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I've always wished there was a farm mega thread, well I'm done wishing and now I'm postin' All farms, farmers, farmworkers, homesteaders or those who are just curious are welcome here. I'm sure it's more then just me on here, whether it's a combine driver from Nebraska or a weed farmer from NorCal, we can all relate that it sucks when it doesn't rain enough and it sucks when it rains too much, the perfect boot does not exist, and crop prices blow. I'm a farm worker on a ~15 acre organic farm, if you looked at my resume (I mean if I had one) it would include tractor operator, field manager, green house manager and once a handful of years ago beet piler operator, and if you know what that last is we can swap tales. But really those are just fancy words to say I pick vegetables and kill weeds. I know there's already a gardening thread, but I'm also happy to answer questions about row cropping, raising animals, getting the smell of chicken poo poo off your clothes, my favorite hoes, and how to zip tie your ancient Tacoma together enough to make it through another season. If all this covid business is getting you thinking about changing careers into agriculture, post. If you want recommendations on how to plow your own 1/4 acre veggie plot, post. If you want to tell me what work boots actually last stomping through mud and also have a good soil for the washroom, for the love of Christ post. I'll post some pics tomorrow
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Jul 18, 2020 03:09
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 07:02 |
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I'm gonna homestead and grow ORGANIC FOODS ALL ORGANIC NO CHEMICLES and have chickens too except they'll never stop laying eggs and never die and also never poop I can't stand poop anyway how do I do that? Already bought the land and leased a really nice tractor from the nice man at John Deere Real post I volunteered at a farm rescue / education facility for several years. And WWOFed a bit. Do you want to know about gross goat diseases? I know a few! So many people want goats, so few know about Barberpole worms. Sprue what is your opinion on flame weeding Suspect Bucket fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Jul 18, 2020 |
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Jul 18, 2020 03:32
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Suspect Bucket posted:I'm gonna homestead and grow ORGANIC FOODS ALL ORGANIC NO CHEMICLES and have chickens too except they'll never stop laying eggs and never die and also never poop I can't stand poop anyway how do I do that? Already bought the land and leased a really nice tractor from the nice man at John Deere Welcome, our first visitor!  My old redneck boss was hell bent on building his own flame weeder a few years ago, thank god he never got around to it cuz everything he made fell apart, including houses. His finest work of art was converting an ox drawn potato digger from the 1950s into an implement for the John Deere. No, yeah, but flame weeding sounds awesome and I've seen spotless carrot fields at other farms where they had one. We're a little behind the game on weed management honestly and we just started tarping before we plant carrots and drat is that a game changer What region are you in? Are you cover cropping this year or bare fallowing? I wanna know everything 
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Jul 18, 2020 03:44
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Sprue posted:a combine driver from Nebraska You rang? 
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Jul 18, 2020 05:42
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Suspect Bucket posted:
I spent a good deal of my summers from ages 8 to 16 walking beans. You had my attention at flame. All I grow now is weed so I'm not looking to use herbicides on my closet crop, but I do like fire.
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Jul 18, 2020 06:14
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Real talk Dunlop purofort (purafort?) are the best wellies I've ever had. I'm on my third pair now, my first lasted 2 years of 50+ hours a week, 54 weeks a year hard wear, my second that I just replaced only did 15 months but they only died because apparently I kicked something sharp and it put a needle hole in the toe of the right boot. Doesn't really leak but over hours you end up with a damp foot.
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Jul 18, 2020 06:52
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my kinda ape posted:You rang? So cool... Is it a family business? I'm always curious how people get into running real big machines. What so you operate? At our scale, we have two cultivating tractors from the 1940s and then a couple 40 HP "modern" 20-30 year old tractors, none of which have the perks like air conditioning, radios, or even canopies haha.i really want to get up in the cab of a modern big boy tractor Pharnakes posted:Real talk Dunlop purofort (purafort?) are the best wellies I've ever had. I'm on my third pair now, my first lasted 2 years of 50+ hours a week, 54 weeks a year hard wear, my second that I just replaced only did 15 months but they only died because apparently I kicked something sharp and it put a needle hole in the toe of the right boot. Doesn't really leak but over hours you end up with a damp foot. Do you have the insulated ones? I would love something for the 30° to 50° farenheit window that lasts two months on either side of our season here.
