Glamour shots

Looks like the glamour post pics didn't go through.... These match the caption below.... That's a  Smartphone for ya...

Russian feeding methods

A few of these are last falls calves. A couple odd looking critters in the bunch but all in all the group of cows was a good purchase. And yes that is the Belarus serving feed cart duty in true Russian fashion. If you have ever watch you tube videos of Russian ag and logging practises you will see they make equipment to work through thick and thin. This rig chugs through mud and muck with little complaint.

Some like it wet....

Farmers are not the only one who get excited when it rains. Casey and the Sunshine Band like it to.

Chopping continued...

A few more shots. This is what it looks like on top of 60ft of silage, sorry so dark. And Simon gives Grandpa a hat check while filling silo from a safe distance.

The glamour of modern farming

We have never owned a chopper at the ranch. We have filled the silo numerous times, filled bags, piled but always with the help of a hard working neighbor. Well this year we made the plunge... Here she is, a 1968 Fox Double D with  4 cylinder Detroit Diesel, two row wide head and vise grip mounted throttle control by the engine. Now this wasn't all by choice, some of the locals had gotten out of the business and the custom outfits we called said they were booked, one told us we had been the 200th call and he was already tired. We picked this unit because we figured since we had never owned a chopper before we want to jump in low on the technology curve so we figured getting one made about the same time the ranch was established would be good.... Or maybe it was the because it was priced right and available as they are hard to find this year. Well this unit has an appetite for corn and sustains itself on copious amounts of roller chains, grease, diesel, and oil... A good lube job every three loads is recommended and your hands look like you are an old steam train engineer, even after wiping them off as seen in the photo. Major thanks to Roger for working on her for a few days before running and keeping it running. He is a wizard with stuff like this and made it happen, I think he will fix up a few things over winter that we bandaged to get by and hope it still has some years left in it. We have a 3 row narrow head but it needs a new drive shaft so that is another project, anybody know where we could find a forge head to fit it? Will another color fit it? We also picked up a couple forage boxes from a neighbor and another from southern Minnesota. Total investment was around $13k to get into the business... Pretty reasonable I think. Still haven't been able to find a bracket to mount the autosteer.

So off we went north of Maynard, at 10mph. Yes 14 miles each way. And 60+ loads later, one full silo, and 150ft bagged we are done with the main part just in time for my back surgery. Still a few check strips for insurance inspection to harvest and feed. And we still plan on planting rye as a cover crop. Did I mention Roger went down a little over half way through the job with a banged up leg? And we limped along with out him...(pun intended) and a neighbor fellow and hauled a few for us, thanks Gene.

We also want to apologize for that hum/buzz sound you have heard the last week and a half for 3 or so hours at a time. That Detroit screams requiring substantial hearing protection.