Me city folk....

thcri · Nov 5, 2003

Cowboydoc,

Your right on that. But if you just got thrown in a tractor already to go it wouldn't be so bad. The large rig might intimidate you a bit but one could handle it.

But figure this one out. My wife, when at the age of ten or twelve was thrown in a "Big Case 4 wheel drive" Can't remember the number but was about 150 horse. Good size at that time. Her father farmed about 7,000 acres. She lived in that tractor pretty much every summer all summer long. But she won't even touch my ATV or my TC29D. So figure that one out. She is afraid of rolling over the ATV and the tractor. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

I can't figure her out.

murph

thcri · Nov 5, 2003

( ( I even miss milking cows if you believe that!! )

Well . . . , maybe believe it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Milking the cows was sometimes enjoyable and I wouldn't mind doing it again occasionally but that twice a day, every day, regardless of the weather or anything else is one thing I don't miss about the farm. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif )

Bird,

As the owner of a small business I still look for employees that have "milked cows" on their resume. They usually are pretty reliable if they milked cows for any length of time.

murph

Bird · Nov 5, 2003

Yep, Murph, when you have cows to milk there's no such thing as calling in sick or taking a day off unless you have someone else who's absolutely reliable to do it for you. As I'm sure you realize, when I was a kid, we never took a vacation as a family 'cause at least one of us had to be home to do the milking and feed and water the chickens and hogs.

cowboydoc · Nov 5, 2003

murph,

I understand your wife. I'm much more comfortable with my young one driving the bigger tractors than the little ones. It's pretty tough to get hurt in the cab and also pretty tough to roll it. The bigger tractor can withstand alot more punishment than the little ones too.

F350Lawman · Nov 5, 2003

I agree pulling the wagons on flat is not much different than towing anything else. The hills were a little bit of a learning experience. If I didn't feel comfortable there was usually a LONGER but flatter way around. Every time a chose the flat route' later when I inquired about how they usually go they also chose the flat route. Gotta' trust the gut when it comes to stuff like that I suppose.

Yes, the ability to coordinate your actions is hard. I never liked the end of each row much /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Thankfully my friend would explaine exactly what rows to get and what direction so it made it easier, avoiding sharp turns and sidehills.

I stuck to the simple things and he did the more complex...which suited me fine /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I got good instructions, used my head, was cautious and everything went fine. It certainly does look easier when you see them from the side of the road though!

P.S. my least favorite thing was the first few times driving up and down the silage with the tracotr to compact it. It was a little steep and you need to have the right RPMs so it didn't stall or spin em' To make matters worse a day or two before someone had posted about their father flipping a tractor this way /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif When I read the post I was thinking "man I'd never try that", ha-ha...little did I know /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Slamfire · Nov 6, 2003

But those cows were used to hand milking, nowadays they are all machine milked. Imagine my last experience, hand milking cows during a power outage. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Docsknotinn · Nov 6, 2003

Hay dont you Dairy guys have generators ??? Thats Udderly Riddiculous /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I am always amazed by all that stainlees steel when I go in a Dairy farm now. Especially when I thaink back to grand dads farm with the old fancy schmancy electric skimmer. You know, poor one bucket in the top and walla /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Dave

RichZ · Nov 6, 2003

Nothing really prepares you for operating a huge farm tractor with a cab. A neighbor of ours got hurt on his farm. The local farming community got together to bring in his hay, he has a huge dairy farm, and his sons couldn't do it alone. I was proud to be asked to help. My job was to stack up the round bales, which I was doing with my Oliver 1550, with my bale spear on my loader. My injured meighbor asked if I wanted to try out one of his 200 hp John Deere tractors with 4wd (he has three of them, and I forget the model #). I was thrilled to try it out. But after misjudging angles several times, I got worried that I might damage something, and went back to my Oliver. Those big boys take quite a bit of getting used to. Since then, I've been over at his place several times to get used to those huge machines. Nothing will prepare you for them except experience. And I don't mean experience on smaller tractors. My Oliver is 62 hp, and most people consider it big, but it's tiny compared to these Deeres. I look forward to becoming proficient on the big machines, but I know that will take me quite a while. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif