The Official Farming Thread...

[JimBear]

No field work going on here, some of the big shots put a few thousand acres of beans in the last week of March.

It had rain consistently since then. There were a few corn planters going to our south the last week of March but not many.

We are a good 3 drying days away from trying to do anything. Guessers are yammering about more rain thru next week.

@Sloughfoot
As far those articulated tractors having a differential lock, yes they have one but in my experience, you have had best pawed your way out of the mess very quickly or you will mending a chain or tow rope.

Soil type, tire type & what implement you are using makes a big difference as well on how fast you sink, if you float or if you move at all.

 

[Cat 525]

So dry and hard here the planting had to stop!

 

[legdelimber]

Red clay dirt around here mostly.
I needed to roto-till my front & side yard to fix the finish grade for erosion/water runoff control.

The danged red clay is so hard the tiller tines just bounced. Rear tine Tiller.
I ended up putting a lawn sprinkler out a for about 45 mins in the early part of a day and just left things alone until the next day.
Had to water it pretty well and let it soak in overnight or else it just made that sticky slick clay for a inch or so deep and then it was still hard as wood below that unless you waited at least overnight.

I ended up taking off the right angle/bent style tines, put them on the shelf for later needs.
I got a length of hrs flat stock and cut it to needed length and drilled bolt holes to match the tine frame/center or whatever it's called.
I figured that I should have a tougher digging edge than the hot rolled steel would have.

Next thing, I got some concrete nails and welded them to the leading edge of the new flat/straight tines.
Set a metal bucket of water beside of the welding location.
Then as I welded a nail to the edge of the flat bar, I then tossed it into the water in order to quench it.
I wanted the concrete nails to be hard when I was done.
I wanted them to be a tougher wear edge for the tines.
I figured this would be the easiest way to get a simple little piece of steel for the wear edge and not spend a fortune on some custom ordered stuff.

The straight tines aren't so good for garden work.
But if you want to cope with smaller roots and stuff, the straight tines will do the trick and they don't tend to wrap so much debris, vs just "cutting" it.
I'd shoot a couple of pics, But I wont be in the same location as my OPE stuff for a while yet.

 

[jblnut]

Do the differentials lock on that 9420?

Yes they do. Lock all 8 together and it turns into a dragster going 4.5mph.

As far those articulated tractors having a differential lock, yes they have one but in my experience, you have had best pawed your way out of the mess very quickly or you will mending a chain or tow rope.

Soil type, tire type & what implement you are using makes a big difference as well on how fast you sink, if you float or if you move at all.

Not all big articulates have a diff lock. This particular one does. It pulls like a bull lol. The only times I’ve ever used the diff lock are when using the tile plow.

As far as getting stuck goes ….. I’ve never been able get an articulate stuck to the point that I needed assistance. I’ve unhooked the implement many times and have always been able to drive out. Getting so stuck with an articulate that you can’t unhook and drive out is nuts.

If that doesn’t happen I have a few LARGE ropes that would tear the tractor in half before breaking. One is rated to 200,000lbs and I witnessed two D8’s hooked together pointed in opposite directions trying to snap it and it spun them both down. Pretty impressive.

Big Bad John is ready for more action !!

 

[jblnut]

I built a four bridges for our latest irrigator to pass over.


Pops and I shoved them in place yesterday.


It was time. He wanted to haul pooooooooo on the green field and begun as soon as I had the sprinkler moved to the other side.


Moving at a pace just slightly faster than paint dries lol.

 

[Deputyrpa]

It's way too wet here to get out onto the fields with the discs. With our clay, you have to catch it with just the right amount of moisture or you'll wind up with chunks. Kind of like discing through a Chuck E Cheese ball pit.

Which is all good, because it'll give me some time to fix the junk I farm with. Broke the axle for the third time on my old rake. I have to weld it up and turn it on the lathe. And on my last wagon of the year the knotter frame broke on my Super Hayliner 68. I think it's cast iron, so I probably have to replace that.

 

[jakethesnake]

Fixing junk eh. Yeah me too

 

[jakethesnake]

I spread my *s-word and leave it on top You do lose some nitrogen but I like the ground cover to hold in moisture.

