As the summer winds down

I feel the end of the summer is here. Today is August 31, and it feels like fall. We are already getting mice moving into farm equipment.

The Nephews have been busy. The harvest was early and went fast. They have a friend staying with them and he likes to drive tractor. We have most of the farming already finished.

I am a little worried as being caught up generally means not enough fall income.

I only did a couple semi-loads of straw. 

But, I digress...

The Nephews have been fixing tractors. They got the G1355 running and we split it and repaired the three-speed. (It was mostly them, I did some of it)

There were some issues, but it does run. Used it on the double rake. The a/c even works.

The G1355 steers so much better than the 2 wheel drive White tractors. Does leak a little oil. But, it was ok.

For some reason when I write a caption under the photos it makes a google link. I don't want to redo the blog. 

The second picture with smoke was a disappointment. I had put the G1355 on the baler. I baled three bales and there was a pop and a cloud of smoke and the engine stops. The main cab power wire somehow got under the clutch lever along with the wire harness for the lights. 

I ended up removing the cab floor which revealed a major hydraulic leak. I had to switch tractors. I am going to need to remove the fuel tank to get to the lights and turn signals. Probably a winter job.

The G1355 was my first big tractor with a cab and a/c. My daughter and I spent many hours in the tractor chopping silage, working ground, baling, and planting. I found a remaining sticker and it kind of makes me sad.

We also accumulated a White 2-150. My nephew rebuilt the injector pump so we could find out what was wrong with it. It has good hydraulics, the PTO works, the three-speed shifts, AND the engine has a pretty loud knock. This is basically the same tractor as the G1355. It has the Minneapolis-Moline 585 cubic inch engine which is infamous for the con rod going out through the block.

I really have no idea what to plant this fall. I suppose it will be annual ryegrass. There is really no crop that will make money.

Midsummer baling and things that sap my energy

 This was a bad week. I have been trying to bale a small area of test plots. I need to put them in two tie bales.  It has been problematic. 

First it rained, which put us behind a couple days. Then I discovered a bearing out on the double rake. There were no parts in stock and it is a metric bearing which cross references to a standard bearing which is 1 mm bigger. 

Then I go to the field and I found another bearing out. Not sure how I missed that. I hosed it down with chain lube and it stopped getting hot. I also picked up another fire extinguisher.

The field is made up of a lot of small test plots. The test plots are separated by bare dirt. I need to get all the straw off of the bare dirt.  This requires a separate adjustment on the rake. Hitting the ground with the rake tines tends to break tines and ruin bearings.

Then I raked the rows too heavy. The BC5070 does not like to make 16 stroke bales. I should have brought over the White 2-60 but lately I have just not had the mental energy it takes to do it right. I am using the White 2-135 and have to unhook and hook between the rake and baler.

The Tachometer in the Digital Dash has quit on the 2-135. Probably a simple wire. Or not. I can tell when it is 92 strokes per minute. Or maybe it was 102. Nothing broke. Lots of crappy bales but I stuffed them in the stacker and brought them home.

Last weekend I attempted to ride motorcycles with my nephews. By the time I figured out how to ride again, I broke the bike. The nut and washer came off the countershaft. I looked them up on eBay. A little hard to find as they are special. However, I walked back along my path and I found them. Of course they are now setting in the ash tray of my pickup. Where they will stay for the next five years...

My daughter moved out Friday. This was dramatic and stupid. She is going into a cycle where I suspected something was up. Similar events happened a year ago. She went to live with her Aunt and Uncle. Much frustration could have been avoided if her aunt would have communicated with my wife. Fucking boomer hippies with their missionary complex. I called up the Uncle and provided needed information.

While it was a bad idea to move for three specific reasons. I really wish I could have negotiated things down to where she would be back in two months or so. She really had a good setup here and I really needed her help.

I had been working her back into my farm operations. I was getting her to run the rake and building small successes.  

