The birds are coming back already! A long overdue update from here on the farm.

Hello everyone.  I just noticed the date this morning and realized it has been way too long since posting some updates.  There has been a lot going on so this may be a little longer than others but there is some good stuff in here.  

I will start with our first shipment of freezer meat for the year.  We have been out of bacon here in the house for over three months, NOT COOL!!!  We finally have bacon again.  We sent a sow that has not had any babies in over 20 months and three feeder pigs.  The feeder pigs were a little older than I usually like to send and ended up being a little fatter than we like.  However, they are still very delicious!  The picture below is of the regular sized bacon and the bacon from the sow.  She literally was the size of a smaller steer that we would send to the butcher.    

We also sent a steer in to the butcher as well and I was stunned by the hanging weight.  We have been struggling for years to get the steers to consistently weigh in around 600-650 lbs hanging weight.  After replacing the supplement tubs with buttermilk almost two years ago we have seen a dramatic change in the health of the herd and the rate of gain in the animals.  We have seen our steer weights at a consistent 730-760 hanging weight range for over a year now.  This is huge as the only change has been the change from supplement tubs to buttermilk to provide their micro-nutrients and minerals.  Since the milk also has had the fat removed it is great for the pigs and cows as well because it is high in protein.  We are going to adjust the grain supplement that we feed the pigs to basically just some ground corn.  Corn is high in energy and very low in protein which the milk is providing them.  I think right now the pigs are still getting too much protein and we need to balance it out a little bit.   

Another issue we are having this year is the warm and very wet winter.  Due to all the moisture I have been forced to keep everyone penned up on the feedlot to keep them out of the mud.  Since they cannot roam around as much as they usually do in the winter they are a little low on the normal exercise they would be getting.  While this may not be exactly what any of us want it is necessary for their health and safety as well as to control runoff and pollution. I fenced the cows off of the far pastures in November but left them on the main pasture lot below the pad for an extra week.  Literally in the last three days of being out there they turned two acres from 70% grass to 100% mud.  

Once the weather breaks and it dries enough to get out there with either the four wheeler and a post driver or the tractor, I will be changing up the fencing for this lot.  My goal is to create just a pathway through this area for them to access all the different pastures and triple the size of the buffer strip.  It is quite obvious that the original planned strip was not sufficient for what we have going on so adjustments are needed.  The good thing is this is an opportunity to learn more and create an event higher forage producing lot on the farm for intensive nutrient capturing as well as a highly productive grazing area!  

A great side benefit to the warm weather is being able to go on nature walks without freezing our butts off!  So, instead of going to the gym last weekend my wife and I decided to take our son and Zeus out for a nature hike.  Our daughter was at a friends house so she didn't go with us.  Our woods and my dads woods border each other so we ventured through both.  The wooded areas of dads we walked through was mostly cleared about 100 years ago with the exception of some beautiful oaks and a couple of maples.  The maples have since died off but the oaks are still holding strong.  This one is declining but still has some years in it.  It is approx. 13 feet in circumference at breast height and based on a similar tree that was logged from my woods I am estimating that it is about 150-175 years old, or older.  

Another thing we like to do each year is check the property pins and markers.  We are lucky to have one of the original stone markers for when Ohio was first surveyed off.  These are large stones that were buried in the ground to mark property lines and corners.  Thy were placed on the section corners and half section intersections.  Our farm was originally part of a larger 160 acre chunk that was split in half when my great grandfather purchased what is now my dads farm next door.  This stone marks where that split occurred and is still here today and is part of the deed description.  

Zeus checking out the fire pit and the fire we had on this beautifully warm start to February

Both of our kids are on the YMCA swim team and their divisional meet was last Saturday.  They both did very well this year and are getting much faster with great form.  We are going to challenge them to work hard on the off season this year so they can compete at the top of their groups next season.  For this year they were middle of the pack but drastically improved over last year!

I also got to enjoy the father daughter dance again this year with Lisa.  I am not sure if I am ready for her to be growing this fast.  I know some day I will be looking back and wishing I had more of these times together so I try to never miss one when the opportunity presents itself!

