I am afraid they is the heyday of my life or hay day? Farming with the oldies part IX

I tend to operate on the principle of setting potentially catastrophic events into action and then wasting a lot of time in a salvage operation. I think it might be a form of self motivation.

So I cut hay in April. I almost succeeded. Probably succeeded in stunting the alfalfa field for the duration of the season by cutting before first bloom. But, I got rid of the annual ryegrass for one cycle at least.

I have raked and tedded this crap every day for ten days and every day is the same. Overcast in the morning and two hours of sun at 4 p.m.

Yesterday I baled the alfalfa. (I got a whopping yield of 150 bales on 15 acres.)

I raked a few rounds and then baled to see what it looked like. I picked up a moisture tester with a bad battery. The moisture tester in the cab had a bad connection so I did not entirely believe the reading of 14 percent.

So I got my brother to bring me another tester and I raked the rest of the alfalfa. Put four windrows together so I could keep the header full. It seemed to be ok. 

I feel our future is not in farming but in a foundation for the preservation of 1970's farming techniques. People would pay good money to see how their grandparents suffered before the advent of the Corporate Family MegaFarm!

 

I baled another 80 bales of meadow foxtail grass hay. It was pretty heavy but tends to dry quickly.

I have four acres of Timothy and five acres of clover left. It looks like rain but the weather service says no.

Since I have been making chicken feed all winter and not working on equipment it was a quite fun. I was counting on the M670 Super for the baler but I killed the M670 on the pellet mill. I thought I could use the 656 Hydro but when I started it I remember that the hydro is making noise, it doesn't like reverse, and the wheel hits the PTO shield on the baler when I turn.

I hooked up the Minneapolis-Moline G1355. The 1355 has the PTO out of a G955 which drops the PTO/Engine speed setting to 1500 rpm for 540. The tractor is quiet, turns good, and who would have thunk, the AC still was charged and blew cold air. Didn't really need it but it was comforting knowing that if the sun ever came out I was prepared.

Of course the rear window was so dirty I couldn't actually see the baler so I just assume everything worked until I could see the previous row. Small things are important.

 

Minneapolis-Moline G1000 Vista tedding hay, best tractor ever made

 

Making hay in May is a bit sketchy. I am running the tedder to fluff up the windrows and hopefully get it up off the damp ground to dry out. The old G1000 Vista works really well on the tedder. Gets you out of the dust and handles it really well.

The Nephews Buy A truck and I cut hay. Over achievers are we...

The Nephews have been jonesing for a truck since they got their first Tonka Toy.

Finally, through the wonders of online auctioneering and possibly the poor judgement that accompanies that aforementioned anonymous pleasure that is the downfall of so many farmers, they are now the proud owners of a Ford LN9000 crane truck.

The new truck devours my nephew... It was a little tight getting to the battery!

 

Its a beauty!

We went and looked at it before bidding. The batteries were completely dead and the auction yard was unable to start the truck. Without starting it was impossible to lift the hood so you could only kick the tires.

Nephew crawled under the hood and was able to check the oil with was perfectly clean. The auction company claimed it was an 8 spd but it was a Fuller with a blue knob and a red flipper so that means 13 spd. It also had a fifth wheel plate mounted and a frame long enough for a dump bed.

I did look up the vin and other information and discovered that it was a special order heavy truck and most likely had a big cam Cummins 400 and a 9 or 13 speed Fuller. Crane trucks and Low Boy trucks often have lower miles and are on a regular service schedule with a big company and often are good buys. Or so we rationalized. 

We set a price and someone went just a we bit more. As will happen...

So yesterday we went after it. Took a generator and a battery charger and just let it charge for a while. I knew it was going to be a good day when the generator hit the tailgate, knocked the tail gate open, dumped charger and generator onto Highway 18. While there are a few scratches, now the electric start feature works on the generator! I am very happy with that development as I did not spend the extra $50 for the Harbor Freight extended warranty and the electric start failed after one year and three days. Aside from a wee bit of embarrassment, I would classify this a pennies from heaven, but then I am an optimist.

But I digress...

We got it started. Fired right up with minimal smoke and then cleaned up pretty fast. Might have a ticking fan blade. Pretty sure it is not in the engine. After moving the crane out of the way we discovered that the truck had been setting so long the hood hinges had corroded stuck. (Aluminum with steel pins.) 

It is not quite Minneapolis-Moline Energy Yellow. I feel the color will grow on us. The crane is cool, it is a shame to sell it.

