The three-point tractor hitch was invented by Harry Ferguson. It was patented in 1926. The version that we know of today was patented in 1928. In the 1930-40's Ferguson partnered with Henry Ford to produce tractors with this hitch.
Since that point in time this basic system has been become a standard with tractors worldwide.
HOWEVER, the lady in charge at AgDirect does not think the three-point mount on a PelletMasters 16" pellet mill makes it portable. She feels it is a stationary mounted machine which they could not hook up to and repo, and so they decided not to loan me $10,000. It was actually not even $10,000 because I was putting $4,000 down. I think I was borrowing like $6500 over three years.
Ok... I have excellent credit.
I could walk into my local dealership and borrow like $100,000 or more to buy a tractor I couldn't actually pay for! Insanity...
Obviously this is not a lot of money, but I am small scale and I need a way to spread my purchase over a minimum of two years. Also, if I spend $10,000 right now I will be broke until spring planting season. I don't want to use a credit card or any thing sketchy. I want it simple.
The other irritating issue is that I get turned down two weeks from the end of the year. I have like ten 1,000lbs of bags of oats crammed all over the farm. Next week I am getting peas, I have 10,000lbs of barley, 8,000lbs of rye, 6,000lbs of corn. It is going to be a long winter making pellets at 300lbs per hour...
The pellet mill I was going to buy, setting in the shop. Pictures were sent to AgDirect. I asked then nice loan officer if she was familiar with three-point mounted farm equipment. (not so much) I asked if they had made loans for rototillers or three-point grader blades. She said yes. Apparently three-point pellet mills don't have a box to check.
This picture did not prove the portability of the mill. I actually send pictures with it on a different tractor in a different location to show portability. But, it must have wheels and a tongue. I suggested this mod to PelletMasters but I don't think it is going to fly...
Yesterday I thought I could empty it out and fill bags. I had a customer coming for five bags and I filled ten earlier. I felt a pallet of 20 was just a good place to be. But it poured down rain!
I have potentially three chicken feed customers who use 500lbs per month. I think the mix will be corn heavy. I used CoPilot to come up with the mix. Which some times gives odd results. I will go back and change it a bit.
One major problem is that I ended up needing storage so the rye, groats, and some of the corn got mixed together and when that bin was full I dumped another 1000lbs of groats on top of my bin of peas. I am going to end up guessing on the peas and groates so I think I will put in 300lbs of clover and drop the corn to 500lbs and I may add more alfalfa. I am almost out of peas which is a problem.
The nice thing about this mix is that is also good for pigs. I make 4000lbs and put it in a bin and then I can sell it as ground feed for pigs or pelletize for chickens.
I will probably just make 500lbs of chicken pellets at a time and then add red peppers and garlic to keep the rats out of the bags and also chicken people like peppers in their feed. It is also hilarious to see goats try to eat it.
Production capacity of 400lbs an hour would be fine if I was inside and the pellet mill was electric. This just takes forever to get anything done.
The M670 Super is working really well on the pellet mill. Fuel consumption is similar to the White 2-60 but rpms are lower, and hydraulics are more suited to the conveyers. I have been getting three days out of one tank fill up of diesel. About ten gallons a day. However, it took me three days to get 3,000lbs of pellets. I need to record the hours. It was not 23hrs of use.
Of course I had to pick up my daily bag of groates.
Of course, I didn't start at 7 a.m.
Of course, it started pouring rain just as my customer arrived.
The pathetic small scale of my operation is starting to wear me down. I have four ton of oats, four ton of clover seed screenings, 12 ton of barley, and a similar volume of rye. Plus a stack of alfalfa. Of course these material are stashed in bags, trucks, and bins all over my farm and two nearby farms.
I would kind of like to quit.
The nice lady from AgDirect does not get back to me on the financing of the new pellet mill and I am starting to thing of better things to do with the money. Like, put a couple grand into retirement. Or buy a potentially better farm truck, or a mower tractor, or new coulters and press wheels for the Great Plains 1500, or just spend it on diesel and fertilizer for next year.
