The Useful Duck!

Thursday, February 12, 2026

I am now the molasses king! Maybe not "king," but maybe, "Vice Chancellor," or "Deputy Assistant Director to the Molasses Division sub head"

I am a sucker for a deal. I suspect this is a farmer thing.

I bought six 275 gallon totes of molasses. I will never need molasses again...

I found the add on FB marketplace. 275 gallon molasses totes for $150. Plain old blackstrap is like $500 a ton at the local feed store and at 13lbs per gallon these suckers must weigh 3000lbs! 

So I talked my nephew into driving me 85 miles to buy a couple totes.

The place selling the molasses was a distillery warehouse that was closing and they had more totes, plus huckleberry syrup which I suspect would make interesting "hay preservative."

That weekend I thought I had a sale for one tote at $350 so I went back that Monday and bought four more. Almost bought six but I remembered hauling the G1000 Vista with the old GMC roll back and that was 10,000lbs. Four totes was 12,000lbs and six would have put me at 18,000 which I feel is totally fine as a farmer but it was 85 miles home.

That was in January and after getting home and wondering what to do with six totes of molasses and then my one sale fell through so I was of course full of frustration and self doubt. Which is not unusual anyway,

I thought I would wait to sell molasses till after January as my plan was to sell 5 gallon buckets for $20 and I thought the buckets would fill faster in February.

Feed sales had completely stopped and in true Farmer Optimistic Fashion, I figured no one will ever buy from me again.

So last weekend up put up a couple ads for Corn/Oats/Barley/Peas and Oat/Alfalfa pellets. I also put up the molasses advertisment.

My message box suddenly filled up. 

I am selling feed and molasses like there is no tomorrow! Meaning, three people want 1000lb bags but have not actually picked them up, and I sold 30 buckets of molasses.

Now this is funny...

Not a buck is going for animal feed. People are a bit cagey about what they are doing but... During half time Sunday I got a local sale of 5 gallons to a guy making rum in his garage. Yesterday, I sold ten to a home brewer, two to a local lady for her pancakes, (10 gallons for pancakes...) and 20 to a couple didn't really say but were so impressed by the price that I suspect it is going for food grade.

I have had that question a lot. Is it food grade? Well it was in the tote but those buckets are certainly not...

I finally read the tag. It is sweet, unsulfered, food grade molasses and each tote probably sold for $3,000 each...

I will sell you totes for $1,499,99 if you mention you saw the offer on TheLazyFarmerBlog...

What a deal.

Might even throw in an unlabeled bottle of Vodka, but how I hypothetically ended up with four cases of four cases of unlabeled bottles of Vodka is a story I swore not to tell. Some what ironic as I don't drink Vodka but... $20 is $20!





I am used to Blackstrap from the feed store. Nasty stuff that I don't see how cows like it. I tried a taste of this and it was sweet! Like pancake syrup. I filled a jar for my wife to make cookies. This jar will probably last us for five years... And I have 1,200 gallons!


Pouring into buckets is an issue. It pours faster on a sunny afternoon but still slow enough that I wander off and forget 


Thursday, January 29, 2026

More about rebuilding the gearbox on New Holland 358 mixer-grinder

For some strange reason I did not publish my post about rebuilding the gearbox on my New Holland 358. It was pretty straight forward rebuild as I did have a New Holland Service manual.

There were two difficult parts. Assembling and setting the preload on the input shaft bearings was a pain. Hint- don't bend the cotter pin over the end of the shaft... Removing the drive block was a bugger.

To set up the input shaft bearings you have to install the bearing race on the input end of the shaft first. Make sure you put the cup in the correct way because you are going to next install the race, then a spacer, then the second race, then the second cup. You line this all up perfectly and set the preload like you do a wheel bearing, but don't install the cotter pin. Because then it all slides into the gearbox and you have to remove the nut and install the bevel gear, recheck the preload but don't bend the cotter pin over the end of the shaft because when you adjust the backlash on the big pinion gear, the cotter pin will hit the gear or the funny little oil splasher thing that I have no idea if I installed correctly. The gear clearance is set by sliding that bearing/spacer assembly in the gear case and then locked in with a set screw. Seems a bit on the hokey side but what do I know? It was so far out of adjustment when I took it apart I suspect it is a problem area.

