farmers

[coxy]

i give you guys/gals lots of credit  Thursday and Friday i pushed corn silage for a friend Wednesday night they cut 3 load about 60ton Thursday morning i started pushing it WOW what a stink couldn't believe it started to ferment that fast i told my friend good thing i don't have a hangover and i didn't eat this morning  :D the fresh corn smelled good real sweet it was 12h on Thursday and  9 hours Friday they said it was around 500-550 ton a few years back i pushed grass silage for him and will never do that again that stuff bound my dozer tracks up like concrete the corn was easy compared to the grass  i just wanted to thank all you farmers for all your hard work  8) some people just don't know how much work it is to produce a gal of milk or a pound of beef and how many hours a day you work for the pay you get   again thanks

[Chuck White]

I agree, Coxy!

I grew up on a dairy farm here in Russell and I know for a fact that farming is a 24/7/365 job!

Been there, done that!

[Logger RK]

I'll agree with that also. I grew up on a beef farm & worked on a dairy farm.

[Ox]

Dairy farming using 60s technology and milking around 60 head with a heifer herd of around 35 and around 20 dry cows all in rotation with just two men is one of the hardest, toughest jobs ever.  We bought brewers grain and dairy grain and minerals for the TMR but that's it.  The rest was grown and harvested by us (corn sileage, alfalfa and grass sileage, sorghum, hay).  It's some of the reason I'm half crippled today but I'm also grateful for it because it helped mold me into the man I am today.

[sandhills]

I appreciate that coxy, as Chuck said it's just that 24/7/365 when you have livestock.  I also know all about the difference in grass/corn silage although I've never pushed with a crawler but a tractor with a dozer is no different the grass (or rye is what we typically chop)  just balls up under anything.  I've hauled for or worked the pile for rigs that will cut over a hundred ton an hour and they get paid by the hour so the trucks and wagons never stop dumping to keep up with the cutters, a rather stressful environment to be in if you want to make a nice pile.  Our personal little operation is just a little 2 row cutter but I can still keep 3 wagons and a 4020 with a dozer going non stop to keep up with me.  Last year we hired ours done due to health reasons and in just over a day they cut 110 acres of corn, it took my dad running my 4840/dozer and I borrowed my neighbors 4850 mfd/dozer to keep up with one 6 row cutter.  That would've taken me about 5 or 6 days to chop.  I know all the logging and what not is no different though, when conditions are right you gotta go and get it done.  Our neighbors have 3 big feedlots and own or farm over 100k acres, they have 3 of the biggest cutters that Claus makes, you should see the fleet it takes to keep them going and the piles they make, they run 2 big 4wd JD tractors with dozers on the front and box scrapers on the back to drag with on the piles, they can turn around at the top inside one another .

What Ox and RK said also, been there done that to both, all the dairies I used to milk at took the buyout but I wish there was still a few around, it was always "part time" for me but made good money and I do miss it.

[grouch]

This is a timely topic. My neighbor just left here after delivering an unnecessary payment for my help in getting his silage in this week. (The payment was a year's supply (for me) of a certain black label Tennessee 80 proof pain killer). I pointed out that it was the first time in 39 years he had rolled in here asking if I could help him out with farm work, even though I've offered every time I've seen him.

We started on Monday -- he and one of his sons-in law started about daybreak and the rest of us started about 8 am. He had a 3 row silage chopper, two dump trailers made from the back ends of grain trucks and running behind 2 International tractors to haul the silage from the field, a Cat D5N 'dozer to push the silage up and spread it in one end of a pit, and a Kubota 125 Hp tractor doing nothing but packing it.

My job was the easiest. I just met the trailers as they came in, unlatched the tailgate as they pulled up to back up, guide 'em back to the edge of the pit to a guardrail he'd put up for the purpose, engage the PTO and dump the trailer, relatch the gate and send 'em back to the field. I also tried to keep bottles of cold water going to the tractor drivers. My neighbor had a canopy set up where I had shade while waiting for the tractors.

One of the tractor drivers said, "I want to apply for one of those office jobs next year!" There was my neighbor between spreading loads, me, and a visitor all sitting in folding metal chairs in the shade of that canopy when he said that. I told him it was the best of office jobs -- no suit and a grand view. Got a little dusty, though, from the dirt ground fine by the tractors and heavy dump trailers.

Monday and Tuesday were exceptionally hot. No telling how much water we all went through. We worked each day until about 1 pm, stopped to eat what had been heating and cooking in the stainless cooker set up each morning about 10 am -- potatoes, onions, cabbage, and some Boston butt he'd cooked before the week started. I don't eat much, but I overate on those potatoes each day. After eating, we'd hit it again until almost sunset.

Tuesday evening something messed up on the chopper. It kept shearing pins, so had to be shut down to find out what was clunking. Tried to do a field repair, but the problem was too deep in the machine. Took most of Wednesday to fix it.