But I got a free tree yesterday. My nephew brought me one. It is my payment for hauling Christmas Trees.
This is really a nice tree! Now we just have to put it up.
Yesterday I hauled Christmas again. I had a break for Thanksgiving.
It is amazing the narrow roads and little fields you can find in three counties worth "just off the beaten track."
Last week it alternated between fog and rain with sometimes a sunbreak. All of these events were a bit hard on the visibility
This is the same road where I took the picture of the helicopter loading the truck in the sunlight. This week the fog has settled in.
Yesterday was a pretty nice day. Not sure why I didn't take any pictures. I did manage to get a video of going through the roundabout. I really kind of hate the roundabout as it lacks good signs that will notify you to start slowing down and you have to slow down to 15 mph to make the turn with a tippy feeling Christmas tree truck.
The video shows the best roundabout experience of the day. Good visibility, low traffic, plenty of time to coast down to 15 mph, no one stuck going in circles.
The clouds are nice! Also, apparently there is a chip in the windshield. Didn't really notice till I looked a the video!
It doesn't show one of the most frustrating parts which is the little s-turn the engineers through in to slow down your SmartCar which is a tad disconcerting in the truck, and the supered surface which makes the truck tippy.
Oh well.
I have the next couple days off. I hope to work a couple more just to get my FREE CHRISTMAS tree. which is the only reason I took the job!
I have had a couple days off from hauling Christmas Trees. I needed to make chicken feed and finish my floor yesterday.
I got off to a good start. I found the locations for the shower drain and the toilet. I drilled the holes in the right location!
I made a tool to layout the holes. It was just a piece of paint stirrer stick which I drilled a hole for a screw and a hole for a pencil and then traced the outline to cut the holes.
Apparently there is a difference in radius, diameter, circumference, and I learned this in like elementary school. But I get easily confused. So in stead of taking half of 4.5 inches I doubled in and cut a 9 inch hole.
Can you see a problem here?
This worked out for the best as when I got confused about finding flooring that was close to 21/32 I went with 3/4 instead of 5/8. I mean, go big or go home! Right?
This is a very handy tool. If I would have used it before I bought sheet of the wrong thickness it would have been better! I like the fraction feature.
So I cut a ring out of the better flooring material and put it under the toilet flange. That sucker ain't movin again!
I thought I would have to split the plywood to get it under the flange. But by accidentally cutting the hole twice as big I may have made a better floor.
I did not get a lot of work done. I mostly worked on five projects I had already started.
A friend called me that he was cleaning oats and he was getting a lot of the hard inner oat seeds without the hull. I think they are called "grotes." He didn't want to dump them with the screenings and did I want them. So I took over my bag stand and we put a 1000lb capacity bag under the cleaner.
It took six hours to fill and I got 1000lbs. This bag usually holds 850lb of whole oats so I am thinking there is good feed value there.
We also had people come out and repair posts in our hay shed. This was a relief as I figured for the past 8 years that I was going to have to stand on a pallet high in the air and work on this post.
Better them than I! Of course we don't have the bill yet...
I had to move a few things and of course the forklift was out of diesel, the battery in the pickup with the diesel tank was dead.
I got them a couple loads of gravel out of the stock pile with the 2-60 White, then let them use it. I could hear them using the clutch as a torque converter a couple times in afternoon but just kept my mouth shut. The guys really liked my little tractor. I think it is because it has no muffler...
In other news: One of my customers showed me an advertisement on MarketPlace for oat/grass/alfalfa pellets for $200 a ton bulk or $400 in a one ton tote bag. Then I see All Stock pellets down to $300 a ton. I wonder what is up with feed prices. I absolutely loose money below $400 a ton.
Perhaps I should stop negotiations on upgrading a pellet mill? Or just double down as I have raw materials stuffed in every spare nook and cranny!