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Jul 18, 2020 11:48
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I have the cheaper of the insulated ones, yeah. They usually seem to cost £40 to £50. I don’t do f but I’ve worn them in reasonable comfort in -25 or so c with just double socks. I’ve also worn them in +35 and I wouldn’t call them comfortable at that but they are certainly no worse than any other safety boot would be, the insoles they come with are very good, although I tend to wear through them on the heel after 6 months or so, but I do 10x15km a day in them so I can’t really complain about that.
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Jul 18, 2020 12:18
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Pharnakes posted:I have the cheaper of the insulated ones, yeah. They usually seem to cost £40 to £50. I don’t do f but I’ve worn them in reasonable comfort in -25 or so c with just double socks. Well you just about sold me on them. What are you doing that involves walking 15km every day? That's crazy, you must be doing survey work or something, or maybe post?
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Jul 18, 2020 16:43
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Sprue posted:So cool... Is it a family business? I'm always curious how people get into running real big machines. What so you operate? At our scale, we have two cultivating tractors from the 1940s and then a couple 40 HP "modern" 20-30 year old tractors, none of which have the perks like air conditioning, radios, or even canopies haha.i really want to get up in the cab of a modern big boy tractor Yeah my dad, me, my uncle and my cousin farm together. Grandpa used to farm with us too until he passed away a few years ago. Dad farms about 3500 acres and my uncle has about the same, maybe a bit more. Me and my cousin both rent 2-3 fields each. We farm corn and soybeans mostly. Sometimes wheat but none this year. We've grown sunflowers in the past, both oil and confectionery types. 20 years ago they used to grow milo (sorghum) quite a bit but corn genetics have improved enough that there's really no advantage to grow milo any more. Dad's combine is a John Deere S760 I think, my uncle has a new Case IH of some sort. We have various medium to large sized tractors (nothing too huge). Five or so between my dad and uncle I think? All John Deere. Most are 5-10 years old although we have one loader tractor that was made in 1989. A couple 24 row planters, a big 120' wide sprayer, and various other miscellaneous things like a swather. I got into it because my family was already into it and dad taught me how to run everything. I can't imagine anyone ever gets into large scale farming if they weren't already into it. It would require a huge amount of capital and if you have that available then there are a lot of ways to make a living that are much, much easier (and probably more profitable, although we do pretty well.) My dad also has a small herd of 30-35 cattle that each have a calf every year. Most of them get sold when they're old enough although a few get fattened up and turned into steaks and hamburgers by a local butcher for us and various people who ask to buy a portion of a steer. This is more of a hobby for dad than a real money making venture though None of the other family members have any other livestock.
my kinda ape fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Jul 18, 2020 |
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Jul 18, 2020 19:18
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Sprue posted:Well you just about sold me on them. What are you doing that involves walking 15km every day? That's crazy, you must be doing survey work or something, or maybe post? Just walking round in circles on a 400ha farm
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Jul 19, 2020 12:30
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Hey OP you're my favorite OP. Seriously I've always wanted a farming thread here to post in. My office this morning. And again this afternoon.  Great day for making cow chow. 
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Jul 19, 2020 19:49
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i'm living in a semi-ag zoned town which means none of the blocks are big enough to get a hunting license for pests so no serious farmers buy land here but its a dope little spot for hobby farmers and tree changers. i'm trying to grow my own food but I suck at it. The main thing is I have a livestock dog, aka the best kind of dog. Here is my 'working' dog and other lovely photos of things   The most successful corn I've grown is from wild bird seed I put out  e: never forget timg tags on phone photos people Jezza of OZPOS fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Jul 20, 2020 |
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Jul 20, 2020 22:07
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Uncle Lloyd posted:Hey OP you're my favorite OP. Seriously I've always wanted a farming thread here to post in. I can smell these pictures and am jealous of your office 
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Jul 20, 2020 22:10
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Uncle Lloyd posted:Hey OP you're my favorite OP. Seriously I've always wanted a farming thread here to post in. Looking at this pic I can almost smell it, and I love it. The neighboring fields to ours are all diary hay and the days they spread manure are my favorite because everything smells like a dairy. Malcolm Turnbeug posted:i'm living in a semi-ag zoned town which means none of the blocks are big enough to get a hunting license for pests so no serious farmers buy land here but its a dope little spot for hobby farmers and tree changers. i'm trying to grow my own food but I suck at it. The main thing is I have a livestock dog, aka the best kind of dog. I bought ducks for my shepherd to heard, so I hear ya (but I was an idiot and got pekins which promptly got too fat to run so we stuck with herding Thanksgiving turkeys). what kinda problems you having growing stuff? We're all dying here to give you unsolicited advice
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Jul 20, 2020 22:15
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Soil mostly! It's very sandy soil so I had a great batch of pumpkins and snow peas but not a lot else. Also this is my first year here and it's a subtropical zone which usually means no frost and guess what we got the first winter here when I commited to a bunch of plants that hate frost Oh and water. The town has its own supply seperate to the state water grid which means water restrictions are on for domestic households more or less year round. Im actually deeply envious of North America's water sources. It's insane how much water y'all sitting on over there Jezza of OZPOS fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Jul 20, 2020 |
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Jul 20, 2020 22:18
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I am saddened* to say that I will not be chucking square bales this year with the family in this glorious heat *not actually sad
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Jul 20, 2020 22:20
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PathAsc posted:I am saddened* to say that I will not be chucking square bales this year with the family in this glorious heat Square bales are hell. Top 10 worst inventions IMO.