My neighbor and his son-in-law did most of the work on it with the rest of us mostly sitting around his big shop, lending a hand as needed. It was one of the rollers -- I don't know enough about the machine to give it a better name -- it had apparently suffered a hit from a hard rock and worn all the way through at one end. Shards of the steel were sticking out at just the right angle to let it roll backwards with a clunk, clunk, clunk, but going forward it would stop and shear that pin.

He went to a nearby city for new bearings and came back with a section of some tubing that was intended for the driveshaft of a semi. The place had just enough of the special order tubing left over. He cut the ends out of the old one, left 'em on the power shaft, and was going to try to grind it to fit the new tube when someone there remembered I have a metal lathe. They met me on the road as I was coming back to see if they got back from finding parts. Took about 20 or 30 minutes to true up the ends so he could weld the new tube on. Took the rest of the afternoon to put the machine back together.

It was the only breakdown. In my opinion, that speaks well of the maintenance of all those machines.

Thursday was nice and cool, but windy. We finished up shortly after lunch and pulled plastic over the silage.

It says something about my neighbor that we were all there just because he asked; not for hire. The two tractor drivers were retired UPS drivers, the guy doing the packing is a carpenter who's old enough to retire, and the son-in-law does some kind of work on barges. (I'm the local hermit).

Farmers have to get it done when everything's right and in spite of things going wrong. Livestock, crops, weather and equipment are unforgiving and won't wait on your convenience.

[coxy]

how true that is grouch  the guy i helped i did some logging on his land about 6-7 years ago and we became good friends he also got me a log job of a life time for some people it was 250a that hadn't see a chainsaw in over 50years the local loggers was some pithed off at him and me but he told me i was the only one that never charged him for doing any work for him one time i spent 2-3 hours pushing cow crap in a pile for him and some other small things  nothing major my dozer was there so why not so his payment to me was the log job i made a lot of money from that job    this time his track loader was down and his brothers dozer was down and he called me and i was there again i never charged him a dime not even the trucking to get my dozer there and back to my job  he called me today and said to go over to his butcher  on the 20 of October and pick up a whole beef that will be all cut and vacuum packed i argued with him a little on the phone but he wouldn't take no for an answer  one hand washes the other  but one thing i can say is ill never be a farmer even in my after life  ;D

[grouch]

coxy,

I should add that the only reason I have a metal lathe (1924 Hendey) is because my neighbor and his buddy hauled it home for me. 3 hours driving to get it and another 3 coming home and it cost me 2 cups of coffee and fuel for the truck. He wouldn't take more.

[Roxie]

Here are some pictures of putting up silage Pennsylvania style.

When I first pulled in the driveway, I pondered why what appeared to be a huge bush appeared to be moving.  The driver and the mules are almost covered by the load.



Once I got into the driveway, I had to wait my turn to go back out.  There was one wagon ahead of me and two behind, waiting to unload.  The view from my side view mirror.

[coxy]

Roxie i would love to spend a week with them people just to see how it was done back in our day but i more than likely wouldn't make it 2 days not being able to check in on the FF   when i was in upstate ny in aug  not far from chuck white they had a wagon full of veggies selling them in the town i asked if i could take a pic of the horse and wagon the young man asked me please not to so i didn't    ???

[GAB]

Most farmers are dyslexic. 
City folks work 9 to 5, farmers work 5 to 9.  That's 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
Gerald

[21incher]

The Amish farmers up by me are the hard workers. There are also a couple small farms that struggle. The rest of them buy millions of dollars worth of new John Deere equipment every year and ride around in their new Ford trucks watching the South Americans do all the hard work. They seem to get some big government subsidiaries so there are never hard times for the big guys. 

[paul case]

I believe many of those ''big guys'' are using a farm or ranch to hide their money and keep the goverment from getting it. If they never fall on hard times and have a lot of new equipment, the money is probably coming from somewhere else. Not many full time farmers around my parts. Big milk buyers forced many of the little dairies around here out of business. I only know of 2 ranches near me who have an owner that is involved in the daily operations. It is hard work and long hours. Most of the time the farmer has no control over the things that make it profitable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UBj4Rbq3ZI
PC

[chevytaHOE5674]

My farming philosophy is don't borrow money for anything hahaha. Often times that means doing without and working twice as hard to do things, but it means that the lean times don't have to be so lean. But having livestock its a 24/7/365 job and its hard to get away to do much. My folks like 8 hours away down by Jeff and I'm lucky if I get to go down for a visit once or twice a year, and it seems like every time I do the trip is cut short because I'm needed back on the farm. O'well I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it.  :D

[JV]

