# What I have been up to



## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Havent been on in awhile because we have been busy getting corn in with the nice weather late last week and weekend. Got twenty acres planted hope to get 40-50 in. No seeding done yet. Hope to get the bagger here tomorrow of thursday. Plan on filling a 8x200 with haylagd. Had five cows fresh so far this month one had twins. I check in once and awhile on my simple phone to keep up with you all.






















































Autosteer?...whats that?









Next planter is going to have liquid fertilizer









1:30 am Monday

Sure is nice to be able to get stuff done. Been frustrating this spring


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Got quite the collection of old international tractors.

Auto steer whats that???

My dad had one better before any of that came out. He would say "son go work that field"


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

You can make more money with those tractors than you can new stuff. I like the old IH.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Thats true.....just working for the manufacturers buying this new Tier4 electronic crap.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Wow bagged fertilizer.I haven't seen that for awhile besides at a building supply store.Local fertilizer plant used to have a bagger,I think they took it out about 1975.Looks like a 494 planter?We had one with the dry fertilizer also.Traded for a JD 7000 in 77.$4000 brand new.Planters were 1000 per row then pretty much.


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## Dill (Nov 5, 2010)

Hey we've got the same corn planter! Whats the green tractor? Its a "one of these things is not like the others".

I put out bagged fertlizer as well, keeps me from having to bring 2 tractors out to spread it.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> Thats true.....just working for the manufacturers buying this new Tier4 electronic crap.
> 
> Regards, Mike


I wonder if having to add this Tier 4 stuff is helping or hurting the manufacturers though? I'm sure they aren't just adding it and selling it at cost.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

AUTOSTEER: old way, drop the front tire in the plow furrow. New way, hit the button and play Angry Birds on 3/4 mile long rows.

You'll like the liquid fertilizer when you get it. Can't get near the custom blends like you can with dry, but much easier to handle. We have eight 90 gallon tanks on the planter, applying 14 gallons/acre therefore you can plant 50 acres a fill up.

I'd definitely be planting corn, Dads shoulders couldn't handle bags of fertilizer all day. He's even talking about buying a two box tender for next year and going bulk seed corn. Then buy a couple of empty totes and dump bags in of corn that we don't order enough of to get it in totes.

Nice thing about those older planters, along as stuff turned, they planted, period. No wiring gremlins to deal with, bad sensors, etc.

Ever since we bought ours, one half has planted heavier than the other half. Previous owner had mixed high rate and standard seed sensors, dealer thought that might be it, so we bought all new ones and changed everyone, still did it. Have been thru the entire planter counting teeth on sprockets thinking somebody changed one out with a tooth less or more than the other side, all sprockets identical, tires that drive transmission on each side are identical size and brand. Not noticeable when the corn is up, but one side will run out of corn before the other, just one of those annoying things to deal with when you buy used.


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## Maryland Ridge Farms (Mar 1, 2009)

love seeing a guy doing it this way without anything fancy


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Definitely looks like our operation, from 1980 that is. Best thing that ever happened to corn production on our farm is when the 494 went to scrap and we got 7000 planter.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Ours was going from 8 rows to 16.

8 rows worked just fine in a normal year, which we have been in short supply. When you have 2 or 3 days of sunshine and those are needed to dry the ground out and you only have one more before the next frog drowner comes in, the 16 allows a LOT more corn to get in the ground in that one day.

Still thinking about finding a gently used 8 row vertical fold to keep around for the muck or small fields.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

mlappin said:


> Ours was going from 8 rows to 16.
> 
> 8 rows worked just fine in a normal year, which we have been in short supply. When you have 2 or 3 days of sunshine and those are needed to dry the ground out and you only have one more before the next frog drowner comes in, the 16 allows a LOT more corn to get in the ground in that one day.
> 
> Still thinking about finding a gently used 8 row vertical fold to keep around for the muck or small fields.


That is my next move, going to probably a 12/23 Kinze for both corn and beans next year. 700 acres with a six row is getting old.


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## Shetland Sheepdog (Mar 31, 2011)

494? I was gonna guess a 1240! Put a lot of hours/acres on a 1240 & a 1440 in the late '70's & early '80's.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Shetland Sheepdog said:


> 494? I was gonna guess a 1240! Put a lot of hours/acres on a 1240 & a 1440 in the late '70's & early '80's.


Bingo! Its a 1240 Very simple machine and it plants quite well but it is showing its age. Always gotta check the seed tubes for plugging. Would like a 7000 but they are made out of gold or something....junk ones bring 2500-4000 here

Shoulda bought the caseih 800 plate planter at an auction this winter for 1500 was in good shape


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## barnrope (Mar 22, 2010)

So is it a 490, a 494, or a 1240? Are you planting soybeans or corn back on corn again. I guess if that is bagged fertizer it must be corn unless those bags have seeds in em'.