We were caught off guard a few weeks ago when I walked outside to feed and found a newborn calf in the lot, my kids named him shadow that night.  He was born from 50's first daughter and was 7-8 weeks premature.  He was still underdeveloped and was not able to eat from his momma and she was not ready to feed him either.  We tried bottle feeding him but he was not able to suck on the nipple so we ended up having to tube feed him instead.  My wife worked with him for a week to pull him through but he just wasn't able to make it.  This was the first time we have had a premature calf and I hope we don't have any more.  

The morning after Shadow was born I started getting pics from my wife of piglets!!!  The second blue but gilt started giving birth around 8 am and by 10 am she was done.  She didn't need any assistance at all and all TWELVE piglets were born alive and healthy.  She also has successfully made it the first two weeks with all of them remaining healthy and alive and growing very quickly.  She is an exceptional mother and we made a great choice in keeping her.  

All the little piglets were huddled in the hot box on one of the cold nights we had recently. 

Piglet in the hotbox under the heat lamp.

In order to train him to be a great farm dog we have started taking Zeus with us to the barn when we do chores.  He is learning quickly that he can come as long as he stays with us at all times.  He noticed me looking in the box and was surprised when he looked in himself to find there were little "creatures" in there!  

There is a big difference between Zeus and Daisy though.  Daisy was very very gentle with the animals and would get in the pen and lick them and nudge them and act like a mother.  Zeus is very much a young boy and does not have any mothering instincts.  He wants to get in and play, and by play I mean rough house!  He doesn't want to hurt the piglets and cats but he hasn't learned that in order to not hurt them he has to be gentle.  I think it will take a little while longer before he aquires that skill!  

This was the first time we took him to the barn during chores and we left him off the leash.  He was in sensory overload most of the time and just continually ran around sniffing and checking things out.  He is learning quickly what to do and what not to do and I anticipate he will be well seasoned before summer gets here.  

Another thing I didn't anticipate was the speed at which he would become so much a part of the family.  This is a frequent way of waking up in the morning and I am not sure who authorized this but it wasn't me!  Daisy always slept at the foot of the bed, Zeus, like our children, starts out where he is supposed to be, but overnight manages to find his way to the pillows and eventually becomes the pillow.  I can't count the number of times I have rolled over in the morning when the alarm goes off to wake my wife only to be looking nose to now with Zeus instead of my wife!!

I want to wrap this post up with an enormous thank you to my wife!  As some of you know the program she was working in for many years ended a year ago and she has been at home since.  She has taken on the challenge of learning a new career that she never even knew existed until she met me. She has learned a lot very quickly and is becoming very good at birthing pigs, checking cows, helping feed, and everything else that goes on here at the farm.  

We have now started the next step, which is actually the most important coming into spring, learning to drive the tractor!!!

I was finally able to get her in the drivers seat a week ago and let her drive in the field and then back home.  She did well for her first time.  She just needs to practice a bunch and she will be fine.  The goal will be for her to get good enough to be able to go rake hay or tedd hay while I am work so it is ready to bale when I get home.  Eventually I am hoping she learns how to bale as well!!!   Between her and my brothers girlfriend I am excited to see them learn all of this and take on the challenge.  

My wife has been an enormous help with the animals and has also been able to help the kids with swimming and other activities that before we were not able to do consistently.  She also has been very good at getting more meat sold as well which is going to be key to getting the farm to where it needs to be!  Together as a team we are unstoppable!!  

BTW, I will gladly spend more time in the buddy seat with her any time she wants!!!

 The birds have come back early and there is light at the end of the tunnel that spring will break soon and we will have a phenomenal year!

Have a wonderful day everyone. 

Kenny

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

The first day of 2017 is well on its way and the sun is brilliant and beautiful!  My wife and I cleaned up the barn and pig shed on Friday and bedded everything really well so everyone was comfy and dry going into the new year.  We penned the red sow, boar, and the four older piglets in the Boar lot so that we could let the two new momma pigs out to get exercise.   We also castrated piglets Friday night as well so that is all done.  

