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Well, my streak may have run out

2012-02-04T13:19:00.001-06:00

We've been doing some trading around on the farm. I took Steve to get his truck out of the shop in Terre Haute one day and in the process got talking with the sales manager. He asked if I was looking for something?

I told him I was too cheap.

"How cheap?"

"Really cheap."

"Come look at this..."

"This" was his personal truck. He has a son in college and is needing money more than 8 vehicles (I can understand that). '01 Dodge 1500 extended cab 4WD fancy wheels, toolbox, Reese hitch. Kind of like this but actually better looking:

It was even red.

He said a price. I made an offer. He said OK.

Great, how do I explain this at home?

On the way home I got to thinking about it. Aman's truck is showing it's age, we have a Jeep we don't us nearly as much as I anticipated,

and we have a flatbed we rarely use since got the F550.

I offered to trade Aman straight up, then we'd sell it and the other 2 and I should come out even.

He thought on it for about 2 seconds. Kind of like when I traded Jim the Toyota truck for the old Camaro ... REALLY? SERIOUSLY?

He listed his truck, sold it rather quickly. I mentioned on Facebook I was going to sell the Jeep. That was about 8 AM. By noon I had a check in my hand.

I was talking to Ralph at the welding shop. He had a tag axle for a truck he'd been trying to sell with no success. I suggested he let me list it on the AgTalk+ Classifieds for him. I listed it about 11:00 one night

A bit after 8 the next day he called to say it had been sold ... to a guy in Virginia.

We have some stuff I'm tired of walking over and around, like the planter closing wheels and stuff on the pallet I bought a couple years ago.

I listed them on AT+ late Thursday night. By 11 the next day they were all spoken for

I listed the flat bed last night.

Also listed the KW.

It's a good truck, too good a combination to break up.

No calls yet

I'm not getting accomplished nearly what I think I should this winter.

2012-01-14T09:36:00.001-06:00

Spring has sprung, Fall has fell, Winter's here and .... I'm not getting accomplished nearly what I think I should this winter. I thought I had shaken off the bug everyone seems to be passing around. I didn't have near the symptoms folks keep talking about. I felt "blah" for a day but didn't get sick, never ran a high fever, just "blah"

But I've been fighting nasal congestion for too long. And while I can do anything, I seem to wear out quickly. And my get up and go has got up and gone. And what productive time I have had has been in the office.

When I was in high school we had to take a military aptitude test. My results came back and I met with the recruiter. He said "Son, you can be anything you want except a clerk." Maybe I should have joined up, because that would almost have guaranteed a desk job someplace. Yes, my pessimistic side shows through at times.

We did get some real work done. The road commissioner let us on the posted roads so we emptied the corn bin at Mom's. I had a couple things I HAD to do, so Aman started on one at Gramp's but we got bottlenecked at the elevator.

Then the USDA report came out. And the weather hit. I have a semi load of corn int he shed waiting to be unloaded worth $500 less than it was when we loaded it. Some days you just LOVE farming.

So this week I've done exciting things like renew my farm radio license, get the title and license transferred on the new trailer, straighten out some insurance stuff, get information ready for the accountant so we can get W-2's and 1099's out, study for then not go to First Responder class... Not that I skipped it. Tuesday the instructor was called away,Thursday I went to Robinson to the Driver's License Office and accountant's then hung around town and ate supper at McD's until class time. About 20 minutes before class I got a text class was cancelled due to weather. So I drove home. It was just blowing snow. Nothing too exciting.

I also listed the Maurer trailer and the Chevy 10 wheeler on a couple free classified for farmers as well as Craig's List.

I have gotten one bite on the trailer and 2 on the truck. A truck call was from central Iowa, the other was online from a guy in Nebraska. We discussed my truck and one he was looking at a neighbor widow lady offered him. It wasn't quite as big as mine, but she had offered it to him for about half market price and the tires were all new. He told her that wasn't enough money and she told him he had been helping her and wouldn't take any pay and it was a fair price. I told him to buy the neighbor's truck.

In preparation for the pulpit search I have updated the church web site. The I revised the update. And then added some things and took off some things. I put our search on 3 different college boards. Had 3 resume's by supper time. A couple are actually good possibilities.

Yep, he's one of the preachers that have sent a resume. Would you believe he has "Dr." in front of his name? Oh, and doing a little searching it appears the beard is normal for him.

I know, not farm stuff, but things that have to be done.

Friday it hit me we had never finished the pump house at Mom's. We hadn't gotten the rest of the insulation installed or put the thermostat controlled heater in. So Friday afternoon Aman and I did that. Next week we hope to make real progress.

Back to it

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001-06:00

Well, I guess it is time to get back to work. We have basically been shut down for the last 10 days or so. Between Christmas and family and going to the mountains

for Jill's wedding (see http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com/) the farm has pretty much had to survive without us.

I came out to the office to get things going again and found the monitor for the business computer wouldn't start up. I guess it thought we abandoned it. This is the longest it has been unpowered since we started using it. No screen display, no indicator light, nothing. So I dragged up an old CRT tube monitor out of the basement, plugged it in, and it worked.

It wasn't quite as simple as it sounds. If you've seen my desk recently the only reason there were clear spots was because the piles got so tall they slid off in the floor. So I had to find a place for a CRT footprint on a flat screen desk.

In the process I decided it was time to clear out my card file with phone numbers and passwords in it. I've freed up a lot of space. I've been tossing cards with contact info from when I sold copiers and cell phones! I don't thik I need the contact numbers, account info, and part number for a Motorola T400 cell phone hang up cup.

And there is info I won't need anymore. Hotel info for Johnson City, a card with Milligan numbers including after hours security, Jill's advisor, contact names, etc.

It is amazing how may web sites I have login and passwords for that do not exist now! And businesses as well. I just tossed a couple for businesses that are gone.

I need to spend a week at the desk catching up on last week ... and looking out the window and at the thermometer I may just do that!

You can see the top of my desk in places ... but that may just be because the pile fell off in the floor.

2011-12-24T06:00:00.002-06:00

"What ya been doing ?"

Some questions you hate to answer. Because for the last couple weeks it seems like every time I progress forward a step two steps get added to get to where I need to be. I'm setting here in the office thinking 2 weeks ago the piles of papers were smaller. And I admit I haven't been working at this as hard as I could have, but I think I've been pretty diligent. But like that corollary to Murphy's Law (Stuff expands to fill available space) what needs done expands to fill available time.

Progress on insulating the shop has been minimal this week. Between traveling Monday, catching up with what happened while we were gone Tuesday, running needed errands, going to funerals, going to the FSA office, stopping by a lawyer's office to answer a question (come to think of it, maybe I should have charged him $300 an hour for a consulting fee ...), visiting with my friendly banker, on and on I haven't accomplished near what I wanted. So far my biggest accomplishment was bringing the little semi home from being in the shop.

It had an oil leak on the high pressure pump. Since it runs around 4500 psi, I decided to let Biernbaum's work on it.

But I've only spent $450,000 this week plus change. More on that some other time when all the paperwork is done. For now, Merry Christmas and we'll see you next year.

I really wish Dad had gotten cold ......

2011-12-09T23:33:00.000-06:00

Dad was one of those folks who never got cold. Well, that isn't entirely true. He just tolerated cold a lot better than I do. So he didn't bother to insulate or heat his shop. He had a kerosene torpedo heater he used a little when it got REALLY cold. But Aman and I aren't as resistant to cold as Dad was. So we started a winter project. Aman went to Sullivan, IL and got 5 bundles of insulation board. So we are in the process of insulating the shop. The problem with that is we have to move everything out from the walls ... some of which I don't think has been moved in 30 years.

We got to the window and decided there was room for improvement. So we went to Tempco and dug through through the salvage window corner We found a nice window a little wider than the one there. Insulated glass, vinyl frame, etc. So we made a little bit bigger hole

and put in the new window.

When we are done it will make the shop a lot more usable in cold weather.

It wasn't our first choice. We would like to have had it foamed., but the estimate I got was $13,000. I'm just a little cheap.

...always the first thing you buy after getting an STS combine - A Bigger Truck

2011-11-30T06:00:00.003-06:00

Aman posted a picture of the Freightliner on the farm's Facebook page, to which a cousin said "always the first thing you buy after getting an STS combine - A Bigger Truck"

The only problem with that truck is by itself it's just a large lawn ornament. However, when you add this 38 ft Mauer hopper bottom trailer it becomes something usable.

So we've upgraded out fleet from a 37 year old 10 gas engine Ford wheeler

and a 31 year old gas engine Chevrolet 10 wheeler

to a '99 FL112 Freightliner with an '02 38 foot Mauer trailer.

Plus we have the '97 IH 8100 tractor and '04 22 foot Jet

and of course the Big Blue '90 Kenworth tandem.

Technically we still have the Chevy, but there is a buyer coming Friday And if he doesn't buy it the plates are good until June 30.

So we have upgraded from 2 trucks over 30 years old to one 12 years old, the oldest in the fleet being 21, stayed about the same capacity, and lowered our license plates expense about $500.

I think Dad would approve.

Look what followed us home ..

2011-11-23T00:05:00.000-06:00

OK, so we were inside. After a lot of pondering and contemplating we traded the white beast

for a new white beast

The old Ford was a good truck, we just needed something a bit more road worthy. We're hoping to sell the Chevy as well

and replace both with one.

Now to find a trailer

Been setting here thinking of Lyman

2011-11-21T06:15:00.009-06:00

Later today we're going to a friend's funeral. Friend probably isn't an adequate description. Lyman Shawler was a friend, family member, business associate, pillar of the community for many many years. His health as been failing, and we knew he was mortal just like the rest of us. But that doesn't make losing him any less painful. His obituary is online on the Prust-Hosch web site

Lyman's Mom and my Grandfather were brother and sister, so he was one of those folks I can't remember not knowing. When Sue and I returned from college to the farm the first house we lived in was his Mom's house. I've been trying to remember ... I think we were the first folks outside the Shawler family to live there.

Lyman was always "progressive", but in a different manner than most people. He didn't seem too interested in farming big, but wanted to do a good job with what he had. Lyman had one of the firsts irrigators in the country, and one of the first center pivots. My mistress (as my wife came to think of it) was a water drive single tower pivot. Every 9 hours you could move it. After over 30 years of service there were parts on the drive system that are no longer available. So 4 years ago Lyman had the old dual piston water drive replaced with a new style

He commented he would rather watch that system run rather than watch fireworks.

He had other "funny" ideas. For instance, he didn't want his irigator engine setting out in the weather. So he built a little building for it

When t go to the place of needing replacement he bought a small carport and put over it

Lyman had other "funny" ideas. That is why he was a charter member of the West Union Ruritan Club, a community service organization. And why he served for 16 years as a member of the Mill Creek Conservancy District, helping to build eight flood control structures.

Lyman helped Clark County form the first county wide park district in the state of Illinois, and was the first president of the park board. The Clark County Park District Board worked with the Soil Conservation Service to build Mill Creek Lake and Park .

In 1966 Lyman received the Illinois Soil Conservation Award from the National Wildlife Federation and the Sears Foundation for “outstanding contribution to the wise use and management of the nation’s natural resources.” In 1971, he received the 14th annual “Raindrop” award from the Wabash Valley Association, where he was a charter member.

Lyman was always planting something. Trees, turnips, alfalfa, he was always planting something. It was joked (not without reason) Lyman could plant alfalfa in the middle of a blacktop road and it would grow. He also planted people. Lyman did a lot more quietly behind the scenes than many folks knew about.

When my son was going to college I know Lyman did his best to encourage him. There was a little 2 acre patch north of the pond that floods every year. After several years of losing the crop to flooding I told him I wasn't too interested in planting it any more. The next year it dried up early and he had us plant it to soybeans. I had some seed left over so I donated it to the project. He paid to have it sprayed. When we combined it I put it in the truck and took it to the elevator all in his name. He looked at the ticket and said "just have them make the check out in Jim Bob's name"

I finished this, but had to come back with one more thought. You can't talk about Lyman very long with Doris coming up. I though I should maybe include a photo of Doris. This is the typical photo of Doris

Just like Lyman, you can't get her to slow down long enough for a photo

I could go on quite a while, but I have to get around. This setting reminiscing isn't getting the work done, and Lyman wouldn't have liked that.

My friend, we will miss you.

"You're doing what?" "Mowing roads" "IN NOVEMBER?"

2011-11-13T20:52:00.000-06:00

I admit it. I mowed roads yesterday. And if the rain goes around (which I doubt) I'll probably do it again tomorrow. Which begs the question "Why on earth would you mow roads in November?" Actually the answer is quite simple.

Drifting snow.

Now, I know that I can't stop all the snow from drifting. But I spent enough years driving a propane truck in the winter to know that a clean road ditch can often make quite a difference in how a road holds snow. Yes, we try and keep things mowed. Don't always get it done, but we try. But during harvest season very few people have the free time to mow roads and they get just alittle uneven. Not bad for the most part, but not even and smooth.

I plan (as in I actually intend to do it!) to if the weather permits mow roads after we finish fall tillage. Just a quick pass to mow off stragglers and provide as little place as we can for snow to catch. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.

But if my choice is this

or this,

I'll mow roads

Another one of those work all week and "What did you really do?" weeks

2011-11-11T06:10:00.001-06:00

I mean, Yes, we did accomplish something this week. But I have to think about it to realize it. We caught up with fall field work ... sort of. Aman may have some more fall plowing on some ground he rented for next year if everything works out.

We have 80 acres we have run the Soil Savers across we hoped to Tilloll, but the rains mid week pretty much stopped that. Aman got the new roof built for the pump house we raised this fall. Dad said repeatedly "I don't know why I made it like that". Instead of building an above ground structure he put the pump for the shop in an inground concrete box with a removable top. That was fine at Gramp's, but the river gets too high at Mom's for that to be a good idea. The top got to the point of needing replaced, so we raised the pump to ground level and built a 4 concrete block high wall around it. Then Aman built the new top.

(imagine this is a photo)

Aman signed the contracts renting the "County Ground" this week. That includes some ground at Darwin and a field near Marshall.

Thursday we finally got the injection pump back for the little 4WD. The service manager said there was nothing that wrong with it to keep the tractor from starting.

The Bosch pump uses a non-keyed shaft for the drive gear. He speculates the gear may have slipped slightly on the shaft, throwing the timing off. The symptoms sound just like what happened.

No, this isn't my office

My monitor is black, not white. But it gives an idea of what I need to spend several days doing.

Almost done with fall tillage

2011-11-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

It's sort of been "one of those" days. That part started yesterday afternoon, actually. I'm taking a First Responder class (technically now called Emergency Medical Responder). The schedule wasn't set by a farmer. It started in early October with classes Tuesday and Thursday evenings ... at 6 PM ... 25 miles away. I had committed myself to doing it, so I am trying to follow through. The T/Th schedule is REALLY inconvenient for me.

So anyway, I tell Aman I HAVE to quit rather early. Like 4:00 - 4:30 early. Pup gets out of school and comes down to drive Aman's tractor while he takes over what I was doing.

Yes, moldboard plowing.

I am getting cleaned up when I hear Pup holler on the radio the tractor seems to be losing power. We had trouble with crud in the fuel tank last year, so Aman takes his tractor in, grabs a set of fuel filters and heads for Pup's tractor.

