Pics FromThe Pretties Farmland In CNY

I had to shut down and disassemble a temporary solar Thermo Aray today on the Great Sacandaga Lake in Mayfield, NY. Next door to this customers property is one of the last existing dairy farms in Fulton Co. I have delt with this family since the mid 60s. They have always been devoted CASE machinery owners. They were not only devoted customers, but also great friends.
The shutdown went quickly, so I had some time to spare, and renew my friendship with John C. When I started dealing with the family, John's Dad and Uncle were running the farm that their father started, after the valley basins were flooded with the construction of the resivoir, which flooded vast acerage to control flooding in the Hudson Valley and maintain water levels in the inland seaport of Albany NY. This spring the water level hit record highs and controlled releases initiated to relieve presure on the dam, but the releases did cause downstream flooding. This farm is about 250 Acers of sandy loam soil. John is planting about 120A of corn and this year a variaty of soybeans which will become a corn/soy forage crop. on each strip (I'm not sure of all the details, other than the row crop chopper will have a processor "crusher att." to crack the beans) They also take 2-3 cutting of quality alfalfa/hay of of another 80A? The resr is wooded.
For the last 2 years John has been running his tractors on a 50/50 mix of diesel and cooking oil from the many eateries around the lake. Hde is not only cutting his fuel costs in half but the Heavy tillage tractors, a Case 2470, CIH 7140, 7110, and 1896 have improved on per/hr consumption. When he started burning cooking oil, it was a nitemare with clogging filters, but since the tractor tanks cleaned up and he improved his raw fuel filtration system the problems have been eliminated. The only remaining problem is his neighbors complaing that every time they smell the exaust from his tractors, they have a "fried food attack" LOL
Enjoy the pics. The Acg.

That pile of firewood is the part of New york I really don't like. 'trees per winter'... what a way to past the long dark months till spring... hey the only thing worst than too much water is not enough water. I thought the Sanandaga was for Albany drinking water too? Clean enough for it. Remember when that russian ship capsized at the dock? They wished there was less water that day. You are going to get all these guys from the $10k an acre places looking at Mohawk valley real estate this summer- nice pics!