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Jul 20, 2020 22:21
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Malcolm Turnbeug posted:Soil mostly! It's very sandy soil so I had a great batch of pumpkins and snow peas but not a lot else. Also this is my first year here and it's a subtropical zone which usually means no frost and guess what we got the first winter here when I commited to a bunch of plants that hate frost I hear that. We have at least four natural springs on our 15 acres, one is in the middle of a field unfortunately tho. Conversely, I'm envious of all hot climate fruits and having fresh food year round. I would kill for citrus.
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Jul 20, 2020 22:27
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my kinda ape posted:Square bales are hell. Top 10 worst inventions IMO. I used to not mind, but goddamn 2020 sucks rear end enough. We used to have cattle, but I doubt we'll have livestock again until I have a portion on the land soon-ish and can push the issue. Really would rather have sheep and goats (again) out there. The beans look good though, so hooray for that. We used to do tons of meat processing as well, it's what the family did when they came over from Germany and the olds recipes have been passed down ever since. I want to keep that tradition alive and pass it down when I'm decrepit as gently caress.
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Jul 20, 2020 22:46
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Yeah you'd think it would be hard to grow citrus in drought but the rain season is heavy enough and it was such a mild frost that even though I doubt anything is gonna fruit for another couple of years all the fruit trees I have did surprisingly well. I got told to just pile up soil and fertilizer around em every few months to help with winter and it seems to have worked. The climate is also really good for chilli's, but the soil is so bad even when I dump good soil into the ground, they struggle but in a pot they're doing really well. The main restriction not having free access to water puts on me is that growing leafy things is nigh impossible unless I get a bore
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Jul 20, 2020 22:53
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I’m bookmarking this because I want to hear more about farming.
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Jul 21, 2020 00:11
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Getting square bails in sucks dick but once they are in they are much better for small herds and or horses. We use round bales here because there’s no practical way to round up enough labour to get in whatever the square equivalent of 300 2m bales is, but god drat does it suck rear end the rest of the year pulling them apart again to stuff into hay nets for the horses. I also really hate bale wrap, the amount of single use plastic that generates is just depressing, especially when it rains and we have to do haylage. We made 120 bales of haylage this year and I hate it  Really looking forward to having a herd of cattle large enough it makes sense to build a silage clamp and be done with this poo poo. I saw a few years back a few dudes at university college London I think it was came up with a supposedly biodegradable bale wrap and won a grant to start production but it never seems to have manifested very sadly.
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Jul 21, 2020 17:47
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Pharnakes posted:Getting square bails in sucks dick but once they are in they are much better for small herds and or horses. That's awesome about the bio wrap, but drat it sucks it doesn't seem to be in production yet.
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Jul 21, 2020 21:49
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crazypeltast52 posted:I’m bookmarking this because I want to hear more about farming.  welcome.Y'all are making me glad I don't have to deal with livestock, I hate hay in my clothes, that poo poo is so scratchy. However! nothing is worse than fiberglass splinters because you're a dumbass (me) and pull fiberglass poles without gloves because you think you can handle it.
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Jul 22, 2020 02:07
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Sprue posted:The neighboring fields to ours are all diary hay and the days they spread manure are my favorite because everything smells like a dairy. 
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Jul 28, 2020 02:23
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What up farm goons? Would you all humor some questions regarding land purchase and management? I’ve been thinking of getting a plot of my own for non farming reasons and I’m not sure the subject warrants it’s own thread.
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Jul 30, 2020 03:12
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Warbird posted:What up farm goons? Would you all humor some questions regarding land purchase and management? I’ve been thinking of getting a plot of my own for non farming reasons and I’m not sure the subject warrants it’s own thread. Sure, ask away. edit: I own 20 acres of former farmland in Vermont. Some of it I've put back into use as a big garden, some of it I'm in the process of fencing to start running livestock on it to recondition the land for farming, and some of it is wood lot.