Didn't fix it.

So a little after 7 this morning I call Biernbaum's to come look at it. Eric looked, said "Yep, it's broke" He said more, but that is the summary.

We decided to tow it out of the field so if it DOES rain we aren't knee deep in mud.

Aman wants this framed for his Dodge friends.

Eric removes the injector pump and Aman heads for Terre Haute, where Schied Diesel's shop is.

I'm back to moldboard plowing. When Aman gets back (We said tractor was down in the middle of the field, service manager said they would rush it ... "should be ready first of the week") he hooks the little Soil Saver onto the little Magnum and keeps going.

But the end of the day, when it is all said and done, we have caught up with all but about a day's worth of the fall tillage.

Harvest is DONE for 2011

2011-10-31T20:15:00.001-05:00

Well, unless someone wants some custom work done. We finished up double crop beans just after 4 PM October 31.

There was enough volunteer wheat it smelled like cut green wheat.

The question now is do we fertilize the volunteer wheat or dig it up? Anyplace the beans were thin (most of the field) we had a pretty good stand of wheat!

Yes, we'll dig it up. We thought about spraying it and no-tilling it next Spring, but it is rough enough we need a little leveling.

Our goal has always been finish harvest by Oct 31, plowing by the start of deer season. Double crop beans have tended to interfere with that plan. But we got all the beans in and the combine in the shed.

Seed stirring

2011-10-30T01:41:00.000-05:00

I was asked about the auger bit we use to stir talc in the seed boxes. You see, with our corn planter you are supposed to add talc as a seed lubricant.

Precision Planting has come up with a mix of 80% talc, 20% graphite, that works even better.

The purpose is to keep seed flowing evenly to help the planter provide a better stand. I know, sounds dumb. The treatments on some seed corn can be sticky, especially if the humidity is a bit high. Seed lubricants help fight that problem.

To get full benefit you need to thoroughly mix the powder to cover each seed. This is different than what you did with the old finger meter planters. Deere's recommendation was just scatter some graphite over the top and plant. Vacuum meters, especially eSets, benefit from better mixing.

We were at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville a couple years ago and came across a guy selling augers for cordless drills to mix seed.

It does a very good job, although it does drain batteries quickly.

I was talking with someone who wanted to know where we got it. I have since found it at Gempler's and other places called a Tanaka bulb auger.

Wish I could remember who asked me.

Well --------

2011-10-21T02:16:00.000-05:00

I came home from First Responder class ... sorry some bright government official has renamed it Emergency Medical Responder.

Did you ever notice when the government renames something it is never shorter? They then compensate by using a acronym for it. I haven't done much serious studying for 35 years. A 6PM Tuesday/Thursday schedule gets a bit tight.

So I came home from EMR class, sat down with Sue for a bit, who was watching a TV show, and read the mail. About 12:30 when I woke up I went to the office to catch a little paperwork.

Included in the mail were a couple grain checks for landowners. The property is owned 50/50 so I had 2 checks to mail to one address. I copied the checks, wrote a short note explaining what and why, stuck it in an envelope and sealed it, and stapled a copy of the note to copies of the checks for my files.

That was when I noticed the identical checks were for different amounts

To quote Charlie Brown "ARRRGGGGGGG!!!"

Something else to run down tomorrow. I love bookwork. I did just about clear my desk this week. Don't look at the one beside it.

Yield checks

2011-10-13T07:48:00.000-05:00

I don't have the bean plot results yet, but we have ran a few yield checks. All were Beck's Hybrids.

The first field was no-tilled May 7. 628A3 yielded 178.9 at 20.1% and 170.5 at 18.5%. The refuge was 6077RR, which went 188.9 at 15.3% and 176.5 at 15.6. When you include the sand hill, the gravel ridge, and the creek bottom (Yes, one of THOSE kids of fields) the field average was 108. Actually better than I feared.

The field across the road was conventionally planted a week later to 5716A3 with 6077RR as a refuge. The leaves on the 5716A3 were still green! The 5716A3 went 173.2 at 16.2% and 155.1 at 15.3% The refuge 6077RR was 175.5 at 14.6%. We were rained out before we finished.

We did a yield check at Mom's last week ... and the paperwork is somewhere on my desk. 5435 HXR/5435RR went 189 at ... I think it was 17% It was also the first commercial corn we planted. I hope the late planted does as well but I have reservations

Columbus Day

2011-10-12T06:00:00.002-05:00

We broke in a couple new truck drivers Monday. Pete and Nick were visiting down at the Prust Farm this weekend. They shot guns, they fished, they rode 4 wheelers, then they had some real fun. They rode in the combine with Aman cutting beans

Then they helped me move a couple grain trucks. Oh, and they got a couple really neat hats.

It was a busy day. We were catching up on patches and small fields. All told Aman was in 9 fields that day. Later that day we took out the bean test plot.

It was dark by the time we finished.

I don't have the results yet, but I believe 325 was the high yielder.

You know the spreader that USED to be in the TOP of the corn bin?

2011-10-05T06:05:00.002-05:00

Text message to Steve and Bob:

"You know the spreader that USED to be in the TOP of the corn bin?"

Bob:

"Uh oh"

Steve:

"Now is not?"

Me:

"Nope, is not anymore"

Which sort of explains this poor photo

That was taken inside a grain bin full to the bottom of the door with corn. After dark. Holding a flashlight in one hand and phone in the other. With a Band-Aid on one finger. In a bad mood.

Maybe I should explain how we got to that point.

Some background: Dad put this (or one just like it) in the bin when he built it. I have unkind memories from the mid 70's of being in top of this bin when it was -40F outside and 150F inside with 130% humidity scooping corn from one side of a 27 ft bin to the other because the spreader didn't spread it evenly. You think I am exaggerating? You obviously weren't there.

We started on corn Tuesday

and I was using a Mayrath auger I had bought at an auction earlier this year. It's a bit different than our Feterl's, but seems OK. It was rusty so I wasn't pushing it too hard ... especially after pushing it too hard and spending a half hour with a pipe wrench unplugging the swing-away. I decided after a couple loads to push a little harder. At which point the door on top popped open and a half a pickup load of corn ran off the bin onto the ground before I got it shut down. For those who don't deal with augers much, most augers have a door of some kind that acts as a sort of "relief valve" if the output gets blocked.

The auger had settled just enough the spout was too close to the motor in the spreader and the corn backed up. Great. So I climbed up to the top of the bin, shut the door, checked everything out, climbed back down, unhooked the hydraulics and hooked up the raise cylinder and raised the auger just a little. Hooked everything back, restarted and began unloading.

It seems to be OK, so I am walking toward the pile on the ground to scoop some corn when I realize it is sprinkling corn. Not raining, just a sprinkle. I suspect I know the problem, the auger is now just a little too high and corn is bouncing out. So I climb back up the bin.

Yes, the spout is just a little high and corn is hitting the bracket holding the spreader and bouncing out. Seems like the spreader is making a funny noise, so I'm looking at the spreader, listening to this noise, and trying to figure a good way to pull the spout about an inch so it is right in the middle of the spreader ... when the spreader starts bouncing up and down.

I am assuming everyone knows what a grain spreader is. Let me pause and explain. For the purpose of drying and storing grain it is best if the grain is level in the bin. Naturally, it falls in a pile. There are various mechanical devices to spread the grain evenly as it is put in the bin. (It's a good theory) Most of ours look similar to this

(I got that from a web site with a used one for sale ... and someone bought it!)

You can see how it is mounted. There are 3 arms bolted to the funnel that hang over the edge of the bracing in the hole in the top of the bin. It is designed to put a bolt in each arm to help keep it in place. Dad said it didn't need them. He was right, it just sets there. Has for 30+ years. Until now.

It starts bouncing up and down, one arm waving above the brace it is supposed to be setting on. And silly me tries to put the arm back in place. What I am going to do when I get it there I haven't thought about. On top of the bin, auger running a pretty good stream of corn, by myself.

These are the things that make a 911 call with a poor outcome.

I was unsuccessful. The arm comes back down, misses the brace, and starts to fall inside the bin. With me holding onto it. For a VERY short time. I realize this is a bad idea and let it go. While I begin the scramble down the bin to shut the door on the truck and turn off the auger it is falling inside the bin with corn trying to bury it.

So I am setting there catching my breath and send the above mentioned text message. And realize my finger is bleeding. Note to self: There WILL be First Aid Kits in ALL the trucks ASAP. ( I thought there were but apparently I was mistaken) I go to the shed and look in both the medicine cabinets Dad put in the tool room. Note to everyone: If a container says Band-Aid on there WILL be Band-Aids in it.

Not tip cleaners or little tools or small parts.

I find a Band-Aid, clean my finger and apply it, take a Band-Aid box full of tip cleaners and a can of paint out in the shop, paint the former Band-Aid box black, then go back to the bin.

Then I go find a flashlight and see what I can do. By the time I figure out what to do and get started, Aman has caught up with the dry corn, brought the combine in, walked back, got a truck and put it in the shed, then comes down to check on me. He gets there about the time I'm taking the poor picture at the top.

The spreader may not go back in this bin.

But we have time Wednesday to ponder on it, because we not only have caught the dry beans, we have caught up with the dry corn as well.

It's a hurry up and wait harvest season

2011-10-03T06:00:00.006-05:00

I'm beginning to feel like an undertaker. They set around waiting, then when they are needed everything has to be ready right now. This Fall is kind of like that. The most common thing I hear talking to other farmers is "Yep, I'm caught up with the dry___."

We have had some good harvesting days,

cut almost all the early planted beans

including some no-tilled into corn stalks

Planted wheat,

caught up with the harvested ground.

We have about 35 acres of wheat left to plant. But since it still has corn standing it may be a week or two before we get to it. I was actually impressed. We planted 225 acres of wheat in 2 days. Didn't get started until 9:30 or later because of heavy dew and getting things ready. First day stopped at Noon to go eat, second day Aman had to quit early for both a funeral visitation and a wedding ... and I was home by 6 PM.

This week we have maybe a day's running then we'll catch up to the dry beans again. I've not pushed a pencil to it, but my top of the head guess is we are about 1/3 done with first crop beans. We're trying to decide if we should plant a bit more wheat. I'm not sure if we ordered too much seed wheat or if the company sent us too much, but we have PLENTY of seed on hand.
If you need some seed wheat give Aman a call.

The new seed tender

(OK, the loaner until ours comes in) worked beautifully. Takes a bit of getting used to, but does what we hoped.

So we sit and get ready, then hit the ground running until we catch up, then we sit and wait some more.

Lost a friend today

2011-09-28T23:11:00.001-05:00

I haven't heard it "officially", but it appears we lost a friend today.

I didn't know him that well, but he and Aman were close. He bought an old pickup from me back in April and was one of Aman's seed customers. From what we are hearing Paul had gotten his grain truck safety tested and was on the way home when he had a heart attack.

I heard the ambulance call earlier today. Driver of a grain truck a mile or so from the elevator was gasping for air. Local first responder was on scene and called for ambulance. Then we heard CPR was in progress. The responding ambulance began transport and asked for a paramedic intercept. We could tell from the traffic it was not a good situation and wondered if it was anyone we knew?

A mutual friend made a comment on Facebook about him, then one of his friend responded with this:

"I was talking to him on the phone when it happened he was laughing and jokin' till the end ,then he said ''I'm gettin' light headed as fu#*'',...then he laid the phone down I could hear the ol grain truck driving down into the ditch,..."

I guess it shouldn't have been a big surprise. He had a heart attack earlier this year (late last year?) and had been a bit concerned about being able to farm this Spring. Still, you're never really ready.

Been down to ROC

2011-09-22T00:05:00.001-05:00

ROC's a kind of interesting place. There isn't much Ralph and Curt can't do. As Dad used to say, they can weld a **** to a shingle if you can hold it there. They put our blue truck together for us.

it had a few problems

But it turned out pretty good

When someone who shall remain nameless stuck the Bush Hog wheel in a culvert and literally ripped it off, ROC put it back together so well Aman forgot it had been broken.

(darn, forgot to take any pictures)

They also do field repair. This is what they started with for us a couple years ago

Yes, that motor is on the wrong side of the frame. It broke the mounts and flopped over instead of falling off. Nothing like welding in an irrigated bean field in the mud and water and heat all at the same time. When they got done you have to look really close to tell it isn't OEM.

Ralph has gotten good at Bush Hog repair this summer. He's put wheels back on, rebuilt drive shafts, changed blades ... had one in this week I'd have hauled to the scrap yard

(I decided not to embarass any one by taking pictures of it).

The other day I was getting a battery (they sell Interstate batteries as well)

and this was setting in the middle of the floor.

Curt had built 3 of them. No, it isn't a form for building scale models of pyramids. Ralph calls them trash cutters. You put them over the auger sump in a grain bin, and it keeps trash and chunks from plugging the auger. They seem to get a lot of interest in them in January and February.

Oh, how's farming going? We've cut about 70 acres of beans. Been figuring scale tickets. Field averages so far 39.87, 38.68, 46.88. Not bad for sand beans. Before we started I'd have sold you the whole lot for 30 and smiled all the way to the bank.

I agreed to spend some money

2011-09-14T17:12:00.003-05:00

Well, I agreed to spend some money today. I listed the bulk seed tender in an earlier post on AgTalk Classifieds and sold it with one phone call. The second guy that called was a bit disappointed, and I mentioned we had a Pro-Box tender we were thinking of selling.

He bought it!

Aman and I looked seed tenders the National Farm Machinery Show, at the Gordyville Farm Show, and the Farm Progress Show, so it isn't like we're jumping into this. We both really liked the looks of Clark's Easiload. Here is their 2 box low profile version

It has a poly auger instead of a belt conveyor, but our experience with them has been pretty good. At least as good as the air systems we have been using. The poly auger is a lot less bulky than the belt conveyors we have seen.it. After pondering a bit I made a big leap and ordered the 4 box trailer shown above. 3 boxes just barely fill the drill twice. if you have to stop filling to go load the trailer you haven't gained anything.

I declined the optional aluminum wheels

Selling the bulk seed tender

2011-09-10T06:18:00.000-05:00

I've listed the bulk seed tender on 3 different online classifieds, AgTalk, Machinery Marketplace, and Craig's List

Aren't you going a bit overboard ?

2011-09-08T21:45:00.001-05:00

We have taken a "pro-active approach" to waterhemp control.Maybe I need to explain just a little. One of our weed problems for years and years has been pigweed.

Everyone has them. It is just another weed, a bit of a problem but fairly well controlled. Down in the river bottom we have had a "high powered" pigweed.

It has smaller leaves, and several years ago we found it was actually called waterhemp. But was also "just another weed". We were wrong. It and it's cousin the Palmer amaranth

are the most potentially devasting weeds out there.

Yeah, I know, Mikey has fallen for some chemical company hype.

Not this time.

The big problems with these weeds (and I am going to lump them all together) is three-fold:

1) They germinate almost any time. Some weeds are early season problems, others are late season problems. These will take off and grow just about any time there isn't a frost in the ground.

