoy it as well

That paints a vivid picture.

 

[Backwodsurvivor]

Done! Only took about a week... I cannot wait to get home to Wisconsin.

My final tour ends this summer and I've been bouncing around trying to decide what I want to do when I get out. The more I read this thread the more I lean towards agriculture. I don't know that I could run something as big as you are but a few dozen head of cattle and a hundred acres sounds like a great "part time" job!

Thank you so much for sharing everything you do. I will certainly be following along in the future!

 

[jblnut]

That paints a vivid picture.

It was about as accurate of a description as I could think of

Done! Only took about a week... I cannot wait to get home to Wisconsin.

My final tour ends this summer and I've been bouncing around trying to decide what I want to do when I get out. The more I read this thread the more I lean towards agriculture. I don't know that I could run something as big as you are but a few dozen head of cattle and a hundred acres sounds like a great "part time" job!

Thank you so much for sharing everything you do. I will certainly be following along in the future!

Thank you so much for your service. It is because of you that I am able to do what I do out here !!

On your way back home stop out here and we'll let you do/see whatever you want. Farming in any form is a great tax write off and a better hobby, even if you're doing it full time I think it still counts as a hobby.

There really is nothing like planting something and watching it grow and getting to harvest it. The playing with tractors and such is kind of fun as well. I certainly do not do everything out here alone, my Father plays a HUGE role in keeping it all together out here. I guess it's his fault I want to someday farm full-time. I tried getting an "actual job" wearing a suit to work and I just couldn't do it. If he wouldn't have let me follow him around when I was younger I probably would have stayed being a Network Administrator for some company in "the big city" instead of farming.


You can take the boy out of the farm but you can't take the farm out of the boy.

 

[jblnut]

Looks like the Bobcat fairy came !!!

New hoses are installed.

Why not throw a new air filter in as long as we're doing stuff

I paid attention to the rear so I better work on the front end as well. Never had the quick attach plate off before ....

Oooooo look !! New lower pivot pins !!

The bolt on the block is the bolt that needs to end up in there but it wasn't long enough for the threads to grab so I grabbed a chunk of 3/4" all thread and hacked a piece off to use to fish the pin through the hole. It worked very well !!

It is a tapered pin that wedges itself in the loader arm and the threads on the all thread were much smoother than the bolts threads so I used it and a nut to pull the pin into the loader arm. Again, it worked really well.

Next up is the bucket tilt cylinder pin and bushing. The pin came out really easy but the bushing put up a 20 minute fight. I tried smacking it out with a big hammer and a close fitting socket and it wouldn't budge. Next I tried the air hammer and it still wouldn't budge. Grrrrrr.

I ended up using a sawzall to cut a pair of grooves into the bushing and then smacked it out with a chisel. I got a touch deep on one end but the bushing will hide that all anyway so no big deal.

New vs Old. The old pin and bushing are WAY more worn than the picture shows. I don't know when the pins were done last but it's been a while. I know they've been done once already as the stuff I took out was the larger rebuild kit size and not the smaller factory size.

This morning we sold 25 fat steers. The hauler dude came with a tandem axle cattle trailer three times and transferred them onto a semi about 2 miles away to be hauled to the packing plant in Green Bay, WI.

 

[jblnut]

Jay the builder is going to start working on the barn soon so it's time to get some posts ready for him to stick in the concrete. There is a local guy that carries oil field pipes/rods as well as pre-made gates and cattle panels made from the oil field stuff. We dug a flat rack out of the shed and I headed in to town to get what I needed.

24' flat rack, 32' pipes. They ride really well and weigh an awful lot. One stick of the largest pipe is $2.41/foot so a 7.5' pipe comes to around $18. A pre-cut 7-1/2' galvanized 4" pipe is upwards of $60 so the savings is real. PLUS this stuff is 3/16" thick and should last for my lifetime.

I don't know how much it weighs but it makes a mess when a piece drops off after being cut so I threw together a makeshift support out of a pallet. It actually worked pretty well.

Let the sparks fly !!!

