Project 2016

Discuss non-crawler related issues here (keep it sane, please)
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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Post by CuttingEdge » Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:42 am

I have done that several times here Paul because it is about the only thing you can do for removing rock walls.

Back when all they had was oxen, they only hauled rocks a short ways so the field tended to be small. It was not too bad with the old tractors but now that we are approaching 400 HP articulated tractors to do the same jobs we did 20 years ago with only 120 HP tractors, those small fields are just too small. So out goes those old rock walls.

I did convert one to a road, but on some I will take a bulldozer and dig a deep cut on one side of the rock wall and then push the rock wall into the hole and cover it with soil more then plow depth. It saves a lot of chasing rocks in trying to push thousands of them to the edge of the new field.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

oldtanker
440 crawler
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Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:12 pm
Location: west Minnesota

Post by oldtanker » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:23 am

Here basically on the real big ones we just dig a deep hole next to em and roll them in. As long as the bottom is below the frost line they won't heave but sometime in the future and with enough tillage they will become a problem again but not for a very long time. Funny how my BIL had huge rocks and me a mile away straight line distance the biggest rock is about the size of my fist. I've dug rocks out 4-5 feet across 1/4 mile from here.

Rick

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Stan Disbrow
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:13 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:23 am

Hi,

I lose. My biggest tractor ever is 45 HP.....

I have two at 18 HP. One is my M Standard. The other is an x495 diesel garden tractor with a 60" belly mower.

The M still does well with a one bottom plow. Usually, I use it with cultivators and a fertilizer spreader though.

The biggest tractor I ever used was only 100 HP or so. A 4020 with 1000 RPM PTO. And that haying. I always seemed to do a lot of haying for folks. Something to do with being able to keep the knotters knotting.... :P

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Post by CuttingEdge » Fri Apr 29, 2016 2:04 pm

I am a big fan of silage. Thankfully I have sheep so they do well on silage. I just have an issue with waiting 3-4 days for the grass to dry while with silage (grass silage) you can just mow and chop in the same day.

Right now I am aggressively looking for a decent flail chopper. That is the answer to my sheep feeding problems. Like you Stan I am all about "using what I got". I learned a long time ago that "sheep is low tech/low cash flow so you have to make the most of what you have. In contrast is my family; dairy farmers which is high tech/high cash flow.

I know I get confusing when I post on here because I blur the lines on what "ours" is sometimes because for many, many years my personal farm provided for my own flock of sheep and the dairy farm too. As of this year however, my personal farm is sheep only.

It's a big step for me, I have been in the Maritime Industry for a lot of years and not welding ships or living aboard tug boats is going to be different. Now its about logging and sheep...and no steady paycheck...my stay at home wife, my four daughters...it is all on me now. (Scary, but exciting too).

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=57A9AF69
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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Stan Disbrow
350 crawler
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Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:13 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Post by Stan Disbrow » Fri Apr 29, 2016 3:32 pm

Hi,

Heck, I am an electronics R+D engineer now growing odd things like gourds and insanely hot peppers for commercial sale. Then there is the stuff for us, veggies, chickens and a few head of beef stock (in cahoots with the neighbor who has a few pigs to add to breakfast).

But, I have some new stuff to add to the old stuff, and all this kind of stuff was part of my early life before places like IBM and Ericsson.

Fell into the commercial aspect. Folks wanted pay me to grow them some stuff. ;)

But it is all small time, so the old ways work better than the new ways. That means fixing up old stuff all the time. It grew to where we have a club with a farm park these days putting on demo fairs.

Stan
There's No Such Thing As A Cheap Crawler!

Useta Have: '58 JD 420c 5-roller w/62 inside blade
Useta Have: '78 JD350C w/6310 outside blade
Useta Have: '68 JD350, '51 Terratrac GT-25
Have: 1950 M, 2005 x495, 2008 5103 (now known as 5045D)

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
2010 crawler
Posts: 534
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Post by CuttingEdge » Sat Apr 30, 2016 4:51 pm

I am constantly fighting off the scrappers here when the price of steel gets high. They think just because it is old and rusty that it never gets used; well not on a sheep farm.

It is funny how Lavoy was mentioning how moldboard plows are making a comeback. I watched a video on Youbube about compaction and they used a moldboard plow and no one knew how to set it up right, yet it was breaking up the plow pan where as other tillage equipment wasn't.

I am on the hunt now for a flail chopper. What was once pretty common to see is now hard to come by...
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

oldtanker
440 crawler
440 crawler
Posts: 123
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 4:12 pm
Location: west Minnesota

Post by oldtanker » Sun May 01, 2016 11:14 am

CuttingEdge wrote:I am constantly fighting off the scrappers here when the price of steel gets high. They think just because it is old and rusty that it never gets used; well not on a sheep farm.

It is funny how Lavoy was mentioning how moldboard plows are making a comeback. I watched a video on Youbube about compaction and they used a moldboard plow and no one knew how to set it up right, yet it was breaking up the plow pan where as other tillage equipment wasn't.

I am on the hunt now for a flail chopper. What was once pretty common to see is now hard to come by...
Yea setting up a plow, be it a 3 point mounted, semi mount or trailer has become a lost art. Neighbor had a 3 point 2-14 Deerborne plow he bought to use behind his Ford 4000. He was having a real hard time getting the plow to work right. Then he saw me with an identical plow behind a little Ford 8N doing just fine. Another neighbor decided to try plowing. This is a bigger guy who tills about 2000 acres a year. Big 450 HP 4X4 tractor. I spent a couple of hours helping him get the 10-18 on land plow he bought set up right. Now he can plow about 10-11 acres an hour. With a disk he covers 32 acres an hour.

Rick

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Post by CuttingEdge » Mon May 02, 2016 2:53 pm

I did pretty good today. 4 Days to plow those 10 acres, two days to get all the rocks out, then today I graded it. I won't lie and say it is completely graded because its not, I got some more to do, but it is getting a lot smoother.

Now keep in mind I am using what I got, so I tried dragging a 24 foot long log behind my Kubota (darn bulldozer front idler is busted), but it proved too light and did not really smooth things out well. So I took an old woods trailer I had and chained the log near the hitch. In this way I had a grader with a "blade" (log) 24 feet wide and controlled by raising or lowering the 3 point hitch.

It worked perfectly.

It would pick the tires of the trailer off the ground on a good cut, but I think by adding weight to the trailer I can get a smoother field with less passes. My little Kubota just did not have the traction on the first pass around the field trying to drive over all that plowed ground, but now that it is smoothed out some, I can add some weight.

Ultimately my goal is a super smooth field.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

User avatar
CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
2010 crawler
Posts: 534
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Post by CuttingEdge » Tue May 03, 2016 4:00 pm

Still more progress on my field though in doing so I found some more rocks!

It rained like the blue blazes last night so I put on my 6 foot grader blade to help out a few problem spots. The biggest issue was where I came together when I plowed. I just go around in circles so when I meet up in the middle it leaves a big trench. To fill it I set my grader blade at 45 degrees and pushed in one side, then the other. After that I worked at cutting out some rough areas so that when things get dry again, I can try more finish grading.

I think I need more weight on my trailer so I was thinking about putting on a log. If I cut one long and heavy and chain it to my trailer front and back, then hitch it to my implement bar on my 3 point hitch, I should have a better grading blade. It will be wide (24 feet) but also long so it will cut out the rises and fill in the dips better.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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