2) They are extremely prolific. How prolific? Here is what Missouri Extension says: Waterhemp is a prolific seed producer, capable of producing about one-and-a-half times more seed than most other pigweed species. Waterhemp plants generally produce about 250,000 seeds per plant, although some plants can produce as many as 1 million seeds when growing under optimal conditions

Let's go low end, a quarter million seeds per plant. I see you shaking your head. Here is one seed

You remember Jesus parable of the mustard seed? It hasn't got much on waterhemp. And that seed can lay in the soil for a decade and still be viable. But like I said, we've had this for years. It's been an irritant, but not a problem. Until something new came along

Yes, Roundup came along. It controlled something like 99% of all weeds. There's where the numbers get us. Let's say you have 100 plants per acre. If you control 99% of them, and each can conservatively produce 250,000 seeds, that leaves 250,000 seeds per acre. Now. combine that with number 3.

3) These things have a natural resistance to Roundup.

So let's add all these up. They germinate all season long, they produce horrific amounts of seed, and they have a natural resistance to the most widely used herbicide on the market.

Aman and I are getting a bit proactive. I am afraid not enough, but we're ahead if a lot of folks. I walked .. I don't know, maybe 100 feet through the field to the irrigator pivot for Neal's some seed production. Coming back I got to pulling waterhemp. I had seen 2-3 larger plants gong in and pulled them. As I came back I pulled some smaller ones. Not too many.

This was in a place where you really had to be looking to find them. And if each of these just produced 2500 seeds

I know, it's a poor photo. But that one tiny little seed is in OUR field, not some online photograph In a field that had pre-emergence herbicide, post-emergence herbicide, was cultivated, and sprayed with glyphosate and 2,4-D a couple days before .Yes, it is scary.

Aman and I went to a Becks Seed field day, where a "weed guy" from Arkansas talked about what has developed in the south. Basically he put photos and experience in place of things we had just been contemplating. Or to put it another way he just scared the **** out of us.

So what are we doing about it?

We have been rotating our herbicide program, using a "conventional pre-plant" system in corn and a Roundup Ready system in beans. We are going to be more aggressive in a couple areas. The big change is next year we are planting all Liberty-Link soybeans.

What does that mean? It means more management needed, a hassle spraying, some very different weed issues. But hopefully it will help us to keep the amaranth family of weeds under control. Because by the time it gets to this, it's too late

How many months can we plant in ?

2011-09-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

Let's see, we planted in April,

May,

June,

July,

and now August.

Our August planting was CRP reseeding. I don't try to understand the government logic, I just follow their plan. We had a pretty good stand of cover crop. So we were told to spray it to kill it

and reseed it.

I told Aman not to calculate how many passes with a 7 1/2 ft drill it would take to do 18 acres.

The2 acres of "pollinators" we agreed to plant seem to be coming along

In 3 years our mid-contract maintenance plan calls for us to burn the field.

We still have September and October to plant in. That would mean we planted something in each of 7 months.

2011 Air Tour

2011-08-28T21:01:00.001-05:00

Every year the local Soil and Water Conservation Districts sponsor an air tour. For $30 you get a half hour plane ride to look things over. I try to go every year just for the fun of it. I didn't see a lot I didn't suspect or expect. But I did find a few curious things.

Look to the right of the road in the middle of this picture. See the dark green strip? I guess the fertilizer applicator made a double pass about 1 round in?

If you look just above the pond at the bottom of the picture there are some spots of down corn on a hillside with thin soil (even for us thin!) it doesn't show up very well this small, but there are streaks of down corn that appear to follow varieties. I striped my refuge in these fields. Going to have to do some research and see what is planted where.

Here is a field we spotted on the way here from the airport. Somebody may get a surprise.

The more you look the more you don't understand. For instance, the 2 strips to the right of center running crossways to the field that appear to be standing.

I had a pretty good idea where it was, so I drove past it on the way home. Here is what it looks like on the ground in a ways from the bins on the middle left side

Yuck.

Here is Gramp's and Mom's. Kind of shows what this year has been like for us. The road in the middle of the photo is north and south. We planted about 50 acres on the Northeast corner of the farm early. Later we planted the rest of the beans. The early planted behind the house are burning up from lack of moisture.

To the top right corn is 80 acres that is irrigated and planted to seed production. Well, sort of. maybe this shows it better.

The left side of the circle is Gramp's. The three different colors are the three plantings. We planted the north (left in photo) and west sides of the field, then a few days later planted more. To the east of the middle of the circle on the left side it is darker because that 11 acres or so is soybeans. It got to late for seed corn. lanting the seed corn I got the planter stuck about that dark spot in the middle of the circle.

Cameras do funny things. This field is twice as long as it is wide. Looks square in the photo. After it was planted and up I put the GPS on the 4WD Mule and tried to run around it and see how much area was in the unplanted low spot in the lower right corner. I had to pull out because I was afraid of getting it stuck.

Just for a change, this is a field of seed production that was harvested last week.

This is Mom's from the north. A square, reasonably level 160 acres. We planted it 4or 5 times and didn't replant any of it. That isn't planted on the contour. If you exclude the high spots the house and sheds are on there probably isn't 3 feet difference in height from the southeast corner to the northwest. It is planted how the soil dried this Spring. And you may notice a couple spots along the east side that were not planted at all. The light area running from the center to the upper left is not a glare on the window. That is a sand streak that will probably not even raise good weeds this year

HARVEST HAS STARTED !

2011-08-26T06:05:00.002-05:00

Yes, harvest has started in southeast Illinois.

Seed corn harvest, that is. NTR started picking for Syngenta on us Thursday the 25th. I'm told it is around 35% moisture. Stalks are really green. In fact, I irrigated it earlier this week!
They are running an Oxbo harvester with a 12 row head.

The chase tractors are Challengers.

They tell me they like the tracks tractors better for crossing irrigation tracks. The corn is picked on the ear with shucks intact. If possible the chase tractor and cart will run beside them and load directly.

If not, the picker will put it in the cart it pulls and then transfer to a dump cart. It then goes to the waiting semi tractor/trailer.

If you can pick 12 rows at 5 - 6 MPH and rarely stop to unload you can cover a lot of ground quickly.

They started about 8:30 and by dark had finished 166 acres in 3 fields. That is even more impressive when you consider Syngenta was doing some yield checks on a new seed treatment and had each field divided into blocks that had to be harvested separately

Just playing in the water

2011-08-22T00:31:00.001-05:00

I've said before, "the only thing worse than having an irrigator is needing an irrigator." This year may prove that. I was spraying around the edge of the fields at Gramp's Thursday. There were a couple little places the beans looked a bit dry, but overall things didn't look too bad all things considered. A couple days changed things a lot.

I was surprised how quickly things have changed.

By Sunday afternoon the sand streaks were showing up pretty well. I spent the afternoon messing with irrigators.

I had to park the Shawler's south system, then move it, then start it. Then I changed the oil in the Drake Place north system and started it. Then I started up Shawler north.

If we don't get rain soon things may get ugly in the bean fields.

From the road the corn looks fairly decent. Out in the field things change. However, it is too variable to make any predictions as to yield.

I was using a string trimmer today ..

2011-08-13T05:46:00.003-05:00

I was using a string trimmer today (OK, I know most people would call it a Weedeater, but I spent too many years with Xerox getting the difference between a trademark name and a common name beat in my head. it was technically an Echo string trimmer).

And like most times using one I thought of Grandpa Neal.

Why are they so associated in my head? That may take some "'splainin'" (You need to have seen some old "I Love Lucy" shows to get that)

Gramps was a life-long farmer. In fact, I don't recall anything ever being said about him doing anything else. He retired about age 65 ... but he was still on the farm. As a farmer he hated weeds in his bean field.

We were at dad's one day working and kept hearing this noise. We couldn't figure it out until finally we saw Gramps ... I'm guessing he would have been in his 80's ... out in the middle of a bean field with a Weedeater cutting off hemp dogbane.

So whenever I run one of these blasted things I think of Gramps.

My major accomplishment of the week

2011-08-06T07:00:00.016-05:00

It's been one of those spinning your wheels kind of weeks. I knew starting out it would be a short one, because this is reunion week. We have a big family reunion every year. A multi-day travel some distance reunion. We hold it on the farm my Great-Grandfather's lived on near Mt Vernon, Illinois.

Yes, I know we are unusual.

Getting together for several days with folks you sometimes barely know is sometimes interesting. And because of it I knew this week we would be pushed to accomplish much. Monday we caught up with some road mowing. We've gotten behind on that a bit for several reasons. The big one has been temperature. In an air conditioned cab it is really kind of enjoyable. But the blacktop roads have been so hot we felt it was had on the road surface driving tractors around if the need really wasn't urgent.

Monday we got a chance to catch up a little. Aman mowed the roads on the Prust ground west of Mill Creek. I mowed the lanes east of Mill Creek and Wilderness road and along the highway and around the Sycamore field with the Allis. Well, until I broke something. I don't think I have run the Allis and old Bush Hog a full afternoon for years that I didn't break something on it. Tuesday evening I used the M and the sickle bar to touch up a few places across from the Silver Moon

Tuesday we had some other things to do, changing oil in irrigation engines, things like that. I had cell phone problems, so I had to go to the phone store. Since I was going to Casey anyway I decided to look at trading my Mule ...

No, not a floppy eared 4 legged animal. My 2011 Kawasaki Mule XC610

It is a great tool. We really tried it out last Saturday going back to an irrigator pivot after a 4" rain. I do not think I could have walked to it. We just turned on the front wheels and drove through the mud and water with no problem. But it is slow. 23 MPH top speed. Working on irrigators a little more speed would be nice. The John Deere dealer had traded for a 2009 Kawasaki Teryx. It looks like this only it was blue

Twice the engine mine has, fuel injection instead of a carburetor, bucket seats, fancy wheels, nice ...

When I first started taking to Jerry (the salesman) about it he encouraged me to come drive it. I said "Aww Jerry, I've got a Mule, I've been around 2, 3, and 4 wheelers for over 40 years. I don't need to drive it." He still wanted me to come drive it. Since I was going to Casey to the phone store, and wanted to take the Ford to a car wash anyway, I loaded my Mule and went to Casey.

I now know why Jerry wanted me to drive it first. Quoting a magazine review of this thing: "I still cannot believe the ability of these units." It is just a bit scary.

I think if it were just Aman and I driving it would have been OK. But about the first time Sue got in it to do some work in the yard, hit the throttle and it ran off in the pond I'd be in trouble. And Sunday evening after the Church fishing tournament at our pond

I let a couple of my Jr High kids use the Mule to pick up and transport some things. I would not have let them behind the wheel of the Teryx

Another potential difficulty was engine access. I know it has one, I just never saw it. One review says: "Hood does not open without using screwdriver. Access to engine is a pain. Lots of push pins and screws."

So I went and got my phone fixed, washed the truck, and came home.

As for farming, the rest of the week has been pretty much a bust. That's OK, we needed a break. But I have a feeling we'll pay for it next week. My ToDo list is already over a page long.

So my major accomplishment this week was NOT buying a Mule.

Sounds good to me ....

You're doing WHAT ?

2011-08-03T06:00:00.003-05:00

Growing seed corn causes one to do unusual things. For instance, we planted at nearly 40,000 population (that's at least 1/3 more than normal for most folks around here) and put a 13th row on the planter to do it

To plant the desired pattern of 1 pollinator (male) row and 4 seed producing rows (female) with a 12 row planter you have 2 choices. You can either plant the male rows separately or add a 13th row. The 13th row is set up to plant half the desired population because when you turn around and come back through the field it is replanting on the row it just planted. It gives a pattern like this:

FMMMMFMMMMFMMMMF

That is great .... except they are not going to harvest the seed with a 4 row picker. So after detasseling is done and pollination is finished a contractor comes through and destroys the male rows. We used to do it ourselves, but the companies we have been growing for the last few years would rather do it themselves. So we sold our old Hagie Ag Tractor we used to knock down and destroy the male rows.

It had reached the point it wasn't profitable to use. With current fuel prices it cost $20 an hour just for fuel. We just let the seed company take care of it.

Yes, there is a lot of grass in the field. I took this from on top of the irrigator pivot. There is an area around the pivot you can't plant, and an open spot with plenty of water is a great place for fall panicum and foxtail. Now I can come in and spot spray some Roundup and clean it up.

So, we planted the half the male corn, then came back a few days later and planted the rest of the male and all the female. We've cultivated

and ran the aerator through it.

It's been sprayed

Actually, sprayed several times.

and detasseled

and the male rows knocked down

And will be harvested around 30% moisture, picked on the ear. .

It is an interesting crop

It's been a ride so far ...

2011-07-30T05:30:00.001-05:00

I realized it has been a couple weeks since I posted anything. What can you do in a couple weeks?You can replace your cell phone because the old one has gotten flaky. You can finish spraying.

You can enjoy 100 degree days

You can spend a week in VBS.

Actually you can do the 100 degree thing while doing the others. You can work down horseweeds taller than the hood of the tractor contract planting wildlife food plots

Talk about bringing back memories of river bottom farming!

And let's not forget irrigators and mowing roads and getting the yard ready for a church fishing tournament / cookout. Actually, we're kind of waiting to to survey the situation this morning on that one. We had nearly 3 inches of rain last night and I'm not sure what the pond and back yard will look like by tomorrow. I have a feeling my plans to burn the brush pile for a weiner roast are going to need changed. I still have one irrigator running because it is going to require the 4WD Mule to get to it

and I chose not to do that in the rain and in the dark with lightning popping all around

Oh, and the big happening since last time is the passing of Aunt Jean.

Yeah, we will be feeling that for a long time. Even though she has not been an active part of the farm a long time she was and always will be a part of it

I'm Baaaaacccckkk ......

2011-07-16T05:54:00.003-05:00

Frontier DSL was a very bad thing to say for a couple weeks around here unless you wanted to be scowled at. I was a bit hard to get along with. Sue was so tired of hearing about it you REALLY didn't want to mention it around her. But they have it fixed and working like it should and life is wonderful and the grass is green and the sky is blue.

So after being unable to post for two weeks what do I start with?

I have thoughts and pictures and ideas ... but I'll start with a temptation. Something I don't need and won't buy, but at times I wish I had a bit more spare money and was willing to spend it. A guy in SE Iowa has a tractor listed online for sale. A 1964 IH 806 diesel with clamshell fenders

If you know our family farming history you know Dad's first "big" tractor was just like this. A neighbor had decided he wasn't able to continue farming and Dad bought the tractor and some other equipment. I don't know what happened to it. My guess is it was traded for a 1456, but I really don't know. And I imagine if I owned one I would be a lot less sentimental. But it's kind of like Ivan's M

or Gramp's 560

I just kind of wish I had it. Not quite the same because I really doubt it is The One. Now if I could find the right 806 and could prove it I'd be a lot more interested.

Cutting wheat ... quickly and slowly both

2011-06-26T20:28:00.000-05:00

We got rolling in wheat this week, then ground to a stop.

We cut one field we know from experience took just about all day with the old combine. Aman pulled in the field at 12:55. At 4:55 we had the head on the trailer and started to the next field.

We're mostly done. Everything left is just north of town. But we had to wait on the neighbors to get theirs cut so we could cross them with the combine and three other little fields are too wet and getting greener.

