Truck project is coming along...hopefully getting my baby back on Tuesday.

Here are some pics I took at Gearheads Garage when I went to check on the progress of the flatbed installation and to make some decisions so they could proceed.  We had to change out the B&W hitch that I had on the truck to a standard welded plate hitch.  By changing the hitch out we are able to set the bed down on the frame lowering it about 1.5" and making it all work out perfect with lining up with the back windows and body lines.  

The first picture was without the sides.  The bed was resting on the truck lift so we could line everything up and make our decisions.

2005 F350 6.0L Aluma flat bed installation and lift kit.

You will not notice till I post a before and after pic of the truck but the above picture has the front end lifted about 2-2.5".  This will level it out when fully loaded to match all the lift from the new rear springs.

We put the bed sides on to see how they fit and what it will look like when all done.  They are going to plug the hole in the top center of the back of the cab for the third stop light and add a new white LED light to the center of the headache rack for lighting up the bed at night.

The guys also have a paint shop and did an awesome job on painting the back of the cab.  I will post those pics later once I have them.  Ford decided to save some money by not painting any portion of the cab or bed that was not visible once the truck was fully assembled.  So, once you take the old bed off the back of the cab needed repainted.  They put rock guard on most of it to protect it from flying debris and touched up the rest to make it perfect.

2005 F350 6.0L Aluma flat bed installation and lift kit.

2005 F350 6.0L Aluma flat bed installation and lift kit.

I went out in the pasture to check on my new calf and noticed some major changes in the creek this winter.   The straight part of the creek where the pigs played in the mud with the kids last summer cut through completely this winter during the major thaw.  This stopped the water from flowing the way it has for the last few centuries and now the creak bed is exposed where it wasn't in the past.

The spring stream from between the fields across the creek still dumps into the old creek so there will still be water there....just an entirely new ecosystem!

I wanted to let everyone know that Legacy's first calf is doing great and is actually very friendly.  She will let me walk right up and pet her and really likes her chin scratched!  We are going to name her Erica after her grandmother.  I can't wait to show you all my finished truck project!!!  Talk to everyone soon.

Kenny

LEGACY'S FIRST BABY BORN YESTERDAY!!!!!!

I came home yesterday from a trip to town and found a wonderful surprise.  Kwanza had just had her calf that we have been waiting on all winter.  The vet thought she would have it in January and I am glad he was wrong because I doubt the calf would have survived being born in that severe cold.

The best part about all of this is that the calf is a heifer!!!!!!!   I am super excited and I am hoping that she will not be the last for the year!

She was a little slower to get up and moving but that is to be expected with the cold.  This morning she was a little slow to get up as well but as soon as she had her footing she went right to eating.  It is supposed to get up into the forties today so I am hoping to see her bouncing around in the heat!

I will get some more pictures today once it warms up a little bit.  She is a great looking heifer!

Kenny

Legacy returns home and some new tools for the farm!

Well, Legacy had a nice vacation with some lady friends down in Atwater this winter.  He finally came back home the other day.  He and Thunder had a couple rounds of arguments after he got back but by the time I got home they were both calmed down and everything was back to normal.  He is quite puffy due to the cold winter but otherwise looks just fine!

We finally reached a point financially where we could upgrade our ATV for the farm.  I purchased the old one not knowing for sure if it was what we would need.  It proved the concept very well and I needed something lighter and newer for the kids and the wife to use.  I found this last week on Craigslist and went and picked it up.  It is a 2003 Honda Rancher Fourtrax.  It is the new version of the old one we already have.  It is very nice and should last us a long time.  Now my wife has asked me to sell the old one to someone who will appreciate it as much as we did.  It still runs great just needs some TLC.

03 Honda 

The same day I picked up the new ATV I came home to find my new bale spear had arrived.  I am not sure if I ever posted a picture of the original one I created or not but I will describe it.  I have a bolt on spear that I bolt to a plate I welded into the center of my pallet forks.  The problem with it is that it takes about 15 minutes to switch back and forth from forks to spear and the spear is very thick so it doesn't penetrate the bales very well.  This one has forged bale spears which are much stronger and penetrate the bales much easier resulting in less tearing of the netwrap from shoving the bales across the ground.

3 spear bale spear from Palletforks.com

Another thing that came in this past week was my new truck bed.  I finally saved up enough money to upgrade and repair the truck.  Some of these upgrades include new injectors, new front and rear springs, new brakes, a leveling kit, and a new aluminum flatbed.  

2005 F350 6.0L 

I wanted to post a couple of before pics of the truck with the original bed.  I already have the new front and rear springs.  You can see that the back is much higher than the front so after the new bed is installed they will decide what size lift we need to get it close to level and then install it so that loaded the truck is level.

