How agriculture works thread

[LHF2019]

Some more
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My sister went out for a couple years so I traveled to see her.


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How I traveled

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10 years after I worked went back with my then wife and kids and visited.


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I should add that when I went back 10 years later to visit my former boss the labor he had were now coming from South Africa because you just couldn't find anybody in the US. In '98 his ad was in the area farm paper in PA and the entire crew were citizens.

 

[ArlyA]

I should add that when I went back 10 years later to visit my former boss the labor he had were now coming from South Africa because you just couldn't find anybody in the US. In '98 his ad was in the area farm paper in PA and the entire crew were citizens.

Ha! Now isn't that funny. My brother-in-law was doing the same thing for a few years at that very same time. He had about 6 of them working at his farm and when they were in the locale bar (only one there) with there accent, people came in and thought they had landed in Australia! I never managed to get there and meet these South African guys the few years they helped him.

 

[ArlyA]

Just a few pictures. Many many more in storage. Back when you had to carry disposable cameras and used prepaid phone cards. I remember walking through town (Medicine Lake MT) to get to a phone booth. Stayed above the bar while working there. The year was 1998. Left the day after graduation. There were 3 of us from this area. Turned out a former employee of my dad and his cousin were going. After my mom and his mom started talking and learned of the one I was going on they switched crews because of the housing. My crew got put up in hotels. Now before you think wow that's great they were the mom and pop style. But it beats a camper with however many guys you can cram in there. It was nice to at least know a couple people when I got there.
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This is a list of acreage I kept track of on the King Ranch. It was a very poor year as my notes indicate. The previous year it took 70 semi's to keep up with 8 combines and the year I was there only 20 some. We worked with a 2nd company each having 4 combines. If I remember note correctly close to half million is what my boss was paid for that job.

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Experimental combine and header

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King Ranch Mexican worker running the combine but had to break off and get the loose cattle back in pasture.

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Do you recall the name of the farm you guys combined at kadoka?

 

[LHF2019]

Do you recall the name of the farm you guys combined at kadoka?

I have no idea. I'm not sure if we were ever told the names but I'm sure we were. It might have been multiple farms.

 

[ArlyA]

Mike Michell's wife is swathing canola which I know nothing about. That swather is wide!

 

[Torvy]

All I know is they crush the seeds for oil!

I've noticed wider and wider heads on combines lately. Turns out fewer passes saves diesel! Good thing they use GPS now, I cannot imagine turning those things without taking out a fence, or a truck.

 

[sixdogs]

Case/IH 75 HP fully electric tractor. Not sure what to think or say.

Case IH’s New All-electric Farmall Tractor

The new Farmall Utility 75C Electric is a fully electric tractor with the equivalent of 74 hp.

www.agriculture.com

 

[Torvy]

Case/IH 75 HP fully electric tractor. Not sure what to think or say.

Case IH’s New All-electric Farmall Tractor

The new Farmall Utility 75C Electric is a fully electric tractor with the equivalent of 74 hp.

www.agriculture.com

Sounds like CaseIH knows their base better than the automakers. Offering choices is good. I'm not sure how many looking for that size will also be OK with EV.

I can see this being big with the public sector. Cities, counties and states spending other people's money. My biggest fear would be the lifespan of the batteries and cost of replacement. For my uses, I would have bought an EV the same size as my T574 for a little higher price point, if, and only if, they could ensure 30 years of battery life (or cheap enough replacement to get there).

Basically, if you figure cost of ownership at 100 hours a year x 30 years. 3000 hours. Gallon of diesel an hour. 3000 gallons. $5 a gallon. Roughly $15k in fuel over 30 years for relatively light use. If they guarantee battery replacement over 30 years at $15k or less, I'd be OK with the tradeoff.

Of course, I am not living off of my tractor and it would be rare to be on it for more than 4 hours a day. For real farmers, I could see this being one in the stable. A chore tractor for feeding cattle and moving bales, etc.

 

[ArlyA]

Sounds like CaseIH knows their base better than the automakers. Offering choices is good. I'm not sure how many looking for that size will also be OK with EV.

I can see this being big with the public sector. Cities, counties and states spending other people's money. My biggest fear would be the lifespan of the batteries and cost of replacement. For my uses, I would have bought an EV the same size as my T574 for a little higher price point, if, and only if, they could ensure 30 years of battery life (or cheap enough replacement to get there).

Basically, if you figure cost of ownership at 100 hours a year x 30 years. 3000 hours. Gallon of diesel an hour. 3000 gallons. $5 a gallon. Roughly $15k in fuel over 30 years for relatively light use. If they guarantee battery replacement over 30 years at $15k or less, I'd be OK with the tradeoff.

Of course, I am not living off of my tractor and it would be rare to be on it for more than 4 hours a day. For real farmers, I could see this being one in the stable. A chore tractor for feeding cattle and moving bales, etc.

Many folks have fields quite far away so the tractors and all machines stay there until there work is done. Seems EV's could only be used in the yard or feed lots.

 

[LHF2019]

I've noticed wider and wider heads on combines lately. Turns out fewer passes saves diesel! Good thing they use GPS now, I cannot imagine turning those things without taking out a fence, or a truck.

It really isn't that bad. Your in the middle of nowhere and nothing to hit. We could take 30' headers through 20'? gates. There is a trick to it. When I worked on custom harvest crew there was one rule. NEVER back up. Well one of the boss's stepson ignored that rule and ran the straw chopper fins through the side of the service truck. Boss has a temper and you didn't want to be the one receiving it.