Corn is growing good, except where there is too much water. Not too much I can do about it. You can barely walk across the field right now.

Did some irrigator maintenance, checking tire pressure and gearboxes. I've got a few tires starting to concern me

The bad part is Gary Bonesteel isn't in the business any more. The last tires we had replaced Gary replaced every tire on a 1300 foot system by himself in a morning and had time for a coffee break and still be back at the shop by noon.

It's June! cut wheat, cultivate, plant beans ... all at the same time

2011-06-22T05:50:00.001-05:00

Yes, I said cultivate. I realize some consider that a 4 letter word.

We (OK, Aman) ran through one of the seed fields Tuesday morning. I think he was convinced I was nuts. The corn was almost to tall to cultivate. The ground was wet enough to pick up on the tractor tires. The only thing out there were some grassy spots and some little bitty just emerged weeds. But those weeds were either tea weed or button weed. Yes, there was some damage where the guy driving the planter didn't get the second pass right on top of the first pass. But I think it was worth it.

Once Aman got started and I got oil back in the irrigator engine and got it moved I went back to the shed to hook up the Bush Hog and mow roads (I think it is one of the things Aman dislikes even more than cultivating). I looked south and saw ... a combine making dust? Then I saw another combine head down the road. So I got the green beast out and cut a sample. 17.1% I'd looked at RADAR and the weather forecast before leaving the house and expected to be rained out by then. So I called home and had Sue check for me.

Clear.

So ... do we cut or wait?

I took the 10 wheelers to the field and by that time Aman was finished. We ate lunch, came back a little after 1:00 and ... still 17%. Oh, and the elevator management informed us they couldn't take anything over 16.5%

I decided we should cut wheat, so Aman took off that way, I took the semi to the field and then started getting a bin ready and setting an auger. I got that done about the time Aman called to tell me 2 trucks were full. Came back to the field, took the semi to the elevator to check moisture ... and it was 15.8%. So I dumped in the elevator.

I think we need to do some tweeking on our grain handling. Staying ahead of this combine in corn is going to be impossible the way we have been doing it. We cut 50 acres or better by 5 PM when the sky fell. We had a half inch of rain in about 10 minutes.

Needless to say, I don't expect to cut wheat Wednesday.

But that is OK, because Wednesday we can try and figure out why the semi setting the yard at the shed won't start. And why the Ford 10 wheeler won't run. Or we could re-wire the 560 that caught fire and burned all the wiring up. And I have to replace the antenna cable on the GPS unit on the spray tractor.

Job security.

Did you get a release to put that on YouTube?

2011-06-14T06:33:00.001-05:00

Ahhhh! The joys of river bottom farming. Aman got the bean plot planted. We planted as much of the ground the river affected as we could yesterday. Still too wet underneath on about 60 acres. Most of it you could drive the tractor across. But when you raise your implement the weight pushes the wheels through the crust and into the mud. I stuck a shovel in the ground. For 3 inches it was hard, dry dirt. At 6 inches you could squeeze water out of it!

I watched the neighbor come down the road with his 40 ft interplant planter and pull in across the road from me. I thought "Oh, this won't be pretty". His first pass he made it 2/3 of the way through the field and it sank. He didn't get stuck, he sank it.

Aman came by about then and talked with him. He seemed in a pretty good mood for having 40 ft of planter and front wheel assist tractor buried to the planter frame. I told Aman later he should have asked for a release to put the video on YouTube. He said we should have Mom pop some popcorn and take a couple lawnchairs down to watch.

Funny thing is, they went and got a big tractor with lots of wide tires, pulled it out, and he didn't have any more problems.

It's like I mentioned, I could drive the tractor almost anyplace in the field, but the transport wheels on the implement had so much weight on them they pushed through the crust and sank in the mud. The river was down to 12 feet then bounced up to 14. It's 12 feet again and supposed to be dropping. Maybe someday we can plant the rest. I don't know if we will get done planting or just quit.

"You guys with irrigators sure are lucky..."

2011-06-10T20:31:00.001-05:00

Some comments are best ignored. Things like "Must be nice to ride around in an air conditioned cab listening to the radio all day" or "So what do farmers do the other 10 months of the year?" or "You guys with irrigators sure are lucky...".

All you can do is smile and agree while thinking to yourself "You dumb***"

Yes, I am lucky. I have a profession I chose to be part of. I was given the opportunity to do it ... twice. I think back to the things Gramps and Dad did and put up with. And I am lucky to have irrigation. I remember not having it. I keep reminding myself of that late at night sometimes.

This photo wasn't taken that late at night. But it is a reminder of what it can be like.

I should write a book. Actually I started it years ago and have probably lost my notes. I was setting at the restaurant one afternoon listening to some more experienced coffee drinkers talk and thought to myself "We need to write these stories down". I did some of them but not enough. And now Dad and Gramps are gone along with all their stories.

Things like Gramps driving an M and pull type corn picker from West Union to near Humbolt on New Years Day. No cab. No insulated coveralls. Grandma and the kids followed in the car and when he got so cold he couldn't stand it he'd get in and warm up. Yes, I am lucky.

No big things to report this week. We are done planting corn. OK, we quit planting corn. There is about 50 acres we were going to plant to corn that is going to beans. We still have maybe 100 acres to plant if it ever dries out in time. About half of that is dry enough if we can get to it. I think we may have to drive across planted corn to get to it. The field looks like an Illinois legislative district map the way it curls and curves around on a flat square 160 acres.

We are irrigating one end of the field while the other end is too wet to cross. There are some low spots in the field that were too wet when we worked them and are now cloddy. We planted them anyway and felt the need to give it a little water to help it along.

Not too many photos this week. You see one picture of mud drying, you've seen them all.

I guess it's still too wet in that spot ...

2011-06-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

Remember my post a couple weeks ago "When the neighbors on two sides have things all planted and my ground is still too wet, am I being to particular?" Well, we decided since the neighbors on all four sides had been planting maybe we should. Ground was too wet but we hit it with a disk and rolling harrow anyway. Let it dry a couple hours and hit it with the Tilloll and planted it.

Well ... most of it.

Yesterday the dry spreader got stuck in a mud hole (I WARNED them about it). I was disking to day and did something similar 75 feet away from it. I didn't sink so much as I lost traction.

The Calvary arrived shortly

Only broke 1 log chain pulling me out. Front tractor was going faster than the back tractor and something had to give.

But by 10 PM all 80 acres was planted. Aman said if I had told him this morning how good this field would look tonight he wouldn't have believed me.

"So what ya been doin' ?"

2011-05-28T08:18:00.001-05:00

Some questions you don't want to answer. I guess our biggest accomplishment this week was helping some folks who couldn't help themselves. That wouldn't be a bad epitaph : "He helped people who couldn't help themselves". As I discussed on my personal blog (http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com/) I got a call Thursday morning:

"I'm up here at (oldest couple in church)'s house. They really have a mess. Could you bring up your bucket truck?"
What am I going to do, say no?

Friday morning Aman and I are, well, to be honest we are finishing up from Thursday. The last load of limbs we decided not to unload in the rain. We ran the truck in the shed and closed the door and unloaded them on Mom's brush pile Friday morning. Phone rings, it was Mom:
"I'm over here at the cemetery. We need the loader and your truck. A tree limb blew off and hit some stones."
Actually, it wasn't a limb. The top blew out of a cedar tree.

It came from the tree on the left in the photo. The piece on the left hit the ground, dug a small trench, then blew another 20-30 feet

This was the big piece.

We had to cut it up in smaller pieces to get if off the stone. Fortunately, just as we were getting started Brian, Tom, and ... I forget Brian's son's name ... showed up to help. We piled it on the flatbed and Art's old trailer and took it to Mom's brush pile.

Since we were building Mom's brush pile so well I added to it later in the afternoon.

OK, maybe this shows it a bit better. It's been a long time since there were no trees between West Union and the York cemetery road.

If you look closely you can see the tree being hauled up the road to Mom's. I hated to see it go, but I heard "You ought to get rid of that tree" enough I decided to do it.

This week I also sold something we weren't using. Aman's cousin and I had been negotiating for months over the 496 disk. We didn't use it enough to have it around, and it got to the place we needed the shed space more than we needed thew disk. I told him if the Ford would handle it we'd deliver it, otherwise he'd have to come after it So it went for a drive.

That's pretty much our week. Oh, other than trying to fix our planter hydraulic problem.

Kelly from Casey JD spent 3 days not fixing it and telling us it was the tractor hydraulic pump. Farm Pride came down and checked it "Well ... it's a little low but I can't believe it won't do it". But on JD's recommendation we took the tractor to Farm Pride and had the hydraulic pump replaced. $4400 later we brought it home, hooked it up, same problem.

I think the Service Manager knew I was irritated when I called.

JD at Ashmore came down and Terry spent most of a day working on it. A lot of that time was proving an assumption. The assumption is all the parts and pieces are correct. We checked cylinders and plumbing and hose routing. A lot of part numbers didn't match the serial number of the planter. Terry thinks he has it narrowed down and will be here Saturday morning to rebuild a couple flow dividers.

Speaking of Terry, I better get going and meet him in a bit. Later Ya'll

Prust Farm update

2011-05-21T20:13:00.001-05:00

Art called this evening asking how things were going this year? My best answer is slow. Fields are not drying like usual. Normally you know from experience which fields will dry first and which will be wetter. The driest fields on the farm right now are the 2 we normally plant last!

I've been working on a secure site for the farm, but it just does not work to suit me. So I'll post a few photos and some details here for now

The CRP along the highway was signed in the new program last year.

Part of the requirements are we soil test, burn or mow, then spray and kill all existing vegetation, fertilize if needed, and reseed. I took soil tests earlier this Spring. Sure was glad I had the Mule because there was water standing on about half of it on the side of a hill!

In order to increase the "points" I agreed to plant 2 acres in "pollinators". That's a $2 word for wildflowers. I guess I should have looked a little longer at what they cost. I have a box setting under the desk about 14x14x16 with 6.5 pounds of wildflower seeds in it ... $1100 worth of wildflower seeds. I guess it will be pretty. Here is a copy of the tag on the sack showing what is in it:

The pollinators are to be planted in a 109 foot wide strip next to the highway.

They need planted by June 15. The rest of the reseeding needs done before May 15 or late summer. It will be late summer now. I mowed the part along the highway this week. I got the mowing tractor stuck on the top of the hill. Not the bottom, the top. At least it was away from the highway so it wasn't so visible. Aman fertilized it Thursday afternoon, and I proceeded to spray the 109 foot wide strip with glyphosate. If you look closely at the photo above you will see tire tracks halfway up the hill where I spun out pulling the sprayer.

We have some corn planted. Lenore would not have liked it. We no-tilled the field east of the house, and minimum tilled the field north of the house. That means we worked it once last fall and no-tilled it this Spring. No, she would not have liked how this looks

But it protects the soil better and (we hope) helps conserve moisture better. The corn is up and looking pretty good.

North of the house was planted a week later, so it isn't quite a far along. I was able to work the north field on the Bradbury Place today

It is a little wetter than I like to work ground, but drier than a lot of fields I see being planted around here. A neighbor and I discussed that yesterday. He said of it keep raining these mudded in fields will be OK, but if it quits they will be in trouble. I'm trying to be patient and timely. With the Tilloll you can go from green to ready too plant quickly

If it doesn't rain Saturday night we should be dry enough to plant it Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. I tried the east 80 and the south field on Bradbury, but they just aren't dry enough. The knob on the west 80 is fairly dry, but the rest of the field around it is very wet. I also go the field across from the Silver Moon worked Saturday

Again, a surprise. Last year we couldn't even drive across the northwest side until August. I worked up all but one small piece. I even worked up the field behind Atwood's. The ditch work we had done a couple years ago helped immensely.

So the quick summary is we have about 100 acres of corn planted, about 140 to go, and no beans planted. If the rains miss us this week we should get most of that planted by the end of the week.

"When the neighbors on two sides have things all planted and my ground is still too wet, am I being to particular?"

2011-05-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

I stopped and talked to a neighbor today. He was greasing his planter, which hasn't been in the ground this year. I was going to pick up limbs along a tree row.I asked him something along the line of "When the neighbors on two sides have things all planted and my ground is still too wet, am I being to particular?"

His response was along the lines of "No, you're just using the good judgment your Dad and Grandpa taught you. Working ground wet is fine as long as it keep raining. One of the days the Big Man is going to turn it off."

I've spent most of my day in the field. Picking up limbs, spraying Poison Hemlock, looking at a problem requiring heavy equipment with a contractor, just looking. My driest field is one I usually plant last. It is driest ... except for where you pull into it. There is no other way in I almost got my 4WD Mule stuck there.

I have a couple others I could work, but only the high spots. I looked at a couple fields that have been planted and the neighbor is right. If they don't get rain this weekend it won't be pretty.

So I'll ask this of other farmers on here: How do you handle waiting for the ground to get "right"? How do you decide?

New additions to the fleet

2011-05-06T23:46:00.002-05:00

I'm tired of talking about rain and flooding and not being in the field. How about an update on changes to our fleet this winter? Our first change was replacing the 74 Ford tandem

with a single axle semi.

The Ford is a good truck ... for a 35 year old truck. We still have the Ford setting around, but it has a For Sale sign on it and is listed in a couple classifieds. I took it to Knowles consignment auction, but all that was bid was $3000 and I said I'd take it home and part it out before I'd take that. I have it priced at $10,000 but I am VERY negotiable.

Our next move was replacing a couple older pickups, the flatbed and Old Blue (you can see both the flatbed and Old Blue in this photo)

We really didn't use either much. The flat bed doesn't like me. Aman can get in and it starts and runs and smiles at him. I get in and it won't start, doesn't run good when it does start, and I end up frowning. I raised my hand at an auction when I should have said I was waving at someone and bought a Ford F500 and gooseneck trailer.

Old Blue was a good truck, we just didn't use it. After we decided to sell it I got it out to clean it up. It had been driven once in 3 months. I sold it to one of Aman's seed customers and bought a Jeep Wrangler.

Paul Wilson had used it as his winter project. He went through the engine, overhauled it, replaced some key parts, cleaned up the wiring, and ended up with a pretty nice rig. It's just a 4 cylinder, but should get reasonable mileage, be great for working with irrigators, carrying a few bags of seed corn or some tools. I think it will be Aman's farm vehicle. It should get around the fields a lot better than Old Blue.

Speaking of blue, I also replaced 2 ATV's with a new blue Mule UTV

I pondered on this more than all the rest together. We had the Kawasaki 220 Dad bought about 15 years ago and the Polaris 330 I got last year through Beck's. Both were OK little bikes, but not really what we needed. I went to trade them for a used, bigger 4WD ATV, but decided that really wasn't what we needed either. We needed to be able to carry 2 people, tools, cargo, etc anyplace we needed to go. So far the Mule has lived up to all that. I started spot spraying Hemlock this week.

It handles the 15 gallon sprayer a LOT better than either of the old ones. I actually feel safe spraying with this. With the others the bike was overloaded, unstable, and actually unsafe.

I think I'm done buying for a while. I've spent more on the fleet this winter than I EVER have. But we also have things in a lot better shape and are much more usable and hopefully reliable.

Hey Dad, How wet is it there?

