Quick update.

Sorry for the absence.  On top of the broken finger i also got the stomach flue and some other health problems that kept me in bed for almost a week and a half.   Getting better now and a good post coming soon I promise!

Cast comes off the 7th.   hoping to have my finger at least usable enough to type a week or two after that.

Kenny

Life on the farm with only one hand!

So, after I got back from surgery last week I had to figure out how to keep things moving here on the farm. I quickly realized how important two hands are in everything I do.  Like, for example, typing!  I am quickly finding how annoying it is to type one handed!

First off, I wanted to show you the cast  they put on Tuesday.  It is more comfortable than the wrap but not much more useful.  I am being told 6 weeks before I will be able to use my left hand to grab anything let alone go back to normal.  

cast for left index finger fracture

To add to my current uselessness I contracted a nasty stomach flue from my daughter over the weekend which has gotten steadily worse till this morning when it even kept me from work.  So, now here I am typing with one hand wanting to do something with one of the few clear and beautiful days we have gotten this summer, and I can't even leave the house without getting sick!

cast for left index finger fracture

The day of my surgery I had to have my buddy Willie, who just got done dealing with a broken foot, pick up the tractor from getting new tires.  The originals were not working out so I put some 16.9/38's on to lift the tractor a little higher and more traction.  

706 Farmall with original 15.5/38 tires

Above is when we dropped it off with the original tires still on.  

706 Farmall with 16.9/38 tires

I really like the way the tractor handles and runs withe the bigger tires, huge difference.  The extent of my driving was to take it down the road and back so I don't have much other feedback yet.  Everyone else likes them though!

706 Farmall with 16.9/38 tires

 After I managed to find enough help to get all the hay baled that I mowed before I broke my finger, I then had to get some of it to a customer.  I forgot to mention that one top of the broken finger last week, my truck also broke down.  So, Willie to the rescue again!  I rode along to show him where to go and he made the delivery for me.  I have never felt more useless than watching my buddy have to do the things that I should be taking care of myself and not being able to do anything about it!

My buddy getting ready to deliver hay for me. 

 On a good note I did have enough help to get the hay made and home and wrapped.  I now have more than enough to get through the winter.  Now I can sell the rest, if i get some dry weather to bale it and my hand heals up!

Tube wrapped round bales

 Some other great news is that the project with the soil and water conservation office has been approved.  The site for the new feeding pad for the cows including a freeze proof waterer and manure storage area has already been graded out.  Now i need to find people to come help set posts and install the waterer so we can pour the concrete.  

Pad site for future heavy use pad.

I will post pics as the project progresses.  Lets hope that this string of bad events has reached its climax so i can put the last week and a half behind me and move forward!

Kenny

Now I gotta mess

So I hit my left index finger with a brick hammer at work today at full force.  I was working on a patio and cutting a stone with a chisel and the hammer glanced off the chisel and hit my finger.   I am having surgery in the morning to put it all back together.  

shattered left index finger

In the meantime I am looking for help to bale the 53 acres of hay I have down this week.  Not allowed to do much other than drive for a few days.   Gonna make things interesting for the next 6-8 weeks.

steel plate in index finger

Here is the plate and screws installed this morning.  Now in a splint cast for two weeks...then starts the therapy!  Bone was broken into 6 pieces.

Kenny

So you wanna be a farmer?!?!

Well, after working on the barn in the morning Steven, Scott, and I headed out to mow hay.  We came across some extra hay ground at just the right price so we went for it.  It took us about 4 hours to mow it all with both of us mowing.  The hay looks good and should feed the cows well.  I also had Steven following right behind tedding the hay so it would dry faster because the sun was blazing hot and we needed to get it dry to bale before the party Saturday

Here is a picture of the hay we mowed.  The narrow row was with Scotts New Holland Discbine with conditioner rolls and the wide row is my new Kubota DM2032 disc mower without a conditioner.  I want to see if there is any difference between the two and this property posed a great opportunity to check that.

Kubota DM2032 Disc Mower in Clover Hay

As we went to mow yesterday and even when we got done, the forecast called for clearing weather and sunny till Monday night.  I went to sleep last night to the sound of a thunderstorm building to the south that just missed us.  I awoke to rain this morning with a half an inch that fell overnight.  So much for drying the hay fast.  

So this morning, instead of mowing hay to start the day, we are going to work on mowing the lawn and cleaning up for the party on Saturday.  Hopefully the sun actually comes out after this rain passes like they are calling for now so we can go get the second cutting all mowed.  