Eight years working at that fucking university and my daughter comes back from one of the last "Conservative" colleges in the Northwest in worse shape then when I dropped her off.

Keep your children away from iPhones, the internet, Democrat relatives, and Liberal Arts Universities... Also, I am pretty sure weed is bad for you...

Rain and straw baling and a fire

We had a rain shower Sunday. It was not enough to do anything but put me behind in baling straw. Just enough also to lower the quality. I am now probably a week behind what I promised the farmers.

The weather has been super dry and we have had lots of 80 and 90 degree F days.

Thursday should have been our last day of combining annual ryegrass but we caught the field on fire. The combine was unharmed. Of course it was insured. 

The fire was not serious but putting it out caused problems. The field was planted to Orchardgrass last fall. It came up to oats and annual ryegrass. The plan was to either do hay or silage early to pay for planting the orchardgrass as it wouldn't grow enough for a crop this year.

However, no one wanted silage and we had too much hay, so we decided to just combine the annual ryegrass. This was a little hard on the Orchard Grass. 

So was putting out the annual ryegrass fire with a disk...

My nephew was first on the scene. He saw it from the house. He got on the disk before the combine operator knew there was a fire at the other end of the field. Several neighbors showed up with water trucks also. I had my gator sprayer converted to a fire truck. However, as soon as I opened the fire nozzle it broke in half. Cheap Chinese Shite. 60 gallons goes pretty fast out of a 2" hose, but does a lot with fan nozzle.

Fortunately I have friends with access to a whole box of surplus fire nozzles and I was set up in time for putting out hot spots from the second fire.

We got the fire out and soaked down the field. Or so we thought. I went back to recharge my phone and the wind came up. Suddenly the fire was back and twice the size. I got the 2-155 and Steiger covercrop disk going and disked around the fire. It was pretty exciting with the wind. It was a little hard on the field. 

Today I am drying out the annual ryegrass windrows for baling. I got ahead of myself last week. I got my daughter to start raking so I had double windrows everywhere.

I am using the White 2-60 and a pull type fluffer to let air into the windrows. This is going into big bales and the baler guy says he can take 8ft windrows. The fluffer doesn't really move the straw around much so I am hoping I won't have to redo the raking. Plus, I am supposed to be working on another field.

July farm update and Alfalfa

 

It is hotter than the hubs of Hades. Or at least hot for Western Oregon. Temps are in the 90's for the next couple weeks and I am having motivational issues. 

I need to bale 2000 bales of wheat straw. The bales are 14"x18" x 46" I have a New Holland BC5070. It does not like 90 degree weather. I think I will be stuck baling from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. so that I can get weight in the bales. 

The bales are for a feed store and the wheat is some of the best quality I have seen in years. I had to pay the farmer $25 per ton for the straw. I am getting around $110 a ton for the straw (sold by the bale) so that means $85 a ton minus $50 per ton for harvesting costs. I am not sure it is a good deal but it is what I do.

Grass hay sales are crap. We are selling almost half of what we got last year. 

However, Alfalfa sales are good, see further down in the pictures.

Last fall I no-tilled Orchard grass into an Oat field. We got a good rain and had a good sprout of oats and annual ryegrass. We hired the spraying done as our sprayer was broken as usual. The local Co-op sprayed thirty acres with the center boom section plugged so we had some interesting test plots.

The first lesson, which I have learned over and over and over again, is to never no-till until the crop you are planting into is Round-Up Yellow! 

Other observations are that annual ryegrass will suck the water and nutrients and must be managed. If you look a the picture you can see that the areas with rows have broadleaf weed pressure but do not have annual stubble. There are no rows where the annual is thick.

This field looked like it had a decent stand of oats and enough annual to take for hay. The first cutting was good but I rushed it because of rain and baled too wet. We did sell it but it was a mess.

The second cutting looked like it would work, However, the dog fennel came on strong after a late rain and spoiled the hay quality. 