2011-04-28T21:11:00.003-05:00

Here are a few photos to give an idea what it's like here.

This was Liffick Corner Wednesday morning. It's a couple feet deeper now. Looking from Mom's with the binoculars the sign is just out of the water.

Looking northwest from the Milo Prust bridge on Mill Creek Thursday morning. That is supposed to be a cornfield.

550 Road/2100 Street (corner at the church road) looking northeast Thursday morning

about 1/4 mile east of the above photo. The photo at the top of the page was taken here. The water is crossing the road over 1/4 mile wide here

Looking toward Ivan Cline's house Thursday afternoon.

Looking across Illinois 1 at Walnut Prairie on Thursday afternoon

450 Street/York Road (Don's) looking toward the bridge Thursday evening. Look closely at the gray Herron standing in the middle of the road fishing

Another view

looking north from the last photo at the water coming out of Mill Creek. The stream is about 2 feet higher than the field here.

It's going to be a long planting season

I'm tired of being saved from myself ....

2011-04-23T20:47:00.000-05:00

We bought a new drill press recently. Pretty nice drill press ... even if it did come from Harbor Freight. But one thing that just drove me up the wall was the chuck key. Apparently somebody sometime left the key in the chuck and got hurt or something. Because it came with a spring loaded pin in the end of it

It causes the key to pop out of the chuck whenever you do not push in against the spring. Sounds like a good idea, but it is a real pain. Because unless you are putting pressure on it you can't tighten the chuck. But it was a simple fix.

I'm all for safety, but at some point common sense needs to kick in as well.

2011-04-17T21:26:00.001-05:00

We added something to the fleet I've been wanting for a while. Friday Aman went to Fowler, Indiana and brought home a trailer with a seed vac and a 3 seed box frame on it.

It allows us to put 3 seed boxes on a trailer

and run the contents into a drill or planter with the seed jet.

Why does that excite me?

I can use it for corn, beans, or wheat. No need to touch a bag, no need to fill a seed tender, no need to pull a gravity wagon to the field with a tractor.

The opportunities are endless ...

2011-04-11T06:26:00.001-05:00

I'm setting here at 5:30 trying to decide which opportunity to pursue today. I've been awake since about 4 when thunder woke me up and I decided to get up and unplug the computers. I went back to bed for a while but wasn't resting so I go up. To answer your question, I have the DSL modem plugged in by itself and am using the laptop via wireless.

After my conversation with Syngenta Jeff Friday I decided I needed to figure out a way to put a Kinze unit on the planter as a 13th row.

We can rob one of the toolbar or use the one I bought at the Paris Young Farmer's sale. So Saturday morning started in. My first idea was just use the bracket for the IH unit. and make new tabs to bolt to.

Great plan, except the IH unit is ground driven. The drive shaft is directly behind the mount in that picture. Plan B was mount the IH bracket under the planter frame and bole the 7x7 tube that came with the Kinze unit to it. Great idea if we cut the mounts off for the markers.

Yes, that is the planter serial number tag attached to that bracket.

So now we are to plan C. I'm going to see if ROC can make a heavy plate to weld to the 7x7 tube to bolt to the planter frame and then bolt the Kinze unit to the 7x7 tube. But that will have to be Ralph because I haven't got the material to make it from or the torch to cut something that thick.

Next project.

I need to decide which tractor to put the sprayer on and get it installed. I was going to use the 3010, but have 2 problems. First, I'm not sure it has the power to pull the sprayer loaded. Second, I was playing with the 3010 Saturday afternoon and when you crank the engine sometimes something goes clank. I'm not a John Deere mechanic but that doesn't sound right. So I rolled it under the shed roof and told Aman we had a project tractor for him now. Since we aren't going to use it to plant male rows I guess we need to put the 7120 Magnum on the sprayer. But first we have to get the planter put together and out of the way. It is parked in front of the sprayer.

I got the dirt fender bracket fixed for the Tillol ... but the assembly weighs too much and is too awkward to handle to do it by myself.

The 966 is torn down in the corner waiting for the steering motor, which I removed and took out to Farm Pride for repair. And I have crop insurance paperwork due this week, plus NFIRS reporting for the Fire Dept and tax withholding payments.

I found a dealer in Dyersburg, TN who has the closing system attachments I want.

Dyersburg ... go to Arkansas and turn left. It will take a long day to go there and come back. And farmer at Renssalaer, Indiana had a set of seed box holders s like I've been thinking about.

Again, a full day trip.

On the other hand, after last night's rain I'd say we are out of the field until Thursday at the earliest. And Aman is back so something might get done. And the lightning seems to have went away so I can turn things on again. Later Y'all

The smoke got out

2011-04-08T19:50:00.002-05:00

Did you know electronic devices work by smoke? It's true! Think about it. Everything is working well until something breaks and lets the smoke out. Then you have to get new parts with new smoke in them.

I was trying to drill a couple holes Thursday when I let the smoke out of the motor on the drill press. Lots of smoke.

It is a made in China drill press. Everything on it is metric. I have no problem with that. I kind of prefer metric personally. But I don't think I have any old motors setting around with metric shafts. So I went down and talked to Ralph. He suggested I might be better served just replacing the whole press. It probably wouldn't cost much more than a motor if I could find one.

I pondered on it most of the day. I came home, ate supper, and Sue I talked about it. We jumped in the big red Ford and went to Harbor Freight. I bought the biggest, heaviest, hardest to handle drill press they had in stock. I was really glad we brought the Ford, because I don't know the box would have fit in the Dodge.

Friday I took the Ford to the shop and slid the box off on the Hyster. I took all the pieces and parts out and was looking them over when Mom came in. So we set up the drill press. The instructions were very detailed. The only problem is they changed how they packed and assembled it but failed to change the instructions. But we figured it out. The biggest problem was getting the head on top of the column. We used a couple lawn mower straps to pick it up with the floor crane and set it where it should go.

Oh, and this is for Mom

In the OH $#^&! department, talked with Jeff from Syngenta today. Everything we have is "plant the male first" I can't describe how happy that makes me (I know, sarcasm doesn't work online very well). To be honest I feel a little taken advantage of. I bought a 2 row male planter from Syngenta this winter. Then they offered to let me use the 3 row as I needed for storing it. Now I haven't got a use for them. However to be honest it isn't their fault. If I had RTK autosteer I could use the 3 row to plant male first then come back with the 12 row to plant the female. But I don't have it ... yet. It's beginning to look like if I want to keep producing seed corn I may have to go to autosteer.

Tuesday

2011-04-05T22:32:00.001-05:00

I hate waiting for service people. Maybe it's something inherited from Dad. Maybe it's from doing service work for several years. But I was taught if you are expected someplace and find you will be late to call. That's why I found it a little irritating to be waiting for the internet guy. 35 minutes after he was supposed to be there he called. "I'm at 2200 north and 1400 east..."

I said "What? You went through Marshall?"

"I don't remember going through Marshall."

We talked a little when I realized he was still in Crawford County. He made it, changed out some equipment, and got Mom back online.

After lunch I had to run a couple errands, then I took the steering pump off the 966 and Sue and I took it to Farm Pride.

I really did more than it sounds.

Another rainy Monday

2011-04-05T07:56:00.002-05:00

My plans for Monday were to get the 9270 out, hook on to the disk, and dig up Nash. Well ... that was the plan Saturday afternoon. After Sunday night and Monday morning I probably won't do that this week. That pretty much describes my Monday accomplishments.

After doing a couple things in the office I went to Darwin and picked up Cynthia, then went to Mom's. I think she enjoyed the company a lot more than setting on the porch watching it rain, but she really wanted to be close to me. I put together a sign I was working on for the Silver Moon field. Someone has been crossing the wheat field on a 4 wheeler. I finished it when Paul called wanting to look at Blue. So I took Cynthia home, talked to Bill at Bunker Hill a minute, then went to West Union.

Paul looked it over, drive it, and decided he wanted it. That was kind of bitter sweet. I needed to get rid of that pickup, I don't need this many setting around. But it was a good old truck that just did whatever I asked it to. I hope it does well for Paul. I get this uncomfortable feeling selling vehicles to people I know.

My early afternoon was spent with insurance again. We got the new policy in the mail and I had to go over it and make sure everything was as we understood it ... like you really understand insurance. There were a couple things needing clarified, so it took a couple phone calls.

I discussed the 3010 not going into reverse like it should on AgTalk (http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=225158) I decided to check it out.

I did find one place the linkage was worn

and a couple places it was a bit sloppy, but nothing I wanted to tackle where it sat. So I decided to replace the steering wheel. I bought a new one on ebay. Someone gave me a center cap they found laying on the ground after Shannon's sale where it had been lost. Great idea ... but it will involve heating the nut to get it loose.

A guy online has a couple seed box holders for sale on the AgTalk classifeds (http://agtalkplus.com/?q=node/144440).

I called him and asked about them. He said "Didn't I talk to yo a couple weeks ago.?" Ummm... maybe ?

I took the broken bracket off the Tilloll dirt fender and took it to the shop. Made a repair part ... except it needs a hole drilled in spring steel. I probably ruined my new bit before I realized the problem. I'm going to see if Ralph can punch it for me.

So I decided to pull the steering motor on the 966 to get it repaired. First step, remove steering wheel. Yes, another steering wheel. The nut came off easily. Never did get the wheel off. I pondered on this and decided to look in our I&T shop manual. I looked in the cabinets, in the safe, in Dad's office ... I never did find out I&T shop manual.

That is pretty much how my Monday went. Tuesday starts out waiting for a computer tech for Mom's internet.

FRIDAY ! Friday ... friday

2011-04-01T19:31:00.001-05:00

Hard to translate echoes to the written word. I'm trying something different today. I'm starting this early in the morning and scheduling it to publish later. I'll come back at various times and edit and add to it.

Good theory anyway.

Today's schedule includes cleaning up old blue, taking out the radio, etc. Sue and I have some errands to run in Terre Haute this afternoon, I may need to run to Marshall this morning and meet with a banker or a few minutes.

So far today I've written up a rental agreement on some farmland, faxed it the landowner and talked to him twice, done payroll, and eaten breakfast. SO I'll save this and see y'all later.

9:30 OK, Plan B. Banker said his schedule got changed, so we rescheduled for Wednesday. I stopped and checked on the black pickup. No answers yet. I decided to try hooking the little goose neck trailer to the 550. It just barely clears ... close like the bed will scrape the paint on the jack when it turns tight if everything is not setting just right. I backed the trailer in the shed and painted the ramps Aman rebuilt. I'd take a picture but black paint just doesn't lend itself to photography very well.

10:30 Now that I've had my mid-morning caffeine break I think I'll pull it out and run Blue in, uninstall the radio, clean out the cab, and see if I can get the name off the door.

19:30 (7:30 PM) I got the radio and lights off Blue, peeled the name off the doors, cleaned out the cab ... and I am STILL getting broken glass out of it from when I slid the table through the back window. Oh, you don't know about that ? Good ...

We parked it in front of Ron's with a sign in the window.

After noon I checked on Cynthia, went to the bank, then on to Terre Haute to Specialty Graphics to pick up the door lettering for the 550. When I got back I Goo-Gone'd the doors on the 550 and removed the adhesive from the IFTA stickers.

Seemed like I did more before I wrote it down.

Learning how not to do something

2011-03-31T21:34:00.003-05:00

I've heard it said learning how not to do something is as much success as doing it correctly.

Well, in that case I'd say Thursday was a success.

I started out taking care of some Fire Dept stuff. Took care of some paperwork, ordered some batteries, etc. Did a little research on DeeZee nerf bars. I moved the Mayrath auger to Gramp's, we'll be needing space in the yard at Husi's. Put the radio mount together for the 550. The concept is pretty good, the finish is kind of lacking

I didn't have to drill any holes and it's off the floor. Mounted the antenna on the fender instead of drilling a hole in the roof

At least I finished something.

The pump on the hoist wasn't working. Ralph looked at it and said the relay needed replaced. So I replaced it

The relay works now. Motor still doesn't.

I decided to try and mount the nerf bars Aman brought down. From my looking online it appears they are for a Chevy. F550 brackets are a lot different. I looked and measured, made a template, cut a plate, didn't like it and made another. Cutting, drilling, bolts, tools, wrenches, Adam would have loved it. I got the front mount on one tube, then ut some weight on it to try it out. It flexed too much. So I took everything off, put it back in a pile and did something else.

Maybe Friday will be more productive.

Wednesday 3-30-2011

2011-03-30T20:04:00.001-05:00

I'll be posting a little more often for the next week or two so some folks can keep track of what's happening down here on the farm. Today Aman and I investigated an opportunity. We have been asked to farm a little piece of land that we were not very familiar with. It's basically a high spot in the low river bottoms. It has wheat on it now. In exchange for farming it we would have to plant some wildlife food plots. We took a ride on the Mule to look at it. Snowing, blowing, cold, windy, winter weather. Unfortunately, we were unable to look at the food plots o see what is involved. We decided to try it for this year and then decide before next year whether to continue or not.

I worked on the F550 off an on all day. I mounted a 2-way antenna on the fender, ran the coax, and then started figuring out how to mount the radio. I had to built a bracjket for the radio, them build a mount for the bracket to the dash. It involved hammering and cutting and drilling and grinding and welding ... Adam would have loved it. It is currently hanging in the tool room letting the paint dry. About 1/4 inch of paint makes even my welding look passable.

Sue and I ran to Marshall for lunch .. I had never driven the 550! After lunch I had t swing past the insurance office and sign some papers, went to Wal-Mart and had a key made for the 550. One key. That is all they had in stock!

While waiting for the paint to dry I made the Mule into an official Fire Dept vehicle. I clamped a piece of scrap steel to the roll bar and stuck the magnetic blue rotating light on it. We had a controlled burn of some CRP scheduled for this afternoon.

It got set back a little bit but turned out to be a near perfect day. Warm, very slight breeze, sunshine ... Yes, this lovely Spring day was the same day as the lousy winter weather in the morning. I love Illinois weather.

That is about all that happened here today ... so far.

Later Y'all

You bought WHAT ?

2011-03-29T05:15:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in my blog (see Wonderings from Walnut Prairie) that Aman and I had been truck shopping last week. We looked at everything from Rangers to Hummers but nothing really jumped out and said to me "I can do things for the farm that are not being done". Until Saturday. Saturday I went to Shannon's auction. I was kind of interested in his truck.

2006 GMC Sierra 2500HD w/ SLT pkg, Black 4-dr, 4WD, Duramax/Allison, tires 95%, short bed, leather int., 5th wheel hitch, alum wheels, 90,xxx miles, Bose stereo, capt. chairs, console, rear bench seat, all power ... a really nice truck. I just checked, retail Blue Book on it is $32,000.

I'd said all along the only way I'd buy a black truck was if it was a REALLY good deal. I bid it to $19,000 It went for just a little more than that. A REALLY good deal. Just one I wasn't comfortable with.

There was also some consignment equipment. 2002 Ford F-550, Corn Pro gooseneck trailer, Cat D-4 dozer. I'd looked at them ... not too seriously but they were setting there and I looked them over. And the more I looked at the truck and trailer the more I thought "This could do some things for us we can't do right now." I got an idea in my head of my top dollar amount ... and got both of them.