Above and below you can see the two groups of piglets.   It is a wonderful thing to be having babies again after the last two years of chaos that followed the loss of red balls.  Our new boar is finally starting to settle in and get the job done.  I hope he keeps it up and earns his keep.  In the mean time I am still on the lookout for another Tamworth Boar.  The Berkshire x Tamworth cross is a phenomenal cross that gives us the best of both worlds, fast growing long pigs from the Tamworth with the tenderness and large hams of a Berkshire!

When I purchased the new tractor two years ago the dealer it came from shipped it during a snow storm.   As anyone from Midwest US can attest, the road crews like their salt!!  Well, the salt spray got into the wiring harness of the tractor and, with the addition of electric and a little moisture, has corroded many of the connection in the harness.  So, the tractor is headed into the shop for a new harness on Tuesday as well as some tweaks to the powershift transmission so it shifts more smoothly.

In preparation for going into the shop I wanted to be sure the tractor was clean so the guys were not dealing with any dust or dirt while trying to remedy everything.  It is so nice to have a heated shop to be able to do this kind of thing in the middle of winter!

One thing I have learned over time is that if you take care of the equipment it will take care of you and will last much longer.  Other than the grease build up on the loader and some wear on the tires the tractor looks like I just picked it up from the dealer, and it has just shy of 1000 hours on it already.  This being my third tractor means I have traded two in already to get to this point.  The trade in value on my first two was terrific because of the care put into keeping them looking brand new.  Furthermore, both of those tractors are still working hard one someone else's farm to this day.

Being New Year's Day and us all being home today for a change (thanks to no snow!!!), we were able to have a traditional Japanese New Years meal 

As a kid we always had sour kraut and pork and mashed potatoes for new years, and several days after.  That meal is from my heritage of many different family backgrounds.  It was eye opening for me after I met my wife just how much this day can vary!  If you look closely at the soup you will notice that my wife did Pig cutouts from the radishes she used for the soup!

One very huge difference for me is that as I child it was forbidden to eat any chicken on New Year's Day for fear that you would scratch for money all year long, we only ate pork.  In Japan I do not see pork as part of the New Year's Meal, instead, chicken and seafood and rice!  

Another very big difference is that as a child Christmas is a day when only necessary chores are performed and nothing else.  New Year's is a day when we celebrated the New Year but otherwise was a free day to get things done as needed.  For my wife, it is the opposite.  As a matter of fact, all the food for New Years is prepared the night before so that there are no chores of any kind to do on the first day of the year.  It is meant to be a day of rest for everyone and no work is to be performed other than eating and feeding the animals. 

For me I enjoy both. I get to enjoy a break from work and get a free day to get something done at home while spending two great days with Family!

Each year I try to share some words of wisdom to take into the new year.  In preparation for this years post I have been thinking back to the events of this year and how far we have come since starting this endeavor as Husband and Wife in 2004.  As I sat in my living room last night watching Clemson completely shut down and dismantle my beloved Buckeyes I did some thinking.  

E + R = O

Event + Response = Outcome

When my wife and I started out as a family we literally were starting from scratch.  I rolled the dice on next to no income and with some help from both sides of the family we purchased the farm.  My first three winters were very rough and most of my time was spent either cutting and splitting firewood by hand to sell or cutting up scrap iron that I drug out of the woods and fence rows and selling it for cash to cover the bills.  My wife was still in school and I was only working summers and when it snowed in the winter.   On new year's eve of 2005 we purchased our first tractor and we were officially started down the road to farming on our own.  Having grown up on the farm I made the mistake of thinking this would not be hard, I have done this before, just feed the cows and sell them and get money.    That was not the first mistake we made and certainly was not and will not be the last.  

As time went on it was a constant process of try something, fail, correct, and move on to the next learning experience.  Now, in the first few years I was more inclined to respond to a failure with anger and try to force things to go the way I wanted them to.  My wife would push me to calm down and think it through and question me to figure it out and make sure we do it right the next time.  As time went on we began to figure out what we are good at and what we were not good at and focused on what we were good at.   I tried to take this thinking with me to work and I quickly began to grow there as well.  

Fast forward to the introduction of the pigs.  We had done a lot of research on raising pigs on the pasture and thought we had it all figured out.  Nope, not the case.  A lot of mistakes (learning) went on over several years before we got that dialed up as well.  This process went quite a bit quicker than the first time around with the hay and the cows.  The reason was instead of just reacting when something went wrong we planned, studied, learned, and corrected each time something went wrong. 

