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Life On & Off My Farm - Life Changes

539K views 11K replies 130 participants last post by  Ingersoll224 
#1 ·
Well, it's again time to spread the cow poo upon the fields. Started this morning. Had a decent day of hauling, with only a few glitches. Had to charge my tractor's AC at lunch, as things were heating up in the cab. Then later my tractor started surging, so had to back blow the fuel line. One of these days I need to remove & clean that fuel tank of trash. The tractor my son Josh was hauling with developed a problem in the power steering, but turns well enough while moving that we can continue. I need to add some 134A to his AC tomorrow if I get time. I have a regular Dr checkup at noon, then rush back to spread more poo. I would cancel my appointment, but it takes weeks to get one scheduled.
Anyway, as the day of spreading ended, the poo pump's agitator gun was stopped up with trash, so before doing the evening feeding I went to unplug it. Took the clamp off to wiggle the gun tip off the pump and it was snug. kept wiggling, then sure enough, it came on off......dumping about 2 or 3 gallons of nice smelly green stuff right on top of my head! Good thing I had a hat on! My wife has been wanting me to toss some of my holey T-shirts, so I obliged her finally with this one! LOL Took a lot longer shower than usual I'll tell you that!
 
#2 ·
Oh, the joys of being a diary farmer! Sorry, Daniel! Just seems you have a lot of poop come your way. Either that or your the only one to admit it. Hope tomorrow goes better!
 
#5 ·
Daniel, that stinks! A poo gun? I was picturing something like a sprayer nozzle until your description of the 2-3 gallons soaking you. Now I have a better idea of the scale of the problem. Well, at least it washes off. Take care Daniel.
 
#7 ·
This is a rep photo of the exact pump we have. I never thought to make sure Dad had pointed the nozzle upward before parking it, to let the manure flow back from the tip. He pulled it out still pointing downward as in the pic. So about 2' of the 6" flex tubing behind the tip was full of the good stuff. I was standing on the lower impeller housing (with the U shaped feet) when I got my green shower.

 
#9 ·
I apologize for myrthing at your discomfort Dan, but it's a very 3 stooges image that came to mind... I'm also sorry that your first shower of the day was that one! Hope that the day goes more smoothly tomorrow for you!
 
#11 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey, I really don't mind. It was comical (after the initial dumping on me that is), and that's why I wanted to share it with you guys. Plus it always seems to help several of you guys that have had tough days to see the crap I can get into (or onto me)! Actually, it wasn't that bad a day. We got a lot done, and not that hard deal with the problems encountered. As to the 3 stooges, unfortunately, I was the only stooge of the day! LOL
But if this was the worst day I could ever have, I'd be a blessed man! I will say however, that if this had been captured on film, it would be funny as all get out to watch....even for me!
 
#10 ·
The hydraulic control lever set that you see on the tongue end....they are just sitting there, as you put them up in the tractor cab, or on a fender if using an open tractor. Dad usually loads us, while we spread. In-between loads, you switch the flapper doors the other way, then it shoots the poo through the gun into the pit. You can maneuver the gun to blast crusty or lumpy areas. It'll shoot manure well over 100' if you want it to! The doors flipped the other way sends manure up the top pipe, into another pipe (not in pic) which is on legs, then it has a drop down that directs the manure into the wagon.
 
#13 ·
Daniel if that had been caught on film you would be on your way to Americas funniest videos. Ah the misfortunes of a dairy farmer, my hats off to you Sir.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Daniel, It sounds like you stepped in it again, my friend. Any of us who have lived and worked on a farm, have had similar experiences. I once fell in our open, ground driven manure spreader full of hog manure. I was trying to pull the back board we put in front of the beater bars to hold back the soup. I lost my balance and head first in I went. Everyone thought it was very funny that day also.

But, you did get a lot of work done, so it was a good day.
 
