Sand hills grass

[Hayguy]

i agree with Soapweed, with record high calf prices and hay prices hovering around the cost of production it only makes cents to "stock-pile" your forage in bale form.

 

[Big Swede]

My Dad and I were talking about the Spring of 77 the other day. We were calving in March about state tournament time which would be about the middle of March when that blizzard hit. Our cows were about 3/4 of a mile away at our other place. Our tractor was a 4020 JD two wheel drive of course and we couldn't get to them through the drifts. My Dad and brother slept in the barn down there a couple nights trying to save calves. The only feed we could get to them was some wheat straw that we would roll on top of some planks on top of the snow. When the storm finally quit the scours started. I'll never forget the pile of dead calves. That was before scour vaccine. What a wreck. What memories.

So yes I agree with the comment about better equipment making things easier. There's not many drifts I couldn't get through now.

 

[George]

I was so proud when I got my first "loader tractor" a WD Allis Chalmers with a narrow front end and a Kelly loader ( trip dump of course) and a plate I could slide on to make a solid floor bucket! Canvas heat houser cost several days pay but it was worth it! In the snow I would wrap the rear tires thru the wheel with 3/8" log chain and put a lot of weight on the rear and really got along pretty well.

Then the first "real loader" I bought upon return from the Marines in 1971 - - - an H20 Hough with a 1 & 5/8th cu yd bucket WOW I had 4 wheel drive with rear wheel steer and two way hydrolics. It had a roll over structer ( of a fasion ) with an expanded metal top. The first winter I wired a car hood to the top and make plywood and plexi glass sides and put in a heater. 6 clinder "Black Diamond" gas engine 13.00 X 24" tires. But I got a lot of work done with it and got more for it 5 years later than what I had paid for it.

I feel part of what has made me a success was the drive I had to have just to survive! I have had very few new pieces of equipment in my life - - most of the things I have came from a junk yard somewhere and I rebuilt them one bolt at a time then after they were up to par I will steam clean and paint ( zinc based primer then two top coats ) and new decals.

We are farming 2,300 acres and the newest tractor we have is a 1985 4650 JD ( we have 2 of them ) and a 1985 9170 International But if you don't run the serial numbers most people think we are running new equipment as they look new and run like new!

My newest loader is a 1978 980C Cat with a 6 yard bucket along with a 980B with a 5 yard bucket with high speed gearing.

I would hate to go back to some of the older equipment but if need be I could! One thing about it is a 16,000# machine is easier to get out when stuck than a 66,000# machine!