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Using Your Tractor & Crop Talk - Discussion Board

Need Advice: I Have An Opportunity To Operate More


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Posted by Crazy Red Power in SE-WI on July 29, 2012 at 12:49:03 from (68.114.237.14):

Acreage, next year, for the horse farm I have been making hay for. I have a good idea about how a good majority of the work gets done through an ok amount of personal experience, a good amount of research & a life-long interest. But, I haven't had to tackle much of the buisness end of things or be responsible for large acreage. Well, to me it's a big jump going from 2.25 acres to a minimum of 28, maximum of about 65 - 70. No, not that I'm a bad judge of land, I just don't know any exact numbers yet, due to a couple of adjoining tillable parcels owned by other people that may rent their land to the horse farm. It also needs to be measured off. I'll be able to fill in the details when I get them.

I'm also running on a t-i-gh-t budget. It's one of the reasons why I would like to operate a little extra land.

Machinery requirements are another thing on my mind. Need to make sure I'm properly equiped. My running tractors are two Farmall H's, one with a narrow front & loader, the other has a wide front, a Farmall 400 & a Cub that needs minor repairs. I would like to put a turbo on the 400 at some point. It might help the tillage problems that I'll bring up here in a minute. Just wanted to point out that I do realize the extra power is capable of turning my tractor into a pile of parts if the machine being worked is to big.

For tillage, I have a 2-14 Oliver plow, a 10' Krause disc, a 9' IH 401 spring tooth, a 7' IH trailing rotary hoe & a cultivator for the Cub. My first concern is my plow. Isn't it awful small for all that acreage? I do have plenty of time on my hands, but the ladys won't have any money left if I'm out there for 10 years plowing 28" at a time. I've thought about upgrading to a 4-14 plow or a 10' chisel plow. The local IH dealer/owner did indicate that my 400 would be fine with a four bottom provided I can steer clear of any clay & I wouldn't be able to pull the chisel fart enough to do any good. Alas, the clay that you find around here is like 70 year old hard axle grease with a little bit of sand mixed in. A well ballasted 400 with a chisel plow would find every wet & sticky spot on the property the hard way. This is where I'd like to know if a turbo on the 400 would pull me through or make my tractor scrap. Would a 3-16 plow on the 400 with no turbo be a waste of fuel? Should I opt to have two H's with 2-14s? Host a plow day for the local club? A part of me wants to abandon the plow completely in favor of something that will give me a near table-top flat surface. No more furrows, hummocks, ruts, etc. But, what kind of tillage tool will do that, especially with 55 hp.?

Seeding will be done with an IH #5 endgate (broadcast) seeder, followed by the rotary hoe in a separate pass. It probably is not the intended use of the rotary hoe, but I don't own a land packer. It's the method I used to put in my pasture mix & it worked great. If by chance you guys think I should roll the field after broadcasting the seed, please speak up. I also have a 14x7 grain drill that's on wood wheels. It's about 90% there. I would feel better about using it if I could find pneumatic wheels. I do have an IH 230 two-row planter. Needs a lot of work, though. Not sure if I'm planting any corn. It all depends on the verdict about mixing rations for them.

Harvesting of the cover crop could be done by binder & thresher, as I have both. I'm not relying on that idea & have a small SP combine I'm looking into. The binder is ready to go, the thresher needs a bit of work & a few minor parts. I don't have anything to harvest corn except the chopper (horses don't eat corn silage, do they?). Should be able to find a corn head for the combine, provided I get it & need one.

Hay tools are an IH 120 7' sickle mower that bolts onto my wide front H & #2A rubber-on-rubber hay conditioner, an IHC rake/tedder on steel, a NH 144 hay inverter, an IH 47 baler with a #10 thrower that still needs to be attached, 1 throw wagon & 3 flat racks. Wouldn't mind a second mower-conditioner rig like what I have. It would be helpful as a backup or a second machine to help knock the hay down faster.

The rest of the stuff is a Hardi ES-50 sprayer with a 14' boom, NI 217 single beater spreader on a 213 box & a Gehl 188 Self Propelled Chop King with 3RN corn head only. The chopper needs a few repairs & I'm still looking for a hay head.

The details about soil type, conditions, etc., are waiting until I am 100% certain that I will be operating the land. I can tell you there is a small creek that runs through the big field & there's currently ethanol corn on the ground that needs to be plowed. I'm not that good at identifying soil types yet. If the soil is the same as everything else around, it's sand, rocks, clay & not always in that order. As mentioned before, if I've left out a detail, please ask.

A grass mix with or without a legume will take up a majority of the acreage. The rest depends on ration demands. There could be the option of rotational crops or every last inch could be pasture if we don't have to mix feed. I don't know how economical it would be, but I would like to double or over-seed the grass mix. I love my stand & that's exactly what I did to get it. It's been five years & there's barely a handful of weeds in it, too. Even after one manure application. Not sure what the tonnage is per acre, but I avarage about 230 tight 14"x18"x36" small squares on my 2 acre piece. Oh, oats will be the cover crop.

Before I forget, there's some interest in mixing their own vitamin/mineral/whatever rations for the horses. I don't have a problem with this idea. A Gehl 65MX with fiberglass tank has been on my wish list for a while & any excuse to use a collected machine is usually a good one. No, I'm not worried about finding parts for that old mixer. I do have a problem with not knowing much about blending what I need, compounded with the issue of sourcing all of this um... stuff the horses need. Half the stuff is unheard of, by me, the rest sounds awful expensive. One would think with all of the stuff thats in these pellets, horses founded GNC!! How else could they have survived all these millennium? All humor aside, is it economically feasable to mix our own rations? There's 20 horses at the farm & if we mix up an extra batch or two & sell it, that'd be great. If anyone wants to know what's in the pellets, just ask. I'll have to scan the tags & post them

And lastly (at least for this post), how do I charge for all of this? There can certainly be enough money & hay to go around & make everyone happy if it is done right. Should I charge on the half for the cut, rake & bale job & everything else is hourly? They require either 2000 or 3000 bales per annum. The rest is sale-able.

Ok, I think that's everything for now.

Many thanks in advance!

My apologies if it was a hard read. I'm trying to compose my notes into something that makes sense to y'all.

Mike

This post was edited by Crazy Red Power in SE-WI at 09:50:45 07/30/12.



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