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Jul 30, 2020 03:20
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I have a handful of cows at home, because I guess all the ones I see at work aren't enough. One of them had a surprise for me when I checked them this evening. About a week and a half premature. poo poo, now that I think about it I should probably stick my arm in the cow to check for a twin...
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Aug 6, 2020 01:11
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Are twins good news in the cow/calf pair business or does that throw a wrench in things?
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Aug 6, 2020 01:32
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Almost certainly bad news. Besides the potential hiccup of the second one being in a stupid position inside the cow, the bigger problem is that if you have one female and one male, the female will about 90% of the time be infertile, because in utero the membranes around the fetuses can intertwine, and hormones can pass between them via blood. So the female ends up with testosterone (and maybe one or two other things, I forget) that will generally gently caress with her ovaries. Not a problem if you want to raise beef cows, but if you're hoping for milking animals, like I am, the calf is pretty much worthless.
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Aug 6, 2020 01:50
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Oof, I take it the frames and flavor are different enough that you only get salvage pricing on the beef in that case?
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Aug 6, 2020 01:52
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Mothers will also sometimes accept one calf and reject the other.
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Aug 6, 2020 02:04
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Would there be any profit/less risk in selling off the calf to a beef farm/farmer and let them raise it for slaughter? To my earlier question about questions: The wife has gotten a bee in her bonnet about buying a tract of land and slapping a solar panel installation on it as some sort of passive income setup/scheme. We're thankfully in a place where that sort of expenditure could be handled from the expense end, but I know fuckall about anything surrounding land. Panels are a fairly specific subject so we can ignore that, but I am curious if there's anything I should know or look for before I go throw some money at 20 acres or so of some dude's hunting land. What's land owning/buying 101?
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Aug 6, 2020 02:21
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Prof. Banks posted:Mothers will also sometimes accept one calf and reject the other. Yeah we raise beef cattle and this happens the majority of the time. We had 2-3 sets of twins this year (out of a herd in the low 30s) and miraculously all of the cows with twins accepted them both. If they don't accept a twin then you either need to bottle feed them until they can eat on their own, graft them on to a cow that lost her calf, or let nature take its course.
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Aug 6, 2020 02:34
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😍 just mail the extra to me! I busted rear end trying to find a newborn calf this spring to harvest rennet because my partners on a cheese kick, and despite being in a dairy state (well, kinda, Vermont is really a tourism state that sells itself by pretending to be an ag region) I don't have any of the prerequisite connections to find a calf. I'm in the side of agriculture where everyone I tried to purchase a calf/lamb from where horrified I was so blood thirsty as to harvest an animal that young  my partner was even accused of being from New York, which around here is just about the worst slight you can receive. I was told to basically just door knock at the big dairies because they'll sell them for $50 a piece but I never did. I just want some fancy cheese and I love home crafts
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Aug 6, 2020 12:15
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my kinda ape posted:Yeah we raise beef cattle and this happens the majority of the time. We had 2-3 sets of twins this year (out of a herd in the low 30s) and miraculously all of the cows with twins accepted them both. If they don't accept a twin then you either need to bottle feed them until they can eat on their own, graft them on to a cow that lost her calf, or let nature take its course. We've been lucky for the last 10-12 years that we had a cow that would just adopt any calf we put her with. She died a couple of years ago though, so we're back to what you described or finding a 4-H kid to give it to. RIP Bell, you were a great cow.
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Aug 6, 2020 13:25
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Sprue posted:😍 just mail the extra to me! I busted rear end trying to find a newborn calf this spring to harvest rennet because my partners on a cheese kick, and despite being in a dairy state (well, kinda, Vermont is really a tourism state that sells itself by pretending to be an ag region) I don't have any of the prerequisite connections to find a calf. I'm in the side of agriculture where everyone I tried to purchase a calf/lamb from where horrified I was so blood thirsty as to harvest an animal that young If you're still looking next spring, let me know. The wife and I have been thinking of getting a few jersey or holstein steer calves just to run on our land, clean it up, and then fill the freezer in a few years. We've got a few dairies around Cabot that sell them off pretty cheap, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.
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Aug 6, 2020 20:49
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Wow did this become the Vermont thread all of a sudden? I had no idea there were so many of us here.
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Aug 6, 2020 23:12
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 07:02 |
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Protect yo’ NEK
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Aug 7, 2020 05:48
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