Running the New Tractor and the New Brush Hog

Well it has been a busy couple weeks; I have gotten lots of hours at the Sheriffs Dept (yes the money is nice but its a trying job), we have tackled a few projects around the farmstead in prep for a supposed winter storm on the way, I helped a neighbor install 140' of septic waste line, and last week I fought an angry and persistent brush fire all day on my only actual day off that week.

But we have found some time to have a good time as well and Holly is back on her low fat cooking bent and man is she producing some good eats. She is losing weight while I work like a dog and dont lose a pound. We have also been watching some great shows on PBS including Downton Abbey (it matches the hype and is a great series), the 2 part series on Martin Luther (the Catholic church reformer), Billy the Kid, and a NOVA special on the WWII dam busters where they back spun barrel shaped bombs that skipped over the water and then crawled down the face of German dams before exploding. And of course we have been enjoying the NFL playoffs. We dont watch much TV at anytime except winter so these shows are coming at a good time. Most of what I find on network TV is mindless and anoying drivel to me though the ridiculous show Wipeout is a guilty pleasure.

We picked up the new (old) brushhog we got with the 424 and have done some work on the IH which in fact was used to trench the neighbors waste line. So far everything works as it should and we are pretty happy with it. Some friends of ours are giving up farming and selling out (we bought our heifers from them) and we are going to go take a look at some of the equipment they have for sale later this week and hopefully we can pick up an old baler and hay rake and a disk harrow. He also has a ton of welding equipment....might be an expensive visit.

This is an old early 60s John Deere tow behind PTO driven rotary cutter and despite the surface rust it works great. I will need to blast it and then prime and paint it but it needs little mechanical repair other than a thorough lube and a changing of the gear oil. It was too wide to fit on the trailer directly so we loaded it and unloaded it sideways with the FEL.

It had a flat that I fixed with slime and I need to replace a couple of studs that are broken.

You change the blade height with the crank in the top whick raises and lowers the axels.

These work well enough but you can get nailed in the back of the head by flying rocks and debris so I plan on welding a chain mail guard over the front. All you do is connect the hitch to the tractor draw bar, connect the long and narrow PTO shaft (kind of scary looking really) and it works fine. I plan on using this for the bigger pastures or brush hogging jobs over the flatter ground; it will be a nice compliment to the Kubota brush hog.

We have put about 25 hours on the new tractor so far and I am almost used to it.

It doesnt have power steering which doesnt bother me but it will be a handfull for Holly. It isnt a real big tractor at about 40hp but it is a lot heavier and different than the Kubota and you really notice it.

We are also finding that having two useful tractors on the farmstead is not overkill, it becomes very handy not having to change implements all the time.

It just has a classic sound and look that is very pleasing to me and I am very happy with this purchase. Doesnt mean I wont end up with another tractor down the line to add to the collection but this one satisfies right now.

In High School I had a beautiful and blindingly fast 67 candy apple red Firebird with a 400 big block and an M-21 4 speed transmission that I used to drag race. I then moved on to the late 70s KZ series UJMs (KZ 400, 2 KZ 650s, a KZ 900 Police Special), I had a CB-650, and old Yamaha tripple, a 72 Harley Sporster chopper, and my late lamented 2002 1200 XLC drag bike. I dont know why or how but I survived all that and now in middle age I find I get my mechanical kicks from tractors.....who would have imagined that?