This was about the time my wife graduated and she was unemployed for almost a year.  We were literally on the edge of selling out because in our fervor (mainly mine) to get this all going, we didn't plan for the worst, losing half of our income!  The day my wife got the call that she got her job 6 years ago I was deciding what was going to the auction first to pay the next months bills.  

Now, this was a real eye opener for me and I vowed never to put my wife or family in that position again.  We started planning our financial future and setting goals and checkpoints to be sure we were headed in the right direction.  At least three or four times a year we would completely question what we were doing and if it was the right thing to do.  We were fortunate enough to both be working and getting paid decent wages so we had to decide if we were going to invest our money into a retirement plan and keep the farm business as a hobby or invest our money into the farm and create our own business and retirement plan. 

It was about this time my employer offered free access to a financial planner and my wife and I jumped at the chance for professional help.   This was a game changer and an even bigger eye opener and added tools to our toolbox that we never had before.   I will be the first to admit and take ownership of the decision to grow the farm.  My wife was on the fence but I never batted an eye.  I wanted it and I wanted it bad and now I knew I could do it without putting my families well being at risk so I convinced her to give me the chance to do it.  In the last four years we grew at a crazy pace.  The amount of changes, work, and finances it took to do what we did in the last 4 years is intimidating.  When I look back at it now,am not sure if I had seen it all on paper before we started if we would have been crazy enough to do it....but we did.  

Now we come to 2016.  Coming into 2016 we knew there was a 90% chance my wife would be unemployed and we were planning for the worst.  As of February we were down to just my income and what the farm brought in.  At first there was an overwhelming feeling of "here we go again" and panic.  However, after a conversation with our financial adviser and a genuine look at where we were at we realized this was not the same game.  This time we were ready for the challenge.  This time it was me pushing my wife to be calm and take a step back and look for the "right job" rather than jump on the first thing she came across.  This also gave her an opportunity that I want to have one day, to stay home and grow our children and the farm!  The other thing it forced was for me to be honest and make the farm pay it's own way.  We built it, we put a lot into it, it is time it gives back.  In a properly growing business and in life there are spurts of growth and plateaus where things look like not much is going on but you are gearing up for the next jump.  We are entering one of the plateaus and we are looking at what we did and what we learned and what we need to do differently to grow again.  

Now, here is were I am headed with this story.  Over the years I have learned to control my emotions and thoughts and hold back on responses until I can think outside of the moment.  I am not by any means perfect at this and I went to bed pretty upset.    So as I awoke this morning I was disappointed in the loss my team suffered last night.

  As I looked out the window this morning the sun was rising and the first day of the year was off to a wonderful start.

As much as I do not like to fail and do not like it when my team loses, deep down, I know that we have to fail to learn and grow as growth only comes through failure.  When anyone consistently experiences success they are not learning.  They are only reacting and going through the motions. 

 E+R = no learning or growth in this situation.  

This is what I was saw happening with our team this year.  There were things that were not right all season and they are all very young, but, because they kept succeeding they were not learning as much as they needed to.  Last night they lost, not just lost, they were beaten badly and with humility! 

 Now, E+R = extreme learning and growth.  

Clemson experienced this last year and looked totally different.  Alabama has not experienced this since the Buckeyes gave it to them three years ago and they grew from that and we did not. 

The past year saw us lose two very loved family members.  In those losses it allowed us to give a home to another pup in need of one and for my wife and daughter to get to spend much over due time with family.  The loss of income has allow us to realize the farm can now pay for itself and that we are still on our way to our goals.

I challenge everyone to look back at the year(s) past and look at things from a different perspective.  What did you learn?  How did this allow you to grow?  What did you try differently lately?  Did it work?  If so where did you fail even in your success?  You can always get better, "Best is the enemy of Better!"

Just like my mood as the day progresses it gets brighter outside and the remembrance that each day is a new day and will be whatever you make of it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and productive 2017.  Today is the first day of the rest of your life, how do you want to spend it?  I know as I type this looking out the window at the sunshine that the first day of the rest of my life is getting spent outside cause it looks beautiful out there and it is supposed to be in the 40's and 50's to start the new year!!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!

