# The first two weeks of custom work....



## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

This is the year that we decided to start an official Custom haying business, among other things. I have been running ragged but I have learned a few things. 
I will say that we really haven't had any breakdowns in over a year. With that being said, what a first two weeks. We have had a setback or two, maybe twelve. 
The hired hand ran a tractor tire over a broken t-post. Service truck for that one
The swather wouldn't start and after rebuilding the starter, changing the batteries, and a new solenoid, the service truck got called. I probably should mention that a 12 volt system is allergic to 6 volt batteries. I should have caught that one when they loaded the batteries in the truck
The hired hand took the swather out after it was repaired and 3 acres later called to say something was broken. In heavy hay it plugged up on the left side only and the auger exited stage left taking the elliptical bearing and belt pulley with it. It only took a few hours to dis assemble it, have the machine shop press the pulley and install a new bearing, and re assemble.
I learned that the only gas without ethanol in it is premium. Anything less is prone to vapor lock the wagon carburetor when the temps are in the nineties. I also learned that ATF in the 87 octane will prevent vapor lock. 1 pint to 40 gallons of gas.
Sometime around four this morning, I think, the baler tried to swallow a tip from an s-tine that a roller harrow lost. It failed miserably. That one was a free fix. The bearings on the trailing arm of the plunger jumped under the guide that it was supposed to be on top of. 
All in all things have gone well, we are averaging three calls a day. We have put up a pile of hay. The equipment is fairing pretty well overall. The first few checks are rolling in now and that will take some pressure off. 
I have under bid a few jobs, live and learn. It will get easier. 
I am glad that we filed the corporation, it will have many benefits. I am already looking at more equipment and hiring another guy, or gal. The stipulation is that equipment purchases are on a cash basis. 
The outlay of capitol by way of wages, fuel, twine and parts is substantial. It is never good to be under capitalized. Thankfully we weren't or we would be broke before the first check came in. 
Hopefully this helps those that are thinking about doing custom work. It has been fun but it will become a job if I am not careful.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

I've been custom baling since '87 and I can't imagine calling a service truck very often as I've repaired nearly all of my breakdowns. IIRC equipment service truck has been to my place less than 10 times since '87. I'm curious what yr model gasoline engine is vapor locking? I can't imagine having to pay the high $$$$$ for premium gasoline.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Great post Lost, I think this may help others to understand what can happen and does happen in custom haying. Putting up little squares on a regular basis is a tough undertaking...and you have to have grit to do it.

Regards, Mike


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Tx Jim said:


> I've been custom baling since '87 and I can't imagine calling a service truck very often as I've repaired nearly all of my breakdowns. IIRC equipment service truck has been to my place less than 10 times since '87. I'm curious what yr model gasoline engine is vapor locking? I can't imagine having to pay the high $$$$$ for premium gasoline.


When it comes to a rear tractor tire that is loaded with fluid and the tractor is 15 miles from home, well, that is a service call to fix the tire. The local co-op has a service truck just for ag tires.
The other call was on me with a wiring issue. Most other issues I fix myself. 
The vapor lock is in a New Holland 1069 stacker with a marine engine and 4 barrel edelbrock. 460 ford. 
I am undermanned and running wide open. The hired man that I have is the same way. Often times we are in opposite directions from the home place. I fix anything that I can with what I have.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Thanks for clarification about your repairs. I too rely on tire repair person for flats. I need to explain my previous statement of equipment repairs. I agree normally breakdowns happen when one is farthest from home.

IMHO one must learn to repair all but the major breakdowns in order to survive a custom farming operation as the "expensive dealer service calls" are difficult to pay for.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Tx Jim said:


> Thanks for clarification about your repairs. I too rely on tire repair person for flats. I need to explain my previous statement of equipment repairs. I agree normally breakdowns happen when one is farthest from home.
> 
> IMHO one must learn to repair all but the major breakdowns in order to survive a custom farming operation as the "expensive dealer service calls" are difficult to pay for.


I should have clarified that the swather repairs on the header were done by me. I took the little shaft in to the shop to have the pulley pressed off and back on. I then put it all back together. 
I always try to do my own repairs, but every once in a while. ........


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

I hope the weather has been cooperating for you. so you aren't delayed getting to the next job.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

No rain and minimal dew.......


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## Three44s (May 21, 2016)

Lostin55,

I would not think of doing custom work ........ we tried many years ago and found the "best" fields are full of hazzards and not even a "I am sorry" from the owner of such to compensate one's wreck!

I have a '73 International PUP I use regularily and it's got a 392 IH in it and it was sporting a 180 degree thermostat. We had a exceptionally hot kick off to the summer here last year and if I looked at that truck it would vapor lock.

The first thing we did was drop in a thermostat with a value of 20 degrees lower.

Next I bought a bunch of special liner they manufacture for insulating gas lines. I also bought a special blanket that you cut out for your carberator ......... think of a taco salad ....... it deflects the heat up and away from the carb.

I never got to use the blanket as the fuel lines treated with the space blanket looking liner and the lower temp thermostat and some rerouting of fuel lines did the trick ............