 

No turn signals but the brake lights worked. So we drove it home.  

Truck ran great! Blinkers actually worked twice on the way home so I feel more success is in our future. 

Major Bonus! The turn signals may not actually work but deer will not cross in front of this truck. I have always wanted one of these devices but never actually have seen one in the wild

 

After playing with the crane briefly...

I hooked the mower to the Vista and cut hay. Have not run the Vista in 20 years. Nephew fixed the brakes and hydraulic pump issues. I think the mechanic nephew also worked on setting the oil pump pressure last summer.  

We have ten days of warm weather but it is April 30. This is not the time of the year when you cut hay in western Oregon.

I cut five acres of Clover that was getting a lot of radish blooming and a field of Timothy that was full of annual ryegrass and wild carrot. Hopefully the Timothy will get serious about growing and I will get a crop of hay in a month when it will probably be raining...

I really just want to keep cutting but I have not even attempted to start the stacker yet this years so I don't know. 

 

There are things which seem like a good idea and which prove not to be... On the best laid plans of mice and men...

 

To a Mouse

By Robert Burns

On Turning her up in her Nest, with the Plough, November 1785.

Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie,

O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!

Thou need na start awa sae hasty,

          Wi’ bickerin brattle!

I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee

          Wi’ murd’ring pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion

Has broken Nature’s social union,

An’ justifies that ill opinion,

          Which makes thee startle,

At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,

          An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;

What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!

A daimen-icker in a thrave

          ’S a sma’ request:

I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave,

          An’ never miss ’t!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!

It’s silly wa’s the win’s are strewin!

An’ naething, now, to big a new ane,

          O’ foggage green!

An’ bleak December’s winds ensuin,

          Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste,

An’ weary Winter comin fast,

An’ cozie here, beneath the blast,

          Thou thought to dwell,

Till crash! the cruel coulter past

          Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee-bit heap o’ leaves an’ stibble

Has cost thee monie a weary nibble!

Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble,

          But house or hald,

To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble,

          An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane,

In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men

          Gang aft agley,

An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,

          For promis’d joy!

Still, thou art blest, compar’d wi’ me!

The present only toucheth thee:

But Och! I backward cast my e’e,

          On prospects drear!

An’ forward tho’ I canna see,

          I guess an’ fear!

 

 

 

 

I couldn't understand a word of that poem.

I think it has to do with chickens and a man who left Mexico with a Rooster and his sisters picture in

gold frame who was going to win back the land that the Commies stole from his oppressor class parents by fighting with chickens. 

 

 Totally excellent idea! 

Execution of idea, not so good...

 

Sort of like making so much money I don't have to get a real job by making CHICKEN FEED!!! (Super Chick N with herbs and spices... also Weed & Feed for horses with alfalfa and oats and Herb- if you get my drift) 

 

 

Anything involving heatlamp chicken is a bad idea

I am not a fisherman, or fish do not exist...

Detroit diesels are deceptively difficult to work on.

While I have longed for a classic Chili Burger and unlimited shite coffee. The reality is not the memory...

The solution to every problem is not flooring it... Unless it works, then it is...

 

 

 

The problem with asking for advice online, I want to comment on Tristan Swartz video but resist

I have started following Tristan Swartz of Doing it Wrong Dairy. (So is every other farmer in the world) My brother even bought me one of Tristan's goofy hats.

So when he posted a video asking for information on his White hydraulics I actually watched the whole thing and read the comments. Lots of comments from people who absolutely no experience with hydraulics or even know that his DeutzAllis has a transmission and hydraulic system built by White Farm Equipment.

I had been trying to look up his video about why he doesn't use RoundUp ready seed because it kind of missed the point of why you shouldn't use it and there were so many superstitious idiots posting I wanted to show it to my friends and laugh. I kind of wanted to argue but I need to resist commenting.

But, I digress... 

There was a time when you could get good advice from people online. There was NewAgTalk, Yesterday's Tractors, and you could find pages from manuals or at least figure out what manual you needed. 

Not so much nowadays. (I enjoy using the word "nowadays")

His comment section was filled with bad advice...

Here are some basic rules... 

If you are having hydraulic problems with your White tractor, first find the I&T service manual for your tractor. White Farm Equipment put out a really good manual with trouble shooting advice. I have currently lost mine as I have issues with never putting anything back where it belongs. But I try to be the change I aspire to be.

Is the system not building pressure? Do you not have brakes or steering? Does the PTO not engage? Is it making noise?

Check the oil...