Kenny

The new year is rolling up fast and so is Zeus's first birthday!

Hello everyone!

I hope this message finds everyone well and enjoying holiday time with Family!  I have come to the realization that things will never slow down and/or I will never be very busy so I am gonna just start rolling with it.  That being said I realized yesterday that it has been a month already since my last post and wanted to share some updates. 

I will start off with some pics of Zeus.  The first pic is from our vacation in the beginning of August, just 4 short months ago.  This was when we arrived at the outer banks and my wife was getting everyone some lunch.  Zeus was sitting in the passenger seat watching the people outside the truck.  The second pic was taken yesterday while waiting on my wife to run into the store to get some cheese from the Minerva Dairy.

Please note the height of the headrest on the seat and the height of Zeus's head. He grew so much in just four months!  He is 76 lbs now as well as tall enough to put his paws on my chest and look me almost eye to eye when standing on his back feet.

These two pic were a couple of days ago.  He and I ran to town for some oil and diesel fuel.  He likes to sit on my lap while I am driving.  He is way to big to ride completely on my lap like he did when he was a tiny puppy so we compromised and he puts one paw on my lap and, believe it or not, he can see out of the windshield while setting like this.  It has got to be kinda humorous to see us at a stop light like this! 

I was able to grab a quick pic at a red light.  He was not greatly impressed!

We also got to make a last minute hay run to the Cleveland area yesterday.  I had a customer who was running out of hay and straw quickly due to the cold weather that came earlier this year.  Been waiting all week for the ice to dissipate so I could actually get the trailer out of here to haul the hay.  Once again I am so happy to have my truck fixed and running properly.  Zeigler Diesel did an awesome job and the truck is running like it did the day I bought it.  Was so nice to be able to haul a load of hay without being nervous the entire time that I would be stranded because it wasn't running correctly.  Thank you again Justin and Doug!!! Keep up the awesome work!

We have had two litters of piglets out of two of our new gilts.  The first was the blue but and this is her litter.  We also had one of our Berkshire gilts farrow a week after this litter was born.  She had 4 live ones and two still born.  The best part is they are close enough together that the piglets are sharing both sows for eating so they are growing really fast.  Once we get this all figured out we are gonna try to get the sows to farrow either all at the same time or in two different groups two or three months apart.  We are having to keep these two gilts and litters penned up because the four that are left from the litter last month are too big to be with these piglets and just a little too small to wean them off.  If they are all born within a week of each other it is easier to plan for an work through and also much much easier for weaning and feeding when they all are running together and about the same size. 

We also got to visit Wisconsin at the beginning of the months for two of our best friends wedding.  The kids got to make some really great friends and I got to meet the family of my buddies new wife.  

It was awesome to be there for them during this awesome time of their lives.  I know they will do well as they compliment each other fabulously and they have a wonderful family to support them any time they need it.  

You know being die hard BUCKEYES  and being in Wisconsin we had to do an OHIO pose for the photo booth.  The brides sister in law photo bombed us but we still got three good ones in the strip!!!  LOL!!!  

About two years ago my buddy wanted to make a present for his future wife.  He does construction work so I gave him one of our cherry bench slabs.  We went out into the woods and found two very old tree stumps for legs.  I finally got to see the finished product before we left for home.  I must say he did a phenomenal job!

I will wrap up my post with this little story.  I was working on my milk tank/sprayer to fix an axle issue yesterday.  I purchased at an auction and it is just an old dump truck that someone cut the front off of and made into a trailer to haul a water tank.  It is pretty rough underneath and I am having to do some pretty rough, very redneck, not worthy of any praise, welding to keep it together.  I already deleted the springs on one side early in the fall because they were completely broken and the axle was falling off.  Well, the other side is now going as well and since one side is welded solid I need to make the other side solid so it doesn't break everything loose.  

To do this I needed to torch a lot of stuff out of the way and then do some rigging to blog the axle solid.  Now, There is absolutely no way to clean any of the parts I am welding so I am having to keep the welder quite high to burn through all the junk and rust to get to the metal  I need to join.  

