First off my new clearing project here at home made another big leap toward completion this week. The excavator, Marcus Durley of Durley Excavating, brought out his new Caterpiller D5 to clean up the hillside and grade it all out. His guy Paul did an awesome job. There was a very steep part in the center due to a large dip in the center with a large hump on top of the hill. Paul did a great job of smoothing it all out.
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| Hillside clearing job dozed off. |
All I have left to do know is to use Marcus' york rake to rough it all off and collect the leftover sticks and rocks. Then seed it down and let it grow! I managed to sell enough fire wood off the site to pay for all the time, fuel, excavator, dozer, and seed. Having cleared this added a little over an acre of hay ground and will actually save me time mowing because the field is now a rectangular shape instead of a boomerang shape. It will be much more easier to mow and much quicker/efficient as well.
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| The before shot. |
I will have to take a similar after shot. I am trying to find a good before shot to match the one below.
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| View of the cleared area looking west. |
So, I my parents brought to my attention that there was an auction yesterday afternoon about 7 miles from here and there was some really nice equipment up for sale. So, I was going to go with dad to the auction to see if we could buy a ford tractor that was for sale and he wanted. Well, between the enormous crowd, heavy rains, and other problems, we didn't make it. However, my brother did. So dad and I sat in my truck and did our bidding over the phone. The tractor he wanted was a 5600 ford blue power special. It is a diesel and is the mid size between grandpa's ford 4000SU and Dad's Ford 7700. It is a low hour very clean tractor that was very well taken care of. It should do him well!
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| Ford, 5600 blue power special with dual power. |
Well, in my research during the day for him on the Ford, I noticed they were selling a very clean Farmall 706 narrow front (tricycle wheeled) diesel tractor as well. Since we were already on the phone, and my dad and brother both said it was a good looking tractor I decided to try to get it. I have needed a second tractor for raking and such anyway and the opportunity arrived so I jumped on it.
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| Farmall 706 NF diesel |
We got it at a great price and I went and picked them both up today after the rains let up. As you can see in the above pictures, they were quite muddy. We had an enormous amount of rain in the last 24 hours and the fields where everyone parked turned to pudding. So they used these two tractors to pull everyone out of the mud. So they were quite a mess, but hey, that is what a good tractor is for right! So as soon as we got them home I washed them off and took the opportunity for a photo shoot!
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| Farmall 706, Ford 5600, Kubota M9540 |
The above pic is an awesome one and someday when Dad and I are able to get the rest of his tractors restored we will line them all up for a picture and it will be awesome. To give you an idea his list of tractors, running and not, include; 674 international, Case 885, Ford 4000SU, Ford 5600, Ford 7700, Ford 8000, and a Narrow front John Deere 2510 (currently being restored). I would love to see that line up all shiny and clean some day soon!
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| Farmall 706 Narrow Front Diesel |
Now, I do love my old tractors. The older I get the more I miss them and like them all. I really love my new Kubota and I will some day have a newer bigger one to add to the fleet but there is nothing that can compare to an old school open station tractor to rake hay with in the summer.
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| Farmall 706 Narrow Front Diesel |
Everything on her is good to go with the exception of a sticking seat adjustment latch and a bent muffler. There are some missing decals and some beauty marks from the years of hard work but all in all she is a strong beautiful tractor. The boys that help me here on the farm grew up on the old internationals and farmalls so they are pumped to get to drive it for hay season for me. Personally, I want to add a similar size and age ford with the Narrow front to the fleet as well. I grew up on the fords and just like my dad, if the opportunity presents itself and I can make it happen I will get one for myself.
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| Farmall 706 and my Kubota M9540 |
I wanted a picture with both tractors together. Old meets new and east meets west! Two completely different worlds have come together to make it a great year for making hay!
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| Farmall 706 and my Sitrex v10 rake |
I wanted to see how it looked hooked to the rake....and I wasn't disappointed. For anyone reading this who has ever raked hay they will understand why this is an awesome sight. For everyone else I will explain. When you are raking you are constantly turning to go back and forth across the field. With today larger rakes sharp turns are not as necessary all the time but are still needed at some point. A Narrow Front tractor will literally turn on a dime. You simply crank the wheel and tap the brake and you are spun around going the other way. This should make raking much more fun and easier as well!
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| Farmall 706 and my Sitrex v10 rake |
Here is picture of her from the back. So different from todays tractors on a lot of things. I do need to do some shopping for some upgraded steps to get on and some 3-point hitch arm ball ends for the quick mount system these tractors have.
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| Farmall 706 rear end |
Here is a view from the seat. So different when you don't have wheels sticking out on the front!
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| Farmall 706 Operators View |
So, what I haven't mentioned yet is that when I made the spur of the moment decision to get the tractor I didn't have time to discuss and justify this to the boss, my wife! Sooooo I had a lot of explaining to do when she got home from school. Now, even though I had been thinking about a second tractor for almost two years now and I knew what I would spend and how quickly it would prove itself, I really hadn't had any of these discussions yet with her. So, she was understandably upset when I broke the news to her. But, after a long discussion she was ok with the decision and I got to keep the tractor! Please thank her when you see her at the customer party this summer!!!
To make sure she was ok I put her on it when she got home today and had her drive it. Now, that meant she started it and pulled it ahead 20 feet and then backed it up and parked it again but at least she drove it. Then, I had her ride and I showed her how you can spin it in a circle and I think that sealed the deal!
Plus, she looks damn cute on it to boot!
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| My wife on the Farmall 706 |
Now, I just got to get her trained on how to drive it efficiently and safely so she can start helping on the farm when needed.
Now, I want to let everyone know here, and I will be sending and email and posting to facebook as well, that we will be having the customer party in
July this year on July 5th. My wife will be completely busy with work in May and June and having it in July will allow her to complete her work so she can cook her awesome food! Plus, the added time will allow me to get a bunch of misc. project wrapped up so I can also enjoy the party more this year!
If all goes well I should have two full cuttings of hay complete, the lawn looking sweet with summer flowers in bloom, and maybe even a tree house for the kids to play in! Let's all do our sunshine and perfect weather dance so I can get some work done for a change!
Have a great weekend everyone!
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