2005 F350 6.0L 

Now, some have asked me why I want a flatbed instead of the original style bed.  The following picture shows two huge reasons.  First of all if you look at the fender closely you will notice how rusted out it is.  It costs as much to fix this problem as it did to buy the new flatbed and the new aluminum bed will not rust out again like another normal bed will.  The rest of the bed is just as bad as this fender you just don't see it.

The second reason is in the bed.  I can only fit 7 of my big coolers in the original bed.  I have grown to where I need to have 12 coolers to pick up all the meat for one trip to the processor.  The new bed should be able to hold 12 coolers at one time.

Here is my new Aluma aluminum flatbed.  I cannot wait to see it installed on the truck and looking good.  I am taking it up to Gearheads Garage tomorrow evening and dropping the truck and trailer off for them to get started bright and early Wednesday morning!  While they have the old bed off they are going to work on some other items as well as coat the underbody to keep the rest of the truck from rusting out.  Then they will install the new bed and level the truck.  I am going to see if they can give me a trailer plug in center of the bed under the cover or not.  I don't know if they can but it may be worth it to have it there instead of down on the back where it is now.

Although today was farm from warm it was at least sunny.  So I decided to go ahead and light a fire.  I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I do in warmer weather but at least it brightened my spirits enough to help me last a little longer till spring gets here!

I am probably going to keep it going through tomorrow and cook at least lunch and possibly dinner on it.   Haven't had many good wood cooked meals this winter so I need to have at least one tomorrow!

Have a great day everyone!  I will post pictures of the truck as soon as I get it back!

Kenny

WOW ... this winter just will not give up!!!

Well, I finally got a day off again.  Seems like I have worked almost every day at work since Thanksgiving.  We have not gone more than a couple of days without a snowstorm since then and this week is no different.  It is currently 38 degrees and raining.  It is supposed to be above freezing during the day today and tomorrow and then back in to the frigid arctic temps again.  We are not supposed to get any snow for a few days but the forecasters can't seem to get anything correct this year so I am not trusting their forecast now either!  I have been reading some articles on the weather and the numbers are showing the last time we had a winter this cold and snowy was the winter just before I was born, 1977/78.  I was born in July of 78.  I am glad I missed the last one and hope I don't get to see another one this bad for another 36 years!  We had this kind of cold in 1993/94 the winter before my grandpa died.  That was brutal as well but not quite as snowy and the cold didn't last as long either!

One thing this winter has shown me is the weaknesses that I have in my barn design.  I will definitely need some more feeding pad space that is not in the corral next winter.  Because it has been so brutally cold for more than a month everything has been frozen solid.  I haven't been able to clean the barn since back near New Years.  Over the last two days the manure has begun to thaw and is currently about 1.5-2' deep now.  I am heading out shortly to try to clean it up.  Hopefully it is all thawed out or I will not be able to do anything with it.  Wish me luck!

I also have my truck in the shop getting some finishing touches before the bed comes in.  The bed was supposed to be here three days ago but got delayed due to weather again!  So, the guys at Gearheads Garage have been working on the leveling springs and some other minor repairs that needed done so when the bed comes in they will only need two days to complete the project.  I will be posting a couple of pics after I pick it up today for before and after comparisons.  I can't wait to get it all done!

Have a great day everyone, hopefully mine stays dry and not too cold!!

North bound and down!!

All loaded up for a delivery.  This is the last of my square bales to head out this year.  I have a few more left in the barn for another customer who will be getting them later next month but otherwise this cleaned out the barn.  I also have a couple of round bale deliveries coming up hopefully tomorrow or Monday.  All depends how things work out.

I am also excited because my new truck bed comes in on Tuesday!!!!  I will be picking it up as soon as I get off work and taking it and the truck to the shop.  By this time next Saturday my truck will have its new springs on the front to match the new ones on the back, a new truck bed with the frame all undercoated, exhaust pipe fixed, and new brake rotors.  I am so excited ... it is gonna look like a brand new truck!!!!!

I promise I will be posting before and after photos of the truck.  A bonus for all my Columbus customers will be that they will be the first ones to see it in person as I will be using it for deliveries to their area next weekend!!!

Have a great weekend everyone, I got an early start today so it should be a productive day!

Field project nearing completion and the loss of our dearest friend Mario

Well, I posted a picture very similar to this just before Christmas.  I decided to take down the last section of trees in what used to be a field 60 years ago.  I got started with the bull dozer I rented before Christmas but due to the extremely wet weather at the time and the fact that the dozer was quite small I didn't get very far.  I originally decided this wasn't a big deal and that I would just work on it as I got time like I have always done.  However, over the last month I have been thinking more and more about it and the more I thought about it the more I decided I didn't want to wait any longer.  Time is a very valuable thing, and once it is gone, it will never come back.  So, I am now in a position where I can save some time and energy and get some help.  So I did!!