I grew up on a 200 acre dairy and grain farm.  That old barn had 28 stancions, 14 on a side with a feedway in the middle.  Early in the morning that looked like it was a mile long.  We quit after my grandfather died and went strictly grain and beef cattle.  I remember one old bachelor neighbor still had a team of horses.  Another still had a threshing machine and I remember that straw stacking standing for sometime.  Two bottom plows and two row planters were common.  Small pull type combines and one or two row cornpickers were what most folks had.  When I bought my first farm ground was between 300-500 an acre, now it seems there is no limit.  Investors have purchased the last few farms that sold in my neighborhood.  I quit 20 years ago because I didn't want to quit a good job with benefits including retirement.  I have seen a lot of changes in my lifetime, some good, some bad.  My renter buys late model quality used equipment.  The two row planter is now 16 rows and their combine has a 30 foot header and 8 row corn head.  They have two semis to haul grain.  Seems like they can do in one day that would have taken me a week.  A lot of the drudgery has been eliminated but the pressure of crop uncertainty with grain prices and costs are greater than ever.  That being said would I do it again?  Yes.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Seems like they can do in one day that would have taken me a week.

Wasn't that many years ago I was cutting hay with a 7' sickle mower and making thousands of square bales because that's just what we did. 60 acres of hay took us a few days to get all cut, now I knock down 60 acres in a leisurely afternoon 12' at a time at 10+mph. Can round bale 60 acres in an afternoon and have it all home and stacked the next day.

I don't do a lot of grain so I still have an AC big bin 66 pull type combine, it does as nice a job in small grains as most of the newer machines just at a lot slower pace.

[Chuck White]

Love that video, Paul!   ;)   

[dgdrls]

My Dad used to tell me being a Farmer was a calling like the Priesthood.

Some of the most wonderful people I've ever met.

D

[Chuck White]

Dan;  I really think it is!

Farming is either for you, or not!

[Stoneyacrefarm]

I have a full time 60+ hour a week job and run a 150 acre farm.
Beef cows.
Sheep.
Hogs and about 75 egg layers.
Make about 300-350 round bales a year.
Not huge by any means.
I'm almost to the point where I can quit my job an go full time on the farm.
Less than 2 years to go. !!
I can't wait.  8) 8)

[grouch]

I have a full time 60+ hour a week job and run a 150 acre farm.
Beef cows.
Sheep.
Hogs and about 75 egg layers.
Make about 300-350 round bales a year.
Not huge by any means.
I'm almost to the point where I can quit my job an go full time on the farm.
Less than 2 years to go. !!
I can't wait.  8) 8)

Sure about that?

There's the old joke about the farmer who won the lottery.
A reporter asked him if he was gonna quit working and live high on all that money.
The farmer replied, "I've been farming all my life, just like my daddy and his father before him. Don't know any other way. Reckon I'll just keep farming until this runs out, then I'll retire."

[Stoneyacrefarm]

Ha ha.
Yes I'm sure about it.
We'll talk in a couple years and see if I still like it.
;D

[coxy]

good one grouch  :D :D

[GRANITEstateMP]

  Spent all of Monday in the seat of the 10 wheeler haulin' corn. Only broke down once!

  My wife is a dairy farmer.  Her, her folks, and her brother run a dairy and are milking around 160 cows.  They have one part time milker (they milk 2 times a day) as their only other paid employee.  My wife's uncle and I are Head and Asst. Head of Volunteer Labor...

  We grow all of our own corn (except real bad years) and do our own silage.  We usually end up buying bale hay (round and/or big square bales) and always buy in grains.  We've got some fields around the farm and some are a bit of a hike, maybe 5 or 6 miles?  We chop using a Case 8920 tractor, and a New Holland 900 - 2 row chopper.

  We pack the pit with either a Cat 930 Loader, a Case IH MX120, or maybe 130?m, and sometimes a Timberjack 230D if everything else is broke or being used...

 
This is from 2016, this is what we call the "Junkyard Field", it's a field we rent, lots of "old iron" tucked away in the corners...



 
  Wagon just about loaded.  When loaded we dump on the 10 wheeler, and then top off the load.  We have another truck, a trusty C60 or 65, with the powerhouse Detroit 8.2L.  It's a long wheelbase 6wheeler, lived it's previous life hauling rough cut lumber



 

  My normal rig.  I like having the power of the Cat and the extra gears in the 10 wheeler.  Only drawback is you need to get out and open up the barndoor tailgate, it's a rolloff truck.  We have one can for feed and one can just for manure.

Thanks for lookin, yip them farmers are hard workers!  I like to give them my 2 "off days" from work.  That way I can go to my regular job and rest for 5!

[coalsmok]

I do the full time job plus farm thing as well. My wife tried to go to work and I asked her to quit. I couldn't handle my new share of the chores around the house and my farm work. Told her I would rather be a dirt poor farmer with a stay at home wife than a middle class one with a working wife.
Sold some honey this year and one of my coworkers said that pretty soon I should be able to quit work and farm for a living. I laughed and told her that I worked to support the habit.