Category: Tractor

We Lost a Calf

I had a farrier by last night to look at the hooves of our mare, which have not been done for far too long. just before he arrived, I noticed that one of the calves was lying about looking like he wanted to die. With the gent on his way, I could not address it then, and had to get prepare the horse for her appointment. Once the farrier finished with her, I went right back over to where the calf was and took to dealing with him. There was nothing I could do. I went in to tell Missus that the calf looked like he was on his way out, and by the time I got back, he was gone. I have no idea what did it. I expected one to die before we got them raised. That is just my luck and skill with them. But I did not really expect it to be this one, and so soon.

That was bad news.

The good news was having the tractor to deal with it. I chained his leg and pulled him down the alleyway to the main part of the pen, and then bucket loaded him and carried him across to the field and let him out near the swale at the bottom. He is far from anyone and will no doubt decay in the springtime. It was a snap do sort it out, and I really enjoyed having the cab on to keep warm while at it. It also helped to partition me from the gruesome factor.

That was the good news.

I picked up the cutting edge for the bucket, and the bracket to put on the SMV sign at the rear of the tractor. I am finally legal! I mounted that on tonight and feel a lot better about getting on the road with the machine. Mind, I don’t have to drive it far to get to the pasture. But it’d be my luck I would get the attention of the police in that little stretch. And now I don’t have to remember to put on the hazard lights every time, though I probably still will.

Our forecast for the next week is cold, but dry. Perhaps I can get some things done! I have the pallet forks on so I can take things out of the granary, and put some other things back in. It’s not that I can reach in with them, but I don’t have to carry things across the yard.

I have been getting the parts needed to put in the outlet for the welder on my panel in the garage. There is a bit more to it than there would be with a regular breaker. It has been unexpected, as I have not done this type before. So, I am learning. I think I have everything I need to finish it maybe tomorrow.

Autumn Proper

The first week of November is already by, and I am already starting to lament the thought of that long period between Christmas and spring planting, when the seed catalogues come, and the season never seems to go. Everyone who lives with plants knows just what I mean. As for those with animals, unless they can afford plenty of hay, they will understand the anxieties I have right now about the amount of hay we have on hand, and how well the tarp is staying on it, or not. Anyone who survives the cold with only wood heat and limited access to the wood knows the other anxiety I am suffering right now. I know we could be a lot worse off in so many ways. It is just a part of the agrarian life that one lives with when each year one gets just enough to get by. I hope that during the coming year I will better this situation and get truly ahead.

I have got so much done in the past month since the tractor arrived that I am amazed. I am half done with the land bridge from the main property across the street to the other side of the swale at the bottom of the place. Once that is done, I will be able to wither carry on with the idea of planting trees along there and calling it Willow Bank, or I could let the livestock over to graze at their leisure and have about 4/10ths of an acre more land to feed from. It’s no small thing as that would support a cow for a while. Every little helps. But if we do the Willow Bank idea, it would be best to leave it as an untouched natural space for animals and picnics. Willow trees would just finish it over there, providing shade and play.

I went out to do some work in the shop yesterday but noticed the llamas giving attention to something at the bottom of the property. I could not see what it was, so I went over instead, and found three hounds had trapped a raccoon and were biting and barking at it. The raccoon was in a struggle, but I could not do much to interfere with frenzied dogs who would only ignore my pleas for them to stop and let it be. I checked with some people who I saw on the next property, but the dogs were not theirs. I went back and the raccoon was still alive, but had no fight left in it. I thought the dogs were being fairly inefficient at killing it, then realized what was going on. They had worn it down, then one bit on its throat till it choked to death. It was a maneuver that they could not have pulled off with the raccoon fighting back. It was a sad thing to see, but they were not my dogs and I could not stop them, and I did not want to get tangled up with a raccoon. If there are rabies, then I’d be the final victim. No thank you. I now know who’s dogs they are, but there is not much I can do about them, as they live close enough that unless they are going to keep their dogs permanently locked up, they will always end up over on ours. Also, we have had horses break lose and end up in their pasture before, too, so it is probably best to keep an understanding with these particular people. It was a raccoon. It was not one of my animals. But it does mean that I have limits to what animals I can keep over there, as small ones and waterfowl are probably out of the question. It is best as a grazing pasture.

I am nearly done setting up for a welder in the shop. I need to clean up in there, so I don’t set a fire or cause an explosion. I just need to install some gear I have got in order to plug the welder in, then I need to get some practice in. I have got me some learning to do. I put in all the electrics into the cottage for Missus, and now I am doing a bit of work on the shop. Much of it is done already, and things are working much better in there. For example, the air compressor is kicking on at full power now and runs without tripping a breaker. It sure feels a lot safer without worrying about all the power coming into the shop down a single extension cord from the house! That has also relieved a circuit in the house, too! The kitchen ought to run better, and we have finally closed that window on the front porch all the way. There is the door out there that could do with being replaced, and I think it will keep much warmer in there going forward from that.

Tractor Work

So many years ago I picked up parts of an old walk that went from the front door to the roadside. I did it when we decided to put in a fence and cut off access straight in with it, circle drive, and a tree. I used some for crazy paving in Missus’ herb garden, and I used two big square pieces under the garbage bins so they could be sort of roadside, but on the outside of the fence, ready to take out on garbage day, and easily accessible with the kitchen rubbish on all the days of the week. It has worked really well, apart from the slabs having gone in crooked, and they were too heavy to fix at the time, as it took all I had in me to get them there in the first place. I promised myself then that when I got a tractor, I would fix it.

Today came the day it got fixed. I took out the slabs, and leveled the dirt under where they belonged, then put them back. It was nowhere that easy as the area is fenced in, and it took a lot of patience and care to avoid damaging the fence! But finally, when it was all done, I put the bins in, and instead of sitting all wonky, they are straight and true, and since they live near the roadside, we finally look like we did this with intention, rather than on accident.

In addition to fixing the bin slabs, I tried again at grading the roadside where the main driveways are. Water comes off the road in the rain and puddles right next to the pavement. Passing drivers easily come off the side of the road a little in that spot, in addition to our passing through from the drives, and with freezing temperatures, we have been at risk of the roadside crumbling into a massive pothole that we could count on the county not addressing. So, I have been trying to grade down the dirt next to the puddles to let them come off the roadside. That is not entirely straightforward as the place where the water should head off to is the front of our house. I needed to level the dirt gently, then slope it past the place where the garbage bins sit, and into a grassy area in front of the cow pens where nobody really drives. Hopefully this will eliminate the pooling of water in that spot! I’d like to prevent the road being destroyed in front of our house!

I finished putting in several electrical outlets in my wife’s cottage yesterday, making electricity available along her entire workbench. I need to set in some outlets in the comfy side of the cottage next. That should be easier. It is a lot closer to the panel, so there will be far less drilling involved, anyway.

I also started rewiring my shop, setting up for all of the lighting I want to have in, and outside of it. I also got some of the outlets sorted. I have been running power in the shop off an extension cord for the last ten years, so this has been very exciting to me!

First Snowfall 2022

Today actually marks the second or third snowfall of the season, but how much does one count before it gets counted? All three might have amounted to enough to put on the car and measure half an inch of the white stuff. The reason I am mentioning it today however is because I went out to get firewood after some sleet had fallen and then the stuff coming from the sky turned to snow. While I was out there under the tarps, I thought I heard the tarps blowing and making a fair amount of noise in the wind, till I poked my head up and realized there was no wind. The sound was still going, and I realized it was thunder. It seemed a bit cold for it, but I guess not!

No matter how hard I look at it, I cannot imagine the firewood we have on hand lasting the whole winter and half the spring from now. Everything inside me says that this is going to be a cold winter, and that I better be ready for it. There are a few different ways to do that still. One guy on the classified ads is listing three cords of slabs for $300. That would last a month or two with aggressive burning. That could be enough to make all the difference. I messaged and am waiting to see what his delivery fee is, and if he’ll take a check.

He wants $150 for delivery here. Too much! I get my wood for free mostly, so that is a bit steep on top of actually paying for the wood. I am passing on it.

As for other things, the electrician is set to arrive here either Friday or Monday to put panels into both shops for us. We are finally going to have proper electric in my shop, and Missus is going to have it in her new shop. Honestly, I am kind of glad I waited to have them both done at once, as it should make the install pretty clean. Once the panels are in, I am doing the interior electrical installations. Should be pretty easy. At least it’s straightforward. Looks like I better pick up some basics like wire and outlets and boxes and switches when I am in town tomorrow!

Kioti CK 2610 SE HC

Finally, there is a photo of the little tractor. Having a cab in the environment we live in sure is nice. The truck is a GMC Sierra 2500, for scale. It’s not a huge tractor, but it’s not small, either. It sure keeps up with its work.

The New Tractor

Well, I guess it was October 4th that the new tractor was delivered to the farm. It showed up and I must say, I was not impressed with the dealership’s delivery. They forgot the tiller, they brought it with a broken wiper fluid lid, and they brought the key to another tractor. The coolant was low, and overall, it seemed they just put the tractor on a trailer and brought it right off the lot without reviewing to see if it was ready for delivery or not. It didn’t even have an SMV sign on the back. There were no manuals, and they was no offer to go over anything with me when they dropped it off, but rather, they just wanted to drop it and go. I only noticed after that they dropped it off with only a quarter of a tank of fuel. I called and asked if that was their standard practice. When the guy came back with the tiller, he also replaced the wiper fluid lid, and put the manuals in and topped the coolant and fuel tanks. Later in the week I had to tighten the fan belts on the alternator and on the air conditioner.

