[near horse]

I just got a flyer from “Midwest Leather” in Garland, UT and they are now listing (no prices) rebuilt #9 mowers for sale. I can get you a PH # if anyone’s interested.

[near horse]

Hal,

Don’y buy that “opportunity cost” bull Sh-t! That’s your ag econ guys telling you why you can’t farm and you need to keep that $25/hr job you don’t have. Those clowns are so full of crap – I should know, I worked with them in the college of agriculture. Your time is one of the few things you truly own already so don’t let someone dissuade you from spending it in a way that pleases you NOT them. They have to justify why they’re getting $60,000 to 100,000/yr sitting in an office “theoretical farming” and still losing money.:mad:

Also, check out http://www.johnandleroytomlinson.com for a couple of old pull behind combines (some are PTO others engine drive).

the rate I got from the state DOL for an average cable skidder guy. It aint much,

Rick, Out west, man, these guys get some serious pay.

[near horse]

My sympathy George – that is the worst when you’re trying to fix a “minor” issue like a leak and end up with a major one – like a broken part.

When I took my #6 apart I think I followed Lynn’s instructions but the gear on the shaft came loose pretty easy. The flywheel does not – in fact, I just slid the whole shaft out the front side w/ fly wheel attached. Again, I don’t recall exactly but I’m sure I applied liberal amounts of that “Blasters” penetrating oil – plus have you already pulled the other gears out of the case?

No simple sure fire solutions – except some of the basic for frozen threads- “lubricate” also “heat and cool” a few times and keep working the shaft back and forth (loosen/tighten).

Good luck – might also try taking some used oil (if you’ve got some around and fill the gear case up above the “flywheel gear” so it’s submerged and let it sit a day or so to soak.

Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.

Geoff

[near horse]

A highly acid soil or a shallow soil ….. wetness, solar aspect, depth to rock, drainage class, slope, till ability, acidity

Rod,

You must have been to my farm!:)

[near horse]

the same complaint was voiced when grain prices were cheap … just nobody listened. The feedlot boys were selling a lot of grain and the auction buyers work for them … so guess what kind of frame they were out looking for? Yep; 6’s, 7’s and up

Hi Oldkat,

I’ve got a couple of comments to run by you on this.

We’ve been seeing the strong Angus market for almost 20 years now. Through $2.50 corn and $10 corn. There were the occasional attempts to market a specific breed as the new “thing” (like the Limousin{sp} in the 90’s) but nothing over that time ever really displaced the blacks. And we saw it on a much smaller scale when finishing cattle – the Salers, Limos, Gelbs, Simmentals – all would reach a certain level of intake and then crash but not very often would a black baldie do that. They just chugged it down.

Since most feedlots don’t own the cattle, but just feed them out for someone else they (generally) could care less about grain prices. (Some do because of the way their contracts work, but most don’t) The “feeders”, the people that actually own the cattle, care a great deal about the price

I’m confused on this one. So the stocker is retaining ownership of his cattle through to slaughter? Or are there buyers who buy live cattle and send them to a custom feedlot? I thought that those big feeders bought cattle,owned and finished them and that most of the custom stuff was small potatoes. Whether grain is cheap or expensive, when you multiply 5 extra days on feed times 50,000 head, that’s some serious money and also why some pen riders I know say the rule of thumb is 5% acidosis in the lot or you’re not pushing them hard enough. Not my cup of tea but you sure see where numbers become the issue.

[near horse]

Now, oddly enough, the Angus breed has bounced back, and they are a tight, compact short British Breed. Around here they are all the rage right now. Angus are hot, and Black is hotter than Red. Go figure.

Hey Bachelorfarmer,

I thought the issue with the large framed exotics or continental breeds was that packers complained that: the cuts were too big to fit in their boxes and too big to sell as retail cuts (not everyone wants a giant ribeye – although I’d like one). Also, longer time to finish on continentals. Blacks over Reds – not so sure but out here Black Baldies are the cross of choice (Angus Hereford) because they seem to perform better on the hot finishing rations (less acidosis).

Many folks go with dairy breeds since they have been partially bred (theoretically) for temperment. If you need to milk them 2x a day you don’t need aggressive genetics.