Sometimes the ratio of hydraulic fluid to hay production is a measurable negative quantity. I sprayed these pants with tire soap (because that is what was in my pickup) and my wife actually got them clean. They were almost new.

The only crop that is really selling now is Alfalfa. Western Oregon alfalfa is a challenge. We have heavy dew which bleaches the hay and 90 degree day time temperatures which cook it. 

This year we set the mower narrow. Then used a tedder /fluffer with multiple ground driven wheels. (See past blogs) 

The wheels are set at a very slight angle and you pull it as fast as you can go. This lifts and fluffs the hay but does not turn it. The point is to get the hay off the wet ground (we irrigate heavily) so that air can circulate. 

I just let it set for six days and on day seven I set the double rake to put two windrows side by side. I started at 7 a.m. while the hay was still damp. 

The idea was to rake both windrows together on day eight, but by 11 a.m. the hay was down to 16 percent and I started baling. 

Since Alfalfa is the only crop actually selling right now, we decided to fertilize. Our fertilizer choices were highly influence by what was leftover from spring planting. (My brother also got professional advice)

The suggested rate was 4 gallons of 32 solution per acre.  

We were a little tight on the 32 but had more 10-34 so I did 3 gallons of 32 and 2 gallons of 10-34.

We still don't have a real reliable sprayer setup so I decided to use the Gator-sprayer at ten gallons per acre so I added 5 gallons of water. One tank would do 5 acres. 

This was not the best idea I have ever had. It took a while... For some reason the rate controller decided not to open up for ten gallons at 8 mph so I dropped to 8 gallons per acre and 8 mph. I suspect there will be interesting patterns.

The never ending hay season, fireworks, making repairs

The fourth of July was my goal to finish up with hay this summer.  We now have more unsold mediocre quality hay then I have made in 20 years. It is a little depressing.

I picked up the last of the second cutting annual ryegrass, oats, orchard grass, dog fennel hay yesterday. I thought I could tell which was good and which was mostly dog fennel but it all looked the same to me. I would pick up a nice annual bale and the see a big flake of green dog fennel. Apparently, it has beneficial uses, but there is not much demand for 140lb bales of the crap.

The fourth of July was eventful. We were invited to two picnics. My neighbor is making a bit of a new start in life and decided to celebrate his freedom with a $1000 package of fireworks. I was able to convincing him into saving half for New Years as I figured that it was going to take three or four hours to launch the whole extravaganza.

I had a few really large mortars left from last year so we made a bit of a display. I nailed six launchers to a 2"x12" board and tied the fuzes together. We did salvos. His were less powerful but much more colorful so I set of five of his and one of my giants and it made a nice display. No one called the cops or posted angry comments on facebook so I guess it was all good.

There were young folks around to cheer so it was not weird that two old dudes were lighting fuses and running away, laughing like maniacs.

The field was surprisingly dry so we all got to run around and stomp out embers. Fortunately, I had the Gator Sprayer and a adjustable fire nozzle. 

I have been putting in the hours making hay, but there were several major failures that had me waiting on parts. There was a certain level of stress as I really don't like to leave hay in the field overnight, let alone a week.

I have been trying to get my motorcycles running so I can either ride or sell. Changed the oil in the Honda Ascot and put in a new battery. Trying to fix the oil leaks. The Triumph  started on the first kick.

(I gave her a good tickle first.)

Honda was harder to start. Required a new battery.

Farm living is the life for me

 

We are reimagining the chicken living situation. This involves moving various things that have evolved into locations over the past couple decades. Random storage options have long term frustration effects.

It is now time to cut hay. The New Holland 1085 Stacker decided have a brake failure at the start of hay season. I have no idea how to fix it. 

I brought the stacker home from storage. The brakes worked reasonably well. I parked it in front of the shop and set the parking brake. 

