New Baby (5045D) Due Date Sometime Next Week

[MBDiagMan]

Okay, turning off the popup blocker worked.

These four pictures are the tractor and myself, the tractor and my new bride of 36 years, the tractor as perspective to show the size of a couple hundred year old Red Oak and myself and my Australian Shepherd Harry underneath said Red Oak.

This Red Oak is one of 185 trees that will soon be destroyed by a stinking pipeline that is coming through our place against our will. If you don't settle with them, they simply take what they want by imminent domain. My Grand Dad said that "no one owns land. You just buy the right from someone else to use it until the government wants it back.

This Red Oak and another one about as big are the two nicest of all the trees that will be destroyed. It's a rotten deal.

We're not the best photographers in the world, so I hope these pictures show the tractor well.

Thanks for the help in getting them posted.

 

[TripleR]

Very nice tractor and I agree with your dad. It is a darned shame to lose all of those beautiful trees.

 

[Zebrafive]

When we bought our property it all ready had a 66' pipeline right of way with a 30" pipe in it. Already there so nothing we could do about it. Then 10 years later they came back and said they were going to put in another 42" pipe and it would be going in the 66' right of way they already had. They gave us copies of their right of way. They even have the right to put pipe(s) above ground. For a one time fee (former owner got, not me) people really lost out.
I think they shoulkd have been made to pay rent/royalties every year.

 

[MBDiagMan]

zebra,

Yes, they SHOULD have to pay annual royalties, but they are in a position where they can do what they darn well please.

When we bought the place almost 24 years ago, there was one 36" pipeline across the corner of the place, about a 1/4 mile run. In 1990 they came through with a 42" line and we didn't know how to play their rotten game getting very little money. It went in such that it was a longer run across the place. They did not put the top soil back on top and it took me five years of doing Winter feeding all along the line before I got it to grow grass again. From that experience I started learning how to deal with them.

In '06 they came through with a longer run. This time they took out a beautiful pond that had sentimental attachment. While my kids were growing up my son and I fished and gigged frogs in that pond. My wife had picnics there with the kids when they were small. There was a couple of great climbing trees that the kids spent lots of time in. The stinking pipeline poeple dozed it up with no remorse. My wife literally sobbed when they took it out. That time, however we had learned how to hold out with these thieves and got a more reasonable amount of money.

In '07 another one came along taking a still longer swath and we got the same amount of money from them.

The one that's coming through now is a crude oil line. We stalled them as long as possible and are now still negotiating along with many people in the area. Landowners around here have been lied to by these snakes so many times, that no one is willing to settle out of court. It does appear that we will get a little more money this time.

I wouldn't wish the pipeline experience on my worst enemy.


BTW, I forgot to point out in my picture post that I constantly fight Goat Weeds. They show up terribly in the tractor and tree picture. 2-4-D kills them in the early Summer, but they're always back with a vengeance this time of year. If it weren't for these nasty critters, my pastures and meadow would look great. Makes the picture kind of embarrassing.

 

[WH401]

Nice tractor. I agree your father is right, you really never own your property. Even if you don't have a mortgage on the house you can still lose your property to tax sale if you don't pay your property taxes. It's more like a long term rental. I've always thought that they should only charge property taxes to people that have an active mortgage on the house, but that'll be the day.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Don't get me started on taxes.

Even though I detest taxes, I don't mind paying a reasonable amount of tax NEARLY AS much as having someone FORCE me to allow them to WRECK my land. It's a feeling of being totally violated. It's as if you've been raped. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

 

[beppington]

Very nice tractor! Congrats!

I also have a pipeline (natural gas, 2 side-by-side actually) running across my new property. In my case, though, I'm actually glad because its existence allows me to mow/ clear where I otherwise wouldn't be "allowed" to since the gubmint has decided in all their wisdom that it's "wetlands". The last time it was actually wet was from a flood in 1998 Gotta love those smart people we elect

That sure is a sorry situation they put you thru, though.

 

[stlawrence]

Seems like you went through a lot of the same decisions I'm making right now - I have a post titled 4x4 or 2x4.

How do you like your tractor? It's a D model, right? Do you miss the 4x4?

I notice you might have a flail mower - I have fields that are grown up to 6 feet with brush, goldenrod, and saplings. Do you think a flail mower would do it, or should I get a bush hog?

Congratulations on your tractor. It's a beauty. I'm sorry about your trees and the pipeline - we're fighting the battle of gas well fracking here.

 

[MBDiagMan]

StLawrence,

Yes, it's a 5045D. I like the simplicity of it and I'm quite comfortable with a clutch pedal. Everything on my place except my wifes car and pickup are manual transmissions. An added bonus and surprise for me was the reverse synchronizer. You can pick one of four speeds and then use the range/reverse lever and slip it from forward to reverse or vice versa while on the move. The throttle pedal augmenting the throttle lever also helps in maneuvering with the loader. The combination of the pedal and the syncreverser makes it super easy to maneuver with the loader.

The 2WD is working fine for me with this tractor. This tractor is much heavier than the compact tractors which helps the 2WD get the job done. I wouldn't want to have one of the compact tractors with a loader and no 4WD. I also have R1 tires which help alot with that issue. I should point out that I'm on relatively flat land with good soil, not in any sinking sand or some such. If your place is flat and swamp free, I really think this heavy 2WD would work for you as well.

For more information on the same tractor and his satisfaction with it, scroll down to a thread started by bgl something or other. He bought the same tractor about a year ago and offered lots of information about it. He seems to be a cooperative guy too, willing to answer lots of questions.

No I don't have a flail mower, but I have cut down 6 foot saplings in the past with just a shredder, or as more commonly referred to here, a rotary cutter. I'm about to replace my shredder though. Cutting such heavy growth in its early years has made it live a tough life. It is almost 24 years old though and wasn't one of the heavy built ones.

Is your place strewn with lots of debris of some sort? The reason I ask is that I have always been under the impression that the reason for a flail mower is because it deals best with junk hidden in the grass along the sides of the road. If you don't have this problem, I would think that a rotary cutter would be a better choice. It's less expensive and I think lower maintenance. The flail mower has all those knives to keep up with.

You probably thought I had a flail mower because of the tiller mounted on the back in the pictures. I added that to the bill when I bought the tractor, more or less as a gift for my bride. I am a couple of years overdue in making her a new garden spot. I used to work her old garden spot with attachments that belonged to an elderly neighbor and friend who passed away a few years ago. His attacments disappeared shortly after he died. I think his kids from the city sold all his stuff. I'm now looking for a bedder/cultivator to compliment the tiller.

Good luck with your decision. The heavier, simple tractor worked out better for me than a lighter tractor with all the bells and whistles. Everyone has different needs and desires though.

 

[stlawrence]

Yep.E

I would love to have the 5045, because, like you, I think a tractor should be a tractor. I just can't afford the 5045E, though, and with my hills I guess I need the 4-wheel drive. I'm still thinking on it, though.

I may end up with a 4105, which I can afford and which is 4x4.

I'm going to talk with some of the farmers around here and see what they say about the 4x4 as opposed to the 2 wheel.

It's a decision, isn't it? I view a tractor as a lifetime purchase, and I want to get it right.