Life on the Farm

[bjrogg]

Filled planter with seed and fertilizer.

Started planting. Still took a few acres to get everything zeroed in.

One month to the day later than started last year.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Bjrogg

[chamookman]

Kewl ! Bob

[Buckskinner]

Looks like the neighbor who rents my land had a untimely breakdown.  They tried to pull it with the other tractor and it wouldn't budge, hopefully not a tranny and something simple...
Still there this morning.

[bjrogg]

Hopefully it’s just a sensor for park. I had that happen to me once. Was all done with field and took fertilizer truck back. Got a ride back to my tractor and it wouldn’t move. Their getting to be to many sensors.

Well I’ve been planting sugar beets since Saturday. I did have to do a bunch of wrenching on the fertilizer attachments. The ones my nephew made didn’t work and we had to put old ones back on.

Yesterday I planted our closest beets to the piling ground. Literally right across the tracks. You can see one of the pilers across the tracks

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Today I’m planting our furthest field from pilling grounds. This one is almost 40 mile round trip to town. With fuel prices I’m thinking probably shouldn’t have panted this field. Harvest probably going to be expensive.

Dry and windy now. Next problem is going to be keeping them in moisture. Can’t plant beets very deep. That’s another reason it’s nice to get them planted early.
Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

A rock

And no those tracks aren’t from it rolling out of the way by itself.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We almost got done with sugar beets last night. About 25 acres to go. Had sprayer pump quit. I replaced it with my spare pump. Started tractor back up and fuel lift pump quit. Tractor wouldn’t stay running.

I’m sure hoping they have a new one I can get this morning. Hearing all kinds of stories about people unable to get parts for their tractors and down time is a real killer. Glad we got as much done as we do, but it’s time to keep the planter going. As soon as I get done with sugar beets I’ll switch planter over to corn. Then to soybeans. Got lots of spraying to do to.

This farm is right by the lake to. You can see it in this picture

Also one from behind planter. I keep checking to see if seeds are still in moisture.

Bjrogg

[Buckskinner]

You guys are cruising right along!  Hopefully you got some rain last night. it missed us but we have good moisture yet.

Looks like it must have been something like the park sensor.  I agree too much electronics these days to go wrong, I miss the linkage days, when it wouldn't go into park there was likely a pin missing...

My grandparents bought this new in 1945 and it replaced horses, was their main tractor for decades.  The B was kept in the family and my aunt gave it to me in 2020, so I rebuilt it and got it running again that winter.  Fun project and very easy to work on, although I have more money into than it's worth...  Wish my dad was still around to see it, he would have gotten a kick out of it.

[bjrogg]

That’s great news it was a sensor even if it is aggravating being down.

AC  model b was a nice little tractor

Got to closest John Deere dealer at opening and they didn’t have my pump. Had to go to another store. $1,100 and 130 miles later I have my tractor running again. No rain yet. We are really about perfect for moisture but sugar beets can only be planted about a 1 1/4” deep max and this time of year it can easily dry that out before they germinate. I saw a lot of farmers scratching to see if their seed was still in moisture on my trip for parts

Cloudy now so maybe we can keep them in moisture.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Well I got tractor fixed and finished planting sugar beets. Now hopefully they come up.

I switched the planter over for corn and planted our two fields. Since we lost acres we don’t grow much corn My son still grows some though and I plan on hitting his hard today. I have seed in the planter and ready to go.

There’s going to be a lot of money buried in the ground this week. Sure hope it sprouts and grows.

Bjrogg

[Eric Krewson]

My brother-in-law and his son were big time farmers before he died, their hobby of buying a few old tractors to restore blossomed into a major obsession over the years, when he died they had 125 of them, all restored to be like new. They had the resources to build a building to house them and the simi trucks to take some of them to old tractor shows far and wide. When the kids decided to auction the tractors off a huge crowd of buyers came from all over the country for the sale.

Now the son and son-in-law are the farmers, the son-in-law got into tractor pulling on the side. He has a full blown nitro tractor and has won on a national level. He said his winnings kept him in the black only part of the time and although he loved it it was a very expensive hobby. He said the regularly blows an engine and it cost $125K to repair it.

Here is his tractor;

   

[Buckskinner]

Curious what he farmed to have that kind of hobby budget?  I don't know any that could afford blowing $125k routinely!!!  Good for him!

[Eric Krewson]

He farms 750 acres of row crops, mostly corn, soybeans and wheat, he has won the grand national championship for 2 years in a row so he has some sponsorship and prize money coming in, just not quite enough to make pulling completely profitable.

[bjrogg]

One of my highs school classmates got into tractor pulling. You definitely need sponsors. Very expensive hobby. Even with good sponsors. He’s not farming anymore, or pulling tractors. Must really be addictive when you get it in your blood. The work and money involved is substantial. I think I will stick to my primitive hobbies.

We have a couple tractors and semi trucks we have restored. Some we sold and some we still use regularly. The yellow 1985 Kenworth is my favorite of our trucks. We “restored” it about twelve years ago. It’s still looking pretty good. It’s on my fertilizer tanker right now.

My son’s beef operation. I’m planting corn right next to it. The yellow Kenworth is next to the barn.

Bjrogg