Here is what Steven and I worked on yesterday morning.  Notice the bright sunshine and beautiful clear sky in the background!

Residing the old barn

 

This was the last section of the barn that needed resided.  

 

Residing the old barn

A couple of years ago Steven's brother, David, visited here from Montana and while he was here he brought the branding Irons for my cows out in Montana.  We took the opportunity to burn the brand into several different pieces of wood.  The one below is a piece of old barn siding from Montana.  We all think it looks great on the side of the barn and we will be putting it up this morning before we start cleaning up. 

Residing the old barn

Here are a few pictures of the finished cow shed.

Klene Pipe Bunk feeder with new cow shed.

I think it turned out perfect.  

 

Looking in south side of cow shed.

I wanted to take a few more pictures this morning but with the rain I decided to post what I have now and I will take more once the sun comes back out.  

 

Looking in the East end of the new cow shed.

 Well, I might as well head out and see if I can get something done even in the rain.

Have a great day everyone.

Kenny

New piglets, barn pics, and pics of my new disc mower!

As soon as I got up this morning I checked on Berky and found she had her piglets overnight.  She ended up having 8 live ones but 3 got laid on/stepped on out in the pasture before we got her moved to the barn this afternoon.  Last year she had them outside without any problems but this year she nested in the pasture with the cows....and they were not as careful where they stepped as she is.  

Her and her babies are resting in the barn tonight with the fans running.  I penned her up for the night and I will let her out in the morning now that she knows where the babies are and can relax a little.  We also penned up Lady as she is getting close and we didn't want the same thing to happen to her.

Berkshire sow and Tamworth Boar

 Willie and I started early this morning and finished up the last of the nailers for the metal roof.  Josh and Steven showed up shortly thereafter to help with the metal.  It took us till about 1pm to finish up the roof.  

Starting to put metal on the new cow shed.

 I snapped a couple quick pics while the guys started the first sheet.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the completed shed.  I will get those tomorrow.  We only have one little section of siding to finish on the old barn and we will be done for this year other than a little bit of lighting and wiring work I need to finish up and rain gutters.  Next year I am planning on either staining or painting the barn.  I am sure you are noticing that the roof metal is different colors.  That is because other than seeing it from an air plane, or from the neighbors hill top you cannot see it to know they are different colors.  I found some leftovers from a local contractor from several different jobs over the last several years.  Regardless of the color it all sheds water the same!  So, if I get time and paint some day in the future, I will wash the entire roof and paint it all the same color.  Otherwise, it will remain this way till it needs a new metal roof.  

Now, to show you my new Disk mower.    It is a Kubota DM2032.  It is a 10'6", or 3.2 meter, cut width disk mower.  My old one was made by Taarup and was 9'2" or 2.8 meters.  Taarup was bought out by Kverneland group shortly after I bought my first disk mower.  Last year Kubota bought the Kverneland group and made some improvements to the product line and started producing their own haying equipment.  

Kubota DM2032 on a Kubota M9540

I have been considering an upgrade to match the extra acreage I have started doing and with the special rebates and 0% financing option it was an easy decision to do it now.  

Kubota DM2032 on a Kubota M9540

I ordered it with high lift skid pads and swath boards.  I mowed my second cutting with it here at the house this afternoon to try it out.  I took the tractor side swath board off as it is not needed for the second and third cut since we tedd it all anyway and I want to lay it wide.  I also decided after seeing the cut on the field that I wanted to try it without the high lift skids.  Kubota changed the base skids so it will cut a little higher than my old one without adding a higher skid.  Also, the skids I got are a little too high for the lighter crop and it doesn't cut as nice.  So, we will see how it goes tomorrow.  If I think it is cutting too short I will just order the medium lift pads and try that.  The high lift pads will be great for first cutting and mowing straw as they leave a higher stubble and keep the blades out of the rocks on tilled soil.  

Kubota DM2032 on a Kubota M9540

While the new mower is about 150# heavier it doesn't feel that way when I pick it up.  I love the extra cutting width and did notice a difference.  It does use more power especially on the hills so I may look into options to boost the power of the tractor a little bit.  It is 95hp stock but I would like to bump it up to 105-110.  If anyone know how to do that please send me the info so I can get it done.  I will be mowing about 110 acres of hay in the next day or so and after that I will have a much better feel for how it runs.  I will give a much more in depth review after that.  

Now, off to bed since I still have an enormous amount of stuff to do before the party on Saturday.  

Kenny