So, what have we been up to?

Until this week, we had been working in the shop, continuing to prep planters and other equipment. On the Kinze planter we went through and changed a bunch of parts. We replaced all the bushings on the closing wheel assemblies. We replaced the opening blades as well as the inside and outside scrapers.

When the planter was new, we thought it was the right thing to do to put the RID (reduced inner diameter) tires on the gauge wheels. Since that time it has been proven otherwise. About a third of the rubber tires were worn out and cracked, and we made the change this year. We replaced them with the three-inch wide wheels in order to keep the wheels within the trash wiper path.

The electric drives and seed meters were also sent off to be checked. We spent a lot more on this planter than we planned, probably upwards of $250 to $300 per row. We still need to check the depth setting and center the closing wheels when we get to the field.

Saturday, workday

It is the time of year when Saturday once again becomes a workday. Last Saturday we finally had time to install the new-to-us track undercarriage on the manure spreader. It actually went together pretty well.

About a month ago we had pulled one of the axles out and took measurements so that the welding shop could manufacture a custom axle insert to merge the old with the new. I don’t want to know what that cost, but I’m sure it’s less than all new! We haven’t used it in the field yet, but so far it was worth the upgrade as the new carriage has more flexibility and doesn’t rattle everything when you travel down the road. The old undercarriage was one of the early Kinze systems which had long seen better days.

Getting outside

This week we were finally able to get outside for a couple of days! We had an irrigation power supply wire that we had to replace, as well as replacing our underground dog fence. (If you remember a couple years ago about this time I posted a picture of a Quadtrac pulling a little wire plow. Well the boot on the plow was 18 inches deep, but the wire only installed 8-12 inches deep. You know, right there in the chisel plow depth zone.)

This time we trenched the wires in and put the kids to work making sure we didn’t hit any tile or lay the wire on top of any sharp rocks. They also bedded the wire down as to make sure it stayed at the bottom of the trench.

I have a feeling we will find some more tasks for them in the coming days!

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.