The input shaft pinion clearance is set by knocking the bearing assembly into the case until you have correct backlash between small and big pinion. Then you tighten the set screw on top. This may or may not work...

The drive block was rust welded to the output shaft. I heated it red hot and let it cool about five times. I applied ATF and acetone, finally I used some 100 year old Kroil  that I got from MuddyValley and let that soak over night. Next morning it had penetrated the splines. I put it in the press and the shaft popped out.


If you look closely you can see a faint red glow. It took a few heat cycles and every type of penetrating oil on the farm to break it loose. Also, a big press. Kroil actually soaked all the way down the splines.



I thought the seal kit meant it came with a seal. It is just a $150 shield. I used it instead of returning it as the enter hole was actually smaller on the new part. Plus it was shiny.



You can see the shield in place. It protect the seal on the output shaft.



It held up for 1800lbs of oat/alfalfa pellets of which most are sold so I consider this repair a success

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

I am back in the feed grinding business! The New Holland 358 is back together and has to come apart again...

When I was a kid, our Moline M670 Super was a new tractor. 1967 was not that long ago. It is a little hard to realize that my 1980's New Holland 358 Mixer-Grinder can't be that old. I mean didn't Sperry-Rand just sell New Holland to Ford? Or was it Fiat? All these recent changes in farm equipment manufacture ownership has got me mixed up. If only New Idea still owned White.

But, I digress...

I have the 358 back together. 

If you can. remember about ten days ago I pulled the gearbox apart as it started running just a little bit hot. Click here to timetravel to this event. I also talked about the process in this post. I was rebuilding the gearbox then.

Portrait of the Artist as an Old man..

Of course I have to take it apart again. 

After I make a ton of feed. I actually have an order for oat/alfalfa pellets. 

The coupler between the driveline and gearbox is split through the set screw hole. Did not see that until I was installing the gearbox. 

I wish I would have seen this was cracked ten days ago when I was ordering parts. But! another order from ABC Groff  might get me another refrigerator magnet and a Pen! I wonder how much I have to buy to get a hat? Oh man, a nice winter baseball hat. I do need one of those.


Gearbox installation is actually very straight forward. You lift the gearbox up with a floor jack, turn it 90 degrees to clear the frame, turn it back, install the four nuts holding it on. Don't forget the one bolt has a shim, and knock the coupler back on the shaft till the drive sprocket aligns for the unloading auger. Tighten the set screw till the collar splits and then back off half a turn to close the gap. I figure the locktite will hold it for a while.


The gearbox was not hard to install. You do need to block the mixing auger so it is centered. It is not real hard to move around from underneath but its all a bit awkward on your back on the gravel. I filled the gearbox and plugged the fill hole before installation. There is a filler pipe that you install later.


It is New Holland Part Number 714700
It looks like I got their last one! Here is their info. Seems like a good place to do business with. 

Monday, January 26, 2026

Political rant, just ignore this one...

My brother got me a new hat for Christmas. Should I affect a gravel voice and start a podcast where I talk about how much i love cows and rant about big farmers harshing my mellow?


Liberals are now pro second amendment. Also, White Liberals just invented getting shot by the Police.

They are having a field day with this, as they can now make Kyle Rittenhouse memes and use the general annoying white liberal smug moral superior smile and claim irony. I am sure they will work the terms "gaslighting," and "narcissism," into the mix and hopefully someone will get to use the term "dog whistle," but not in the phrase, "I wish the lady in pink would shove her dog whistle up her arse..."

I attempted to get a good discussion out of my Black Liberal friend but he went into debate mode and started ranting about things like, did the man say he wanted to kill cops? Or, show me the exact stories of other people shot by cops for doing the same thing, and then it degenerated into a White people are evil speech. Not very useful.

