So it's been a while since the pastures here have been fertilized, usually drag them to break up the horse manure and that keeps it fair, but tested it and it showed low. A friend used to do it for me, but he passed a few years ago after falling off his barn. Priced it out locally and it was roughly $1.25/lb, and I needed just shy of a ton. Called the plant 30 miles away and they were more than accommodating in getting the formula I needed, at $0.50/lb. Ordered what I needed and picked it up, their computers were down so it was 3 part NCR paper invoice. Brought it back and then went to get the spreader. Now this spreader was last used by my Dad (he passed 18 years ago) so I figured it would need some work. To my surprise, it was in great shape. Got it out from the back of one barn and hooked it to the tractor. Went to grease the PTO shaft and found a missing grease fitting. This was Easter Sunday, so only places open didn't have fittings. Thought for a minute, greased the one U-Joint, took the fitting out and installed it into the other U Joint and greased it. Ran it up and all was well. Few hours later, pastures were fertilized. Worst part is I have a parts drawer of all grease fittings....somewhere. Hey, got the job done, cleaned the spreader, and put it away
-
-
Can you please let me know where you got fertilizer for $0.50 / lb.? Did you use Diamond R?-
Yes, Diamond R. They were great- I gave them the readings from my soil test and the use of the land and they gave me the best fertilizer for bringing it back to optimal levels. I ordered what I needed, and they had it stretch wrapped on a pallet waiting for me, and helped me load it. You are closer to them than I am, but it's still not far from me, well worth the drive to save close to $1K
-
-
You made reference to the missing drawer of grease fittings.
I kind of went through the same issue. I would need, lets say a hose clamp or something. Well after moving a few times, and ending up with my folks place after they died, I might have to check the basement, the attached garage, 2 or 3 places in the barn, maybe the other detached garage, or a couple random boxes in the machine shop.
After this happened way too many times, or I would do a 45 min round trip into town to buy something I know damn well I have somewhere, I decided time to fix it.
Over time I have bought two stacks of Durham multi-divider drawers, a ton of the modular Acro-bins, and ended up with some industrial Lyon cabinets.
I would then, lets say on a beer drinkin day at the shop, I would start grabbing boxes, 5 gallon buckets of random whatever, and start going through them. Goal was to shit can the shit, and sort everything. When it is all said and done, when I need that hose clamp, or piece of key stock, or grease fitting, it will be in only 1 place. I will either know I have it without a doubt, or I will know I need to buy some.
I even have gone and sorted bolts, electrical fittings, all my cans of paint, lubricants, loc tite, etc.
It is still an on-going effort, but it did clean up alot of junk, and really quick for me to find whatever.Politicians can kiss my ass!!!Comment
-
I am doing this now, in between fixing the odd things that decide to break at inopportune times. I have the Garage, the small barn, the workshop, the garden shed, a storage trailer..... Was moving in a fairly orderly fashion until my Mom's health declined, then it became a fill up the trailer and dump it out until all was moved. Sorting it out is interesting.When I got the fertilizer it wasn't time to use it- had to wait for weather. Pulled out all the lumber from the rack in the small barn, cleaned out everything down to the ground, took out the rotted wood pallets, replaced them with plastic pallets and rebuilt the rack, sorted the lumber and stored the fertilizer on the pallets on the bottom- found 2 bags of fertilizer pre 2008 (last time my Dad bought it) and added it (gingerly) to the pile. Weather became right, loaded the truck bed and pulled into the big barn so that all I had to do was pull up w/ tractor, have Son dump 3 bags in (max capacity) and go out and spread it. Made it a breeze to do
-
-
I started the whole enterprise of bringing our Steer Pasture back to life this year. Up until now, I have not really done anything with it so it is getting pretty bare. I have a box grader for my tractor that has big steel tines for tearing up the ground. My tractor is only 35 HP so I always figured it did not have enough power to use the tines, so I took them off. A couple weeks ago I decided to give it a shot anyway. Low and behold, the tractor has more than enough power to tear up the dirt with the tines!
A couple weeks ago I spent 2 days dragging the pasture and it looks pretty good. Now I just need some rain to soak in and make it better. After the monsoons, (hopefully soon) I think I will go out and drag it again and get a good deep turn of the dirt. Maybe that will encourage more grasses to grow? (Raising animals is easy, plants not so much...)Comment
-
LOL, yeah, getting grass to grow can be a real bitch. Diamond R has seed as well, their prices aren't bad (considering what seed costs today) Pensacola Bahla grows pretty well here, and I raised a lot of beef with it, and the horses prefer it to the stuff they have down the road in their other home. I seeded one pasture with it about 5 years ago, looking like I'll have to do it again next spring. Was out mowing today, kicked up 2 cane toads, which I got down and stepped on, and a mole (he was too fast so I shot him) Have a half dumpster lid for a canopy, I just have to build the frame for it- that sun was hot out there.
35hp is enough for a 5-6' box blade in Florida soil without a lot of roots, you'd need 40+ in a lot of other soils. Those hooks are call scarifiers, and they do a great job. My tractor is a 40 HP 4cyl diesel, it pulls well but would do better with the 4wd driveshaft installed (on the list)Comment
-
My Sister's place has rocky soil, she has a 55hp that is just enough to run a 6' box blade with the scarifiers halfway down. All the way down and it gets hung up, even with the loader bucket full of rocks and wheel weights on the rear. Down by the PA border, the soil is a lot thinner in places- maybe 4-5" of soil and bedrock. Put a fence in at the rifle range at a Scout Camp in that area, sledge hammers and star drills for every hole. That was a long weekendLast edited by NRATC53; 07-13-2026, 05:56 AM.Comment
Comment