We're a small family farm in Central Michigan raising grass fed/grass finished beef, pastured pork and pastured poultry. We bought our small farm back in the spring of 2016 and decided that we wanted to start our dream of farming. Follow along with us as we build our farm from the ground up. We're starting from scratch, every step we take you get to see, both the success stories and the failures. We hope you enjoy watching our farm grow as much as we enjoy doing it.
Thanks, I wish I would've gotten video of mowing the other side. You can really see the difference between the two sections. Drying was the big issue here, but I'll save that for a future video...😉
Making things up? This is more than pasture, this doubles as a hay field. You get one chance to plant alfalfa but can over seed later with clover without much worry. The other issue is drying time, clover is harder to dry when making hay. In my experience that timothy starts to take off later when the orchard grass has slowed but the fall flush gets the orchard grass growing again. This has worked very well for us. The other thing that's not discussed here but is a factor is flavor. We've selected blends of forage that don't create an "off" flavor. That's critical for us and our market. We want only the best tasting beef for our customers and there are forages out there that are great for gains but bad for flavor. I'm sorry to hear you've got a pest infestation on your alfalfa. So far so good here. That field with the alfalfa is in its second year and looks great. Our custom blend of seeding has worked great for us, it's made great hay, maximized our gains when used as pasture and makes GREAT flavored beef!
Makes sense, however I find it hard to believe you’re gonna find a flavor difference between clover and Alfalfa. My cattle are fat and almost exclusively on clover hay so I’ve got personal experience with it and I thought you were just using the ass pasture not as a hayfield, but if you do look at grazing preferences clover and grass over alfalfa. I still agree with Mrs. Tilted Barn. Pasture looks great. I wouldn’t be complaining about that a lot of variability in nature.. and as far as taste difference, this is what I mean about antidotal evidence and making things up. There’s no research or conclusive science that’s gonna show that you’re gonna have a taste difference in your beef between the past. None of those forages are going to offer any type of flavor like grazing turnup or something like that does with tainted milk..
I agree with Mrs. Tilted Barn. You’re just making stuff up as you go as far as I’m concerned.😂. In a haying situation, you may get more tonnage per acre on Alfalfa, but in a pastor situation clover offers more diversity has a higher digestibility than Alfalfa does. Additionally it does not have problems with Alfalfa weevil and leaf Hopper, which are rampant in the area Also, just to let you know, Timothy has zero regrowth potential and brome does not as well so you’re going to have a lot better grazing probably on the clover fescue mix Orchard grass matures pretty early even what they call the late maturing varieties do faster than the fescue in the Timothy .
Yeah, I know... It's one of those things where every year we say no more and it seems like every other year we add more, lol. We were trying to beat the rain coming so I took the risk on not seeking out a disc on short notice.
The other thing that's not mentioned in this is that it was during this time that we had that calf disappear on us. We lost a lot of time looking for that lost calf, then picking up that other calf from a friend. There just wasn't enough time. 🙂
In my area round bales are all sealed in white plastic during bailing. We have long rainy winters, not too much snow but cold enough the grass doesn't actively grow.
Some do the same here as well, though it's usually limited to higher moisture bales for "baleage". We've fed it before but it with our bale spear it poked a hole in the plastic and caused some spoilage in the bale if not fed within a week.
Went to a farm sale down the road in 1992. The old boy last farmed in 1976 and this was the combine he used. He maintained and shedded everything, all his equipment was field reddy and looked like this 15 years after he last used it. His place and all his equipment were all maintained to a T. Tractors, implements, buldings, etc. He had a 64 Chevy 3/4 ton truck that looked like it was just off the showroom. He even had half a wood crib full of corn that was never shelled or gound out!
We ran a 12A with a power unit till the mid 70's. Gave up when the junk yard scrapped their collection. (can't blame them, we probably scavenged all the needed parts. Usually had to replace some wood parts on the straw walkers, and sew the canvas every now and then. Ours had a bagger, not a grain bin.
My Dad had a 12A like this one. The unloading auger set up is different, but otherwise looks the same. He harvested 30 acres of oats and 20 acres of soybeans with it for over 20 years. I helped for about 10 of those years. This was in western Iowa, not far from Sioux City.
Sorry for the late response, somehow I missed your comment. Those are an 1.25" T post and I think we went 6.5' tall so that after they were driven we had a 5' high fence with six strands of high tensile electric.
Curious to know how you came out? I'm thinking of doing the same thing but grazing it down further for alfalfa production. I wouldn't mind if 20-25% of the grass stands after.
Doesn't look too bad, i would remove that post somehow...post up how you do that because i foresee needing to do that at some point ...maybe sawzalling at the holes and not nicking the high tensile....? I would just put another timeless tpost right beside it and attach with the metal ties that come with the steel tposts...you can put that in the hole for the Timeless and then grab it onto the high tensile and twist it around it. i put my timeless posts the same way you did with maximum high tensile /shock towards the livestock. good video, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the comment. I think you're right, and we're just going to replace it. Right not the cattle aren't out there so we haven't done anything with it. I'll pull it out with the loader tractor and set another one right where the old one was.
