I love spring

Jpshostr · April 28, 2001

I know most of you here aren't farmers, but for us we finally got to start our spring planting today. I've been sitting down at school all week dreaming of planting while most others (make the everyone else) is dreaming of scantly clad women. I got home and put in 70 acres before quitting about nine tonight. Dad was off at a HS softball game. Tomorrow will be full steam ahead trying to make up for lost time due to this rain we have been having.

Not that this means much to you people, but it is a huge deal to us as this is basically the start at our only chance of income for the year.

April 28, 2001

My hat's off to you.

You farmers are some of the unsung heroes of the modern age.

All too often we forget that it takes people to feed the world. I'm not doing it, but I an sooooo glad that you are.

GBA!!!

Stepside Z · April 29, 2001

I hope that you have a good season. I grew up on a lobster boat off the coast of Maine and I know what it is like to see that first trap go into the water for the season. Must be about the same feeling. Best of luck on a very productive season.

(Edited by Stepside Z at 9:33 pm on April 28, 2001)

MountaineerTom · April 29, 2001

My hats off to you too. You do what a lot of people take for granted.

Kansas Kid · May 1, 2001

I tell you what. I'm going to let you dream of planting corn, and I will dream about the scantly clad women. :biggrin:

In all honesty I have never planted corn, so I can't relate to what you are feeling. I do hope my cousins alfalfa will be ready to swath soon. Hay is his main source of income, and I enjoy swathing.

silverado man · May 1, 2001

I know what you feel like I grew up on the farm plant was one of the best times of the year. I always loved working the ground so that dad could plant. But now im in the big city and I miss the quietness of the small town life, but I dont miss not haveing anything to do on the weekend.

kaspar139 · May 1, 2001

I am with Kansas Kid, I will stick with the scantly clad women, but I DO thank you for your hard work! I went to Louisiana Tech, in Ruston, LA, and I'd say 50% of my buddies did farming up there, so I have the deepest respect for the type of work you do!

Jpshostr · May 20, 2001

And we are done finally!! Got the last 120 acres of beans in today, glad to have that job done. Now time for hay if it ever stops raining.

General Lee 01 · May 21, 2001

Do you farmers plant big fields like that by hand, or is there a special attachment to put on a tractor that you use.

I can't imagine Planting 70 acres in a day wout a special machine of some sort.

Jpshostr · May 21, 2001

Quote: from General Lee 01 on 1:14 am on May 21, 2001
Do you farmers plant big fields like that by hand, or is there a special attachment to put on a tractor that you use.

I can't imagine Planting 70 acres in a day wout a special machine of some sort.

Trust me General, no hand planting these days. The picture below is almost the exact same as our setup. Our planter is 8 rows wide, 24 feet. Some come up to 24 rows wide. The tractor that we pull the planter with is a CIH Magnum that turns out 180hp. The planter cost us ?,000 four years ago, we bought the tractor used for ?,000 three years ago when it was five years old, new it was about ?,000. We have more money wrapped up in these two machines than most people do in their houses, and there is much much more iron on this farm than just these two machines.

(Edited by Jpshostr at 1:53 am on May 21, 2001)

Kansas Kid · May 21, 2001

Just to add to what Jpshostr said, here are some more pictures. When they get ready to harvest their corn, they won't do that by hand either. They will use a combine like this. (I know, probably not a Deere but I couldn't let you post pictures of all that red iron. LOL)

Whenever he gets around to that hay, they will use a swather like this first...

and then use this to bale it.

General Lee 01 · May 22, 2001

Yeah, I knew about using combines to harvest.

Jpshostr · June 11, 2001

Well General, and anyone else that cares, I kind of went on a uploading binge tonight (took a while on a 26400 connection) and got a bunch of pictures that I took on the net here. Thought I might throw up two pictures that fit with this topic.

This first one is the planting rig of ours that I described above. I spent a lot of hours in it this spring, but since it is quite comfortable to drive, I didn't mind at all.

This one is of our combine. Unlike the one the Kansas Kid posted, it is the correct color, red . While it is a very large machine, we are hoping to get a newer one with larger capacity later this summer, this one is just too small for the size of our farm now.

(Edited by Jpshostr at 3:17 pm on June 11, 2001)