[Paulk]

If I were a little closer I would offer to help you, I have a sand blasting and painting business and could make it look new again. I’m in Southern Illinois though.  The best thing to do is get a grinder and wire wheel and go to town on any rust or loose paint.  Then I would invest in a good industrial or implement primer and  paint that will resist the UV rays of the sun and also snow/rain etc.  I only like to do things once so when I paint I try to use the best paint available.  If you have an air compressor you might consider buying a paint gun but if not a brush will work also.  I can say if I have to brush paint anything I usually con the wife into it, just not my cup of tea.

On another note could you take a picture of the rear and the hydraulic drive .  I am going to build a forecart in the near future and am trying to get ideas and decide how to do it.  I originally planned to build a simple forecart but I have alot of three point equipment already so instead of trying to find horse drawn equipment maybe I need to build a cart with three point.   Paulk

 

[Paulk]

My dealer that I get my goat feed is reluctant on telling me any one specific ration.  With my goat and horse feed his answer was ” ya I mix several different rations if you want to pick one I’ll mix it”  This is the answer I got about other feed also.  I think this keeps him from getting blamed if the ration causes problems.  He will break everything down and tell me if he thinks it will be a benefit or not but won’t say this is what you need to feed. With my goat feed I talked to several people that I was buying my breeding stock from that had very nice looking animals and with some research was able to come up with a formula thats seems to produce good results.   I figured that if I can save a little trial and error by getting some input from here  I would be better off.

Thanks Paul

[Paulk]

I hated to start a new topic and couldn’t find the answer anywhere so I thought I would add to this one.  My wife and I are going to get a couple pigs to raise for butcher and I was wondering if anyone had a good feed ration to have mixed.  I really don’t like to use commercial bag feed and have my own ration for my goats, so if I can get a good formulation for pigs I can buy it in bulk when I get goat feed.  I am new to pigs as we have been raising goats and chickens mainly.  Would also like to get a good chicken ration also if anyone has one.

[Paulk]

I keep threatting to put my wifes qtr horse paint with my belgium mule, wouldn’t that be a site!  The paint has to have draft in his blood somewhere he is 15.3h and 1450lb with some monster hooves.

This paint is full of p@ss and vinegar and my is dead as they get so I figure one would have to speed up and the other slow down so could make a good team.  I agree with above if you are working them and like both animals why not?

[Paulk]

Here are some pictures of our horse powered bailer.  If you look you can see the horse power in the back ground along with the two horse treadmill.  I am still trying to come up with some more pictures.

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[Paulk]

My guess is that the tongue goes across the top gear with the metal piece on the end some how hooking into the bracket on it and the long bolt going through the tongue.  I am still waiting on my friend to go through her pictures for some of our horse power.  Unfortunatly I dont ever take pictures of anything

 

[Paulk]

Can you post the picture of the tongue also?  The big gear sets over the top of the smaller gears and the tongue should just fasten across the top of it if it is only a one horse.  Did you get the drive shaft and belt pulley that goes with it to drive different machinary?  I belong to a club and we have a four horse that is used to power a small agitator or thrashing machine.  We also have a two horse and a single horse powered tread mill.  I will see if I can get some pictures of the horse power in operation.

These horse powers were used to power different pieses of belt driven equipment or I guess they could be direct drive also.  It was a set of gears with a tongue attached that one or several horses/mules were hooked to and they walked in a circle turning the gears which in turn would turn a drive shaft to power equipment.

[Paulk]

I am thinking of buying a new harness and have never used a pad but I also haven’t  worked them very hard before and I plan to start doing more.  I have been told that I should use a pad.  If I get a new collar and hames do I need to order them bigger than what they are and if so how much bigger typically.