After completing the yearly service I decided to go stack. The parking brake did not want to release. It is a hydraulic valve set up which releases a spring loaded wedge brake. The lever went hard. But it released. I backed up the stacker, right into the newly running 1966 F250. But since I had forgotten to lower the load rack when I hit the brakes and nothing happened it only popped the front tire.

I needed to pick up bales so I went and stacked. Dumping was a little dicy but brakes are kind of for sissies anyhow.

We have had a bit of rain so I decided to bleed the brakes. This was not the problem. In fact, if I bleed the brakes with the engine off and get the brakes to work with no power, when I start the engine the pedal goes solid and there are no brakes at all

I have replaced the master cylinder. Fixed the electric power booster, adjusted the main hydraulic pump to provide 2100lbs at the power steering gearbox and now have 250lbs at the brake booster (a little high) and still have no brakes. 

Not sure who to call for advice. Perhaps I don't really need brakes...

The old brake light switch was solid brass and lasted for 35 years. This new one is not quite the same quality.

We bought I new old truck bed at an auction. My nephew most likely will get it installed before too long.

I hate working on brakes. I hate being covered in hydraulic oil, brake oil, and dirt. And I hate not being able to think properly.

Did a little road grading and hook a culvert. When the Uncle was alive and owned this grader blade we forbidden to put it on anything bigger than 45hp for fear it would bend. I have been using it on 180hp front wheel assist. But grade in gear three at an idle. I hooked a culvert. It bent the cylinder.

Next week it is going to hit 90 and we are cutting hay with or without brakes.

I wish the teff would come up.

Have a happy day!

Every day in every way it is getting better and better

Today is the fifth of May. 

It feels like the fifth of June.

I feel like driving into Dad's Market for a fifth of something brewed by a Baptist preacher in Kentucky.

My facebook suggested a then vs now picture. Back in 2016 I was planting Barley in this kind of weather. It actually sort of worked.

Because it rained.

Yesterday I no-tilled oats into spots in the annual ryegrass field that drowned out last winter. We were not able to get enough more oat acres to redo the whole field so I planted the worst spots. But the whole field needed to come out.

The annual is only about six inches tall due to being under water all winter. If it would have rained last week as predicted, it would have looked completely different.

We cut alfalfa yesterday. It is going to rain next week. Or not...

We have like a hundred acres of crappy hay to do. Since it is not growing we might as well start now.

Predicted prices on everything are crap anyway.

I do not always drive straight after dark

Just driving around the field and filling in blank spaces

I wish I could get a good country western station on the radio. AM Country is even dead nowadays

A least I don't work for those idiots at the University. Which brings up the one funny spot in the week. 

I started getting texts from former coworkers wondering what happened to a guy in Utilities who suddenly disappeared from work. Since I was just driving around in the tractor and needed a laugh I inquired.

There are different stories but...

The University always goes into panic mode when they get the enrollment stats for next year. They are having problems attracting students and the ones they get tend to go on academic probation, then disappear over break.  Of course the Uni is incapable of tracking and supporting marginal students because they think they are the freaking Brown University of Cosine Creek and don't need to do no stinking student support... 

But, I digress.

My friend, who is the guy who fixes your refrigerator, dishwasher, various handyman tasks, came back from the town hall meeting where they were told jobs and departments would be cut, and thought he would have a little fun.

So he put a LU coffee mug on a local Facebook auction site with a caption to the effect of buy this cheap as when the school goes broke it will be collectable.

They were not amused.

Since he is a favorite of the department head he was supposedly given the retirement buyout which is four months pay. 

I was laughing about this with a neighbor who is Alumni and whose student daughter is essentially running her workstudy department. He had a lot of pretty good stories as well. We had a good laugh.

Then the former president called me. This was bit of a shock. I thought he wanted to talk about the school but we just talked about life and God and how once a Baptist, always a Baptist. He is producing Jazz concerts in the Caribbean and living the good life. Life goes on...