If you are not building pressure you have either sheared the splines on the PTO hub on the flywheel, your charge pump is out, the coupler to the hydraulic pump is out, you forgot to start the tractor, the little valve in the filter head that bypasses when you are starting the tractor is stuck in bypass.

Hit the filter head with a crescent wrench and see if hydraulics start.

Pull the switch on the filter head and install a gauge. If you don't have 35 or so lbs the Charge Pump is not working. (This also could be from the PTO hub splines being bad)

Do you hear cavitation noises? Is the pump loud? Is there bubbles in the hydraulic oil?

This is often a problem with the steel lines cracking which feed the charge pump. But it can be a cracked pickup tube from the sump. A completely plugged sump filter. The main pump is shot. The charge pump failed. The pressure relief in the filter head is stuck.

Do not ever mess with the compensator on the main pump. It is the little screw adjustment on the side of the pump. It might get you a couple months until you can find a new pump but it is never the problem. 

Make sure it is not a problem with the hydraulic valves. It won't be, but you should check first. Switch hoses around and switch between valves. You could put a gauge on one hose and see if you have 2200lbs of pressure. You could hook two hoses in with a t and a valve in the middle, run the valve and turn the valve down and watch the pressure.  

Change the filters. It won't help but if you ask anyone for advice it is the first thing they will suggest. Finding metal filings in the filter is not that unusual. Finding a teaspoon full is a problem.

There are two filters, the main one under the step and a sump in the bottom of the transmission. It is behind a large plug on the left hand bottom side of the tractor. This requires draining the transmission. This has a fine screen that can plug but probably is not the problem.

Do not add or remove shims from the pressure relief. That is not the problem.

Go to the JenSales website and find the WFE hydraulic service manual set or call Welters, or Maibach Tractor.

You could get the manual first but changing the oil is the first thing anyone will tell you to do. Narrowing down the issue with pressure at the filter head will also help with trouble shooting. 

The more information you can find on your own the easier it is to get advice.

After watching the Tristan video I would guess the top three probabilities are, the bottom sump is plugged because the previous owner NEVER changed the oil, cracked line feeding the charge pump, bad main hydraulic pump.

Long shots, stuck valve in the filter head, PTO hub on flywheel has bad splines and skips under load (but that would affect PTO operation), cracked sump tube for hydraulic pickup, hydraulic valve problems, bad charge pump.

Although, did not say when he runs the PTO the PTO clutch pops out. The PTO will pop off with low hydraulic pressure or cavitation. He seems to have a flow problem which makes me think remote valves or remote pressure relief on the valve body but it is probably time for a new pump.

Click here for a link to the videos on Facebook.  This might be the same reel. CLick Here

Now I must go to work as my neighbor called me to pick up filbert shells for my next ill advised project... 

 

I have had more hydraulic problems with this 2-135 then I care to remember. Actually, I kind of hate this tractor...

This is the first real tractor I bought. I abused it. Pulled it to death (several times) on the silage chopper. Baled with it, cut hay, no-tilled, great raking tractor, fairly quiet and the A/C sometimes works! Leaks a little hydraulic oil but that is how I find my way home when I get lost. Follow the trail...

Here is a link to Replacing the Hydraulic Pump on the White 2-155

Fixing a hydraulic valve

Somewhere I talk about trouble shooting a charge pump. Sometimes I fail to give usable info. You could try looking at nearby posts... 

 

 

 

I find artifacts, the oats are coming up, I am not the pinball wizzard

I plowed this field for the first time in maybe 20 years. My wife has always been disappointed that I find arrowheads and she does not. So I decided to plow. That is just basic farm management.

We found five decent arrowheads and she found part of a spear point. 

This was an old campsite along the river. You can see it when you work ground because the ground is black from the charcoal. This was probably a site where the Injuns (actual term I learned from cartoons) gathered read Albert Camas and eat the roots of Indian hyacinth and paddled their own canoes... (Sometimes I crack myself up)

Also, probably got up to all sort of high jinks which probably included singing woodland creatures and deer with really big eyes.

Mohicans and Stocking Tops no doubt... 

 

I like to think of it as grave robbing but in reality it is not illegal.

I am always amazed when the field actually sprouts. If the picture were clearer or if everything was no blurry when I forget my glasses, you could see the difference in growth/sprout between no-till and worked ground.

 

I dropped $4.25 in quarters and played for 40 minutes while waiting for Pizza. Unfortunately they neglected to tell me my pizza was ready and so not only did I lose my pocket full of quarters but the pizza was cold by the time I got home. But, such is life...

