# Custom Work Distance



## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

How far away from home do you guys do custom work? What is your process or routine for moving your equipment?


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## 506 (Mar 22, 2016)

I road my equipment and try to stay within +/- 15 miles of the homestead.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I once hauled my tractors with mowers attached and pulled the rake and baler with a truck.

The last two years I have driven the tractors. My fields are now no more than 5 miles except one, which is 8 miles.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Bout 15 is all I'm willing to mobile my equipment. After that it goes on trailers......


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## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

Our land is quite spread out. Drive or haul depending on available equipment/operators. I try not to drive more than 60 miles between farms but have tractors driven 120 miles at times. Usually when we get to where we are going we will have 320 or more acres to do before we move again.


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## IH 1586 (Oct 16, 2014)

The furthest I go is 30 miles. I drive all my equipment. If the job is worth it would consider driving up to 4 hrs.


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## slvr98svt (Jan 18, 2011)

Not really custom work but I cut 40 acres back in my home town that a friend owns 100 miles on the dot each way. The tractor, rake, tedder, and baler go on the trailer. The mower I tow with a truck just because it would be more time consuming trying to put it on the trailer.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

I have been 50 miles with big square baler. Distance does not matter if the job is big enough.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

No more than 15 miles and that's usually only for family and friends if they kiss a lot of *ss. If I have time to drive that far or need the money that bad then its time to plant more hay for me.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Back before I became disabled I'd drive my equipment 20 miles to cut/rake & bale hay. One can drive equipment 20 miles and begin working in less time than loading,securing load & driving then unloading equipment. My opinion is from experience hauling when delivering/picking up equipment when I was employed at a dealership.


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## Lewis Ranch (Jul 15, 2013)

Some of my fields are 30 miles apart but we never move more than a few miles at a time because we have land all along the way. I did road my windrower 3hrs one time to cut 600 acres before I had a swather trailer though. Whatever you can make work for you, everybody's situation is different.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I go like 15 miles. Having "road speed" tractors helps with the time.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

JD3430 said:


> I go like 15 miles. Having "road speed" tractors helps with the time.


Oh yah,big difference between our old Oliver 770 that had a corn picker rear end and maybe at best did 12mph on the road compared to even our Whites that do 19mph, get in the MF8160 and 24-25 mph seems like Nascar speeds.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

I cross the road from one plot to the other...If I dont feel like opening/closing gates depending on cattle location I will go 1/4 mile up the road and come in through the back side.

I guess being small time does have its benefits sometimes.. I do haul manure from a neighbors and thats about 3.5 miles..


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

PaMike said:


> I cross the road from one plot to the other...If I dont feel like opening/closing gates depending on cattle location I will go 1/4 mile up the road and come in through the back side.
> 
> I guess being small time does have its benefits sometimes.. I do haul manure from a neighbors and thats about 3.5 miles..


Yes! I road spent mushroom compost, too. I hauled a whole bunch of it about 10 miles.

The JCB really shines on that type of work. It almost makes me want to buy a bigger spreader with brakes.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Hagedorn in your future?


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

hillside hay said:


> Hagedorn in your future?


Kind of partial to Tebbe or Tubeline spreaders. Meyers good, too.


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

I am only running 90 HP so we use an 8 ton wet lime spreader that we fill with dry chicken litter. Its a slow go, but it works and everything is paid for...


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Yeah Tubeline is good too. Just about all the vertical beater spreaders are worlds better than my old NH


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

JD3430 said:


> Kind of partial to Tebbe or Tubeline spreaders. Meyers good, too.


The guy I hire to spread my turkey litter used a Tebbe this fall. Hauls about 24 ton per load and had a 380 CVT Magnum on it that would run 35 mph!


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## MT hayer (Mar 1, 2014)

When I started doing custom work, I had to road machinery. Like mentioned earlier, up to 20 miles or so it is easier to drive. More of an issue now is dealing with the dot, which is sad but true. It costs a lot of money to buy and maintain a truck and trailer. With this this I mean a real truck, not a pickup. I certainly would recommend a 550 size pickup, so you can haul most things, but be able to drive to get parts.

With this in mind, you can buy a lot of tractor tires! If you have someone that can help you move, it is even better to not think about hauling. I range from across the road to 300 miles.

. Like mentioned in another post, doing work for someone else, usually means they don't want to do it. Whether it is time, or rough, or rocks. Always go and look first. Always keep in mind that a 15 acre job, might lead to a 150 acre job across the road! You never know!


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

Something I have always wondered about - for those of you who road their tractors, does it help to alleviate the wear on your tractor tires if you slightly over inflate them? What I'm thinking is that slightly over inflating may eliminate some of the "grinding" as the tire flexes as weight is put on it.


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## panhandle9400 (Jan 17, 2010)

Here most work a 5 state area , my county is the only county in the USA that touches 5 different states, I dont mind hauling equipment , we are spread out and we can load an go and be working before any other can road. As I get older less I want to work away from the HQ , my base station can talk and receive about 60 miles ,that is as far as we can talk mobile to base ,so that is as far out I am willing to travel with everything else too. I take care of my regulars no matter what their acres are most are always fair amount of work 320 -640 ac. I quit havin fun a few years back , still love it .


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

RockmartGA said:


> Something I have always wondered about - for those of you who road their tractors, does it help to alleviate the wear on your tractor tires if you slightly over inflate them? What I'm thinking is that slightly over inflating may eliminate some of the "grinding" as the tire flexes as weight is put on it.


My JCB was frequently used over the road a lot to pull a tanker and fertilizer wagons in Texas before I bought it.
The previous owner has the front tires on backwards. I'm not sure if it was done to save tread, or to give it better traction when in reverse? 
My tire guy told me he thought OTR use tractor tires wore out slower when mounted backwards.


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## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

Wow you guys really travel. I don't have time for custom work, but I don't believe I would want to travel much more then 10. To rake, bale and stack would be ok, but to move the swather that far would wear it out and take forever. I would have to buy a swather trailer and a bigger truck to haul that faster. Plus the traffic around here makes it hard to move something like a swather that is 15 feet wide and only goes 14 mph. But you would spend most of the time going slower avoiding traffic and mailboxes. My tractor could move the baler at 30 mph. Though the raking tractor would be only at 19 mph. The stacker could go 55 mph. Moving at night would avoid traffic, but then the chance of having an accident with idiots would greatly increase. I just don't have the time to sell hay, irrigate hay, and bale my own hay. Never mind spending hours getting to places, checking hay if it's right to bale. In most cases getting the swather to a place would take longer then actually cutting the hay.


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