I wasn't trying to exactly argue because it falls into the realm of what to do when rules don't match reality. 

The dude that got shot, brought a gun to a place where he came into physical contact with Federal officers. Its one of those things that you learn not to do from watching cop videos on youtube, conceal carry class, your relatives who got beat up by Cops, people you know who were hassled for concealed carry, ordinary folks who had a gun in their car and got stopped.  I there are examples online but I honestly don't know a lot of people who were foolish enough to conceal carry at a potentially violent protest.

So that is one thing. 

Second Amendment people have been complaining about people being shot by cops for years and no sympathy from the lefties. I now see some libertarian groups questioning the shooting but most of us "crazy right wingers," are still in the "well, the shoe is on the other foot now," stage.

Secondly, there were things the cops/feds could not know and so they made assumptions. Is this logical, well no, but would you do it, well yes... The whole, Was he legally carrying? Was he a nurse? Was he a wonderful person in real life? or Had he threatened to kill ICE agents, was he an activist? Was he going to use the gun to commit mass murder? Was he just afraid of being mugged?

They just go by their training. Good or bad.

Other questions that are being used to spin the event,  Was he helping a lady who fell down/pushed down? Was he a kind medical professional just trying to help or was he interfering with an arrest? Did he try to draw or did he have the continual "phone out recording," thing going on.

Personally, I think it was pretty obvious he was deeply involved in anti ICE protests and had that gun with him because he thought he was a Freedom fighter and had truth and justice behind him. It was one of those vanity guns that people buy cause they do a lot of research and want to be tactical so its like he brought his freaking "Sword of Avalon." He just never had the balls to pull it out and use it. But that is just me. Not passing judgement as if he truly believed the Feds were evil bastards torturing kind and generous families then who am I to pass judgement on a true believer.

Personally, I think the Cops/Feds freaked out like they always do, (and are trained to do) at the cry of "Gun," and backed up and shot him. Maybe the Fed who pulled the gun out of his waistband, (seriously, he had it stuffed in his pants?) dropped it or pulled the trigger and the gun went off. I don't know that but you could hear the first shot and then they all back up and unload on him, as per cop training.

Also, the anti ICE people with the support of the governor of Minnesota were calling for armed resistance. There were pictures of "residents," protecting their neighborhoods with rifles. You really think the ICE agents were even thinking about 2A rights when they saw it on a guy who was in their zone of defense? (or aggression, if you are a lib)

Obviously this event will be/has been talked to death. People are going to do the serious debate thing and argue over the definition of "is," and miss the serious discussion points of this event.

I hate to see the deep entrenchment of opposing ideology. I find myself wishing the cops would have also shot the screaming harpies. The shite-eating grin on that ladies face just before she hit the gas kind of made me happy she got shot. I really shouldn't feel that way. I hate to see people being really happy for the over aggressive tactic of Federal agents because they would do the same thing to me if/when I have a cause I feel serious enough about that I would go toe to toe with the strong arm of the gubment...

The reason that really got me to this rant was that Art got me going down a rabbit hole when he brought up Biden's Immigration plan a couple days ago.

Upon research, (ok, I asked CoPilot) I discovered that what my former coworker said about Obama was true.

Obama has deported more illegals than Trump. This includes Trump's first term. But of course the only people angry about that were the Mexicans he deported and their cousins who imported them.

The difference between Trump and Obama is two fold. First, the immigration problem under Bush was single men of working age. Obama deported them at the border, or after identification checks, or as soon as they committed a crime and were caught. 

Secondly Obama kept a low profile. (also he didn't have a well funded and well organized "I hate Obama," group of deranged elderly women) 

Trump campaigned on deporting gangs and criminals. He has been high profile. He brags about it. This is one of the reasons he got support from Hispanics. They assumed he would go after the criminals came along with the unrestricted illegal immigrations policies of Biden's handlers.