The fact is is red didn't hurt.

You know how you always see scantily clad models in car magazine photos. Well ... we didn't have models or the weather to be scantily clad. But we do have Mom standing on the bed.

Aman had truck trouble this morning, so we ran his truck up on the trailer then dollied it off and he used the truck to deliver seed corn

The long term strategy now is when the Dodge turns all 4 wheels in the air and dies to replace it with a gas mileage truck. I'm in the process of cleaning out old Blue so we can sell it, as well as a couple flat bed trailers we probably won't need now.

Oh, I think Aman is really glad we have the forklift, too Here is one of the varieties he was delivering

Yes, 68 pounds per bag.

Hope I didn't order any of that

Sometimes its good to be an ***-hole

2011-03-23T06:28:00.000-05:00

I have an online reputation concerning one issue. Using PVC pipe for air lines is quick, easy, inexpensive, and very, very dangerous. The problem is when (not if, but when) it bursts it doesn't just split open like steel or copper. When PVC fails it shatters into very sharp shards, kind of like shrapnel. If you happen to be in range when it fails the results can be at least devastating if not deadly.

This is an ongoing topic on AgTalk. About every 6 month it somehow comes up. We had a heated discussion last June about this (see http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=172363) in which I ... I can't say I was wrong but I will admit to not conducting myself diplomatically. Sunday someone posted a new response to that thread saying

"Just visited a shop where their pvc air line exploded. There is a good chance it will fail and it will do it when you least expect it just hope know one gets hurt."

So I decided it was time to reopen the subject

http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=222082

I was more polite this time. The interesting thing is the different responses between then and now. Back in June I had people wanting to argue with me. This time I had several responses similar to this:

"Thanks Mike SE IL I will be taking the PVC pipe I use for air lines out of my shop you my have saved someones life Thanks again"

Kind of makes being an ***-hole worth it

Shannon Strohm machinery auction

2011-03-21T19:27:00.000-05:00

I told a friend I would post a link to Shannon's sale bill, because I couldn't remember the auctioneer's URL (It's http://www.auctions2appraisals.com/auction.htm ). The sale bill is a pdf file downloadable at http://www.auctions2appraisals.com/auction_flyers/kraemer/Strohm_Equip_Salebill_A.pdf

Photos at http://www.auctions2appraisals.com/auction_flyers/strohm/SlideShow/index.html
and
http://www.auctions2appraisals.com/auction_flyers/strohm/Dynamic/index.html

The first sale is over

2011-03-20T14:47:00.003-05:00

Shannon's land auction was Saturday. I bought a couple smaller fields but the others brought more than I could wrap my feeble mind around. At some point the prices just become numbers.

I was able to purchase the ground between Route 1 and the blacktop.

Most I ever gave for ground.

Here is how it went:

The total at the end of the sale was $1,079,650, but there was a 6% buyer's premium to add in to get the purchaser's actual cost:

Tract     description     price     buyer

1 House     $37,220     (deer hunter)

2 Around house         $174,900 Macke Farms
$4976 per tillable acre

3,4 between highway and blacktop combined $47700     me
   $3,207 per tillable acre

5 west of highway south of pond $503,589 Andy Huffington
   $5,542 per tillable acre (typo corrected)

6, 7, 8, 9 Pond and north combined     $379,109 Mike Huffington
   $4467 per tillable acre

Sometimes it's what you don't see

2011-03-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

Look closely. What don't you see ?

Closer

Oh! Now I don't see it !

We've talked about it for a couple years. Wednesday we took a deep breath and removed a landmark. The old grain bin we called the oil shed. I don't recall it ever being use as a grain bin. Storage for feed, seed, chemicals, motor oil, but never grain.

And a show of hands:

How many of us have bumped our head walking in or out of the door on that bin?

We talked about trying to move it someplace else, but in the process of emptying it I found something I had never seen in that bin before ... mice.

Mice had finally found a way in. Aman may take some of fill under it home for the boys sand box. I think Gramps would approve of that. It is the smallest size pea gravel I have ever seen.

Look what followed us home ...

2011-03-15T21:45:00.000-05:00

Aman and I took a drive Tuesday. A pretty good used sprayer followed us home. It's not everything we might want, but it is paid for. It has hydraulic booms, a radar controller

A rinse tank

and some other interesting features.

If we get busy and need something sprayed we can afford to call our local custom applicator and tell them to have at it.

It's a 60 ft boom Hardi. It's kind of interesting, It started life as a pickup sprayer. So it is pretty much self-contained including a Honda engine to run it.

The guys who had it put it on a frame and made a pull type out of it. You really have to look to tell it isn't factory. One other thing we liked is the wheels follow the tractor tracks.

When I called and talked to Steve (the guy selling it) about it I asked where he was. Turns out they weren't very far from Hamm's Grove Church. In fact, one of the brother's in-laws farmed Grandpa Robert's farm a long time ago. When we came home we drove out the drive, turned right and stayed on the blacktop all the way to Belle Rive.

Air compressor

2011-02-24T21:02:00.000-06:00

Dad's shop air compressor locked up last year. We replaced it with a Harbor Freight compressor. It worked, but we didn't have the capacity to run air tools like we needed and it was so noisy you couldn't talk in the shop when it was running. We have a small air leak and when it kicked on in the middle of the night Mom was hearing it in the house. We've looked and looked at compressors. Harbor Freight, Tractor Supply, Sears, Rural King, Lowe's, Menard's on and on and on. Made in China, noisy, lightweight, throwaway. It got to the point I don't think Sue wanted to hear the words "air compressor" again.

I had heard a bit about Eaton on AgTalk. I checked out their web site (www.eatoncompressor.com), talked to a few people, pondered on it a while. I liked what I saw. They are not necessarily 100% US made, but a lot more than most.

Aman and I went to Louisville to the farm show last week. One of my intended places to visit was the Eaton booth. We stopped, we looked, we listened (they had one setting running in the booth!), we were impressed. 5 year warranty, 19 CFM at 100psi, 80 gallon tank, 145 maximum psi, 710 pounds. I took a deep breath and ordered one. It came today.

Only problem is, the road is posted for 10 tons. I think the truck would have been OK, but to keep peace in the township we met the truck in town and loaded it on Aman's pickup.

If you think it looked big in the semi you should have seen it in Aman's pickup.

Now where to put it? We want to put it in the tool room. They recommend installing them in an area that doesn't freeze, and that is about our only choice. But until we find a new home for the lathe there isn't space. So temporarily we put it overhead with the old compressor. Aman brought over the Toyota forklift and we were able to get it fairly close. Not where we intended, there was just no way to maneuver it in, but we got it in the loft. It just does fit.

We left it bolted to the pallet to spread the load out.I screwed the pallet to the floor so it wouldn't vibrate off in mid air. We had some 4 conductor wire we bought at an auction and some Bub Young hydraulic hoses.

OK, maybe I need to stop and explain that. Bub was Grandma Millie's sister's husband. Bub was ... unique. One of his business ventures was hauling refuse out of factories around Mattoon. Often times Bub would save treasures he stumbled across and bring them down to Dad and Gramps. He got a bunch of new hydraulic hoses that Blaw-Knx for some reason had discarded and brought them down. They almost never fit anything.

We've stumbled over them for years, odd size, odd length, but today I was able to connect 2 of them together with a pipe coupler and use them to hook up the compressor to the air system. Aman disconnected the cable to the old compressor, connected this one, and we were in business.

Mom was impressed

Actually, I was too.

I guarantee one thing, nobody's going to steal it unless they bring a forklift with them.

NFMS 2011

2011-02-17T22:06:00.000-06:00

Thursday Aman and I went to Louisville to the National Farm Machinery Show. We walked a lot, saw a lot, I'm sure we missed a lot. I went with a few objectives. One was not getting totally disoriented like last year. I printed off maps and lists and figured out where the major displays were, as well as where certain booths were at I wanted to visit. For instance, I wanted to visit some of my AgTalk acquaintances at Dawn, Jensen Equipment, Soil Max, Oregon Seed, etc. I also had a couple booths I wanted to visit, such as Polar Air.
We made the show in good time, found pretty good parking, even kept an idea in our head where we were! I was wearing my fluorescent orance jacket and hat with a big AgTalk button on it
We had not made it to the display area before meeting up with an AgTalk member. By the way, the button is in the AgTalk store at http://www.cafepress.com/Newagtalk.332280713
I talked with Jim and Joe, but Phil and Denny were looking busy as 2 headed billy goats. Although I must say Phil was definitely upstaged by his help in the booth. He must be one heck of a salesman... I was a bit disappointed in missing some people. Jim at Dawn said I just missed MSB. And I stopped by the ******* booth but didn't catch Alan.

I ordered a few things. We had been talking about seed rebounders for the planter. We had looked at Keetons, but we decided to go a different route and ordered Schafferts (www.schaffert.com).
They look like they will still perform well when they are worn. In our highly abrasive soils that is a big factor. Several years ago I bought a set of Lawson drill bits. A little pricey, but they worked fantastic. I haven't seen a Lawson sales rep in years. We stumbled across their booth and in a moment of weakness ordered a new set of bits.

I also ordered a new air compressor from Polar Air (www.eatoncompressor.com). It costs a little more than Rural King and Harbor Freight compressors, but this one is all US made. We had an interesting chat with a couple guys from J&M manufacturing (www.jm-inc.com). We made a suggestion for an improvement to the TF212

which the engineer we talked with seemed to understand. It was fairly minor, just a suggestion to relocate a grease zerk, but it is nice to know we are listened to.

Something I do not understand is why a company will make the kind of investment it takes to be at that show, but when a customer walks up won't talk with him! As an example, we recently bought a used belt conveyor. One of the first booths we came to was this company. Two of us stood inside the display area less than 5 ft from a salesman talking about our *** brand conveyor and not only did the salesman not even greet us, he was making a concerted effort to avoid us! Makes me want to come home and sell the blasted thing. I won't mention any names but it was as far south as you could be and not be on the outside of the wall.

But in all fairness to them, they were not the only ones we saw shunning customers. Mr and Ms sales rep take note: You are doing the company more good going to the lounge and drinking coffee than you are breathing customer's air in your booth and ignoring them.

On the other hand we did meet some reps who were happy to be there, willing to engage in conversation, and make you glad you came. For example the young lady at the Woods mower display (note: I have reached the age where young could mean under 50) who seemed genuinely interested in talking and even knew what an H Farmall was. Then there was the gentleman who showed us the belt grinder. It was not in my budget, but he cause me to consider it. We had a very interesting conversation with a couple guys with a sunflower head. We don't raise sunflowers, but if I did I'd look into one of their heads.

I should have taken more photos. Here are a few:

"What a difference a day makes!"

2011-02-13T22:28:00.000-06:00

How does that song go, "What a difference a day makes!" A week ago the best description was cold, miserable, and a bit hazardous. Maybe a little more than a bit, at times very hazardous. Here's how the upcoming week shapes up:

Feb 13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Tonight	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Tue


Partly Cloudy / Wind	Partly Cloudy	Partly Cloudy	Drizzle	Few Showers	Few Showers	Mostly Sunny	Showers	Showers	Mostly Cloudy
N/A High	44° High	47° High	52° High	61° High	56° High	41° High	45° High	44° High	47° High
34° Low	26° Low	41° Low	50° Low	55° Low	31° Low	33° Low	36° Low	34° Low	30° Low
Wind: From WSW at 23mph	Wind: WNW at 18mph	Wind: SE at 10mph	Wind: S at 11mph	Wind: S at 17mph	Wind: WSW at 18mph	Wind:

Hopefully we can get the shed doors thawed out and open. We need to move some things around to work on them.







				w

End of another era

2011-02-07T21:11:00.002-06:00

Dad and I were discussing working on the roof of the old white corn crib a few years ago. He was concerned about my being up on it trying to secure the metal roofing. I told him I wouldn't get on it again.

Well ... Monday I got on it again. But I think Dad would have been OK with it

I was a lot closer to the ground at the time.

The crib had reached the point of not being safe to get on top of to maintain. And even if you felt safe up there, the rafters had reached the point you couldn't nail the tin down. Screws still worked for the most part, but there were a few spots the only way to tie the tin down was run a wire around the board underneath and tie it.

We got everything out we wanted and called a friend who is a professional recycler. Or "Scrapper" as he puts it. If we had hauled the metal off we probably would have made a little cash, but not much. The difference between our hauling stuff off and him doing it is he knows the ins and outs of the business. He sorts the various types and knows who is paying better for what and has enough volume to make the effort pay for him. So we said "Jim, come get it ... and stay off the roof" and left him alone. The next day he called and said "The inside is done. When you get the roof on the ground call me."

We had an I beam on the east side we wanted to save. Monday morning I took the loader and picked up the rafters and pushed them to the side, the pulled the posts over.

After I had done everything I could with the loader we tied a chain to some of the main supports, hooked it to the Magnum, and put the roof on the ground.

In the process I had to walk up a section of the roof already on the ground to tie a chain to another beam. I had my YakTrax on my boots for walking on the ice

... not a good combination for walking on roofing tin. But there were enough nails sticking up to keep me from sliding very far.

So it is down and more cleanup is required. Jim is going to get the tin off the roof, there's some iron inside we need to cut up to get out ... rods that were holding the walls from spreading and things like that we couldn't safely remove from the standing building. Then we'll see what wood can be salvaged and get the rest hauled to a landfill.

Yeah, I know, dig a hole, shove it in and burn it. Can't do that anymore. We have to be environmentally correct.

Anyone want a souvenir?

A Mule?

2011-02-02T09:17:00.002-06:00

This may surprise some people. We bought a mule.

Not THAT kind of mule, one like this:

We had 2 ATV's. Dad bought a Kawasaki Bayou 220 back in 1995. It was a good, reliable machine. A little small statured and a bit underpowered. When we put the spot sprayer on it it was overloaded. A full sized man was cramped up driving it. Last year I got a Polaris 330 through a promotion at Beck's Seed Company. It was better than the Bayou. Bigger engine, larger frame, an OK bike. But still not a real good work machine. When we first got it we had trouble with the battery not holding a charge. We took it back to the dealer who suplied it for beck's and they warrantied it. Last Fall I had couple times it would not start. If it was cold weather it would crank but until you put a charger on the battery to "top it off". I got on it to use it last week and it wouldn't start. We put the charger on it and once it was fully charged it started right up. I said to myself "I bet I can fix that."

That's how I ended up at Sparks last week. I stopped by and asked if they had any good used 4 wheel drive ATV's, and if they'd be interested in a 2 for 1 trade. Leroy showed me very nice year old 650 Rubicon.

Great bike with a new set of tires on it. I put down a deposit to hold it until next week when I could bring down both bikes for them to look at.

Monday Aman and I loaded up and went to Oblong. We looked at the Rubicon while they lookedover our trade-ins While we were looking at the Rubicon we also discussed how we would use it. I finally came to the realization that while it was a good machine and would be nice, it really wasn't what we needed. We needed to be able to carry 2 people and tools and supplies. They had a basic Mule,

but for just a little more had an XC which has taller, more aggressive tires, and a little heavier suspension.

and it is a little prettier. I declined the opportunity to buy the $900 wheels they had on it.

