Life on the Farm

[Deerhunter21]

Im enjoying this thread BJ! thanks for posting 

[Stoker]

Interesting thread Bj. I get to play farmer every once and while on my son-in-law's family farm. Mostly helping putting grain in the bins. The boys know what is up in the fields. Used to help pick rocks in the old days, till technology put me out of business with that new fangled rock picker. Greatest invention ever
Thanks for taking us along for the ride
Leroy

[bjrogg]

Thanks Russell. I’m glad you are enjoying it.

Thanks Stoker. We have extended family that we very much appreciate help from every fall. It takes a lot more warm bodies than just my brother, nephew and I come beet harvest.

I did a lot of rock picking, hoeing weedy Sugar beets, baling hay and straw, milking cows and pitching manure. Along with a bunch of other glamorous jobs. Often wonder how so many from my generation grew up loving the farm and doing whatever they could to stay on it. Yet now with many of those glamorous jobs no longer required or at least made simpler, many of our youth are leaving the farm. It’s still a tough, but rewarding job.

I’m sorry I haven’t updated thread much this week. It’s been a busy one even if it doesn’t seem like I got much done. Between doctors, a funeral, snow storm, agronomy meeting, and Biosolids I can’t believe it’s already Sunday.

I did very little on our planter. Still waiting for one more wiring harness to hook everything up to the tractor. Hopefully it comes this week.

We had some nasty weather, but really it wasn’t as bad as predicted. Was actually really pretty until the wind picked up. Then most of the snow in my field ended up in big snow banks in my yard.

I got tractor switched on Biosolids spreader but it wouldn’t work. I had to replumb  hydraulics and return oil to a different spot on the tractor. Got that done and everything was working good. Got snow cleaned out of my yard and two truck loads delivered and dumped. I was hoping to quick spread them, but on the first spreader load I broke the apron chain. Fortunately I was able to get the spreader empty. I took it the 9 miles back to the shop and my nephew and I went right to work removing the broken section of chain and replacing it with new. It’s not a fun job, but we got it done in record time.
I took spreader back to my farm and started spreading the Biosolids. It actually went really good. The wind had blown all but a couple inches of snow off the field and now it died down to calm. Perfect for my job. I spread all but one spreader load yesterday. Could have finished, but went to 7:00 mass. Should be able to finish the last spreader load pretty quick if I don’t have any other problems. It won’t be today though.

I haven’t had time for any projects. All my overtime has been work related this week. Maybe today. I don’t have anything planned so far and it really feels good that way.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Snow before the wind

Bunny tracks in my barn.

Just a little snow really helps see how your spreader pattern is.

Bjrogg

[chamookman]

Got a bit more Snow here just West of Flint - bout 12" on the flat, finnaly got plowed out day before yesterday. Helped Wirwicki with a tractor mounted Snow Blower in His shop today. Like the posts for sure. Bob

[bjrogg]

Yes we were right on the edge of system. We’ve been getting pretty lucky so far this winter. Most of the big snow has stayed south of us. Lots of cold which I don’t mind if it sunny and no wind. I don’t like the wind. Don’t mind moving some snow, but hate when the wind just blows it right back again.

We’re starting to run out of parts we need to finish up our projects. Still have things to do, but really hoping some of the stuff we’re waiting on shows up soon.

Got the Biosolids spread for now. Going to move stuff back to shop. My snowblower tractor has a problem with clutch linkage. Get that in shop to look at to.

Bjrogg

[Buckeye Guy]

Just discovered this
Good Idea BJ

[Marc St Louis]

Yes we were right on the edge of system. We’ve been getting pretty lucky so far this winter. Most of the big snow has stayed south of us. Lots of cold which I don’t mind if it sunny and no wind. I don’t like the wind. Don’t mind moving some snow, but hate when the wind just blows it right back again.

We’re starting to run out of parts we need to finish up our projects. Still have things to do, but really hoping some of the stuff we’re waiting on shows up soon.

Got the Biosolids spread for now. Going to move stuff back to shop. My snowblower tractor has a problem with clutch linkage. Get that in shop to look at to.

Bjrogg

I don't know about down your way but up here if there's not enough snow cover then the ground freezes and if it freezes too deep then that just sets back gardens.  So far this year snow cover has been a bit on the low side.

[bjrogg]

Glad you found it Guy. Good to see you here.

Marc. Around here we say to cold to snow. It always seems like we get more snow when it is on the warm side. When it gets really cold the air gets drier. But the snow we do get stays.

We like it to freeze before we get snow so the fields aren’t mud under the snow. The frost does take some compaction out of the soil to. It can certainly make for a late spring though.

I really like 20-25f. Sunny and no wind.

Bjrogg

[Marc St Louis]

Up here the coldest nights are always on a full moon and it almost never snows on a full moon.  I like winter but we've had many nights in the -30's and that I am not fond of anymore.  Also I have found that a good snow cover actually helps with heating our house

[bjrogg]

Yup that’s a lot colder than we get around here. Normally don’t get much below-14f . Hate when you breath through your nose and it freezes together. The big lake tends to moderate our temperature extremes. In the summer it helps keep it from getting as hot. In the winter it keeps us from getting as cold. It definitely is a big influence on our weather and even more so right along the shoreline. My dads farm where I grew up is four miles from the lake. My farm goes almost up to it. I always have extra clothes. Sometimes it’s hard to believe the difference those couple miles make.

Snow is very good insulator. Especially dry fluffy snow. If we get a foot of snow before freeze up and it doesn’t go away. There will be mud under the snow no matter how cold it gets.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We got loader and my snowblower tractor back to shop yesterday.

Snowblower tractor has broken clutch cable. Had to take access cover off bottom of cab floor to work on it. Took awhile but got old one out. Hopefully they get new one soon. Or at least I don’t need my snowblower.

Also got our new used six row topper home. It was nice that we could buy it pretty local. The lady said she might even come and run it for me if we really got in a bind. Hard finding enough good help that time of year.

Got lights wired on beet digger. Put tank and convoy from four row on six row. It has new chain and the electric hydraulic valves that allow  me to fold elevator, run conveyor to unload the bin and change direction of elevator to fill cart or to fill bin. I can do all of these functions and more using one hydraulic outlet from my tractor with the value. Otherwise it would take more outlets than my tractor has. I need
the rest of my outlets for other functions.

I did hit a piece of obsidian for a while Sunday. Not done, but starting to look like something

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We had two four row beet toppers. The topper removes the beet leaves and places them in between the rows. We don’t harvest them . They just go back into the ground.

Now we need a six row topper and again we got one about scrap price.

We plan on using a lot of parts from our four rows. They have almost new flails and a much better bracket to hold them.

We took them off the topper we bought. They were worn out anyway. And we hate these brackets.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

These are the ones on our four rows.

[bjrogg]

It also got above freezing and we finished washing our combine. We need to keep working on equipment. Can’t just sit and wait for parts.

Also have more Biosolids coming.

Bjrogg