Got my money's worth out of this cutoff wheel

Dad dug out a couple pieces we've had around since the other barn went up in 2015 because I ran short on what I purchased today. Or rather, I knew these were here and wanted to use them up

Looks as if I've been taking ice core's from the artic

Look at that nice stack of pipes. Looks like about $325 to me.

We did some surveying around the area where the shop will be going and there is a decent amount of dirt to move. There is a 5' difference from the SE corner to the NW corner. Good thing I know a guy with a scraper .... or two ... and a Deere 750G dozer

 

[jblnut]

It seems as if I am constantly gathering treasures to be used "one rainy day" and that day is today !!! I grabbed a trailer full of shorty pallet racking pieces and got to work.

It ain't pretty but it'll be a great storage area for conduit and some lumber. We're going to have a BUSY next few years out here as we plan to build a new farm shop and a new house within the next 3 (hopefully) years. This is a small start by being able to move stuff out of the old sheds so they can be torn down and replaced by a new house. It started raining more so I didn't get a picture with more stuff on the racking but it is working very well so far !!

 

[RickP]

Now I'm not sure who has all worked on skid loaders that is reading this but they are the most miserable pieces of equipment to work on. There is SO much stuff packed into such a small space that it is just about impossible to do anything without taking 73 other things apart first. The two fittings that need to be taken apart here are about a foot in from the rear door and crammed unto the upright on the left tower. Good grief.
...

Not long after that the power went out. Mama Bear was out with friends tonight so of course this is the day when ship hits the fan !! The little people crew helped get the genny running so we could make supper.

Nice looking transfer switch!
And it's pretty cool that your kids helped get the genny hooked up. I'll bet they're learning all sorts of skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.

That skid loader repair sounds familiar - we had one break down in our front yard with a broken hydraulic hard line. The owner called a service mechanic, who couldn't fix it on site. The owner's father ended up coming out and working on it for a few days, and I talked with him a few times while he was working on it. I couldn't believe how deep inside the guts of that equipment you have to dig to get anything fixed!

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: nice find and work on cutting the pipe to your sizing instead of buying new pipe for a lot more.

I own a lot of pallet racking and i've never thought of or used 2x4's to hold them together. i'm always looking for the right size beams. nice trick!!!!

WOW that's a lot of building plans you have in your future so I want to send you a few prayers and a bit of luck you are able to pull it off close to your budget and time frame.

keep up the great work and get a bit of sleep so you don't get grumpy or lose some of your good health.

cheers

 

[jblnut]

Nice looking transfer switch!
And it's pretty cool that your kids helped get the genny hooked up. I'll bet they're learning all sorts of skills that will serve them well throughout their lives.

That skid loader repair sounds familiar - we had one break down in our front yard with a broken hydraulic hard line. The owner called a service mechanic, who couldn't fix it on site. The owner's father ended up coming out and working on it for a few days, and I talked with him a few times while he was working on it. I couldn't believe how deep inside the guts of that equipment you have to dig to get anything fixed!

The thing about teaching someone something is that you really don't know what they've learned until they're tested. I hope what we're doing with our little people will prepare them to deal with all the **** the world has to throw at them.

It's never a great day when there is an oil leak on a skid loader. Literally everything has oil running through it so finding the leak is sometimes a challenge.

JBL: nice find and work on cutting the pipe to your sizing instead of buying new pipe for a lot more.

I own a lot of pallet racking and i've never thought of or used 2x4's to hold them together. i'm always looking for the right size beams. nice trick!!!!

WOW that's a lot of building plans you have in your future so I want to send you a few prayers and a bit of luck you are able to pull it off close to your budget and time frame.

keep up the great work and get a bit of sleep so you don't get grumpy or lose some of your good health.

cheers

We used the same pipe in the existing steer barn so we went back to the same guy and got more. There is a lot of oil well pipe in the barns I get in for work. It's cheap and incredibly heavy duty.

I didn't get the cross beams with when I scavenged it from work so I had to make due. I put 4 bolts in each upright through the floor and thought that might be enough to hold it but I still threw one 2x4 on one side to make it look legit.