Now, we have lived in this house for over 12 years now and we have burned the little screw in fuses out many times here and there.  However, I have never burnt one of the main fuses coming into the house.....until last night.....after all the stores were closed....if they would even have these fuses anyways.  

Here is how you burn this fuse.  First of all, we have a 60 amp service to the house.  That was common 75 years ago and since the previous owner was an electrician he knew how to make it work without any problems.  Also, because it was only 60 amp service, back then you got a reduced rate on your electric.  Today the average service to a house is minimum 200 amp and many are 400 if they have shops and stuff like we do here on the farm.  So, I am welding through 60 years of junk in the shop, there are two 500 watt heat lamps on for the pigs, kids and wife cooking in the house, water well turned on as well as the furnace on top of all the lights that were on.....fuse blown!  This happened at 6:30 on Christmas eve.  It was only one pole of the service so we still had 120v to part of the house, however, the furnace and water well are both 240v so they were not going to turn on.  We also did not have any backups.  I only knew one person to call in a situation like this, a great friend of mine and someone who has helped me on more projects than I can count at work as well as at home.   Jeff Fisher of Fisher Power and Electric.  He was, and is, the only person that had this ancient fuse, not only in stock, but was available so I could stop and get a couple from him. My wife sent him a jar of Homemade vanilla bean raspberry jelly and a jar of homemade jalapeno jelly as payment.

I will be sure not to make this mistake again and will weld in shorter segments with breaks as well as be sure that unnecessary items are turned off when I am welding.  I will also be checking into addressing some of the electrical issues we have here with all that is going on.  I have been trying to hold off on upgrading our electric service until we build a new house, but, we may not have a choice!

Have a wonderful day with family today!  I will be writing my annual new years day post next weekend.  Be sure to watch for it.  

Happy Holidays everyone, 

Kenny

Some updates from the farm and an interview for National Public Radio (NPR)

I know it has been a while since I have posted.  As the year is winding down things got super crazy for a while.  We had seeding work for winter cover/spring feed crops to get planted, final cutting of hay fields to make, and a lot of corn stubble to bale!

  Good news we have enough bedding, bad news is we are gonna be phenomenally tight on hay! We are reducing the herd this fall to bring the numbers down going into winter.  We are finally at a point where we can be selective on who we keep based on production rather than solely if they are female and bred!

 I want to update everyone on our puppy Zeus....whom, while still a puppy, doesn't look like one!  He still likes to sit on my lap but has to do a good job of balancing to stay there.

He is 71 lbs. already and is only 8 months old.   He is tall enough to see the table top without getting on my lap and when he stands on his back feet he can touch my face with his nose! 

He is also outgrowing his dining spot.  I wish I had a recent picture of him in the tractor with me but I didn't get one the other day when we were out.  Needless to say he fills the new tractor cab more than Daisy filled the old tractor cab.  When he lies down in the cab he literally covers the entire floor space accept for exactly where my feet are at!   

He does enjoy going with me in the tractor and is getting much better at listening when we are out in the field.  However, I can tell when he wants to go home and play because after about 2-3 hrs he will start getting rambunctious in the cab and I either have to send him home with my wife or let him out to run in the field for a little bit. Hopefully my wife will be able to get him into some cattle herding training this winter so he can help with that in the spring.  

As most of you know we installed a buffer strip for the heavy use pad to catch any run off from the feeding area.  After the first winter we found that it was not adequately stopping the runoff.   So, to fix this and get the containment that we needed I decided to re-engineer the area to get the control we need.  I installed two reverse swales, to catch and slow any runoff from the pad.  At the bottom is a small settlement pond for all particulates to settle out of the water in.  Literally an hour after I finished installing we had a massive downpour that filled the pond overfull and a hole washed out in the bottom berm.  The good thing is it did not drain all the pond, just some of it.  So, I have decided that after the seeding establishes I will put the overflow for the pond in where the washout occurred.  Furthermore I will be adding an additional buffer area in the flat bottom to catch anything that gets past the settlement pond and restrict access from the cattle to this area as well so it remains fully functional.  As you can see in the picture below the oats are providing an excellent quick cover crop. The alfalfa, clover, and grasses I planted are well protected right now below all of the oats.  Even though I would love to let the cows out to eat this off right now I have to wait for it to freeze so that they do not tear up the freshly graded soil and the tender young seedlings.