Also, the profile of illegals has changed. Under Biden, many families were bought in and were settled basically as refugees but with somewhat questionable status. Their applications are pending or they were brought in by NGO groups and were quasi legal. Trump campaigned on deporting gangs but this proved to be pretty messy. Many of these felons were hard to find and some had families. In the push to fill quotas ICE agents would just detain everyone who fit a profile and make them prove legal status. Not a good plan.

This fell directly into the "made for press," scenarios the well funded and well organized anti-Trump fanatics were looking for. With a sympathetic press and an activist educational establishment suddenly we have a "humanitarian crisis," and ready made network of protestors.

My personal opinion that this will not end well for us, just leave us alone , types. Judging from what happened in other Socialist inspired revolutions there will be a severe liberal backlash and they will go for anyone remotely connected to trump or conservative religion, gun rights, individual property rights, the usual targets of the left. They are all insane with righteous indignation and religious zeal so it will go bad fast. (See NY and Virginia)

The people who don't get involved, the "Sims," the "NPCs" will vote for liberal lunatics or not vote at all because they are not that smart. They respond to emotions and perceptions. If the economy fails to improve they will vote opposition. If Trump fails to maintain the perception that there is order in society, they will vote opposition. On the contrary, Trump might tell a heckler to fuck off again and get a huge spike from the "disgruntled males in general," and there will be a huge spike again in Black and Hispanic votes. If the economy booms and interest rates go down then Trump aligned politicians will benefit. It has nothing to do with truth or justice.

The problem with NPC voters or bland christian voters is they all of a sudden decide Trump in a meanie and so all conservatives are hypocrites and well darnit, "I will just throw the baby out with the bathwater!" (True story) Then we get the results seen in the Virginia election...

To sum it up.

Things are going wrong and I don't see a good ending... Probably better having a reckoning now than later. At least we don't have Kamala and Waltz, yet...

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Grandpa Champ says you should alway switch off Appliances before working on them but I say, what is the point of paying for a GFI if you don't use it!

Most folks do not understand electricity. When I say "most folks," I am actually saying, "I don't understand electricity, especially 220v)

Did you know that on most electric ranges, the oven heating element is energized at all times. The switch only switches one leg of the 220v line in. So, L1 is always hot and L2 is switched by the oven control.

You may ask me how I know that and I will only answer that now I have amazing super powers and can throw lightning bolts. 

But the oven works and now my wife can make more cinnamon rolls...


Look at that! A working oven element. I fixed something. The first thing I have successfully repaired this year.








Friday, January 23, 2026

I go slightly off the rails and explain Immigration Policy to you Racist Colonizer arseholes! Nothing about feed grinders in this post!

When I worked at the University I would occasionally have coffee with the President. It was nice and made me feel more important than I was. 

Actually, I would drive my little cart over to his office and take him to a baseball game or once in a while we would go to the real Starbucks in the Albertson's parking lot. This probably didn't make me popular with management but I am pretty much clueless most of the time and I thought it was all in good fun.

He would ask me my view on topics he thought grumpy conservative farmers would have opinions on, and I didn't take offense at the time. Sometimes I would try and divert the conversation as I figured it would start to go wrong.

When he asked me how I felt about "Replacement Theory," I made a joke about aliens inhabiting human bodies or something similar because I knew where that conversation was going.

I was right...

Now to admit my bias. 

This is a topic which adds to my view of liberalism as a kind and benevolent ideology in which we debate for the sake of positive social change.

Conservatives, perhaps I should say, "right wing crazies," started been noticing an influx of brown people for years. It was not that much of an issue as most of those people were coming from next door and were hardworking people we could identify with.

There were the occasional "They took our Jobs," angry protests usually ginned up by opportunist and mean politicians who were using "hate," to divide people and get elected so they could oppress women and minorities.

But as time went on it two things started to appear as trends to many people who were generally clueless about politics and just wanted to be left alone.

First was the widespread illegal immigration, which seemed to go hand in hand with drug smuggling, or at least that is what the local barely legal folk seemed to be terrified of. 

Also, there seemed to be a priority for resettlement of refugees that were people of color but people of color whose beliefs were easily radicalized and if so, essentially incompatible with traditional American Values. These people were being resettled in places where they could form voting blocs and where they did not have to assimilate into local culture.