The plan is to do dirt work for the shop once the wheat is harvested this fall. Hopefully build the building next summer and finish it out over the coming years as $$$$$ and time allows. I'm really shooting to have the dirt work done for the house by freeze-up 2020 so we can build in 2021. There is a good chance that may get pushed back a year but you gotta start somewhere. The thoughts and prayers are appreciated for sure !!

Here is where the house will go. The living room will be where the little aluminum trailer is and the garage will be sort of where I'm standing. All that after 2' of dirt is taken out and 6' brought back in. I'd like it to be 4' higher than what is currently is so we NEVER have wet floor issues. Wet floors ****.

See the aluminum trailer again. In the other picture I was standing in the doorway of the far hoop shed. All of these buildings need to be dismantled.

Old 24x40 hay shed to be removed. As we tear buildings down I cut up whatever lumber is not worth saving and use it for heat in the shop. It's kind of like the property is eating itself

This is the first building I plan to dismantle when we get at it. There isn't much in it so it should be easy to empty out. The Bobcat 331E mini-ex, my Farmall M, the loader for the 884, a pallet of tin and wood and a bunch of curtain stuff that will get used on the new steer barn. Won't take long to relocate that stuff.

 

[Farmall450]

I feel a used, salvageable, metal yard could be a very good business venture. Ideally half a scrap yard too, so you've got scales and are buying some good material cheap already.

Good prices on the oil pipe.

 

[oldironfarmer]

That pipe sure looks heavier than 0.188" wall. Is is really 3/16"?

Great plans for building. If you get the fill in for the house and get delayed a year or even two you have only helped yourself.

When I burn wood off the farm I think I'm burning sunshine from many years ago, but I can use that solar energy day and night, rain and shine.

Farm kids learn stuff they don't want to learn, and it pays them all their lives.

 

[jblnut]

I feel a used, salvageable, metal yard could be a very good business venture. Ideally half a scrap yard too, so you've got scales and are buying some good material cheap already.

Good prices on the oil pipe.

Oh boy I'd never want to leave a place like that !!!

That pipe sure looks heavier than 0.188" wall. Is is really 3/16"?

Great plans for building. If you get the fill in for the house and get delayed a year or even two you have only helped yourself.

When I burn wood off the farm I think I'm burning sunshine from many years ago, but I can use that solar energy day and night, rain and shine.

Farm kids learn stuff they don't want to learn, and it pays them all their lives.

Yeah, that was suppose to be 3/8" but I don't know if it's quite that thick. It is certainly more than 3/16" though.

I'd love to build a pole shed and live in it but Mama Bear has something called "class" that I do not seem to understand

Andy it would seem that you are the epitome of a green activist. Burning solar energy that has been stored for decades brings a whole new light to solar power

The meaning of hard work, respect of life and machinery, and the feeling of accomplishment are just a few things we're trying to pass on. Honestly, if they turn out polite and don't end up causing too much trouble I think we will be very happy.

 

[jblnut]

Seems like talking about it motivated me start pulling some nails out of some tin. This is going to be one of those character building exercises I'd have done when I was younger after I did something stupid. Like backing a tractor and rock wagon through a closed sliding door or running over a mailbox with the duals of a tractor while driving because I was playing with the damn radio.

After it got dark I started putting together my newest set of purchases. The two larger cases will house a FreeNAS server in one and a Plex / Camera server in the other. The smaller case is a Lian Li HTPC case that I build back in 2009. I built it for a fellow GJ member long before either of us were members. I name each PC I build and this one is Carla. It was the third PC I ever built and it feels good to have it back home. I'm going to put new components in it and build a low power AMD PC to use in the living room instead of my power hungry ThinkCenter C30.

 

[Farmall450]

Nice update to your sig, btw. It must be nice to have the kids come home.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Yeah, that was suppose to be 3/8" but I don't know if it's quite that thick. It is certainly more than 3/16" though.

OK, one of the few schedules I remember, 4" (4.5" OD) sch 40 is 0.237" wall and sch 80 is 0.337", so, that's close enough for them to call it 3/8".