We also finally had another litter of piglets.  Even though she only had five, they were all born healthy and have been doing great.  They are almost three times this size already and are continuing to grow quickly since they have milk for 10-14 piglets to divide between the five of them!

The interesting part about this is the fact that for two years and four litters in a row this sow refuses to have her piglets in the pig shed.  She nested in the pig shed for 4 days before she had the piglets and the night she gave birth she destroyed another gate to get out of the pig shed and went over to the cow shed to make a final nest and give birth.  So, since having them she has been sharing the entire cow shed with only two other residents who are in there due to sore feet. 

Each year I get two alumni tickets to a home football game for the buckeyes.  My wife and I were excited to have perfect football weather for our annual date night at the Horse Shoe where we had our first date. 

To wrap up this post I wanted to share information on another interview I got to do about the EPRI/AFT nutrient trading project we have here on the farm.  A reporter for The Allegheny Front based out of Pittsburgh PA. asked to interview us for a news report she was doing on this new program.  If you click on the link you will find the report she posted about it.  This story is also airing on NPR and has started to gain some more attention.  As I have stated before I am excited to be on the front edge of a new way of thinking and I am happy to see this gaining attention and bringing the topic up for more discussion.  Coming from my background I know that, for the most part, farmers around the world want to do the right thing.  The only thing holding them back is finances.  This type of program allows them to make a change that not only benefits the local community but the entire world.  Furthermore, I know that as a whole, most farmers want to be involved and be a part of what needs to change, they do not like to be told what to do.  So, this gives an opportunity for the farming community to regulate itself rather than be regulated by someone else!  

For more information please visit the following;

The Allegheny Front

EPRI - Electric Power Research Institute

American Farmland Trust

NPR West Virginia

As I type this post I am looking out the window at approx. 3" of snow on the ground.  Yesterday morning at 8 am it was 65 degrees and windy, Friday was 74 degrees and beautifully sunny.  Now begins the long wait for spring and a new calving and growing season!  In the mean time the animals and I will be bedded down and waiting out the cold trying to stay warm!

Have a great day everyone!  Thanksgiving is coming fast.  It will be nice to have a break in the craziness that has been as of late!

Kenny

For the love of a Ford! 6.0L heads and more!

So, as anyone who follows my blog knows I have a 2005 F350 with teh 6.0L diesel.  I fell in love with this truck the first time I drove it and I have made the decision to own it till either it or I reach the end of our lives.  The only weakness this truck has is the stock 6.0L engine.  It was a failure from the day International built it, however, over time all of the issues have been addressed and corrected and once the modifications are made the engine is great and the truck is awesome.

Well, that time came for my baby.  Anyone who has followed me for a while may recall a few years back when I had the flat bed put on and some engine work done.  The major part of that engine work was done by Gearheads Garage in Louisville ohio.  This work included putting new injectors in the engine.  That was were the road to ruin began for me and I will dive into that so that anyone needing to have this kind of work done will know going into their project what can happen if you hook up with the wrong garage. 

When replacing injectors in any diesel engine there is a lot to be said for delicacy and professionalism and skill.  The smallest slip in any of those categories will cause huge issues down the road.  When the injectors were put in by my previous garage one of the injector cups was damaged and allowed excess diesel fuel to leak into the cylinder under low load.   Under heavy load this cylinder would fire and the pressure from the firing would blow past the seals and cause what felt like a miss that my last garage could not figure out.  This would also allow for diesel fuel to push into the coolant around the injectors.  We also found two other injectors that had the seals damaged during installation that were also allowing diesel fuel to leak past into the coolant. 

We also found the glow plug wiring harness damaged and not working correctly as well as the injector wiring harness.  The turbo charger only had one bolt installed out of three and all of the bolts on the up pipe were loose.  There were a lot of little things all over the engine that were not correctly put back together which lead to the eventual failure that I experienced.

The end result was 90%+ of the coolant being replaced with diesel fuel and excessive heat being created from the leaking fuel and ruined coolant which took out the head gaskets and cracked the heads. 