This weekend was nice. Very little rain. I thought I would sell two ton of pellets. I had three customers who wanted big bags. I figured at least one would show.
I have a new customer (maybe) who wanted 200lbs. I was borrowing a bagger from my neighbor but he had the audacity of taking it back to bag his own oats. So, I built my own out of scrap plywood I have been saving for 20 years and my new 2x4's.
I immediately left my plan and it turned out completely different that I expected. It does not have a slanted back wall as I failed with my math and made it wrong. I was going to put peg board in the back and a fan to cool the pellets as they come out of the conveyer. I didn't succeed in my plan.
I am trying to buy a bigger pellet mill so I can actually make money at $85 an hour for the tractor powering the mill. Then, something goes wrong like I am stuck with two ton of pellets in my shop and I want to sell everything and quit. No really sure what the plan should be...
This is not fancy. The bag hangs on hooks to fill and there is a metal slide to shut off the flow. It all sets off the ground and a pallet will slide under it. That was not my best plan. I need to add a bench to hold up smaller bags. Best feature is it is tall enough I don't have to bend over all the time.
This is what I need to be working on. My bathroom floor is missing. I found another water leak yesterday so I fixed the leak and put a fan in the bathroom.
Some neighbors/friends/fellow farmers needed help driving truck and their son who, I keep thinking of as the teenager who I used to run stacker with, talked me in to driving. I have become super hesitant about new situations, especially driving truck. I get lost easily, I have an incredibly hard time following more than one step directions, I don't write the directions down correctly as I still think I can remember details, and I am super uptight about this, which makes it all worse.
My friend gown up from a super enthusiastic kid, to a super enthusiastic farmer who seems, if not eternally optimistic, absolutely without fear and a really good salesman. Plus, I am broke...
So with trepidation I agreed to drive.
We started at the main tree farm at 5 a.m. Monday. It was over an hour drive to the field.
My truck was a 1990 GMC General, almost Minneapols-Moline yellow, with a 6V92 Detroit and a 5 spd Allison transmission. This was a new experience. The automatic takes some getting used to but then I also didn't have to shift all the time. The engine had enough power to make the transmission not frustrating and the truck steered good.
I followed his dad to the field. There were a lot of trucks already. They trees are loaded by helicopter.
We started in the dark heading for the sunrise and ended in the dark heading for sunset.
Lots of farmers contributed trucks. The yellow bed racks are cages to hold the tree bundles.
The helicopter picked up large bundles of trees and deposited them in the truck. He was good!
The first trip started fine and then I missed my turn coming out of the tree yard. We were hauling to a yard different from where we started. It was located in the middle of nowhere. Kings Valley, Oregon. We turned off of highway 99W at Suver and took Adair road to Kings Valley.
I missed the road back and got headed to Wren. Then I had to find a place to turn around. Not so easy on a narrow hilly road. Once I got turned around I found my missed turn with no problem.
I knew how many miles it was to Wren so figured out right away I was lost, it was just hard finding a spot I could turn around. I ended up backing into a driveway to turn around.
I blame the GPS. I was trying to mark my route so I wouldn't get lost and I wasn't paying proper attention. Fortunately I tried to take pictures at the junctions so I had the road signs in my phone. (I have been lost before)
Then, I got stuck behind a tractor on the narrow two land road. I was so far behind... The second load went like a breeze.
This was my fuel gauge after the second load
This was my second load which went very well. Notice the fall colors. Notice how stinking rough the road is.
Then I noticed the fuel gauge moving and I started to get worried. I was back to get my third load of the day and it was around 4 p.m. I was worried about driving in the dark a little bit but was more worried about fuel. I could find a metal flag to dip the tank but it sounded like a solid 1/4 full. It should have made it. Or so we thought...
The fuel gauge started showing 1/8 going down hill and 1/4 plus going up hill. This is never a good sign.
