[Wamoo]

An update: I recently purchased an International 200-H spreader. It’s complete, the floor is good, has been kept lubricated, and used until recently. It does need some work, but mostly just cosmetic.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 6 months ago by Wamoo.

[Wamoo]

In the Coast Guard, which operates in a pretty harsh environment, we use Neats Foot Oil on all of our leather.

[Wamoo]

How small? What do you need to do? Dairy or beef?

http://www.cps.gov.on.ca/english/bc1000/bc1831.htm

I figure the minimum is just a headlock.

[Wamoo]

MuleManDonn~ Please post what you find out here… I’m interested in this too.

[Wamoo]

I’ve never seen an electric agitator for milk cans… I’ve only ever seen milk cans retrofitted into butter churns by adding an electric motor on top of the lid, and paddles under it. Those spin much too fast for agitation, but I would think you could easily use that for inspiration to build your own agitator set-up. You’d need a gearmotor to slow things down. Most regular bulk tank agitator RPM are about 30-36 RPM. an

I bought my milk cans from Holmco, and they are American made. They are stainless steel, Grade A, even have the “right” shape, just like traditional tinned steel milk cans. When I bought them, I also got a stainless steel milk can hand agitator. It’s a perforated stainless disc welded perpendicular to a long stainless rod with a handle on the other end.

[Wamoo]

There are five excellent universities in the United States that offer free tuition, free books, free room and board…

US Coast Guard Academy
US Air Force Academy
US Naval Academy
Westpoint
US Merchant Marine Academy

All joking aside, the military does offer good education benefits. As an enlisted person, you get 100% of the GI Bill for 4 years of service. It covers tuition and fees, has a book stipend, and pays a housing allowance. 4 years of free college for 4 years of service. The military offers a lot in the different types of jobs it has, so don’t let stereotypes cloud your judgement. I service Aids to Navigation; the buoys, beacons, and lighthouses that guide our mariners. I work with heavy lift rigging applications and photovoltaics. Sure, you can be infantry, but you can also be electricians, carpenters, mechanics, cooks, information technology, etc.

I do agree that U.S. tuition is disproportionally high. I know a guy who is working on a degree program at a US university, but studies abroad for many semesters because it is actually cheaper. I guess he does get the added benefit of living in other cultures…

If someone wants to farm bad enough, they will.

[Wamoo]

I’ve known I wanted to be a farmer growing up… But at 17, I joined the U.S. Coast Guard. It was only suppose to be for 4 years… That was 15 years ago. Right now, I have 5 years until I retire at 37… Which is when I plan to become a full time farmer. Do I wish I could be full time farming right now? You bet I do! But, in reality, I do need these next 5 years.

I have used my military education benefits to get a Certificate In Dairy Sciences from the University of Illinois, and my wife used her G.I. Bill to get a Certificate in Organic Agriculture from Washington State University. No cost to either of us.

We bought our “farm” in 2010, 40 acres in Northeast Washington State with nothing on it… Initially owner financed, but later refinanced by Northwest Farm Credit Services for a lower interest rate.

Every year, we do more to improve it, paying as we go… First we put in a driveway, then later a well. Next we got power run and built a shop/machine shed, and last year we put up nearly a mile of fence. In 2013 we got our land certified Organic.

We also have managed to pick up equipment along the way, again, paying as we go… First a Farmall Cub tractor with a plethora of implements, and McD #9 mower, a John Deere hay loader, an IH side delivery rake, and a David Bradley wagon gear. Of course, I can’t forget our faithful farm truck, a 1996 Ford F-150 extend cab, long bed 4×4.

In 2015, we have plans to build a pump house and install an electric well pump (currently we pump with a vintage Aermotor windmill). By the time I retire, we want to have the house and dairy built, and be ready to full time farm time.

In closing, I just want to say we’ve worked really hard at getting where we are at. The only debt we have is the initial land purchase (which really isn’t that bad). Nothing has been handed to us. If people want to farm bad enough, they will find a way. Like I said in the beginning, I’d love to full time farm right now… but we, and the farm, need the time.
I also want to say that although the formal agricultural education that has been afforded to us has been helpful, most of our knowledge has come from studying on our own and volunteering on others farms.

[Wamoo]

Nice website! Good clean look and easy to navigate. Best of luck to your new school!

[Wamoo]

Well, we did get our fencing project done this past summer… About 8/10th of a mile. Being certified organic, we couldn’t use pressure treated lumber, so we ended up using Eastern Oregon Juniper. It was the best compromise between durability and availability.