Dealership problems aside, the tractor itself seems pretty good. I put it right to work and have put hours on it. I in fact am ready for the machine’s first service already! It wants a service at 50 hours to clear any metal worn from it being new. I’ll be talking to the dealer about it tomorrow. But the work I have put it through so far has cleared a ten year long to do list and caught up on as much as I could possibly hope to with this machine as it is. If I had a backhoe, then I would have cleared more, and that would have cost a lot more.

I killed a goat pen next to the barn, a mess in front of the granary, finished a driveway on the west end of the home lot, and made a pad to set a new shed down on. I have hauled home large round bales of hay and unloaded them and cleaned up messes and the like just about everywhere, including the wood yard, formerly the Service Yard. I also build a massive compost pile and loaded it with horse apples and llama poo from everywhere I could find it. I made a ramp down from the canal path over where the canal people piled tailings so high, I could not get my truck over it to haul down a dead llama last year. I cleaned up the dead llama finally and felt a huge sigh of relief when I put him someplace far less conspicuous till his remains are gone naturally.

Oh, and the firewood I have moved! I brought over the wood that was left across the street a few years ago when that massive cottonwood came down on the neighbor’s farm and delivered here. What a wonder it was to be able to move that at last!

I am set up to lift logs, till gardens, level land, haul trailers, and lift large bales of hay. And all of this with a tractor of only 24.5 HP! But it does have a cab! It has a cab that is more protective than one without if I roll a bale of hay over towards me, and against loose hay blowing in the wind, and the wind, and the rain, and the snow, and the heat. It has a radio, and it has all the bells and whistles I could want to grow old in on my little farm.

So, what’s the plan?

In the coming summer, I want to put the old dog to work making flower gardens and vegetable gardens and cleaning up the property across the street from the canal company mess. I want to be ready when they put the canal into pipes underground to make the land good and clean. I get to clear our own snow this year, and even keep our drives clean inside the gates. I hope that with the tiller, I can beat back more of the grass and weeds that come up in the gardens. I plan to compost the gardens well with the heap I have been building. I will be able to remove dead animals regardless of their size and weight!

There are so many things I can do! And that is the key to the whole deal. I can do! That is what excites me most! And with that, I have been doing. It was lovely today to go out and work in warm air while the weather was cold outside. I went over the road to collect more to feed the compost heap with, and it never bothered me in the least. Granted, this is the beginning of the cold time of the year. I have yet to plug in the block heater. But I suspect I will be doing that soon by the way the old dog started this morning. We are putting electric into two outbuildings where I will soon be able to install a dedicated outlet for that and sort out a proper parking spot for the tractor.

So, for now, all is better than well on the farm. I have not yet come to a chore the tractor could not do. I suspect that may change soon as I am getting the largest bales of hay I can get hold of delivered in the next couple of days. We’ll see if I can even move them once they are on the ground here. Luckily, I will have them put where I can take them apart to use if I really am unable to move them at all.

In other exciting news, the weather has changed from summer like to autumnal. We have gone from warm and lovely last week, to snow all the way down the mountains in the west and nearly as far in the east just this weekend. It has rained, which is a first for the month. But the temperature dropped, and the rain turned to snow overnight. My daughter came in with firewood this evening, and said she was going to go back out and after and watch the snowfall. We lit the woodstove Friday evening, and I suspect it is going to be going constantly from now till Spring. What a time it is! I am glad I got the tractor when I did and have been able to get the farm ready for wintering over and bursting out to life in the Spring!

I think we are in for a cold winter. The rheumatism is speaking clearly, and so is the dry patches I get on my hands. Everything about this autumn just feels like we are in for it this year. Only time can confirm this feeling, though. I have some machines to service this week, and a lawnmower to put away for the winter. Once all that is done, I think a trip to pick up some dry wood to bring back to split up and add to the winter pile is in order. I am not too happy with feeling like “I hope we have enough,” and am ready to call it “I KNOW we have enough.” I’d also like to start getting enough ready to start piling up a year in advance now that wood is probably going to be easier to manage, and I’d like to pile up enough to start selling on the side. I can procure in the cold and the hot, and I can saw and split in the temperate seasons. That ought to give some extra money.

I have been too busy to write since the tractor arrived. I have even been too busy running the thing all over the farm to shoot a picture of it. I am familiarizing myself with it from top to bottom and scoop to three-point hitch. There is still a lot for me to learn about it. But I hope to write more as I get settled with it. It has been so exciting to finally be able to start working this farm to live up to my dreams for it.

Without a backhoe I have a few things to either seek help for or hire out for. We have to replace the septic system here and put in a few hydrants to help with getting water to the animals and to the gardens. I think with those in, this place will be able to reach a much higher potential. The only thing it could do with more would be irrigation over in the pasture. Who knows? Maybe such a thing could go into the works. Again, time will tell.

Well, it is getting time to walk the dogs and have a bite to eat before bed. Tomorrow is Monday, and this week promises to be productive and to see a lot of things done to ready us for what could be one of our best winters yet here on the farm. Hopefully!