I'd love to build a pole shed and live in it but Mama Bear has something called "class" that I do not seem to understand

My British friend always said "Don't worry about culture, Andy, you get it in yogurt". However, the comment I was making is if you get a 6 ft fill in place and it sets for a couple of years it will settle and compact more on it's own, which will help you in the long run. Ten years is better. But it is really hard to properly compact 6 ft of fill.

Andy it would seem that you are the epitome of a green activist. Burning solar energy that has been stored for decades brings a whole new light to solar power

Of course knowing the carbon was sequestered in the wood would lead some people to claim it is better left to rot than burn. For those people I have a technique they should like. Carbon gets sequestered in a landfill, and paper companies have a marvelous carbon collection machine running to grow millions of trees to make paper. When you save a piece of paper you don't "save a tree", you keep a tree from being planted. So at work, if I needed to print, I printed 11 copies and threw ten in the trash to be safely sequestered in a landfill. Then the paper company will plant more trees and take more carbon out of the atmosphere!

I'm green.

 

[jblnut]

Nice update to your sig, btw. It must be nice to have the kids come home.

I am very ready to start field work. Very ready.

If all the PC's I've built over the years came back here I don't know if they'd fit in that room. Last one I built was named Darcy and there is already a Darla and Denise. I've working my way through the alphabet for the third time

OK, one of the few schedules I remember, 4" (4.5" OD) sch 40 is 0.237" wall and sch 80 is 0.337", so, that's close enough for them to call it 3/8".
I measured it this morning and it is very close to 3/8" so that's what I'm going with. The size we'll be using for the feed rail pipe is 2-7/8" and I believe it sleeves right inside the larger 3-1/2" stuff. We thought about doubling them up on the corners but 3/4" of steel seemed excessive



My British friend always said "Don't worry about culture, Andy, you get it in yogurt". However, the comment I was making is if you get a 6 ft fill in place and it sets for a couple of years it will settle and compact more on it's own, which will help you in the long run. Ten years is better. But it is really hard to properly compact 6 ft of fill.
When the dirt work guy put the chicken barn pad together there was almost 11' of fill at the North end. He made a point of driving to the North with every pan full of dirt to mash it all together. They did some compaction test every few feet and it always passed so it must have worked. I'll most likely hire that dirt work out so it goes quickly and smoothly done by guys who actually know what they're doing. My Grandpa always said a good rule of thumb is 1yr per foot of fill to let it settle if you're not going to pack it. I'm 100% sure there is no science behind that but it sounds good.



Of course knowing the carbon was sequestered in the wood would lead some people to claim it is better left to rot than burn. For those people I have a technique they should like. Carbon gets sequestered in a landfill, and paper companies have a marvelous carbon collection machine running to grow millions of trees to make paper. When you save a piece of paper you don't "save a tree", you keep a tree from being planted. So at work, if I needed to print, I printed 11 copies and threw ten in the trash to be safely sequestered in a landfill. Then the paper company will plant more trees and take more carbon out of the atmosphere!
You are truly ahead of your time. I print one page and bring the other 10 home to start the fire in my stove that is burning all my scrap lumber

I'm green.
There have been a few times I've been able to politely inform the naysayers that an acre of corn removed 8 tons of carbon and puts enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to supply 130 people with oxygen for a year.

 

[Nicklx]

Not sure why I just remembered to ask you this now. But, awhile back when you first mentioned building the chute for the new scale you said that they would charge a penalty if the steers were over 1000lbs? Having never grown up on a farm I can't seem to comprehend that one.

 

[jblnut]

Not sure why I just remembered to ask you this now. But, awhile back when you first mentioned building the chute for the new scale you said that they would charge a penalty if the steers were over 1000lbs? Having never grown up on a farm I can't seem to comprehend that one.

The actual answer is that some of the processing equipment can only handle a certain size product but the smartass in me thinks some people just don't like BIG steaks for some uncomprehensible reason

 

[jblnut]

Today was a good day. I came home and progress had been made on the steer barn addition. A LOT of progress.

It looks way bigger with the rafters and stuff up than it did with just the poles set. Maybe I just got used to the poles being there and now it looks different. Either way, it looks bigger.