At the same time... It became harder and harder to legally immigrate legally if you were White. Especially if you were from a place hated by the libs. Like South Africa. 

For the casual observer it was not that much of a stretch to think that the point was to make up for our declining birthrate by importing nonwhite, nonChristian people. 

Here is the punchline... Essentially REPLACING white people with people of Color... 

Of course this is racist because it implies that someone is doing this on purpose. Everyone knows this is just a random correlation because White people exist to oppress Brown people and so Brown people need to move to places where they can have a better life.

This racist frustration by people who probably have Southern Accents and have guns must be codified and labeled so the Southern Poverty Law Center can track them. Thus, the term "Replacement Theory," was developed to label those bastards as the racist hateful people they are.

Now I went to college and I used to hang out with Ed-u-cated people and I know that we just want to make the world a better place and so putting a priority on people who are not part of what we perceive as the dominant culture/religion/ethnicity and therefore don't have what we call PRIVILEGE is only fair and just. 

This is not "REPLACEMENT THEORY," this is Diversity and Inclusion and is driven by high mindedness, kindness, compassion, and the desire to make the world a better place! (white guilt is a good thing. We should all have it because we are Evil Bastards)

In fact, when the liberal elites in our taxpayer subsidized Educational/Industrial complex talk about how great it will be when we have removed the "old white men," from power and have broken the White European Colonialist stranglehold on this country, they are NOT talking about Replacing White people with everyone else (preferably those who hate White Folks), they are talking about making the world a FAIR and Equitable place.

In conclusion, for all you racist arseholes who read this blog (5), 

Replacement theory=RACISM!!!! 

Making the world a more equitable place by promoting Diversity and Inclusion by promoting People Of Color and giving them money to start daycare services and Quality Learing Centers is just making the World a more fair and Just place. Cause Love=Love! Also, you can't hug a kid with Nuclear Arms! (Unless you are Steve Austin) Save the Whales! Also, MORE BICYCLES!!!

OBVIOUSLY!!!

Saturday, January 17, 2026

A good COB mix that I turned into chicken feed and I try to find parts for my New Holland 358 mixer-grinder

It appears that the low commodity prices have finally filtered down to the local feed sales. I have made one sale in the last three weeks. That was the batch that killed the mixer grinder.

It ended up being 4600lbs due to a failure to shut off a bag when loading barley. Instead of 800lbs I put in 1400lbs and had to recalculate everything.

This is a Corn, Oats, Barley mix that I fortified with peas, clover seed, and alfalfa to hit 14.5% protein. I also added 8 gallon of molasses.

I forgot I had an order for chicken feed so turned some of it into chicken feed by adding red peppers, garlic, and Oregano, and I added peas and clover to boost protein. I had to re-pellet it to add the extras and put it into 45lb bags. I did 30 bags so I have extra to sell.



The mixer-grinder project is getting expensive. The gearbox was in pretty bad shape. I had to order new input and output shafts. I am have a lot of trouble getting the drive hub off the shaft. I got it red hot and let it cool and then applied ATF and Acetone mixture. The mixture penetrated the splines and leaked all the way through but the hub won't budge.

I repeated the heat process and letting it cool over night. I will apply another done of ATF/Acetone tomorrow.

The slightly glowing part is the drive hub for the 358 New Holland Mixer-Grinder. There is an update but the kit is no longer available. I am in the heat-cool-reheat stage. Monday I will try the press.


ABC Groff is a company in Pennsylvania that makes new parts for the mixer-grinder. They were quite helpful. And Cheaper the New Holland.
Another excellent reference/supplier is Walt's Tractor Company. They sell complete use gearboxes and would have been cheaper than buying the parts. But, they were out.


This is the old input shaft. The splines are usable but the seal surface was worn past putting a sleeve on it.

I have a book so I have some point of reference. The first thing to do when buying a used piece of farm equipment is go on Ebay and buy a service manual








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