“The absurd is born of the encounter between two opposed concepts: the human need for meaning and the apparent meaninglessness of the universe.”

 

 

 

 

 

I make chicken feed and spill a ton of peas and ramble on about stuff...

 Suddenly people want feed.

I have orders for 1000lbs chicken feed, 2,000 oats/alfalfa, and 2000lbs cow feed.

I had finally emptied the barn of various bags and was looking forward to doing something else farming related. I actually put the Gator-Sprayer in the shop and was trying to figure out the charging system and how to wire the sprayer monitor without killing the battery.

Yesterday morning I actually broke down and purchased a grain from my neighbor. I have been fighting with the pellet mill making crumbly pellets and I thought doing a ton of chicken feed would be an excuse to try wheat.

My neighbor has a couple bags of oats and peas that got mixed together and he doesn't want to reclean them and I bought a ton of peas from him.

I thought I would start out with a high protein mix and dilute it for the cows by adding oats and Timothy hay.

Unfortunately, the bag sizes were such that I ended up with over 5,000lbs in the mixer grinder. This was all grain so it didn't over flow. In fact all was well until I got to the one ton of peas.

I needed 250lbs of corn so I just threw in 8 or 9 buckets out of my bulk bag. When I got the bag almost over the mixer one handle ripped... I slowly and carefully moved the bag to my bulk bin. Just as I was over the edge of the bin, but not far enough to just cut the bottom of the bag, the remaining three handles rippled and the bag hit the floor of the hay shed.

 

I love plastic bulk bags for moving and storing grain. Until the handles rip and I have to shovel a ton of peas off the ground

Nothing like standing on top of running hammer mill and shoveling straw and peas. Every so often the throat would plug and I would have to knock the hay though with the shovel handle. Did not run the handle though the hammer mill so that is a success!

This is where having a cement or a dirt floor would be nice. The hay shed floor has layers of plastic and straw over gravel. It is not fun to shovel off of. 

I finally resorted to a vacuum cleaner! Fortunately I was close enough to the mixer that I could just shovel most of it into the the mixing hopper in the back. The rest which had a lot of hay in it,  I shoveled into the bucket on the White 2-60 and then feed into the hammer mill on the mixer grinder. 

I really have no idea what my mix of peas and corn is right now but for the sake of sanity I will pretend I scooped it all up.

I have a mix that is 36 percent peas, 18 percent wheat, 18 percent barley, 10 percent oats, 12 percent buckwheat, and 5 percent corn. Total weight is 5,500lbs

If I plug the info into CoPilot it tells me I have Crude fat of 2.24 percent and Crude protein of 16 percent.

My chicken customer says her chickens are laying small eggs and wants more protein. I think small eggs mean she is not giving them free access to oyster shell or there are environmental factors, like weird chickens. We operate a home for aged chickens plus some crazy young white hens, and they lay just about every day and the eggs are good sized. Sometimes I forget to feed them, or don't let them out until I hear them yelling at me when I go by the hen house.

I would like to add more alfalfa as alfalfa seems to be an excellent chicken food. (Also, buckwheat, which I added because I think Buckwheat and Alfalfa combinations are hilarious.) However, I am out of alfalfa.

I am going to take 2000lbs and add more peas, clover seed, canola seed, and my last bale of alfalfa. I think I will take the protein to 17.5 percent maybe call it 18 percent. I have warned my customers that if they want 18 percent protein and no soy meal the price is going to have to go up. It is better to just buy a few bags of layer from Wilco Feed Store and supplement. High protein is not the point of feeding a mixed grain and alfalfa ration to chickens. 

Then I will take another 2000lbs and add oats to drop the protein to 12 percent, probably throw in 200lbs of Timothy hay or second cutting Canary Grass for smell and color. Add 80lbs of liquid molasses. This would drop the wheat percentage and make the ration more gut friendly.

I could actually have a business here, if I just, had a building with a non gravel floor. Four bulk bins that hold 30,000lbs or less. A real cooler for the pellet mill. A White 2-110 FWA (becaue I like FWA) or something Perkins powered with good hydraulics to run everything. Or three-phase electricity....

Also if I could do math, could successfully charge just a little bit more money, do marketing, remember who my customers are, develop a social media platform to promote Super Chick N, get a feed license, get mental help through drugs and talk therapy, remember anything at all, could work 16 hours a day like I used to do, and every joint in my body didn't slightly hurt every moment of the day. 

Simple things...