It will be 54x168 when it's all done and should comfortably hold 160 steers

After checking the chickens I moved some of the steers around in the barn. Basically they all got moved over one pen as there are more coming tomorrow morning. I made a call a few days ago and they're coming tomorrow already. I got the little pens all cleaned up and threw some fresh bedding down so it's ready to go when they get here. When I was done with that it was getting dark already so I leaned up against a gate and watched the sunset. It's crazy how relaxing it was.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Well I'm no expert, but I thought feed efficiency dropped off with larger animals. Am I wrong on that?

 

[jblnut]

Well I'm no expert, but I thought feed efficiency dropped off with larger animals. Am I wrong on that?

100% correct but that isn't the reason the packing plant wants them under 1,000lbs hanging weight. It is a good part of the reason I want them under 1,000lbs hanging weight though. They gobble corn up like mad over 1,000lbs live weight. They eat a lot because the larger they get the more animal they need to support. More of the food is going to moving around and being alive than is going to making delicious steak.

If a guy puts a calculator to it (I like numbers) they need to be around 1,600lbs to be just shy of 1,000lbs hanging weight. My critters typically yield around 61% so the math works out. It usually isn't cost effective to put that last 150lbs on them so I shoot for the animals to weigh 1,450-1,500lbs live weight when they get shipped. They seem to grade better and I get a bonus when they grade Prime. That alone will make more of a difference than shipping a larger animal.

 

[oldironfarmer]

100% correct but that isn't the reason the packing plant wants them under 1,000lbs hanging weight. It is a good part of the reason I want them under 1,000lbs hanging weight though. They gobble corn up like mad over 1,000lbs live weight. They eat a lot because the larger they get the more animal they need to support. More of the food is going to moving around and being alive than is going to making delicious steak.

If a guy puts a calculator to it (I like numbers) they need to be around 1,600lbs to be just shy of 1,000lbs hanging weight. My critters typically yield around 61% so the math works out. It usually isn't cost effective to put that last 150lbs on them so I shoot for the animals to weigh 1,450-1,500lbs live weight when they get shipped. They seem to grade better and I get a bonus when they grade Prime. That alone will make more of a difference than shipping a larger animal.

We live in such different worlds. Mine usually go to the butcher between 1,000 lbs and 1,100 lbs and hang right at 60%. and package right at 60% of that. so 1,000 lbs live weight is 360 lbs in the freezer. Young and tender.

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: your addition looks AWESOME and can it be true that all that snow is gone and it looks like summer at your place now?

with all those big buildings you've got on your place and going up are the neighbors curious or are they helping?

carry on and keep up the great work.

also while you are working on your old PC's and copiers maybe make a copy of you so you can have an extra couple hands to help out with all the work you are doing or are you thinking of hiring help some day so you and dad can get some sleep.

how are the chicks?

 

[jblnut]

We live in such different worlds. Mine usually go to the butcher between 1,000 lbs and 1,100 lbs and hang right at 60%. and package right at 60% of that. so 1,000 lbs live weight is 360 lbs in the freezer. Young and tender.

We raise them to the weight the packer wants/asks for. When we sell off the farm they're usually a little lighter.

JBL: your addition looks AWESOME and can it be true that all that snow is gone and it looks like summer at your place now?

with all those big buildings you've got on your place and going up are the neighbors curious or are they helping?

carry on and keep up the great work.

also while you are working on your old PC's and copiers maybe make a copy of you so you can have an extra couple hands to help out with all the work you are doing or are you thinking of hiring help some day so you and dad can get some sleep.

how are the chicks?

The only snow left (for today anyway) is in the ditches and on the North side of hills. We're forcasted to get a whopper of a snow storm this week

I can't keep track of all the stuff I do so if I ever were able to clone myself I can assure you it'd be a mess !!

All my neighbors are farmers or retired farmers so they're all excited at what we're doing out here. They come and be nosy once in a while and we shoot the ****. It's a good time

Chicks are 17 days old today and happier than ever !!

 

[ripperd]

I was about to mention the snowstorm. We'll see what happens! You probably will get blasted. Here in the cities we are going to be closer to the rain/snow line, so we could get anywhere from 4" all the way up to 12", depending on how much comes as rain.

