How agriculture works thread

[Buggs67]

Baling with a great sounding Fastrac 3185 and Krone Big Pack 1290 HDP in the UK.

@Hay Dude

That was fun to watch. Looked to me like he was really moving. I wish they'd shown some of the loading of the bales. That was also a nice looking rig.

 

[ptsg]

That was fun to watch. Looked to me like he was really moving. I wish they'd shown some of the loading of the bales. That was also a nice looking rig.

He may show a little more of that on a later video though but he has a lot more videos with similar setups on his channel.

 

[Creamer]

I saw this - an upgrade to the old Unisystem. Think this time it will stick around?

 

[Buggs67]

I saw this - an upgrade to the old Unisystem. Think this time it will stick around?

That's a pretty wild machine. I'd like to have seen more video of it maneuvering and deploying it's tracks from straight ahead drive to sideways operation.

 

[ArlyA]

I saw this - an upgrade to the old Unisystem. Think this time it will stick around?

Question,, and why did the New Idea Uni-system fail? I looked for a good video describing this system and couldn't locate a good one.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hay Price Check...

3-wire bale 85% grass 15% Alfalfa $36 in SF Bay cash and carry... not delivered.

 

[Creamer]

Question,, and why did the New Idea Uni-system fail? I looked for a good video describing this system and couldn't locate a good one.

Simple - the only piece of equipment that was special was their self propelled corn picker and who picks corn anymore?

 

[aczlan]

Very territory oriented. No straw here is used in that method that I am aware of. We have a lot of Cattle here. 4.35M in the State with most of them being in the Northern end where I am. Very few large rounds of straw baled each year. Mostly used for mulch. Small squares are of value for small operation bedding.

Lots of straw used here ground up in TMR.
Bedding is usually shavings or sand for dairy cows.
Some though are putting down foam mats for bedding.

Aaron Z

 

[ArlyA]

Simple - the only piece of equipment that was special was their self propelled corn picker and who picks corn anymore?

They built combines for it as well.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hay Price Check...

3-wire bale 85% grass 15% Alfalfa $36 in SF Bay cash and carry... not delivered.

Opportunity knocks. Thats like almost a buck a pound.
Ultra you need to get youself a small square baler and get goin

 

[ultrarunner]

It's the water or lack of plus higher transport and labor.

The horse crowd is feeling the pinch especially those not well healed.

 

[Hay Dude]

It's the water or lack of plus higher transport and labor.

The horse crowd is feeling the pinch especially those not well healed.

Here on TBN about 6 months ago, I said people will be selling off horses this year and hay demand will plummet and got laughed out of the thread. lol
The well heeled will still own horses, but it’ll be the very first thing the disappearing middle class farmette owner will sell off.
We have a farm we maintain & hay for an out of state owner. Next door is a retired couple living an upper middle class lifestyle on 7 or 8 acres. She sold her 2 paint horses over the winter. It was real upsetting for her, but she just couldn‘t justify cost of owning anymore.

Feed hay is moving real slow in my area as owners sell off pets and the rest are beating down hay suppliers on price or looking for cheaper hay.

 

[ultrarunner]

Same playing out all over and the boarding barns adjust rates upward as feed goes up.

My brother has two old horses put out to pasture that came with his place... it was part of the deal... one 36 years old when he bought.

Both live a good retirement foraging on 40 acres of hilly native grassland... zero supplemental feed with previous owner providing ongoing vet checks...

That said they were your best friend if you showed up with an apple or carrot!

Maybe the foraging life is what nature intended as my brother was only responsible to check water trough as the creek dries up most summers.

 

[Hay Dude]

Same playing out all over and the boarding barns adjust rates upward as feed goes up.

My brother has two old horses put out to pasture that came with his place... it was part of the deal... one 36 years old when he bought.

Both live a good retirement foraging on 40 acres of hilly native grassland... zero supplemental feed with previous owner providing ongoing vet checks...

That said they were your best friend if you showed up with an apple or carrot!

Maybe the foraging life is what nature intended as my brother was only responsible to check water trough as the creek dries up most summers.

Thats why those horses have lived so long!

I have tried to “train” my hay buyers to STOP feeding their horses premium high protein hay or alfalfa and encourage them to “teach” their horses to graze off the ground and feed them natural hay. Many don’t know that the act of a horse reaching to the ground to eat hay is GOOD for their health. 2 of my best feed customers have very healthy horses that don‘t founder and are not picky eaters. They are extremely fit and healthy from not being fed a diet of overly rich hay.
It’s like a kid eating candy all day.

 

[Jstpssng]

Opportunity knocks. Thats like almost a buck a pound.
Ultra you need to get youself a small square baler and get goin

In his free time, when he has nothing better to do.

 

[Creamer]

The basic reason tracked tractors are so popular on the Palouse is that the tracks have a much larger footprint on the ground compared to even the 8 wheeled tractors. This gives them superior traction and pulling power, particularly on soft, hilly and/or wet ground. And they don't compact the soil as much which helps crop yields. They can also turn a tighter corner. From what I hear, tracks ride better on soft ground but ride rougher on hard ground (i.e. a dried plowed clay field). Tracks have their downside too. The mains one being you can't cruise down the road between fields as fast and they cost more.

There is a lot of discussion about tracks but a lot of people still do not go for them - usual statement is cost without extra benefit. One of the biggest negative I hear about them - especially the two track machines vs. the four track articulated - is that when they turn they track twists and pushes a dirt ridge sideways. For never till ground this is something they cannot deal with because they have no tillage to level it out. There is a lot of discussion in the never till groups about down pressure between a track and tire - the tire having constant air pressure over the entire ground contact area versus the track having high pressure points at the bogie wheels, i.e. uneven soil pressure.

The other thing about the never till guys is that they do not need pulling power as they are only pulling planters, sprayers, and harvesters and some of these are self-propelled. Tracks also are not as versatile as they suck other other uses such as roadwork, haying, loaders, etc. Tracks also go down sometimes it is a major job to get them out whereas large tires help to pull themselves out.

Still none of these problems are issues for the Palouse the way they farm now but I still do not understand why there is still so much tillage on the Palouse and hence the need for pulling power. It seems to me that would be an ideal never till region.

 

[Creamer]

I always thought it would be a wonderful adventure to work on a custom harvest crew for a season or two as a young man. A season or two on a Great Lakes ore boat would also be cool. I'm an old man now so that dream is gone and I work in a pill mill.

I did one summer on a harvest crew and am thinking about doing it again once I retire. It was a fun summer.

 

[Cougsfan]

Still none of these problems are issues for the Palouse the way they farm now but I still do not understand why there is still so much tillage on the Palouse and hence the need for pulling power. It seems to me that would be an ideal never till region.

Attached is an article done by a University of Idaho professor on no tillage in the Palouse. STEEP - Perceptions of No-till in the Palouse

Even though the practice no till was initially developed in the Palouse, and it's many environmental advantages obvious, it still isn't the preferred method on the Palouse. Why? Money. Years of comparison have made it relatively clear that it is more profitable to the farmer's bottom line in this region to plow vs no till. This is especially true the first few years after a farmer converts to no till operations. Some no tillage occurs in the area by concerned farmers, but most of the large scale farmers are highly successful family corporations who have become primarily business focused. Despite lip service otherwise, they tend to place maximizing of profits as their highest priority.

 

[ArlyA]

Seems many farmers do minimal tillage in the Midwest anyway.

 

[ovrszd]

Seems many farmers do minimal tillage in the Midwest anyway.

Everything of size is minimal tillage here in northern missouri.