  

The above picture is off all of the parts that were ruined, there are more in the box at the end.  The heads, head gaskets, turbo charger needed cleaned and rebuilt, wiring harnesses needed repair or replacement, new up pipe, glow plugs, all eight injectors were trashed and they only had about 20,000 miles on them and they should have lasted 200,000.

To replace the heads the cab needs removed which allows for proper access to everything without damaging other stuff.  With the cab off we were also able to properly undercoat the cab.  

 

It looks odd to see it all pulled apart but so easy to get to everything properly!  The great news is that the bottom end of the engine is still in excellent shape which was not expected with all the top end problems!  That is our  win in this little endeavor.  

Since we had everything pulled completely apart I leaned on the professional for advice.  Just like people come to me for advice with farming and Landscaping, I decided to listen to the advice from the engine professional!  Justin suggested using the upgraded parts that will last the life of the truck.  For starters, the new exhaust manifolds are much larger and flow much better. 

The turbo looks like brand new after the rebuild, actually, I think it looks shinier!  The specialist that rebuilt it also upgraded the bearings and thrust washer so it will perform better and last longer. 

A shot of the engine before the valve covers went on.  I thought I was going to have to buy all new injectors because my previous garage told me that you cannot use rebuilt ones as they do not last.  Truthfully, the only difference between an OEM brand new injector and a rebuilt one is the outside case.  Everything inside is new.  The difference in cost is where it is at.  To replace all 8 injectors again I was looking at $3k-$4k, to have the new ones I already had rebuilt.....$1000.  

The only disappointing about getting everything completed is realizing all the shiny new parts are hidden underneath and behind everything you can see when you open the hood!  What you are looking at is the fully reconstructed engine with the new upgraded up pipe installed. 

Now, while I want to tell everyone that upon completion we started the truck and I drove it home and everyone lived happily ever after....that wouldn't be fair.  Justin tested the truck and found some more small issues that he quickly and correctly repaired that were issues out of his control that were not found till we had it up and running.  Once testing was complete and we thought we were good I brought it home.

I decided to drive it to work the next day to get some miles on it and because I missed driving it for 3 weeks.  Half way to work it shut down on me.  Had it towed in to the garage to see what was up.  Upon inspection Justin found that one of the brand new ProMax heads that he installed has a defect in the casting that allowed one of the injectors to break loose. 

According to ProMax, this is only the 3rd one of these heads this has happened to out of the 10's of 1000's of these they have produced and sold.  So they sent a replacement and will be covering the cost of the head gasket.  The disappointing part about it is that they will not be covering Justin's shop time to reinstall, the other gaskets and stuff he had to re-service to be sure it was all perfect again, and they shipped the parts via ground shipping.  No expedited shipping or overnight shipping.  Not the customer service that was expected since the original order came through a day quicker than the replacement!  

At the end of the day Justin got it back to perfect and I was able to bring it home Saturday and put it to work!  It runs like it did when I first test drove it and fell in love with it.  It starts correctly, doesn't shudder under full load, fuel mileage is up, and everything is finally functioning as it should.  I cannot wait to put it through its paces next weekend hauling its first heavy load since the rebuild!

Now, a note on my new garage and the garage that I will stay with for the long haul.  My only regret is that I didn't meet Justin sooner for it would have saved me a lot of grief and money.  Justin has over 15 years of working in the diesel industry and has been working on trucks like mine as well as semi's and other diesels for the same length of time  As it turns out my truck was the first to go into his new shop and the start of his new career on his own.  He services all different types of diesels and when I visited I saw every brand in the shop!  He can do pretty much anything you want to do from mechanical work to programming!  His shop manager Doug is also very professional and knowledgeable and does great work!  They make an excellent team and I know that in the very near future finding a spot to get work done will be tough because they will be busier than they could ever imagine!

A huge thank you to Zeigler Diesel Performance for the professionalism and the skills!  They are in Canton Ohio, look them up.  If you need diesel work, go here and get it done right the first time!

Have a great week everyone, take in the great weather before the snow hits.  The time will come all too soon when you wish you had spent these days outside in the sun when you had them!

Kenny