 

[jblnut]

The snow started around 7PM Wednesday night and it is still snowing right now. Good grief. It's going to look pretty depressing around here again.


I almost questioned turning around and not going to work Thursday but it really wasn't that nasty out so on I went.


Thursday evening the ol' work van was dragging on the way into the shed.


It never fails. When there is a East wind the hay shed fills up with snow


The steer barn is still there, it's a bit drafty though


Looks like the wind got a hold of the roof steel. The builder stacked a bunch of 150lb blocks on the cover sheet and it blew them off like they weren't even there.


It rained, it hailed, it snowed, it thundered and lightninged and the winds blew at 50mph. My chicken barn door was frozen shut and I had to bang on it pretty good to get it to open up.


The end two pens with my 34 new calves got all full of snow so we pushed it out and gave them some nice wheat straw. They were very appreciative.


48hrts later it is still snowing but not very heavily anymore. It's going to be in the 50 by Sunday and hopefully by Monday it's all gone and just a bad memory. All in all we got right at 12" of wet heavy snow.


Last night I got the shelving installed for my DeWalt ToughSystem boxes. I was on the fence with organization for my "new" van and I am very happy with these boxes. It is really nice to be able to grab them and bring them into the job site as needed. I can scrub them down when they get full of "cow stuff" and they can stay nice and clean. These shelves are perfect for my smaller boxes so I don't need to unstack them all the time when I want the one at the bottom.


This morning I got to work and Dave was all grumpy so I made him a friend to cheer him up


Quite an exciting day at work today. I finished up the networking at a dairy today I've been working at for a while. I got eager and took this picture before I had all the details done. I added blank plates on the bottom, snipped that rogue zip tie tail and wiped everything down before calling it officially done.


Our construction guys ended up putting the feed auger pipe directly in front of one of the cameras and I had to improvise. I'm really not all that happy with the end result but the farmer loves it so that's all that matters I guess.


A little bit of everything in the little box. Cameras are blue cords/plugs, internet is white cords/wires and the phone lines are awkwardly in there in the middle. I have grown fond of these unloaded patch panels as I can put different colored cords/plugs in them for easy visual reference for the different network items/types.

 

[jblnut]

Just about every morning when I go to do chores this guy is standing here waiting for me it seems. Happy cows are tasty cows

Today Miss Lily and I got a bunch of stuff done while the rest of the family took a lazy Sunday nap. She helped me get the first of the components in the FreeNAS case. So far there is a SuperMicro MBD-X11SSH-F-O motherboard, 32GB of DDR4 Crucial ECC RAM and a Xeon E3-1225 V6 processor in there. There is a Seasonic 850w Power Supply, 5 SUPER quiet Artic P12's and a pair of Dell H310 SAS cards on the way yet.

We played Uno for a while and I literally lost EVERY game. She beat me to a pulp. It was pathetic.

We got bored with Uno so we went in the shop and cleaned up for a bit. Lily grabbed a shovel and started to get the big stuff onto a pile.

I moved the cherry picker and Lily lifted and lowered it three times. She thought it was the neatest thing ever. I agree. It is quite handy !!

 

[drivesitfar]

JBL: sounds like a fun day!!

snowing still or did it just pass thru and it's maybe gone today?

 

[jblnut]

JBL: sounds like a fun day!!

snowing still or did it just pass thru and it's maybe gone today?

Sundays are usually pretty lazy days around here. Unless we're planting or harvesting we try to take time to spend with the family. Today we also watched "Ralph Breaks the Internet" and "Moana". The kiddos can just about recite Moana word for word. It's quite entertaining. It is fun watching the kids help with stuff as there are always learning moments and watching something click in their heads is wonderful !!

The snow is disappearing and making a mess while doing so. By Tuesday I think it'll be mostly gone.

 

[jblnut]

Jay and his crew got the roof on in the mud today. Just shy of 1/4 acre under a roof.

 

[Farmall450]

Those are rookie numbers, you need to pump those numbers up!