The trip back was beautiful. But soon it started getting dark. I realized I couldn't see. I tried high beams and low beams. I knew one head light was out on low beam but on high I could see in the morning. After flipping the dimmer switch many times they started working better.
Then there was an accident on 99W. I could see returning trucks flashing their lights at me. I figured it was due to my missing headlight. I saw the emergency lights just past where I could take an alternate route.
I called my boss who was driving the other truck. He was waiting for me at the unloading point. Everyone had started to worry about my fuel consumption.
I was setting in traffic hoping the gauge would quit moving.
The accident turned out to be not that big a deal and I was on my way soon. When I got to the tree farm we decided to leave the truck and I road back to the main location in the other truck.
Yesterday morning we went back and there was only about three inches in the tank. And there was a flat tire... And I got lost, (but not as bad as the guy that they ended up sending the helicopter to find and then there was the guy whose truck broke down and had to be towed, or the guy who lost his clutch, or the drivers who were using googlemaps and got routed to a low clearance bridge so I won't complain)
But, now I have to go to work here at home. I have half a beef to pick up, feed to sell, I need to make some sort of device to fill 50lb bags, I have to work on my bathroom floor, and the house hot water heater seems to be on the fritz...
Enough rain that the Amazon driver got stuck Friday night. I am not sure it was a great idea to pull into the neighbor's field to do a package exchange with the other Amazon delivery truck, but I helped him get out.
I have been almost unable to give away feed. I can't get in my shop due to super sacks that no one comes after. Quite suddenly, everyone is out.
I sold three 800lb bags of oat/alfalfa mix Friday, and took orders for three more bags Saturday. Even sold six 50lb bags of Chicken feed. (I can't count the orders until they are gone. However, I am fairly sure they will move this afternoon.)
This is the best pellet setup I have ever put together. The Minneapolis-Moline G1355 is awesome on the New Holland 358 mixer-grinder. It runs quiet and the 540 PTO speed on this one is set at 1500 engine rpm. Very quiet as opposed to tractors I have used before.
The mix is 1/3 alfalfa and 2/3 oats. This makes a nice feed for horses, sheep and goats. It is not too "hot." The animals like it and maintain weight. Seems to work well for cows as well. Alfalfa is fourth cutting and should be high in nutrients and it is high in crude protein. Should be good for muscle development and milk production. The oats are providing energy and are high in digestible fiber. The protein is not real high, probably 12-14 percent but it provides a good balance to protein and energy. You don't end up with jumpy horses or overly fat cows. I can add a little corn for people who what extra fat for cow feed.
I am selling it too cheap at $440 per ton. Needs to be $100 more to make money. However, we have oats and alfalfa to move and I need money. My plan is to make up with my loss in profit with low volume...
Minneapols-Moline G1355 on the New Holland 358 mixer/grinder and M670 Super on the PelletMasters 9" pellet mill.
I had problems with the PTO as the White 2-60 and the M670 Super have different dimensions for the three-point arms. I tried running it without hooking up the three-point and after a day the tractor and pellet mill vibrated apart with catastrophic results. I think the Chinese should have put the slip clutch on the implement and not on the tractor end of the PTO shaft.
Pellet making with a cheap chinese Pellet mill is a hit and miss proposal. I appreciate the low cost and portability but the mill is kind of a piece of crap. I could not make a good pellet to save my life the last two weekends. Then, I tossed in a bale of barley straw. The production dropped by 1/3 but the pellets improved incredibly.
Pellets after the addition of barley straw. It was one 50lb bale in 1000lbs of mix. I used the 3/4" screen so it did chop up the straw. Most peices were 1/2" and crushed. But, it really decreased production. I stopped adding mollasses as the extra moisture plugged up the mill hopper.
It is hard to see but the pellets in the bin have gone from 1/4" in length of 1/2-3/4" and they are holding together better. Still have a nice green color to them. You never know how it will turn out. I have no way of adding heat or steam. I have been toying with the idea of adding radiant heaters to heat the material going into the pellet hopper.
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