My great uncle had a pull behind combine, I cant remember if it was an AC or a Case, pretty sure it was an AC , and it had a wisinson engine on it , it was very finicky , had a small V2 or 4 I think . I remember preppin it before combining oats in 1967 , had to put new knives and do an infeed belt repair with a splice. Combining with pull behinds sure was a character builder , one hot and dusty job . Id give anything to go back to those days. We didnt get much done but we had a lot of fun . We had 4 farms with about 425 acres , which at the time was a good sized farm . Its a baby by stdays standards. A good friend of mine has a 2500 acre dairy farm here now , about 15 years ago he put in a 4 million $ milk carousel . He has a phenominal operation . Thanks for showing the JD pull behind video , ver nice job / history . Merry Christmas to you and you family
Thanks for sharing your memories! Things were tougher back in the day but they made great stories to share and memories to hold onto. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family.
Used electric fence for 40 some year........ Ive learned......hard wire it to the power source so no one ever turns it off ! That way....no one ever forgets to turn it back on ! No need to disconnect the power. Learn to work with it. Use a sheet of styro foam to stand on for insulation.....besides your wearing dry shoes and sock..those are already insulators. Firmly take a hold of a hot wire......the spark is what hurts not the shock itself. Besides.... its good shock therapy ! Does the power company turn the power off when ever they replace a pole or do repairs ? Seldom if ever !
Not sure if you are serious? :-) I have my fencer plugged into a "smart plug" connected to our router. I can turn it on and off from my phone (from anywhere). I have a light on the fence visible from the house that tells me if the fence is off.
@@harvestvillage695 Of course Im serious about not turning the fencer off ! No need to ! If a person is that scared of a tiny shock... carry a 14 inch x 14 inch sheet of two inch styrofoam with you ....stand on it to do the work. Does the power company turn the lines off when they work on them to do basic repairs ? No....they work with it hot. Imagine if they turned the power off every time they wanted to make a change or connection ??? And yes...I never turn mine off.....unless the lighting hits it......then its dead anyway !
That's a very cool old combine. You're dad did an excellent job restoring the machine. It's not often (like in NEVER) that you get to see a pull-type combine being used in soybeans. In terms of the "canvas" which is also known as a draper, they ARE hard to get. I needed one about 20 years ago and was able to get it from the now defunct Central Tractor store. However, when I was looking, I was told that if you need a new one, either check with an Amish community, as some will be using equipment that still used canvases, or check with a sail maker.
The A suffix shows a left hand platform like the AC All Crop and Cockshutt # 6 and 7. Before live PTO engine drive allowed one to stop moving forward before you plugged up
I spent a lot of Hrs. on a 12A with a bagger. The seat was over the little LUC engine we also had the scour clean. The old man bought it new in 1949 for 17 hundred dollars Ryan's delivered it with a new JD A he also bought the tractor right then and there. How I hated that 12A sat on that darn thing many Hrs. in the hot sun tending the bagger then after we stopped to go milk we had to go pick up all the bags we dropped and haul them to the barn . I hated it then but now in my 80's I sure enjoyed your video. Watched it more than a few times. Thanks >>> Jack.
Thanks for watching Jack! I love hearing about guys that farmed with the older equipment when it was "high tech" for that time period. The description you gave painted a picture so vivid in my mind. Thanks for sharing!!!
Thank you for the come back. I so would like to visit with you about the times we lived. They were the best years. .Too old to travel now but would now love a ride around or two on your 12 A JD combine and gab about other things that we would be able to understand Again Thanks.@@tiltedbarnfamilyfarm3832
So far I like it. It has some quirks, like when driving them in rocky soil they want to bend at the ground level and then they set crooked, but overall I like them. They're easy to use and I don't spend my time chasing shorts anymore.
It’s pretty rare that high tensile wire bust like that or did you cut it to repair it in that alleyway? Good tying job on the high tensile not many people are that good at thatZ.
Good eye! I had to cut it to load out the pigs and of course that is where it failed. Probably a good thing but still unpleasant given there were cattle back there.
I feel your pain on the theft, We had our septic tank pump truck stole right out of our shop back in September. It really hurts your livelihood when you only have one truck you rely on to run your business and make your payments. We are also in central Michigan. The jokes on the thieves though, cause it had a full load of you know what in the tank! lol
It's amazing to me how brazen they are. That's crazy that they stole it right out of your shop! I'm sure they were surprised when they found that out, LOL. Where in Michigan are you located?
Looking good! Back in 1989 I worked for a college friend setting houses similar to yours, then we would stick frame garages or decks after houses were set. That led me to being a custom home builder that I am today. You sure put a lot of work into your buried lines, which will benefit you for decades. Nice job!
That's exactly the process for our house. My wife has a saying, "Do it nice or do it twice". I know I don't want to be digging up a frozen waterline or go without power in the middle of a deep freeze because I skimped on things.
I remember using a “ John Deere 30” combine it was the next latest & greatest combine to the “12a” model. Combines have come a long way in 60-70 years.
Nice combine love to have it I have a 1941 john deere li and a 1945 john deere la I believe that luc engine on the combine is same as my li la engine s
Nope that engine will not go in a JD LA or a li. The and engine and parts are the same but the block and bell housing are all one and cast differently and can't be changed. Check it out. I tried it and it wont work.