JK, the shed is looking good!

 

[jblnut]

Those are rookie numbers, you need to pump those numbers up!

JK, the shed is looking good!

Oh I'm working it on !!

I think last I added up SQ/FT's around here I was just under 1.5 acres under roofs with most of that being stuff that was built in the last 4.5yrs. Once that shop goes up that should push me over the 1.5 acre mark. I'd have to build another barn an probably another machine shed to get to the 2 acre mark. I think Mama Bear would kick me out if that happened before a new house gets built out here

 

[Farmall450]

Eh, you'll be able to live in the shop.

 

[jblnut]

Eh, you'll be able to live in the shop.

I still think we should all live in the shop

 

[jblnut]

Last night Mr. Leo "helped" with the FreeNAS server. I walked away for literally one minute to get something and I come back and he's sitting in it. At least he's not on the other side

I still need the HBA cards before I can fire it up but they're suppose to be here today so maybe tonight it will run

Saturday Dad and I went to an auction that had a few used cattle tubs that we tried to buy. They all sold within 10% of new price so I purchased a new one. This is the final piece in my cattle working area and will save us SOOOOO much time and make things much safer while working the cattle !!!

I decided it was time to service the mowers. This engine hoist keeps coming in handy. T'was a worthwhile purchase.

I thought I'd share my fancy "convert-a-vise-into-a-lawnmower-blade-sharping-device". Simple and it works great. It's just a 1/2" bolt clamped in the vise with the blade tightened onto it.

Hustler is done, LX176 is next !!!

RAWR !! The monster Kawi powerplant is showing, keep your ******* on !!

This ol' girl saw TONS of use last summer and the oil reflects it. Gross !!

 

[cvairwerks]

Looks more like molasses...

 

[red]

I thought I'd share my fancy "convert-a-vise-into-a-lawnmower-blade-sharping-device". Simple and it works great. It's just a 1/2" bolt clamped in the vise with the blade tightened onto it.

Great idea, hope ya don't mind if I steal it.

Loved the solution for grumpy coworkers . . .
wish I knew about it back when I was still working. It would have come in handy on several occasions.

Happy Easter to you & your family

 

[rixtrix1]

Jay and his crew got the roof on in the mud today. Just shy of 1/4 acre under a roof.

Wow, my lot is 1 sq ft over a 1/4 acre. Would LOVE to have it all enclosed, LOL.

 

[jblnut]

Looks more like molasses...

I may change it mid-season ... or probably not. After all, the oil still ran out and didn't have to be scraped out so it's fine

Great idea, hope ya don't mind if I steal it.

Loved the solution for grumpy coworkers . . .
wish I knew about it back when I was still working. It would have come in handy on several occasions.

Happy Easter to you & your family

It works well for me and I hope it works well for you as well !!

Happy Easter to you and yours as well !! We're going to do the holiday shuffle and go to church, then hit up the in-laws, then go to my parents all the while juggling kids and chores and making sure we bring the right food to each place and arghhhhhahrhg.

Wow, my lot is 1 sq ft over a 1/4 acre. Would LOVE to have it all enclosed, LOL.

"For Sale 1/4 acre lot. Roof over everything" It's sell in a hurry !!!

 

[jblnut]

Where do farmers gather on Saturdays ?? Why a local auction of course !!!


We went to look at and try to buy this here John Deere 5510. The little 884 has it's shorts full in the chicken barn and this one is 4wd which will help TREMENDOUSLY so we though we'd go look as see if we couldn't buy it. Dad and I gave it a closeish look-over and deemed it worthy of purchase. It appeared to have a few fuel leaks and one minor oil leak but it's nothing we can't fix.


After a bit of fun I ended up buying the tractor. We all had a good day at the auction. My Father In Law purchased a Deere 4255, my Brother In Law purchased a Deere 6300 w/loader, another Brother In Law purchased a Kubota M120 and my wife's uncle purchased a Deere 3020. The auction was only 20ish miles away from home so I drove it home.


Totally switching gears ..... My pair of Dell HBA cards arrived today so hopefully I can get them installed and get the FreeNAS server running tonight !!