Tag Archives: metal

FARM, Repairs & Maintenance, Sale Items, Water Resources

Unexpected “Treasures”

8 Comments

For some reason, farmers of old (and, sadly, probably some still) thought that throwing old metal farm implements, myriads of rolls of barbed wire or woven wire in ditches, along with old hedge posts would somehow magically make the ditch stop washing.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  However, it could be said that throwing trash in the ditch answers men’s idea of ‘cleaning’ sort of the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ that women simply cannot fathom.  It’s still there for goodness sake!

Blessed with incredibly fine weather and a wee bit of time and some great help last week and after owning this property for about 26 years, this 50 foot stretch of ditch had the metal pulled out.  Because of the junk, the water simply pools and won’t allow healing.  Once I graze the pasture down this winter with my cows, I’ll burn all the wood trash and cut down as many rubbish trees as necessary to allow this ditch/draw to grass over and heal, so erosion will STOP!

What a surprise to find these fine implements stacked alongside the ditch – most are in decent working order, though too antiquated to be useful except as yard ornaments.

24058768_10210394360197735_1747040217847092528_n
Numerous heavy rolls of woven wire with farm implements loaded on the back.  It took the three of us with pickup, machinery mover, tractor and loader about 3 hours to clean it out of the ditch.  Environmentally, it’s the right thing to do, but putting a pencil reveals high costs and no income side to this type farm improvement project.
24058835_10210394034269587_4258980173226047786_n
Son, Dallas, loads the old horse drawn seated one bottom plough.

 

24174323_10210394033989580_1160985985887138622_n
Two antique harrow sections; one of them is in excellent condition.
24067995_10210394033709573_553188037477869460_n
Cute horse drawn cultivator.
24174313_10210394033189560_1887523017081602607_n
This is likely a walk behind one bottom plough.  It’s missing the wooden handles.
24623652_10210428715616599_1053315583_o
One of at least 20 big rolls of woven wire buried in the mud and muck, this one even had small trees and multiflora rose grown up through.
24623548_10210428715576598_1332236272_o
Brett and I worked together to wrap log chains through the center of each roll, Dallas pulled them out with the tractor, then smashed them flat with the front end loader.  Later, we would pack two or three of them in the loader and Dallas would load them onto the machinery mover (trailer).

 

 

Cattle, FARM, Repairs & Maintenance

Repairing/Rebuilding Trashed Feed Bunks

Leave a comment

Doing MUCH better with ragweed allergies to the point that, as long as i stay far away from the plants themselves, i can spend considerable time outside without effects and even without taking meds.  Almost back to health.

So, during this transition, i’ve taken the task of dragging all our bits and pieces of feedbunks together and making a plan to repair and rebuild to the extent of my ability and with no other expense except labour and reasonable amount of time.

image

image
This feedbunk frame will be attended to last – i think this chrysalis is still going, so i’ll wait until the monarch butterfly emerges.
image
Drill hole through liner and into the metal frame, then screw in these screws to hold tub in bunk properly.
image
After the tub is screwed into place, the bunk is turned over to reveal all the missing braces that will need replacing.
image
I dragged an old mangled gate out of the trash pile to cut to length for the bunk braces.  This DeWalt sawzall (reciprocating saw) does the job in no time.
image
After cutting a piece of the gate to 30 inches,  it is placed in the bench vise as shown.
image
Then with some muscles, I crank down the vise to squish each end flat.
image
After marking proper placement for the hole, i use the drill press to make it easier to drill a hole on each end.
image
Then mark the spot on the feedbunk and drill a hole through the brace with my handheld cordless DeWalt drill.
image
Line up my newly made brace with the existing brace on the bunk and run a bolt through. I’m not spending any money on this project, so using old bolts we already had.  However, i discovered the old bolts were fine thread, so i did have to purchase fine thread hex nuts at $.19/each from Orscheln’s.
image
Ripping old board salvaged from another project into four strips to be used as replacement runners on feedbunks.

 

image
Drilled then bolted runner to existing rotted metal runner.

 

image
Project almost complete.
image
Added chains on one end to make it easier to hook onto to move the bunk around.  Chains are leftovers from old and mangled gates.
image
Finished!
FARM

Farm Scrap

3 Comments

One of the best environmental activities the federal government could assist, if it must assist, is providing a short term subsidy for scrap metal.  This one thing could clean up farms, ranches, dead car lots, any scrap metal lying around.  Generations of farm rubbish has been thrown in ditches and draws and would be cleaned up and turned into cash.  Win – win for environment and farmers, but not the third win for new metal producers: they would take a short term hit in sales that would definitely hurt.

However, for the past several years, scrap metal prices have moved between 2 cents a pound to its current 4 cents a pound here locally.  ($80/ton)  Clearly not enough to make it worthwhile to load it, strap it down securely, drive 30 minutes to the nearest facilty, then unload it by hand as well.

Cheers!

tauna

19665519_10209351254000732_5508108956208421843_n
I loaded this bit in about 30 minutes.  I weigh the truck, load, weigh the truck loaded, strap it down tight, then drive to Chillicothe, MO about 30 minutes away.  This load weighed 775 lbs and only yielded $31.  Sad, sad.
FARM, Gardening, Repairs & Maintenance

Getting Ready for Spring

3 Comments

So much to do to ready the house, yard, farm for spring growth.  In north Missouri, there is always a very narrow window for such activity when it’s not too hot, not too cold, not too muddy, not too dry, not too windy, not too green.  Yeah, spring work needs to happen before spring brush and grass starts growing.

Today is about 70F, cloudy and very windy, so no outdoor burning, but otherwise great for outdoor stuff.

Dallas and i cleaned out a small ditch near the house which contained ancient metal trash – he ran the tractor, i ran the log chain and we made short work of it – had a few interruptions – but finally all pulled out, loaded, and hauled off.

Also, taking time to prune trees, rose bushes, and ornamental grasses.

tall grass 001
Tall ornamental grasses in front of house
tall grass 002
Tied into a bundle before cutting because it’s exceptionally windy here right now and i don’t want to be chasing this stuff all over!
tall grass 003
My trusty Easy2Start Stihl MS211C
tall grass 004
Both bunches cut off
tall grass 005
Bundled and ready to put on my garden for composting.