That's how we ended up with a Mule. It's not as sexy as a big red Rubicon ... that is like the Cadillac of ATV's. It's a UTV, a Utility Vehicle. I guess this means I'm getting old?

The first thing I did with it was load the generator in the back and bring it home and park it in the chicken house.

I really hope it isn't needed.

I'm impressed

2011-01-27T18:08:00.000-06:00

We use 80/20 talc/graphite seed lubricant in the corn planter. I wanted to stock up early because the last year or two it has been a little short supply in season. We've checked various Rural King Supply stores, Big R, etc and not found ANY. I was getting a bit frustrated.

Aman, Ben, and I went to the show at Gordyville yesterday and I ran across the guys from Precision Seeding.

We had purchased a few things from them in the past, and I asked about 80/20. Sure, no problem. It's $xx.xx a jug and we'll ship it to you. I said sure, send me 3 jugs. Didn't give the salesman anything but my business card. I figured I'd get a call from a secretary in a day or two asking "..and how did you wish to pay for this?".

This afternoon I check the package box at the back door and inside is a box with 3 jugs of 80/20!

I'm impressed.

We finally got to haul some corn today.

I think when I win the lottery I'll put hopper bottoms under all the bins. We also got to play with one of our new toys, the conveyor I bought late last fall

Worked pretty good. Gotta run. Later Y'all

What a difference a week makes

2011-01-20T22:13:00.000-06:00

It's January in Illinois.

That means one week you look out the back door to a beautiful morning

and a week later you're driving on the Angling Road through this

So ... what are we getting done on the farm?

Waiting

We're waiting on parts so we can get stuff out of the shop so we can put more stuff in the shop to work on and wait on more parts. Right now we are waiting on a call from a trailer salesman. We've been tossing back and forth whether to stretch the IH semi tractor and make a 10-wheeler out if it, of keep it a semi and get a trailer.

I can argue both ways with equal enthusiasm.

Yesterday we called a salesman who gave us a quote for a trailer and told him we'd take it if he'd deliver it. He said he'd run some numbers and let us know.

So far he hasn't said yes or no.

We're also going to meetings. Had to go to a meeting at Richard's Farm today. Yeah, I know, bad job but someone has to do it.

Decisions ... decisions

2011-01-13T21:45:00.001-06:00

I did something kind of impulsive a few weeks ago and bought a single axle semi tractor

Good looking little tractor. But we have been kicking around whether to get a short trailer or put a set of tandems under it, stretch the frame, and move the bed off the Ford on to it.

We've looked at a couple trailers. One salesman even came out and looked at the Ford!

He hasn't got back with a price yet. But he has a new 24 ft Maurer trailer that is pretty tempting.

Our biggest reservation isn't cost as much as figuring out if a trailer is the best move for us. I don't think a long trailer would be a wise choice, but maybe a short one. If we get a long trailer not only is it more difficult to maneuver, but it is substantially larger than everything else, which causes bottlenecks in harvest.

Decisions, decisions.

Anyone need a modem?

2011-01-09T23:21:00.000-06:00

I guess technology moves on. We are in the process of shuffling computers around. We started to work on Mom's records when the hard drive died. I wasn't too inclined to put much money and time in a Windows 98 machine, so we took the Xp computer from the tool room and moved it to the house. I had another Xp machine at home we weren't using for much, so I'm taking it to the shop. However, to use it in the shop it needed a wireless modem. To install that I had to remove the telephone modem

I guess that is progress.

I'm also learning about wireless networking. I got Sue a new laptop for her birthday. The Lexmark printer in the office had wireless capabilities but I never tried getting it to work. So I sat down and configured her laptop, my laptop, and the netbook to work with it. Amazingly, it worked!

Who knows, someday I might be current with technology.

Are we done celebrating yet?

2011-01-04T13:07:00.000-06:00

I enjoy the holidays, I really do. But between Christmas and New Year's and traveling and birthdays and anniversaries and visiting plus the regular day to day stuff ... I haven't written much about the farm. And now I getting ready for taxes. I'll write more soon. Be prepared for a tax rant.

Oh this is so cool!

2010-12-22T21:30:00.001-06:00

One difficulty we have found with the Kenworth is the bed is so tall you can just barely see in it ... if you stand hanging with your fingernails in the cab door. We looked at Cab Cam kits a couple places, but kept talking ourselves out of it. We stopped at Bristol Hillbilly's (aka Palestine Auto Parts) one day and played with one Steve had on display. I took a deep breath and said "OK"

Boy am I going to regret this.

Because now we will end up having to get one for the other trucks and one for the combine and if Wifey Dearest realizes how well it works we may have to get one for the Honda.

It worked out very well. We (OK, Aman did the work while I was spending the day doing bookwork. I'd MUCH rather have traded him jobs) put one camera on the front of the bed

and one at the rear pointing down at about a 45 degree angle.

That was a really funny incident. Littlejohn is hauling corn for us, and we decided to make a run or two to Martinsville with the blue truck. We'd never done it and had the time. We're unloading and the two guys in the photo were just kind of standing there unconcerned ... until one looked up, nudged the other with his elbow and pointed at the camera. You could see him saying "Oh **** look at that" What he didn't know is there is a microphone built in the camera as well. I kind of wished I didn't have the volume turned down.

But like I said, it worked well for what we intended. You can set in the cab and see how the truck is loading without risking falling by standing on your tip toes to see.

I mentioned it to a neighbor yesterday. He said "Yeah, I put one on my combine. Still backed the auger into the wall."

It's been a good week ...

2010-12-12T18:41:00.001-06:00

Setting here Sunday evening with the wind blowing and snow falling and getting colder by the minute ... last week was a pretty good week. Looking back I'm going "Oh, that WAS this week."

We had 2 big accomplishments on the farm this week. Monday Aman and I bought newer forklift together. Nice little Toyota 42-5FG25

I don't know what all those numbers mean, but it runs on gasoline or propane, has air tires on it, lifts 4000 pounds and will reach higher than Gramp's shed. It's probably what I should have bought in the first place when I bought the AC. So I listed the AC on a couple ag classified sites.

Littlejohn FINALLY got some room Thursday for some corn. Greg called a little after 7 AM and said "I'll have a truck there in 20 minutes."

I told him that was fine, but they were supposed to let us know a day ahead and it would probably be an hour before we got the tractor set up and ready to go. They showed up about 10:20. I just love waiting on trucks.

But we got everything set up and working and were waiting when he got there ... 1 truck and unloading was taking a while because there were lines.. So the next day we loaded out more corn.

By Friday afternoon we were down to the sweep auger. But we didn't have enough time to clean out the bin before everyone had to be someplace Friday evening. So I climbed back out and closed up everything and we went home.

Kind of wish now we were able to get it cleaned out. We for sure won't be loading corn tomorrow. Rod Scott took this on the way home Sunday afternoon. It's gotten worse now

As I set here I have been listening to the Sheriff's department handling multiple multi-vehicle accidents on I-70. Dispatch just asked the Sheriff what road conditions were between here and someplace further west. His response was "Terrible".

Yes, last week was a really good week.

Ever have a week when you didn't accomplish anything and took all week to do it?

2010-12-05T23:02:00.000-06:00

My big accomplishment of the week wasn't really farm related. I completed the Freedom Of Information Act Officer training online from the Illinois Attorney General Office. I guess it qualifies as an accomplishment. It should have been completed in June. I started in June ... 8th I believe. First there was an internet glitch, then I got busy and it slipped my mind. all 58 pages of it. But now I am official certified as the FOIA for the West Union Community Fire Protection District and the Walnut Prairie Cemetery. I had a couple other entities ask if I wanted to be their's as well. I was even offered 3 times what the cemetery was paying me. Still amounted to the same money...

Have gone on a couple fire runs this week. We saved the frame on a caravan

It was fully involved before we arrived. Same for a house trailer run today. I saw the smoke on the way to a Birthday party, so I dropped Sue off and went to check out the smoke. Before I got there we were paged out and told it was mostly burned already.

We are slowly working on a new web site. In fact, try it out and see if you can gain access. You are not supposed to be able to. It is at www.BumpusFarms.info Our goal is to set it up so landowner's can enter a password and access information about their property, planting info, yields, grain stored, photos, who knows what might tickle our fancy? But we want it to be secure, so we are in the testing stage right now. Right now it is hosted by Google.com. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that.

We've been contemplating selling some less used equipment.

The 26 ft IH 496 ft disk we bought last year to disk in ruts was purchased with the idea if we didn't need it had some market value

I've had a for sale sign the big orange wagon for a couple weeks.

We don't need the little head hauler since a bigger one is coming with the combine

And of course there is the Ford tandem truck we have listed 2-3 places already.

Plus there are some things like the extra rim off the 8440 plus we have some 30.5 32 combine tires off the 2166 last Spring. As well as probably a few other things. I'm just not sure I want to go through the hassle.

I said I'd never do that again .... well ..........

2010-11-29T23:28:00.001-06:00

The last time I went to a Groff Machinery Consigment Auction I said I'd not be back. Well ... never say never. I went with one specific purpose and a couple side interests if they went cheap enough. Didn't come home with any of those. I did come home with this

That is a 70 foot 10 inch diameter belt conveyor. It was more in my price range than the 2 10" augers they had. I kind of think the guy in the trees was bidding on it. Maybe I should pause and explain that.

One of the things at Max's auctions that irritates the **** out of me is the guy up in the trees bidding. There has to be one, because too often the auctioneer is taking bids when nobody seems to be bidding. I know, some guys are masters at hiding their bid. I watched one guy I know bid on something and if you were not watching him carefully you never knew it. The ring man was standing right in front of him, and an almost imperceptible wink or nod and there was a bid. But I was down on the far end of the lot when they sold an old Safety Klean box truck. Ugly, theft resistant green. There was me and two other guys there when the bidding started. Everyone else had walked off to where the auctioneer would be next. We were talking. None of us bid. But the truck sold for $3500. The guy in the trees must have bought it.

OK, so I am standing there watching this conveyor sell. It was cheap for what it was. REALLY cheap. But 2 guys kept bidding it up. And then I noticed I was standing there all by myself, just me and 2 ring men. And the price kept going up slowly. One ring man came over trying to get me to bid. Then both of them. I finally said I would bid one time, a very small increment higher than the current bid. And I won it. I think the guy in the trees almost bought that as well.

Oh, and this:

Yes, I bought a semi tractor ... at Groff's. THAT might cause the end to get kicked out of the coffin. It was clean, but not too clean. I heard a couple guys talking, one was a company employee, and it had been driven up from Florida. Not hauled, driven. 300 Hp, 8 speed transmission, air conditioning, good looking. The only problems I have found is a broken mirror, the air hose to the fifth wheel slider is leaking, a rear fender is missing, and the gear shift need a worn pivot pin replaced. Ralph says that is common in this transmission.

So, for the next question, "Now what?" Ralph has a set of twin screw tandems that will fit it, and gave me an estimate on switching the axles, lengthening the frame, and moving the bed and hoist off the Ford to it. It was less than a trailer will probably cost. So I told him to put me on the schedule and I was going to advertise the Ford as is. If someone wanted it bad enough before he started we'd cancel and I'd go trailer shopping. I figure I have a month or more to try and sell it. Anyone want a good old Ford?

Do you know what a $500 disk looks like?

Yes, that brought $500! I would have hauled it home for it if I had a empty truck. Not paying $25, you pay me to take it. They also sold a really good M&W big red wagon with a seed auger on the side for $2500. If I weren't trying to get away from wagons I would have been really interested. Big orange is for sale, too. Guess I need to take some pictures of it.

So what have you been doing this week?

2010-11-26T08:48:00.001-06:00

Ever have one of those weeks where Friday you look back and ask yourself what you did that week? In my defense, this was Thanksgiving week. Aman was on vacation so I didn't have anyone pushing me to accomplish anything. I took a couple mostly personal days ... but even then they are not entirely non-farm. For instance, Sue and I went shopping. Coming back I saw a seed tender for sale. It's just what I want.

I called. His price is actually pretty fair ... if it weren't for some of the other stuff I did this week. I mentioned shopping. Sue bought some Christmas presents, I bought a combine ... yes, we signed papers on the Big Green Machine.

BIG GREEN COMBINE
Yeah, I know, I should get some real photos of it.

I've been hoping to haul grain for the Prust Farm. The grain has been sold, augers are in place, just waiting for Littlejohn's to come get it. I called Wednesday and was told they were full and waiting on a train. And I might be a couple weeks before they could come after it!

So not a lot happened on the farm this week. Put the disk, roller, tandem axle trailer, and Soil Saver away away, moved the grain trucks to a different location, pushed a little dirt and modified a field entrance, cleared out some parts drawers, bought a combine, took the platform off the 2166 and put the corn head on ... "piddle jobs". Also the thing I am worst at.

Dad did the piddle jobs. Once field work was caught up I took off and hauled propane. It's been a difficult task for me to master, the odd-job off-season stuff. And now I am setting home waiting for a delivery. I hate waiting. Gotta go, someone just pulled in.

Later Y'all

Fixing the unloading auger

2010-11-18T07:17:00.001-06:00

The last time we unloaded the Prust bean bin we weren't happy with how it worked, so we decided to pull the unloading auger out and check it before using it. The screw wasn't totally worn out, but it was worn enough it wouldn't handle the volume it should.

An opportunity to use new toys! We got a new screw from Dale Crumrin and used my new SawZall to cut the shaft and take the head off. When we got it apart we found the tube was getting pretty thin,

so we repaired it. Aman cut the old ring off,

used the plasma cutter to cut a new piece, welded it in with the wire welder, cut a new opening with the plasma cutter,

and it was as good as new

And end to life as we know it ?

2010-11-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

No, I haven't changed religions. No, I haven't become a Vulcan.

I did agree to buy a combine. Yes, a green combine. This isn't the actual combine, but it's just like it.

I hope Adam understands.

I didn't want a green combine. It's kind of like speaking a foreign language. But I survived the switch from Massey to IH. It's not quite that big a change. (Remember what they told us? Just think about what you would do on the MF and do the opposite. It usually worked!)

We traded our 2166 with a 20 ft platform and 6 row corn head for a 9660 with a 30 ft platform and 8 row corn head. I said when I started looking I had 3 requirements. It had to be 4WD, under a certain number of hours, and a specific maximum annual payment. I didn't go to every dealer in the country searching for the absolute bottom dollar. I did go to my local dealers (one in particular I bent over backwards trying to work with) as well as contacting others. I told them what I had and what I wanted (4WD, hours, payment) and would consider most any suggestion. two dealerships have not gotten back to me at all. One did send me an email with one combine late Monday after promising to email me several options the previous Wednesday.

It's obvious these guys never sold copiers.

OK, so what is this big green thing? I won't give specs because they would just be numbers to you. Here is the bottom line: This machine will cut as much in one two rounds as the old combine did in 3. In corn I don't know it will be 50% bigger but it will be at least 30%.

We've watched folks around here with red combines and 30 ft heads. I don't know if it is the combine, the heads, or the operator, but unless you get to a BIG red combine they just don't seem to get a jump in productivity over the 2166. We demo's a 9660 (not this one but one just like it) in double crop beans with green stems and it just walked through them. It doesn't spread straw quite as perfect at the 2166 with a 20 ft head, but then again I haven't seen anything that was as even as it was.