Check out Oregon State University’s “Fence Post Farm” report on the service life of treated and untreated fence posts: http://juniper.oregonstate.edu/post-farm.pdf

Anyway, we also tacked a few other, smaller, projects, such as enclosing the machine shed side of our building with rough cut siding from a local mill and installing a wood stove in the shop, which has greatly increased it’s usability during the winter (We were working in it earlier this month, with it -2f outside, but easily maintaining 60-70f inside)

We also acquired a few more pieces of equipment… A cultipacker and an old David Bradley running gear.

For 2015, no major projects are planned. I’ll probably just work at fixing up some of this old equipment I’ve picked up along the way, and save some money because in 2016 we plan a big push to get the dairy built. Also in 2015, my wife and I are signed up for a Doc Hammill workshop which we’re both very excited about!

Cheers!

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[Wamoo]

Just because technology is available, doesn’t mean it’s appropriate.

In my efforts to build my own small producer-handler dairy, I spend as much time as possible on other people’s dairies, learning whatever I can. Every time I transfer in the Coast Guard, I seek out dairies to volunteer on. As such, I’ve worked on little 3 cows dairies that produce farmstead cheese to sell at local farmers markets, to 1,000 cow dairies selling bulk to a cooperative.

The farm I work on now is a 100 cow organic dairy. I’ve been helping them milk and do chores for the past couple of years. In January, they bought two robotic milkers. It was interesting to be part of this process, and learn more about them. According to the dealer, they usually do installs of 2 to 4 robots. Each robot can handle 60 cows, so in most installations, it’s usually for 240 cows or less. In todays world, that is considered a fairly small dairy in the U.S.

I would rather see a small family farm with a couple robots than a 6,000 cow dairy with all hired milkers. Either way, the owner probably isn’t actually milking the cows. Besides actually milking the cows, the robots provide a wealth of health information, which can be used for early detection of health issues. While an owner milking cows might be attuned to this, it’s less likely with a hired milker. Some might argue why did we even go to milking machines if hand milking worked just fine?

I think robotic milkers have their place. On a small family dairy, it frees up time to do calf care, field work, or other chores. Admittedly, robots take more management than I realized, but it does open up some extra time. Also it allows for a small family dairy to operate without hired help. This is a huge advantage if you’ve ever dealt with all the paperwork and cost of employees. For the dairy I’m specifically talking about it also seated the possibility of passing the dairy to their son.

For my wife and I, we want to milk our own cows. I want the cow/human interface. We only plan on having twelve, and processing the milk ourselves. We want the small scale, but to someone selling milk simply as a commodity, 12 cows simply wouldn’t pencil out. Processing our own, will allow that small scale.

http://www.bluecreekdairy.com

[Wamoo]

Washington State University’s “Draft Horse Handbook”

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/EB1135E/eb1135e.pdf

[Wamoo]

Sweet! Horse seining always fascinated me. I work a few hundred yards from where the horse barns were located on the Desdemona Sands between Astoria, OR and Megler, WA. Our local hospital has some big murals of horse seining here in the mighty Columbia.

The Columbia River has always been a part of my life. The Great River of the West. The other day I watched a documentary on explorer David Thompson, and I remarked to my wife, if I really wanted to, I could take a canoe from our home here in Astoria (stationed in the Coast Guard) to our farm in Eastern Washington, a 9 hour drive by car. The Columbia touches so much of the Pacific Northwest. It is such a magnificent river.

Thanks again!

[Wamoo]

The local conservation district (Spokane, WA) has been big lately on helping horse people put in static aerated compost piles.

The company they’ve been using to supply the parts (also a WA company) is O2 Compost.
http://www.o2compost.com

I personally have no experience with the system, but when I went to the Pacific NW Farm Forums a few years ago, I was hearing good feedback.

Here is a fact sheet covering an O2 Compost system in Rhode Island. Doesn’t look like a complicated system, a squirrel cage blower, some PVC pipe, and a timer and you could be in business.

I was a big Gary Paulsen fan growing up. Still am…

[Wamoo]

I’ve seen Victorian, Edwardian, and Wartime farm… As well as their first series, Tales from the Green Valley (Farming in the 1620’s). I enjoyed them all! And highly recommend them! I learned about it while staying on the Isle Of Jersey… They were advertising “Wartime Farm” during BBC’s “Countryfile”, an excellent contemporary weekly show featuring modern UK agriculture.

[Wamoo]

Ray Wise can always play a bad guy…

That said. I won’t watch it. It is just a marketing ploy by Chipotle. I hate watching commercials as it is.

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