[Paulk]

I did do a search for the mini balers and now I want one!  There is the Italian company that has one that will fit in the bed of a pickup that would be perfect.  I don’t have any hay ground but my grandmother does have about 15 acres of pasture and another 10acres of farm ground I could turn into hay ground.  I have been tossing the idea around but when I weigh spending a minimum of $15,000-$20,000 on used wore out equipment I don’t know if it is worth it.  I spent about $1300 on hay last year and feed as many as 50 head of goats and three equine. It would take me 12+ years to break even unless I could sale surplus hay and thats with no labor.  I  can’t decide if I need more on my plate by getting into the hay business.  I have several tractors but all but one are pre 1940 and the one is a Massey 35 diesel that I use to move hay,blade the drive etc.  I don’t know if I would pull it with my team but I could if I had a good pot cart I guess, i just think it would be good for baling enough to feed my animals.  I could mow and rake with my mules and bale with my tractor I already have though.  It does seem a little funny that Allis Chalmers had this Idea with the cigar balers or mini round balers years ago but they didn’t really catch on.  I have seen a few but didn’t pay enough attention as to wether they would be fit for a ground drive cart.  Anyway if I had $9000 dollars burning a hole in my pocket I would consider a mini baler.

[Paulk]

Will do j.l.holt.  I have thought about incorporating a small 3speed transmission that was on a small stationary power unit I have.  It would be driven by the forecart and then it would drive the pto.  You would be able to vary the load and speed depending on terrain or job being preformed. I don’t know if this would be needed but its something that I could brag about.   Anyone have any thoughts?

[Paulk]

I think an over riding  or over running as thay are aslo known clutch would be a good idea especially if you did want to pull a bush hog or and equipment that would have the possiblity to push when you stop. If I ever get to building a forecart I was planning on using one since I would like to pull a bush hog or similar.  It may not be needed but I have seen tractors and even people damaged by getting into a tight spot with out live pto and not being ale to stop when they push in the clutch.  One like you mentioned for an old 8N or similar would work.  Just my 2cents.

[Paulk]

Lol.  My wife is the same way if I talk of lice or mange.  The good thing is that to my knowledge lice and mange are species specific!

[Paulk]

My Belgium mule had the same problem when I got him this winter and looked horrible.  He was way under weight also, so I wormed him and started feeding him senoir feed, corn oil and beet pulp. He started to look a little better and I was advised to worm him again incase it was lice or mange as the ivermec is supposed to kill either.  Another month or so went by, he started getting bald spots on his back, withers rump and back of his legs. It looked like elephant skin so after consulting the vet and others I bought some Ivermectin pour on and dosed him with that.  About a week later I am embarassed for people to drive by and see him as apparently which ever it was (lice or mange)  the pour killed but where he was severely infected the hair is falling out and he has big bald spots all over his back and withers.  The vet said this is normal and the hair should come back in and he should look fine.

My point to all of this is, address it quickly and treat it or you may end up with an unslightly looking animal as I currently have.  Not to mention mange or lice can spread rapidly and cause weight loss etc.

[Paulk]

I had considered going but it is over six hours away and figured it would be a wasted trip.  If pioneer carts were selling that cheap it would have been worth it, as I can’t find any in my area and have it on my list of things to build but haven’t made it that far.

Similar thing happened with a mule sale in my area.  I went in january with $1000 cash thinking I could buy a good work mule.  Out of 40-50 head there was only two I could even bid on.  Coming 1 & 2 yr olds matched pairs were bringing 5-$7000. So I bought the ugliest poorest looking mule there.  Went to the same sale two months later and nothing brought over $1000.  I could have bought two 15yr old mule teams one a percheron cross the other a Belgium cross for $600 per team.  Unfortunatly I don’t have enough land for more than a couple with all my goats otherwise I would have had a trailer load to bring home.  Sometimes it makes no sense why some auctions things go high some they don’t.

[Paulk]

I use hardwood pallets with a chain attached to drag my pasture every few weeks to bust up the piles of manure from my equine and my goats and knock down the rough ground around the hay feeder.  I hook the pallet behind my mule with a single tree and stand on the pallet for weight.  I do like the idea of a planker better, looks like I have another project to add to my list!

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