........... thus far!

Another trick I did not resort to as it's more involved is to come up with an added riser to raise your carb ........ get it a bit farther away from the intake manifold proper and the rest of the block ......... may not be practical in your case, I have no idea ...... just throwing out ideas that were ran by me at the time.

I thought of running a return line with a flow spliter of some sort and bleed off excess gas back to the fuel tank to keep the temp lower going into the carb ...... but you still need to keep it from boiling in the carb as well. Did not resort to that either ....... just stuff on the back burner in case the hot's just keep coming.

One more thought would be to install a fan of some sort to keep cooler air moving across the top of the motor.

Best of luck with whipping that vapor lock and with the larger picture ......... going all out for custom!

Three 44s


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

We have had more success than anticipated through the first few weeks. The phone just keeps ringing. Granted, more than half are the"can you drive 30 miles and cut my two acres" variety, but we have picked up some great accounts too.
One account that we may pick up will require more equipment and a substantial crew. It is a blessing and a curse. We will just keep scheduling jobs with wiggle room for the unexpected and keep trying to find more people to work.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Lostin55 said:


> No rain and minimal dew.......


sounds good that there is no rain, but the minimal dew can get annoying. Dry here but of course this week that I want to cut hay chances of rain.


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## Circle MC Farms LLC (Jul 22, 2011)

Custom work definitely has its days, good and bad. Glad you're off to a good start. We do more custom work than our own stuff but round bale everything. Cannot imagine having to stack squares after the fact as well.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

McDonald Family Farms said:


> Custom work definitely has its days, good and bad. Glad you're off to a good start. We do more custom work than our own stuff but round bale everything. Cannot imagine having to stack squares after the fact as well.


stacking squares is the highest margin service that we provide. If the fields are good and the hay is thick I can put 3500 to 4000 in a stack in 10 hours. That is stacking within a mile of the field. I under bid a job running 7 miles to the stack. I won't make that mistake twice. I charged per bale and two bucks a mile both ways. Not enough to make up the difference.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Just thought that I would update this thread. Here we are getting ready for third cutting, and winding down for the season, and I have a chance to look back at what has been a very busy season.

I have learned more than expected, broke down more than expected, hired more people than expected, and purchased more equipment than expected. Fortunately, we have also made more than expected, both in hay and monetarily.

We have had some memorable experiences throughout the summer. One that comes to mind was the grass ranch we put up about 60 or 65 miles from us. It was a big job, a beautiful place, and a great opportunity to see how close I was to calculating expenses. I was within a hundred dollars on my calculations, right up until a automatic waterer got chopped in half by the swather. Between the new waterer, installed by us, and the new swather parts, that added almost $1200 to the expense column on that job. Not ideal, but not the end of the world either.

I have been to MN, CO, and IL this year picking up new to me manure spreaders, baler, and swather trailer. Amazingly enough, as promised, the business paid cash for them. That doesn't leave much in the a account at this point but we are in the black. By the end of third cutting I will be feeling pretty good and may actually take a little paycheck.

We learned the hard way that the swather needs weights on the back to load on the trailer. That little ride was interesting.

We learned that while the jungle shift JD 4000 does a great job raking, baling would be more fun with a quad range or a P.S.. Maybe next year.

We also learned that sometimes there is more than one right way to do things.

We got our transportation issues figured out and a system worked out. We can efficiently haul equipment to field now.

Overall, . It has been a good summer, and calls are coming in for next year already.

Is anyone else looking forward to hunting season?


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Well, I was until the state bought our lease  now it's only going to be open certain days  been hunting there since '77 gentleman that owned it sold it to DNR....7400 acres (that was his smallest tract in the state, he owns five different tracts) the good thing is I lease a 50 acre field adjoining it 

Logistics seems to be a tough one to get worked out, glad you got that one behind you.....


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Lostin55 said:


> We got our transportation issues figured out and a system worked out. We can efficiently haul equipment to field now.


If I wanted to do custom work that would be the trickiest part of the whole thing for me. Especially if the custom fields were a distance away. And this summer especially with the extra unpredictable rain showers.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

My train of thought followed the path that I was paying someone to drive equipment down the highway. The job that was the catalyst for the transportation conversation is only 20 miles away. It is a sizeable job, and the payment is timely.

My concern was that at ten miles per hour in the swather, I was paying four hours travel every cutting. I was paying a little over an hour each way per tractor/ baler. We use two on that job. At the hourly rate of the employees, it didn't take long to add up.

In addition, and more importantly, I was exposing them to risk putting them on the highway for that length of time in an oversized and slow moving vehicle. Their options were limited in the event of an accident. At that point I could only hope things went well. Hope is a very poor management strategy.
It penciled out to purchase the trailer, and once I figured out that I could load tractors and balers on my existing gooseneck flatbed, that made us mobile. We can tow the rake behind a pickup and a baler the same way. Of course the bale wagon goes down the highway just fine.

After all of this, it allowed us to take jobs that are a little further out.


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