Another thing it will allow us to do is switch back and forth quicker between corn and beans. The head has a ... I forget JD's term for it but most folks call it single point hookup. Instead of unplugging several hoses and an electrical connection then unlocking the header, you plug in one connection and latch it and the header is ready to go.

The other feature that really appealed to us is setting everything from in the cab. With the 2166 to switch from beans to corn you disconnect 4 hoses, unplug the electrical connection, unhook the driveshafts, drop the safety latch, unhook the header locks, raise the safety latch, remove the platform, put on the cornhead, drop the safety latch, crawl under the header and lock it on, hook up the driveshafts, change the concave, sieve and shoe settings, change the chopper belt, move the chopper knives, adjust the fan speed, get back out of the cab and raise the safety latch you forgot, and if you were practiced up you could be going in half hour to 45 minutes.

I've not actually done this yet, but I've watched the neighbor do it on his Deere. Unlatch the single point, drop the platform, pick up the cornhead, latch the single point, change one belt (from the ground, no crawling up inside the combine), touch the corn setting on the screen in the cab, and go. He says "Yes, it is that easy".

One change that we asked for was the tires. This one has rice tires and we asked they switch them for regular tread. Neighbors had a lot of wheat a couple years ago and rented a combine identical to theirs with rice tires. On wet sand they are too aggressive and dig a hole too quickly. The rig with rice tires was stuck (more than once as I recall) and the regular tire combine just went around it.

I have a new black John Deere hat in the display cabinet. I did wear it home, but decided to put it on display for now. Boy ... 2 green planters, a green lawn mower, a green combine ... I'm not sure my heart can take this.

More non-field work

2010-11-13T08:02:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week I mentioned working on a barn roof. I don't know if it's finished but I worked on it until I ran down both cordless drill batteries. I don't think they were fully charged.

It actually turned out pretty good. I got the edges of the sheet back in place and shot a deck screw through the side of the rib. (Deck screws are just like drywall screws but coated to be used outside.) Once I got done with that I got out the caulking gun and tube of silicone and covered the heads.

Well, to be honest, I got the ones I could reach off the ladder. I guess this cold I've been fighting has affected my balance. I got up on the roof pulling down loose roofing sheets when I got a bit off balance and decided those spots weren't nearly as loose as they looked.

I think this will be a good day to stay in the office an catch up on paperwork. Actually I need to spend a week or so in here doing stuff like that. I'd rather run a chain saw.

On to the non-fieldwork part of farming

2010-11-10T21:01:00.000-06:00

There is more to farming than just working in the field. It includes things like mowing roads, maintaining non-crop areas, etc. Today we got to use the bucket truck and my new John Deere chain saw and do some tree trimming.

OK, so it was in Mom's yard. She is one of our landowners, and we've done similar things for other landowners. We do kind of limit how big a job we will tackle. The persimmon tree had some broken branches, and the ash tree had split last summer and needed to come down. I forgot to get an "after" shot.

After Aman did the trimming I went up and did some repairs to the electric line where the branches had rubbed on it.

We wonder if Mom has noticed her tree is missing yet? She was gone when we did it.

The bucket truck was one of Dad's "toys". He always wanted one. A business in Terre Haute bought a sign business and put this one came with the deal. It isn't a good sign truck, so they pulled it out front and put a For Sale sign on it. Dad saw it, and they'd go past it every week or two on the way to a Dr visit. He finally stopped one day and asked about it. The guy there shot him a price, which Dad declined. He told Dad "Well, leave me your name and number and I'll have the boss call you".

When the boss called Dad told him he just couldn't justify giving what they were asking for it. The boss asked Dad what he'd give? Dad shot him a number about half what they were asking. Boss thought about it a second then said "Well, I've had it for sale for a couple months and nobody has bought it ... OK, you got a truck"

We've used it to work on Gramp's barn, put a ladder on a grain bin, trim trees, work on wiring, change light bulbs in security lights, work on irrigators, etc. But because Dad put farm plates on it we just can't go do too much off the farm with it. Plus Dad always said that once the boom goes off the cradle we don't have any insurance. I don't guarantee that is true, but knowing insurance companies I wouldn't be surprised.

Tomorrow we need to secure some sheet metal on a barn roof on a place we farm. More stuff that doesn't make us any money, but is just part of renting the farm. We've learned trying to nail down old roofing is a waste of effort. We have much better success using drywall screws and cordless drill, then dabbing some silicone over them. Generally on an old barn the roofing is pulled loose on the old boards don't take or hold nails very well. A drywall screw is much more secure.

And I still need to mow a road or two. I know, in November? It's on some ground I own, so it gets done last after everything else. I think I have the Bush Hog repaired again. Maybe this time I can finish without backing off into a washout and breaking the linkage, or hitting a culvert and tearing the wheels off it, or hitting a rock and bending the shields under the deck so much the blades hit ... I just love running a Bush Hog (listen closely to the sarcastic tone in my voice). But it makes thing look better, and if I mow late in the season the grass is low enough along the roads it doesn't catch drifting snow so bad.

Done ?

2010-11-05T08:19:00.003-05:00

Our long time fall operating plan has always been finish harvest by November 1, finish fall tillage by November 15. Well, actually finish fall tillage by deer shotgun season. This fall has went so quickly that by October 29 we were down to a day or so of tillage and we'd be done. Sue and I both didn't have to teach the next Sunday, so we did something we'd never considered. We went to East Tennessee in October to see Jill. We told Aman he was in charge, loaded up some things Jill had been storing at our house and took off. One thing we noticed was an almost total lack of anyone in the field. The entire trip we saw maybe a half dozen tractors and even fewer combines. It was nice to get totally away from the farm for a few days. See a few photos at http://walnutprairie.blogspot.com/

Today we didn't get a lot done but took all day doing it. We did a few things at Mom's, then headed west. Aman had taken a friend's truck for a safety test ... and it failed. So he left it and I went after him. Today it was supposed to be done so we went after it. We combined about 3 trips in one.

First we went to Casey and checked on the truck .... not done yet. We stopped by Farm Pride and talked to Stan about what it might cost to work over the combine. After we discussed a few options he ran us up front to talk to Cary a little.

We ate lunch at the Oilfield Store then ran over near Lerna and looked at a forklift that had been listed on Craig's List and in AutoRV Trader.

Not a bad looking forklift, but Aman suggested we would be better off putting that money into ours instead of just buying another. I wouldn't mind having another forklift, but it was a bit more money than I need to be spending for a spare.

We came back through Casey. On the way Cary called with a used combine for us to look at. It wasn't this one, but looks just like this one

It's closer to my budget than anything else red we have been shown. We stopped by Schillings's for a minute and stumbled across a deal on a chain saw ... or two.

Dad's big old Homelite won't run, and after a talk with a chainsaw mechanic I'm not sure it is worth trying to get it to run. He said the common thing they find with the old Homelites is this: first we'll have a minimum shop charge ... probably around $50 depending upon the shop. And what they are most likely going to do is put a few parts on it ... plugs, etc, and find is it needs a part no longer available. So then we have a saw that is not running and cost us to find out it was not fixable.

John Deere has made an arrangement with Stihl for all its dealers to be able to sell Stihl , so they are closing out the John Deere chainsaw line. I bought 2 chainsaws for the price of 1. It isn't quite the saw the old blue Homelite was when it was new, but surprisingly close. I was looking through the owner's manual (GASP! People do that?!!!) and noted the engine idles at 2800 RPM and working speed is 12,500 to 13,000 RPM. WOW!

I found my handheld radio was missing when I got home, so Sue and I ran BACK to Casey to see if we could find it. She found it waiting patiently in the combine cab. So to celebrate we ate supper at Pizza Hut

Big spenders, huh?

"Maybe it will feel like we got something done today..."

2010-10-21T21:26:00.001-05:00

Yes, today was Thursday. It doesn't matter that we have reached the place we should have been about noon Tuesday, it's still Thursday. But look on the bright side. We haven't been to the hospital, no fire runs for us, we've not been the family being comforted at the funeral home, I guess in perspective this week hasn't been so bad.

When it starts out like this a farmer knows he isn't going to be having fun

Perhaps I need to explain that one.

We've always been able to put dry corn, or almost dry corn, in the old government bins at Gramps, put a fan on the unloading tube, and keep it all winter. This fall we were putting 14.5 to 15% corn in them straight out of the field.

But ... we never tried it with corn 95 degrees out of the field. So many nights were above 65-70 that it never cooled out. We were checking the fans a couple weeks ago and noticed a couple of the housings had water in the bottom of them. That confused us. The only way we could explain it was the moist air being pulled out of the corn was hitting the cold fan housing and condensing. So we started watching it more closely. Late last week we decided maybe it was time to pull a load out of each bin and check it. We finally got around to it Monday. That's when we decided it was time to halt fieldwork and move corn.

Steve can probably look at this and tell you what we were doing. We had saved back the bean bin at Mom's in case the elevator got full. Fortunately we didn't need it. We also saved back one of the dryers at Gramp's for corn from True's. It came out dry and the elevator had room, so we took it straight to town. That photo is moving corn fom one of the north government bins at Gramp's to one of his dryers.

Eventually you get down to this point:

The old government bins are beginning to concern us. They are aluminum ... at least 50 year old aluminum. And the bolts are the same vintage. Dad put stiffeners on them because one started to wrinkle. When we were cleaning out the last one late Thursday we noticed this:

Daylight shining between the bin sheets. The Bible tells us everything has a season. We are wondering if these old bins are nearing the end of their season.

We've also fought dead batteries on 2 tractors and a grain truck (most of them were new or almost new), an unloading auger that just would not work right, broken belts, a funeral I had to attend, on and on and on. Been a long week.

Papaw drives red combines

2010-10-13T05:28:00.001-05:00

Adam is beginning to get a grasp of colors. It was mentioned Papaw was test driving a green combine. He was a little bothered by that because Papaw only drives red combines. Today we tested a red combine. Bane Equipment has an 8120 they are demo'ing around.

Lot bigger combine than I can justify. But it gave us a chance to play with the bells and whistles we don't have on ours. Touch screen monitor, computer controlled everything. But you put corn in one end and it comes out the other just like a 55 John Deere. It just does it a lot faster and easier.

One thing we were surprised by was the corn head they brought. We have been looking at cornheads. Regardless of what we do, ours needs replaced. One of the reasons we went to Louisville to the Farm Show this year was to look at heads. We had discussed Drago and Geringhoff, and Surprise! They brought a Geringhoff Northstar head

I was really glad they did, because I would have hated to spend more than $40,000 on a head that disappointed me so much

I had some planter problems and double planted a couple spots. That gave me the opportunity to see how it handled down corn. My old worn out IH head would have done a better job. Part of the problem is the snouts do not get low enough

This is about as low as they go. Maybe just a bit lower, but I think in the position they are in the gathering chains re touching dirt. The tips of the snouts never contact the ground. They don't get under the downcorn well enough, and when it does pick up down corn you get this

It doesn't seem to slide well. To be fair, we had some drizzle in the morning and the leaves were still just a bit damp. But I was rather disappointed in the head.

The combine worked great. The 7010 is a similar machine just a little smaller. But I ... well, I haven't seen any numbers but will be very surprised if this class (size) of machine fits in my budget.

A GREEN combine?

2010-10-12T05:15:00.011-05:00

No, it is not an end to life as we know it. But it was educational. Actually kind of fun. And a bit bewildering. Jerry from Schilling Brothers brought us out a demo combine Monday. We have been talking and I commented I had never even driven a John Deere combine. He said he could take care of that.

This is not it, I didn't get a good shot of the side. But it looked just like this one I found online. This one was experienced. It wasn't some shiny, carefully gone through by the shop demonstrator. In fact it still had someone's seed corn jacket stuck behind the seat where it had been forgotten. This was how it would look after being used a while. Steve asked me to take pictures. I took a few, but was too busy to take very many. This is Aman finishing out a land.

We were cutting double crop beans in a field with an irrigator without an alley, so we had to start in the middle and work one way so the 'gator could be moved. So he ended up with a 2 ft or less strip near the road. The header is 30 ft wide. The combine is sized to run about the same speed we run our 20 ft head.

This is the operator console. The 3 orange buttons on the left are the throttle. It's like Mom needs on her lawnmower. It has idle, high idle, and operating speed. No lever, just touch a button. The big yellow buttons at the top turn on the separator and the header. Other buttons turn the rear wheels on, adjust fan speed, etc.

It is an interesting machine the header has a one touch connection. You unhook the header lock and disconnect all the hoses and lights in one motion. To set the combine you just select the crop on a screen and it automatically adjusts.

Am I going green? Good question I can't answer yet. I have to look at some numbers, do some thinking, still haven't decided if my best move is trading or rebuilding what we have. But I could get used to a 30 ft head.

What would Dad think? If you look in the NW corner of the tool room there is a board Dad saved. It was from the box the cab came in for his 55 John Deere combine. If we went green Dad would understand. He's also the one who bough the Bush Hog from the dealer across the river. Yes, there's more to that story ...

Pondering spending money

2010-10-05T22:00:00.001-05:00

I know, it doesn't take much thought to spend money. That's why I am pondering on it. Mom and I were thinking today about combines. Dad bought a used John Deere 55 ... long time ago. I can just barely remember it. He traded it for the 410 MF, then (as I recall) Gramps traded his year old 510 for a new 510 with a quick attach head. That was a real innovation. You could change heads in less than 15 minutes! Then they traded both for Massey Ferguson 750's (photo is one I found that is similar, not actually ours)

These were especially memorable for Sue and I. On our first date I took her to Casey and we looked at Dad and Gramp's new combines setting on the lot waiting for delivery! (She should have gotten a clue what was in store and lit running). The only thing bigger than a 750 was the MF760. We ran the 750 for ... had to be about 8 years. Dad traded for a new International Harvester 1480. A HUGE combine, even bigger than the 760! (photo is one I found that is similar, not actually ours)

We ran the 1480 for 17 harvest seasons and traded for a used 2166. The only used combine I really remember Dad buying.

but the 2166 is showing its age it is a '95 model and anything grain contacts is wearing. For example, before harvest started we replaced the elbow on the unloading auger because it had worn the heads off the rivets!

We had Farm Pride inspect it this summer. When Dale said "replace the elbow" I kind of laughed ... until it was explained to me if the elbow failed the auger literally fell off the combine.

We have been pondering on whether to rebuild the 2166 or replace it. We haven't actually figured rebuilding cost yet, but we are told if we do it right it will be at least $10,000. We'll be putting in things like rotor cones

Which will cost $1500 to $2000. We know the bottom of the grain tank will need replaced

because we have 2 or 3 holes patched in it already. Plus augers and bearings and auger tubes and chains and on and on and on. $10,000 is probably low, and that is us doing the labor. On the other hand, here is a used combine for only $239,000

... plus heads. I turned down a used combine last year for a lot less. I probably should have traded then. I've been pondering which is the best direction. Actually, I know what I want to do. The questions are "Can I afford it?" and "Is this really the best way to go?"

I mentioned our ponderings on AgTalk http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=189266 As of a few minutes ago there had been 48 replies and over 25,700 views of the discussion. And the really amazing thing to me is no salesmen have called!