No-till into Alfalfa, I make Alfalfa/Oat pellets with the Pelletmaster, Rotten Plastic bags, and other pain and suffering

Today has started cold and damp. 

I did not wake up at 5 a.m. Probably because when using the sleep apnea machine I tend to put my head under the covers and use the tube as a diving hose...

I was not cold enough for my wife to start the fire.

It rained last night and there is still a residual mist that is not really fog but more like 120 percent humidity.

I went out early to get gas for my wife who is the one who currently has a real job. It was damp, cold, and dark so I thought I would start up the computer and send out a couple bills.

I am completely broke. Or I will be when I write this $350 check for half a unit of 2x4's to maybe fix my house.

Rather than come up with an orderly narrative, I just dumped a bunch of pictures.

Direct seeding fescue into Established Alfalfa. Mellow ground, minimum down pressure, 10lb per acre 1/2" deep. Spring harrow behind drill. Watching the moon rise!

The week started off good with a no-till planting job. I planted fescue into a sorghum field and an alfalfa field. You don't a lot of Sorghum grown around here. I am pretty sure it was not Sudan grass as it was planted on 14" rows. They either green-chopped it or round baled it. 

This was a challenge as the ground was very mellow and the Great Plains 1500 no-till drill tends to bury seed in loose ground.

I have cheated and started putting hydraulic cylinder stops under the lift wheel cylinders to relieve the down pressure as it is easier than changing springs on the openers. This is not an approved method.

The alfalfa was not an issue as it was an older stand. There was a lot of moisture and the nights have been warm so it should come up.

If you look closely, you can see the moon coming up over the trees.

I am running the 9" pelletmaster mill on the White 2-60 in the dark. The days are shorter and the mill seems to max out at 300lbs per hour with the 3 mm die. Sometimes I get 400lbs.

I have orders for pellets. I am making oat-alfalfa pellets. 2/3 oats and 1/3 alfalfa. Or close to that ratio. Finally have a really good set up. I have a hydraulic powered belt conveyer with a hopper which has a flow control. This lets me feed my PelletMasters.com 9" pellet mill slowly. The key is not keep the three rollers just barely covered. If you fill the pellet mill hopper too much it actually slows production.

All I need now is an extension on the barn so I can work in the rain, and a bigger mill. Production is painfully slow.

Of course things go wrong...

Been in the sun too long! This bag looked fine but when I picked it up by the handles the sides split. One ton in a plastic bag never seems to work out well.

I have around 6000lbs of orders and I need money so I have been working to get at least 2,000lbs by the weekend. 

As you can see from the above picture, there are problems. I picked up this 2,000lb of oats and it split down the side. Fortunately, it did not spill onto the gravel!

1970 Minneapolis-Moline G1000 Vista running the New Holland 358 Mixer-Grinder and vintage Bazooka auger. I am shoveling! It wasn't too bad...

 

I have an old Bazooka auger that has a hydraulic motor so I hooked that up to the venerable Minneapolis-Moline G1000 Vista and got a shovel. The Vista runs the old New Holland 358 mixer grinder at any speed with no complaint. Now if only I could fix the hydraulic leaks...

This is a one year old plastic bag that sat outside all summer. It ripped along where it was folded I think. I buy the bags as cheap as possible on Amazon. Maybe I should find a better source? ($14.75 and fee shipping. I think they are made in India)

Everything was working great and I loaded out my first bag. When I went to pick it up with the forklift, the side blew out. Rotten plastic. I blame the Red Chinese for undermining our economy with crappy plastic. Or Trump. I live in Oregon. I should blame Donald Trump...

I am filling the feed conveyer from the NH Mixer-Grinder. The G1000 Vista idles down far enough I can just about run the auger continuously. The feed conveyer is hydraulic powered with a flow control. If feeds the pellet mill at a low rate to not over load the mill. The mill dumps into a longer covered conveyer that has electric fans to cool the pellets. The White 2-60 only has one remote so I use a hydraulic flow divider.  

If the Vista didn't leak so much oil, and if the bearings were replaced on the Mixer-Grinder, I could run the Vista at an idle and feed the pellet mill. The frustrating issue here is that the mill is only putting out 300-500lbs per hour with the 3 mm die. People want the small pellets. Today, if it doesn't rain, I am going to try the 6 mm die and hope the hydraulic leak fixed itself overnight. I put hydraulic sealer on it. But I didn't have real LocTite 545 sealer so I have little hope. New hose and new fittings and it still drips. Yes, I got it tight!

Vintage Iron... I am trying to come up with a compact layout so I can perhaps put a shelter over the setup and work in the rain.

 

I will leave you with the front view. Talk about old technology! The Gator Sprayer is there to provide electricity for the cooling fans and to pressurize the molasses sprayer. The cooler is just a covered conveyer which I have added a couple 12v radiator fans. It works surprisingly well. It dumps into a large metal bin. When I get the bin full, I usually let it set overnight and then lift it over a bag stand to fill 1000lb bags. I also have a setup for sewing 50lb bags but usually do that direct off the conveyer. The pellets are cool enough to put in small bags.

I have been saving for a 16" mill but that is $12,000 and I don't have $.50 right now. You can't borrow under $40,000 from AgDirect and my market is too fickle and the profit margin too narrow to do a credit card. Also, I want to do 3-5 years for Tax reasons. 

My backup plan has always been the no-till drill. In fact, the first thing I did after leaving the University was (aside from breaking my hip) was to check out prices on new drills at my local Great Plains dealer. But, farming has changed a lot in the past five years. Medium to small (1000-150 acres) farmers are an endangered species in my neighborhood. 

Speaking of broke farmers... I do have to laugh. I keep having this "tough times," discussion with farmers while leaning against their brand new pickups or $30,000 side by sides. One of my old customers told me he couldn't afford to have me plant for him last year, but this year he bought a $20,000 Great Plains 10ft no-till drill. He is going to do 100-200 acres a year.

I got this handy App from AgDirect that lets you figure loan and lease payments. It also lets you see how much per acre your costs will be and has options for Yearly Payments.

I see his logic, but he is wrong. I don't think he realizes how long it will take to no-till 100 acres with a ten foot drill. Especially since you really should not pull them faster than 7 mph as it turns the GreatPlains no-till drill into kind of a rototiller...
To break it down.

To hire me to do 100 acres it would cost him $3,500. I could do it easily in two 8-10hr days depending on the fertilizer and seed options. For example, 20 gallons of 10-34 and 200lbs of wheat per acre results in a stop every ten acres for a refill which takes 10-20 minutes. But, 8 gals and 120lbs of wheat means a stop every 16-17 acres with the fertilizer refill every other load and my efficiency goes way up.
But the payoff is this, the farmer brings out a tank of fertilizer and a truck of seed. It doesn't matter if it is in bulk or 50lb bags. Some farmers have a power bin and a forklift and big bags. They just leave and I do it all myself.

Planting 100 acres with a ten foot drill means slower speed and more fill ups. I think it would be more like three 16 hour days, maybe four.
I would be very happy with a guaranteed 150 acres a year within ten miles of home. When you do that you get moved to the top of my planting list. 
But, now I am just complaining...

Have a nice day!

Edit: (that is a lie, I don't edit, I just added on) How do I get my old readers back who disappeared when I had to make my blog private?  I clicked on a google tag option. Going to see how that works. I suppose I could post more often. Or comment on other people's blogs? But most of my old blogger friends are dead...