#18 ·
Yrs back we used to spread the "poo", from the hog pits with a traveling irrigation gun. We laid out a 1/2 mile or so of 6" pipe, and pumped fro mthe pits out to the gun. The gun used a cable winch powered by a Robin diesil to draw it acrosst the field. The end of the cable was anchored to a model 66 Oliver tractor, that ussally got covered somewhat with poo. This machine would travel a 1/4mile dragging a 4" rubber hose. You ussally got a boot full when you had to unhook the hose and reset the machine. It took about 8hrs for it to go one pass acrosst the field, so i you got up earlier you could get two done before it was too dark. Plugging the gun nozzle was a common thing, ussally by a piece of wood. Our unit looked a lot like this one. http://www.google.com/imgres?q=traveling+gun+irrigation&start=284&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=642&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=KGJc6Ybdr7Zc4M:&imgrefurl=http://unitedtravelerirrigationsales.com/index.php%3Fmain_page%3Dindex%26cPath%3D5&docid=yNVKXgo1MRG4rM&imgurl=http://unitedtravelerirrigationsales.com/images/ww_5600.jpg&w=576&h=463&ei=HXV8T6zZHsXg2QWJnaTHDA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=297&sig=114231112952429732163&page=17&tbnh=135&tbnw=200&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:15,s:284,i:38&tx=97&ty=57
 
#19 ·
We used to rent the gun system also, but the guy's equipment was always in bad repair, and we spent all our time repairing it. He took our time & materials off our bill, but it got to be too aggravating. Besides, we can reach more of our land using the wagons than with the traveling gun system.
 
#20 ·
Thanks for sharing your story Daniel. I should have been under the nozzle and maybe the poo would have stimulated some hair growth.The town we lived in before moving back to our home county had quite a large number of dairy farms. Some of the farmers apparently hired folks to haul the manure from their farms.It was quite common to see a large tractor pulling a tank spreader through town. When you saw them at night with all of the lights coming down a street it looked liked a space vehicle coming at you.I'm sure that there are custom harvest folks in your area that I already know you don't use because you have the equipment that you need. But I was wondering about the manure hauling. Is that offered in your neck of the woods or was it something just in our area ?
 
#22 ·
Dan, you must have a fairly big hole to empty with running two tractors. Just curious how big your tanks are? I always enjoy reading your stories about farming. In my area the custom haulers are a big hit. I think a lot of them run 5200 gallon tanks. Coming up the hill past my house they almost cant downshift fast enough, at my driveway I can keep up with the tractor at a brisk walk. One day the local hauler decided to weigh in at the feed mill loaded, He came in at 120,000 pounds. Wonder how long his tractor brakes last. Thanks for sharing.
 
#24 ·
Thanks for sharing your story Daniel. I just got to read the whole thread. The farmers around dad's place are spraying too. I was going down a side road the other day, and saw a fellow with an old style flinger spreader. It brought memories of when that was what you saw.

Sorry you got a liquid gold shower. I can only imagine that concentrated stuff must be intense. Now, too bad no one got avthat on video.

I'm glad the straw hat survived too. I have three different straw ones I wear at dad's in the sun. A real panama from Panama, an Amish summer hat and a miscellaneous straw hat.
 
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#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Here's what I'm doing today. Milked this morning, then removed the rear tire that has been leaking air/ballast the last few days. Got the rim primered where rust started, and will shoot some paint over that after lunch. Dad is picking up a new tube today, so I'll mount the tire back on tomorrow. This is our MF285 that stays on our feed wagon. Right now the larger MF1100 is doing silage duty, but I can't wait to get the 285 back to work. The 1100 is kind of large for where we have to go.
I changed the title of this thread so I can have a sort of a blog thread where I can post what's going on in my world of farming.

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#26 ·
...I changed the title of this thread so I can have a sort of a blog thread where I can post what's going on in my world of farming.
Thanks Dan! Now we'll know what you're up to
 
#29 ·
Used a fan to fast cure the paint, and got the tire mounted & tractor back on the silage mixer wagon. Gotta head to my Cat payloader & get ready to unload 30 more giant lego blocks. James just called & is on the way.

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Just put this new injector pump on the same tractor yesterday. She starts & runs so much better now!

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