We have a contractor that we use at work quite often and I gave him a call and he stopped out and we talked.  He told me he could be out to help me in three days.  So I said go for it!  He brought out his new 314 Caterpillar excavator and in one day did what took me two years to do when I started my first clearing project to the left of the area in the pic above.  The trees used to extend to within 30 feet of the road to the left side of the picture above.  It took me three years to clear off the first section and another year to get it into production.  

I am hoping to have this new section into production this spring or summer.  I am contemplating planting the entire section into a seasonal crop and harvesting for silage hay and seeding in the hay crop among the silage crop.  I have a month or so to get the large pile burned down for him to come in to finish up the project.

Here you can see the large pile of limbs and stumps from the clearing project.  This will be an awesome fire when I light it.  Should be able to roast hot dogs and marshmallows from about 300 feet away!  Even though this looks like a lot of left overs it is not that much.  I have been cutting and splitting as much of the wood as I can between snows and selling to offset the cost of clearing and seeding.  The wood is being used to heat houses in the local area that, due to the extremely cold winter we are having, are out of wood already.

Now on to some sad news.  Anyone who has followed my blog or has been to the farm has seen our miniature donkey Mario.  He joined our family a few years ago and has been a friend and fixture here every since.  He has been very protective of the herd and babies and has kept the coyotes away from all the baby piglets.



During the last snow storm he apparently quit going to the creek for water.  It has been colder this year than it has in the last 20 years and we did not realize he wasn't drinking as normal.  Tragically he came down with Colic last weekend and even though we tried our best he did not make it.  My wife spent many hours with him trying everything we could to help him but he still passed away with her comfort and care to the last minute.  He will be greatly missed and I know some day he will come back to us as a new little baby and we will get to spend his entire life with us instead of such a short time.




Goodnight everyone.

Chilly but beautiful sunrise, project and Piggy pics

I wanted to attach a pic of the pet of the litters.  This is Nick.....it is never good when the kids name one!  He is the runt of the litter and the smallest one that made it.  My wife (holding Nick), kids, and Steven's girlfriend Lea, bottle fed him in addition to momma's milk for the first week of his life to get him big enough to eat on his own.  He is doing much better but is still very small compared to the rest.

The runt of the litters 

 I also got a picture of a few of the others.  They look like little body builders and they are growing so fast!  The spotted one is about two weeks older than the one in the back ground.  The bigger ones are pushing 30 lbs already and the other are not far behind at 20-24 lbs. 

Here is a picture from above to see the difference in size.  The spotted one is a Berkshire x Tamworth cross.  The other two are from a Duroc/Hampshire sow and Tamworth boar. 

Here is a picture of feeding time.  By the time they get to this age it is a free for all every time one of the sows lay down to feed.  Unfortunately Lady is very good at getting someone else to feed her babies.  Fortunately, Daisy pig is very good at feeding anyone who wants to eat!  Lady is the one in the back checking out all the babies eating.

As anyone living in this area knows, it has been very cold this winter.  For the first time in weeks I got to see a sunrise from my own house.  Being a manager for snow I am at work a lot keeping things running smoothly.  We finally got a break and I was able to eat breakfast with the family.

It was actually quite pretty looking out our new kitchen window that my wife put in last fall.  Even with as pretty as it looks I still prefer the green version over white any day!

Here is a picture from on top of the hill looking down on one of my current projects.  As I mentioned before I started this before Christmas and have been whittling away at it ever since.  However, given my track record for completion times for projects like this I have decided to try to expedite this one a little.  I gave a call to an excavator we use at work a lot and he stopped by today.  Monday he will be out with his large excavator and I will be on hand with Steven to top trees and cut off stumps.  Hopefully it will only take a half a day to knock all the remaining trees down and pile the stumps and tops to burn in the spring.  I want to be planting this by March so I am setting a steep deadline to meet on purpose to get it into production this year.



Having grown up on a farm and working my whole life I find it hard to relax if I am at home.  On a day off I can make it till about 9 am before I go stir crazy in the house and head outside to do something.  Since I had a large number of trees to get rid of I decided to cut and split some wood.  This picture was taken today.  I have already sold three cords of wood from the original pile and Steven and I just cut and split another cord and a half yesterday.  When is spring gonna get here so I can take a break?







I promise to take some pictures Monday of the big excavator for everyone to look at.  Should make quick work of it since it is a 314 caterpillar.  I can't wait!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Kenny