 

[jakethesnake]

 

[jblnut]

View attachment 488017
View attachment 488018View attachment 488019View attachment 488020Fixing junk eh. Yeah me too

That’s a very different route than what we take in my chicken barns. How often do you clean it out ?

I spread my *s-word and leave it on top You do lose some nitrogen but I like the ground cover to hold in moisture.

You don’t work the poultry poo in ? You don’t lose some N, you lose most of it. The P and K will stick around but unless you’re top dressing alfalfa or grass it’s the N you are really after.

Do you guys do no till or strip till ?

 

[jakethesnake]

That’s a very different route than what we take in my chicken barns. How often do you clean it out ?


You don’t work the poultry poo in ? You don’t lose some N, you lose most of it. The P and K will stick around but unless you’re top dressing alfalfa or grass it’s the N you are really after.

Do you guys do no till or strip till ?

Yes you do lose nitrogen. No till. I would try strip till but not set up for it.

That chicken barn hadn’t been cleaned out for at least 6 years. Went to school with the guy that owns them. He called and asked if I’d be interested in cleaning them out for him Job was much larger than I expected. I figured getting maybe 400 ton out of those 3 houses. Ended up getting 1200 ton. I’ve never seen chicken *s-word that deep.

 

[jakethesnake]

That’s a very different route than what we take in my chicken barns. How often do you clean it out ?


You don’t work the poultry poo in ? You don’t lose some N, you lose most of it. The P and K will stick around but unless you’re top dressing alfalfa or grass it’s the N you are really after.

Do you guys do no till or strip till ?

Yes you do lose nitrogen. No till. I would try strip till but not set up for it.

That chicken barn hadn’t been cleaned out for at least 6 years. Went to school with the guy that owns them. He called and asked if I’d be interested in cleaning them out for him Job was much larger than I expected. I figured getting maybe 400 ton out of those 3 houses. Ended up getting 1200 ton. I’ve never seen chicken *s-word that deep

 

[jblnut]

Yes you do lose nitrogen. No till. I would try strip till but not set up for it.

That chicken barn hadn’t been cleaned out for at least 6 years. Went to school with the guy that owns them. He called and asked if I’d be interested in cleaning them out for him Job was much larger than I expected. I figured getting maybe 400 ton out of those 3 houses. Ended up getting 1200 ton. I’ve never seen chicken *s-word that deep

Depending on how it tests chicken pooooooooooo is worth $25-40/ton up here so I’d say that’s a nice haul !!

Time to get stuff done. I loaded my skiddy up and brought the Robo rock picker and my skeleton bucket along. The Robo is great but you can’t dig very large rocks out with it.


It was Mini Me’s debut tractor day. At a tad over 8yrs old I’d say he made me proud. It took him a few hours to figure out how to stay by us but he figured it out faster than a few grown dudes I used to work with.


Pops found a couple decent sized rocks and didn’t dig out anything large enough that I needed to put my bucket on and help. All in we picked around 55 acres and filled the trailer 6 times lol. It’s some of our rockier ground.

 

[jakethesnake]

Depending on how it tests chicken pooooooooooo is worth $25-40/ton up here so I’d say that’s a nice haul !!

Time to get stuff done. I loaded my skiddy up and brought the Robo rock picker and my skeleton bucket along. The Robo is great but you can’t dig very large rocks out with it.
View attachment 488176

It was Mini Me’s debut tractor day. At a tad over 8yrs old I’d say he made me proud. It took him a few hours to figure out how to stay by us but he figured it out faster than a few grown dudes I used to work with.
View attachment 488178

Pops found a couple decent sized rocks and didn’t dig out anything large enough that I needed to put my bucket on and help. All in we picked around 55 acres and filled the trailer 6 times lol. It’s some of our rockier ground.
View attachment 488177

So these rocks just continue surfacing?

*s-word brings around 25$ a ton here

 

[jblnut]

So these rocks just continue surfacing?

*s-word brings around 25$ a ton here

Our wonderful freeze thaw cycle up here brings them a little closer to the surface each year. The tillage equipment brings them a little closer as well. We try to pick softballs and larger but by no means get them all each year. Gotta leave some for next year or we’d get bored lol.