Is the plow a 710 model? Looks similar to a 720 but different. I am surprised to see a green machine pulling it. I figured you'd have a 1256 or something like that leading it around.

Never seen a 656 set up like yours. They call that a utility??

Auto steering is useless when molboard plowing. The only auto steering worth trying is to just let the furrow steer your wheel. If the furrow is too shallow or the front tire too large that won't work either.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

I like my red boat anchors. The green one is just about as plain and simple as they are. I wish they still made real tractors like that.










JD 7405 Its an advatage series


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

barnrope said:


> So is it a 490, a 494, or a 1240? Are you planting soybeans or corn back on corn again. I guess if that is bagged fertizer it must be corn unless those bags have seeds in em'.
> 
> Is the plow a 710 model? Looks similar to a 720 but different. I am surprised to see a green machine pulling it. I figured you'd have a 1256 or something like that leading it around.
> 
> ...


Planting corn on corn. Always wanted to try some beans but our ground can get wet and stay wet in the fall. The bags are fertilizer I was finishing the last field we had fitted and I had them in case I ran out and needed it which I did.

Plows are 700 5x16's did use the 1066 on them but it pulls the disks better than the green one plus mfwd and differential lock is handy in damp spots.

The badges on the 656 say row crop and we are the second owners and its pretty much all orginal. Wish it was a diesel. It is very front heavy it seems

Autosteer wouldnt work on our hillsides either. Yep drop in the furrow and its a hands free operation


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

swmnhay said:


> Wow bagged fertilizer.I haven't seen that for awhile besides at a building supply store.Local fertilizer plant used to have a bagger,I think they took it out about 1975.Looks like a 494 planter?We had one with the dry fertilizer also.Traded for a JD 7000 in 77.$4000 brand new.Planters were 1000 per row then pretty much.


Bagged fertilizer is common here. Have used bulk which is nice. But the local feed mill deals bagged and once you figure its about the same in price bagged vs. bulk. Liquid is becoming more popular around here


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Still will hold another 1000 lbs










Feeling of accomplishment getting it this full


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Bgriffin856 said:


> Bagged fertilizer is common here. Have used bulk which is nice. But the local feed mill deals bagged and once you figure its about the same in price bagged vs. bulk. Liquid is becoming more popular around here


To be perfectly honest, I've personally never seen bagged fertilizer unless the city people were buying it for their lawns. Always remember running the Super 88 the three miles each way to town at a whopping 13 miles an hour to the elevator to get the gravity wagon with the auger on it refilled with dry fertilizer. Thought we were in high cotton when we actually had two wagons with augers. Died and went to heaven when we scrapped the wagons and went to liquid.


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## Gearclash (Nov 25, 2010)

How many gallons is that bulk tank? My dad used one then later two lid top bulk tanks for many years.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Gearclash said:


> How many gallons is that bulk tank? My dad used one then later two lid top bulk tanks for many years.


700 gallon muller


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

mlappin said:


> To be perfectly honest, I've personally never seen bagged fertilizer unless the city people were buying it for their lawns. Always remember running the Super 88 the three miles each way to town at a whopping 13 miles an hour to the elevator to get the gravity wagon with the auger on it refilled with dry fertilizer. Thought we were in high cotton when we actually had two wagons with augers. Died and went to heaven when we scrapped the wagons and went to liquid.


The placd that has bulk is about 30-40 miles one way. We loaded the gravity wagon on the gooseneck to get it filled. Then when loading the planter we placed a water trough under the chute and usdd five gallon buckets to fill the planter. Had them deliver and fill our wagon then we used thier tender which was handy buy had to have it back in a certain amount of time. It is cheaper but the hassles doesnt make it pay compared to bags


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

From last weekend













































Need a longer pad...


















Tier 4? Not on this farm


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

Is that a road, or a farm lane that the bagger tractor is almost up to?


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

PaMike said:


> Is that a road, or a farm lane that the bagger tractor is almost up to?


Township road. Its a fairly busy road too. Wasnt a car on the road all that morning, pulled the bagger ahead to cut it loose there were three cars waiting since we were blocking the road. Im surprised people waited ten minutes before turning around and going another way. Takes awhile to shovel out that tunnel


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

Thats not a busy road in my neck of the woods. People around here wouldnt know what to do on a gravel road.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

Lol well potholes sure dont slow people down. Heck we even get an occasional tractor trailer on it. Lots of dirt roads here. Im glad i dont farm on a main paved state road


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