Why do the LARGER TRACTOR owners not participate here ?

[Garandman]

This site is geared toward homeowners with small property and small tractors, many which live in the garage and are not even broke in. Obviously there are exceptions but that's what I see for the most part. some of the threads make it obvious that many have never been off city water, or dealt with coyotes, or septic systems. There was one last week where someone said they lived in a "Rural" area with 1 acre lots in the neighborhood.

Dude, you can find Coyotes/Coywolfs in Boston. They seem to migrate up the railroad tracks all the way to Boston Harbor.

Bear and Moose haven't quite made it: Bear to Newton (right next to Boston) and Moose to Watertown (next to Cambridge).

But an ag tractor site this sure ain't....

 

[JWR]

Well, don't be so sure. I was inbound to Boston on I-90, the Mass pike in the fall of 1996, and and my wife yelled "Moose!!" I said "What!?" and glanced to the hillside about 30 ft from the pavement where a female moose was having trouble negotiating the steep embankment. Can't recall exactly how close to Boston.

Now how was it this thread got here ? I forget...

 

[MossRoad]

I have the largest lot in our neighborhood... 4 lots that were combined to make 1 acre! Sounds like the city... :laughing:

We also have coyotes, foxes, deer, turkey, two septic systems, one well, a mailbox, a county address.... Sounds rural....

Also within earshot of us.... we have an airport, a city bus line, a heavy freight train corridor, the last interurban electric train in the country, several major highways.... sound like the city again...

Farm fields, skeet ranges, shooting ranges, timber farms.... sounding rural again....

:laughing:

If its any consolation, the 20 acres we own farther out of town has NO cell service, internet access, cable TV access, natural gas or city water. Only things available out there are electric and POTS.

 

[dragoneggs]

Plowing is too much work now-a-days. Much easier to spray with Roundup and then plant GMO crops that are Roundup resistant. I drove through upstate NY and complete fields of grass were dead as far as you could see. I asked my brother in law what was up, and he said they spray with Roundup and then plan GMO corn that is Roundup resistant so they no longer have to plow. Lets them get the job done with smaller HP tractors. I grow my own corn so I can avoid the chemicals!

Thinking about this... sad isn't it?

 

[Garandman]

I have the largest lot in our neighborhood... 4 lots that were combined to make 1 acre! Sounds like the city... :laughing:
///
Also within earshot of us.... we have an airport, a city bus line, a heavy freight train corridor, the last interurban electric train in the country, several major highways.... sound like the city again.

I'll see your planes, trains and automobiles and raise you tugs, tankers, and naval vessels!

Back to the OP, I think the main reason is that when a big tractor breaks down, they go straight to the dealer, who are often open 24/7 during harvest season. Took several 4am trips with my BIL for parts: he has a well-equipped shop to do many repairs himself.

 

[JWR]

Garandman said -- Back to the OP, I think the main reason is that when a big tractor breaks down, they go straight to the dealer, who are often open 24/7 during harvest season. Took several 4am trips with my BIL for parts: he has a well-equipped shop to do many repairs himself.

Probably true and main reason. With the larger tractors they often head straight for the dealer. It is much less likely to be a "hobby." And if they have multiples of the larger machines they also have a hired mechanic or more. I guess that explains it.

 

[flusher]

I used to watch RFD-TV when I had my ranch (can't get that channel on Comcast here in Sacramento). I particularly enjoyed the Successful Farming show with Dave Mowitz and the part of the show when he visits some big time farm operation that has a gigantic shop. Seems like most of them are in the upper Midwest where 10,000+ acres is an average size operation. As far as I can tell, those guys do a lot more than just change fluids in those shops.

 

[PatrickS2222]

Oh, I see - I wasn't sure if it was planting, or scarifying in preparation for planting. It's still awe-inspiring to see the scale of the operation. We were dairy farmers when I was growing up, but these paddocks would be around 100 times the size of what ours were.

Reading further, I'm surprised to see the soil is sometimes not even chisel-ploughed before planting. I haven't been involved in agriculture at all since the early 80s, so a lot will have changed. But even then my father was an advocate of avoiding turning the soil. Chisel-plough twice, then offset discs once, then fertiliser, plant and chain-harrow.

As to appreciating our farmers, there seems to be fewer each year. Nevertheless, those who decide to give it a go deserve a big :thumbsup: as much as those who have made a successful career of it.

 

[farmer2009]

It's not just chemicals that have allowed farmers to move away from aggressive tillage. It's also equipment technology. Set down and look at an old plate planter from the 50's or even 70's, then compare that to today's air drive vacuum planters. With air ride suspensions and auto adjust down pressure. Every row has its own population monitor and adjustment. Population can be varied by GPS and terrain on the go.

The guy that farms the neighbors ground pulls a 1 pass tool in front of corn then plants. His only tillage pass until next corn crop 2 years away. Corn, wheat, soybeans. He's planting between 20-30 acres an hour. 24 rows.

Most people also don't believe the technology that is involved in raising that chicken you are eating.

 

[daugen]

There is a real mix of equipment in my area, from the really huge in giant farms on flat, flat land East of here, to ancient IH tractors pulling
equally ancient tobacco pickers, manned by someone sitting inside it, as it goes down one row at a time. I watched that in a neighboring field, just pulled over to see something that had to be 30's technology still being used. And wondered how they made a living doing that.

Most of the real farmers in the area I grew up in Eastern PA sold out to developers and headed to Florida or the mountains. Their kids didn't want to farm, they were exhausted from a hard life working several hundred acres with small equipment, and there was no money to upgrade. Not enough land to work, no economies of scale. Today working farmers have to be so large to make any money at this, because there is so much fixed cost in equipment, mortgages and taxes, keeping up with technology, meeting Federal, State, and local regs plus client requirements regarding waste disposal, water treatment, on and on.
Which is all necessary to make sure we don't pollute the Chesapeake and other important water resources. Can't imagine a farmer wanting his kids to drink bad water, so just dealing with e coli is a big deal.

Like to eat? Thank a farmer.