[near horse]

Thanks for the “pats on the back”. I was pretty happy myself.

Donn, I really was trying to figure out THE best environment to be in when I kicked it into gear – since the horses weren’t tired they still wanted to step out when they felt the increased drag of going uphill (it really wasn’t much of a hill but a slope). I decided, rightly or wrongly, to be headed towards the field’s edge – in fact we were only 20 yards away from the 10-15 foot tall brush hedges ( a visual and physical barrier of sorts) – no fence to get tangled in but enough that we’d have to stop. Part of the idea was to be close enough that they’d already see the barrier and see it as a “no go” zone as well as only having a short distance to freak out in if that happened – rather than a long run across open ground. Anyway, it all worked out fine. Just need to repeat more times before “haying season”. And lube up that mower better:)

[near horse]

Caveat- Please take no offense at my thoughts. They are just that.

If your management plan depends on constant net inflow of other peoples’ stored fertility (in the form of manure or hay) you may in fact have a problem if your future supply of these things should cease.

I have to agree with Rod on this one. How is the excess hay your neighbor has any more reliable than the commercial dairy or the Alberta hay supplier? If you don’t want to support oil companies by paying extra for transport, that’s one thing but as far as being more or less protected from economic swings, I don’t see the difference. In fact, many idealist small farms meet the reality of a public that doesn’t want to “play that game” – they want cheap food from the grocery store and would rather the govt. just regulate production to ensure its safety. Without markets, we are toast regardless of our good intentions.

Our area is a great example. Plenty of folks in our area want to have small organic farms and sell at the local/even regional farmer’s markets, coops, etc. Not surprisingly, most end up producing the same items (same climate, soil ….) and you see a glut of the same product with limited buyers.

To add insult to injury, both local universities have jumped on the bandwagon and now have “sustainable farming programs” – in which students grow and produce on university owned land and using their equipment and get to compete and market the same products w/o any of the overhead (no land cost or taxes, they GET credits rather than pay wages… not sure where the $$ goes but they can afford to sell cheap – not a real source of personal income). AND they get to use the university system (department e-mails, school paper, on campus sales) to market their stuff. They are “playing farmer” without any risk and hurting the folks they supposedly wish to become. Go figure.

Anyway, it is panacea that agriculture can exist as a closed loop or even closed community. Production of foodstuffs by its very nature removes nutrients from the soil to be consumed by us or our livestock to grow, live, work … Those nutrients can not be replaced by just adding manure from you or your animals back to your soil. While that might increase tilth by increasing organic matter which in turn can help maximize availability of nutrients present, the nutrient profile of manure is very different than that of the original feedstuff – usually much lower in protein (N), higher in minerals (salts).

I feel very presumptious to think that in 2-4 thousand previous years of agriculture, noboby thought to try to operate as closed or tight agricultural community. From what I have seen and read on the history of ag, communities that employed isolated closed systems eventually died out or moved to greener pastures – neither of which I consider to be sustainable.

In a true solar economy

Good companion – what is a true solar economy and why do we want that? I just don’t understand.

[near horse]

Hi Howie,

I agree that without returning materials and nutrients to our farms we are really mining it. Just some of us have more to mine (better soil) than others so it just takes longer to “play out” if you don’t replenish.

As far as lime goes, how do you apply the lime on your farm? Do you use a spreader of some sort or have it applied? Also, do you just but it in bulk (by the ton)? Out here in ID the fertilizer plants don’t carry lime because the big wheat farms in our area don’t use it (although their soil pH’s are in the mid 5’s) and on top of that no one has lime spreaders. I thought about using my drop spreader that is used for spreading granulated fertilizer but I hear lime will just pack down in it and not “flow”. Same with the “spin spreaders”. What do you think?

[near horse]

I want to add in an experience I just had today with my horses. I recently picked up a #9 mower to use this summer and decided I might want to get my team used to pulling it around a bit before it’s time to actually do some work. These horses have done some things – skidding logs, pulling forecarts and wagons, some plowing but I’m pretty sure they’ve never mowed before. In fact, after a little warm up ground driving and dragging a log out of our collapsed shed we headed over to the mower. Both horses wanted to take a wide path around the mower and had to size it up for a minute or so.

We got into place and hitched up with no problem and then drove back and forth across the field w/ the cutter in transport position still good although they were still figuring out this new thing behind them. Although there is absolutely nothing to cut, I kicked it into gear to get them used to the sound and action of the cutter but was ready to trip it back out if things went bad. When the clatter started (and was it ever a clatter!), my horses gathered themselves (like horses ready to pull) and danced a step or two but listened to me and just walked out. We did this a few times and it got better, for the most part, each time.

My point is I certainly “felt concerned” about what was going to happen when I kicked it into gear but I did my absolute best to not convey this to the horses. While things weren’t perfect, I was really happy with how they responded. Small victories.

[near horse]

Hi Hal,

My 2 cents – I think the term is creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing) – if I remember right. One can not remove biological material from an area without either 1) depleting it 2) replacing or replenishing it. That’s why some of the grazing gurus (Jim Gerrish, for one) suggest that you don’t sell hay off your ground but graze it. At least then some of the organic (and inorganic) matter stays on your ground. He suggests even buying cheaper hay in round bales and letting cows, sheep or whatever eat it and trample it into the soil. Just more organic matter added (not lost). Cheap hay here = weeds so I’m not so much a fan of that idea but it makes a good point.

Anything you harvest is a nutrient removal from your ground and needs to be replenished. You can reduce the amount you need to add back to your soil and choose more “friendly” amendments.

[near horse]

think me ‘soft’ or worse…’unsustainable’! All I can say is that there is a role for people like me in a communtity like this…we all have our gifts. The world would be a sadder place without love and compassion and the expectation of miracles.

I’m sorry to hear of Reno’s accident and your set back but it sounds like your vision is very clear on how you want to approach this (that is a gift by itself). As far as unsustainability – pish posh – one thing you will always own is how you choose to spend your time so please don’t be apologetic for your choice(s). Just keep at it. All the best.

[near horse]

About 10 years ago the local dairy which had on-farm sales and was only a couple of miles out of town tried to stay afloat doing home deliveries but the public just didn’t respond. They’d rather buy from the supermarket. I thought it was a great idea going to home delivery but unfortunately national milk prices keep most folks from buying local.

As Robert Moonshadow has mentioned in other posts, mules, donkeys, or horses can be a great marketing tool – too bad one couldn’t deliver using a team. Or could you?

Didn’t ….. (I forgot your name) from this list that has the bakery talk about doing deliveries using a team?

It could work.

[near horse]

Anyone here get to experience birds flushing out of the brush- like pheasants or grouse? That usually startles the bleep out of me but the horses seem to just dance a couple of steps and then they’re good.

Plowboy is right about scent – I think. Deer can march up and down near the paddock and no problem but if a moose, elk or bear is in that same area – they’re on full alert. In fact, they usually tip us off that there’s something worth checking out in the area – “watch horses”.

[near horse]

Here is the real truism of putting up hay today. If you go with small square bales that you can handle w/o special equipment, then you have the problem karl mentioned

Stacking square bales in the mow 100 degrees no help .

. Round bales don’t stack all that well and you need to invest in a new (different) baler. Also, you can get alot of wasted hay feeding them if you don’t have enough animals working the feeder. Big squares – stack nicer, need better equipment and not likely to be able to manhandle them at all. So what do you do?

I’ve stayed w/ the smaller squares (I know how the knotters etc work and can troubleshoot them easier) and put a bit of monet into an accumulator and grapple. Then I can load and haul to the barn myself. Karl forgot to add bucking bales onto a trailer/truck in the field when you are also the driver.:eek: That gets old fast.

I have seen where guys in NZ make baleage w/ small square bales in short stacks covered w/ plastic. Maybe 20 – 40 bales in a stack only 2 or 3 rows high. They, like you guys back east, get plenty of rain in the summer months and use the baleage to keep on top of the forages so they don’t get too mature (lower quality) due to bad weather.

You know the million dollar idea is in what to do with used plastic – from Ag bags, bale wrappers and even baling twine. That’s also the make or break cost in wrapping is the plastic.

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