Pasture.

Even though my husband hasn’t been able to get into the field to even start planting corn we have been busy working on lots of other things.

Three different days (or parts of days) this last week we have been working on the fences. We started out with the most simple one first, pulling up the electric fence. Last fall my husband built the electric fence around the corn field at the house. The reason we do this is so the cattle can forage on the corn that didn’t make it into the combine (or managed to make it all the way through the combine) and the corn stalks that got chopped up by the combine on their way through. By doing this they have lots of goodies to munch on throughout the winter and we don’t have to feed them as much hay and it also helps cut down on the volunteer corn in the following year. So a win for us and a win for the cattle. ;-)

To pull up the electric fence we had to walk the perimeter of the fence and pull up all of the rod posts (these are three feet long metal rods about as big around as one of your fingers that you put a plastic insulator on that holds the smooth wire) and T-posts (these are usually about 5-6 feet long metal posts that are in the shape of a T, hence their name, that you also put insulators on). Needless to say usually a good day’s worth of exercise. J Then to pull up the wire we use a small tractor with a wire winder hooked up to the PTO (Power Take Off). This is at the back of the tractor and is a dowel looking piece of metal that turns very, very fast that you slide the PTO shaft of the piece of equipment over in order to make that piece of equipment run. (This is also the part of the tractor you have to be very, very careful around when it is running because it can tear your body in to pieces in a heartbeat.) While my husband was guiding the wire on the spool I was “operating” the tractor, turning the PTO off and on or making it go faster or slower by increasing or decreasing the throttle on the tractor (basically the equivalent of the gas pedal on a car).

After we finished this (in about 2 hours) and about a day or two later we moved on to fixing some pasture fences. Parts of these particular pastures are five wire barbed wire fences. (See pictures below) These are permanent fences with, usually in our area, hedge posts (hedge trees with the branches cut off, at stress points such as corners or bends in the fence) and T-posts the wire is attached to.

(These pictures are of a fence on a rented piece of pasture, the second one shows the clips.)

The fence I have pictured has been there for at least two generations. My husband cut the trees lying on the fence and then used the tractor and loader to move them off the fence and over to a ditch. In this particular place, after he was done I drove five T-posts in and then used wire clips to attach the wires to the posts. The reason for clipping the wire to the posts is to make sure the wire doesn’t sag to low or rise to high depending on the terrain you are going over. Another reason is if a wire breaks then you don’t lose that wire for the whole length of the fence. To attach the clips you have to use a pair of pliers (Which I have my own pair of along with my own pliers pouch to carry them with on my belt, and according to my husband these are also a “guy” accessory. ;-/ But that doesn’t stop him from requesting my pliers when we are working on something that just one pair of pliers aren’t enough on. ;-) sigh… men).

On another part of the fence my husband used a wire stretcher to tighten it up and splice together a broken wire or two. Then it was off to another pasture to do the same things. Some of the issues in the fence he knew about from seeing them from the tractor while working in the fields. Other problems I found by walking the fence looking for problems (Yes, another walking/hiking exercise program. I’ll have to take some pictures of the hills here so you can see that not all of Kansas is flat.).

In this second pasture we also had to fix the electric fence going around about half the pasture. Most of this electric fence we could drive next to so that made things go much quicker. The only thing that could have made it better was if it would have been a lot warmer. Seriously it’s the middle of April and the temperature today is only supposed to get up to the lower 40’s, what happened to spring.

Either way, this is how it goes, there is always something to do on the farm and as long as you can get to whatever needs to be worked on and you’re not busy with something more pressing (like planting the corn since it’s too wet and cold) you’d better get it done. If you don’t do these things you’ll have more and bigger problems down the line. For example if we would have just left the fences alone we could have had cattle getting out into the corn or soybean field in the middle of summer.

Here is to fences fixed and hopefully some warmer weather and soon.

Later,

Stephanie

The Moderately Involved Kansas Farm Wife

Office

Why do I call myself moderately involved when it sounds like a lot more involvement when you are right in the middle of splitting a tractor in two?

I say moderately because I have an “off our farm” job. I work as a crop insurance adjuster. My job as an adjuster has taken me away from home for two days, as of me writing this, for some classroom training. Also as the farming ramps up in the spring about two to three weeks later my job starts for the year too; usually with replants then to hail claims. I like to think of this as “off our farm” since being a crop insurance adjuster requires me to be on “a farm” at nearly all times. And my really busy times of the year usually coincide with what is happening on our farm because all of the farmers in my area are doing the same things we are at the same times we are.

I usually get the first two or three weeks of the spring planting season on the farm to help deliver and fill seed boxes on the planter (we used to have a six row planter with each row having its own individual seed box) and making parts or tool runs to the field. Then there is always the occasional filling the bulk tank in the (stick shift) rock truck with fertilizer and delivering it to the field. (It’s always a good thing to know how to drive a standard transmission vehicle if you are going to help on the farm. J) These are probably about the most stressful and longest days of the year (next to harvest) for my husband; however, I tend to find them as great and relaxing. I mean what is better than getting to spend your days outside enjoying nature and working at the same time.

I do (try to) help make decisions on the farm and about what is going on. I have even told my husband to spend several thousands of dollars on a new grain bin (on farm storage). It was my unique view of the situation we were in at the time to make him rethink why we really needed to build a grain bin. I also help in the field during harvest by driving the tractor and grain cart or operating the combine (which to a certain point is actually easier than driving a car). I’m kind of a “Jill of all trades,” I mean I have my own chain saw my husband got me for Christmas one year. And yes, I still claim that is the best Christmas present I have ever received to date!!!!

I love the farm life and being out in the country and that is probably part of the reason I like my job so much. The other reason is my job keeps me connected to “the farm” even when I’m at work. It is one thing to be able to talk the talk, but it is completely different when you can walk the walk. I can relate to what other farmers are going through, their concerns and their connection to the land. In that way I believe my moderate involvement on our farm helps me in my professional career. Just like being a crop insurance adjuster helps me on our farm by giving me ideas and new ways of looking at things on our farm. Both of these “jobs” go hand in hand and it’s the link and balance (or sometimes the complete imbalance :-/) between the two that leads me to call myself a moderately involved farm wife.

Later,

Stephanie

The Moderately Involved Kansas Farm Wife

Welcome

So I’ve decided to through my hat into the ring on starting a blog. I’m hoping you will find this interesting and worth a good laugh or two.

My name is Stephanie. My husband and I farm in Northeast Kansas. We raise corn, soybeans, cattle and one son.

My goal with this is to show you a different take on farming, from a moderately involved farm wife’s point of view that is. I also hope that you will be able to impress people with your new found knowledge of the farm and farm work.

So here we go….

(Boots on the Ground and in the…) Shop.

Yes I’m a woman and yes I know the difference between a wrench and a ratchet. I also know the difference between metric and standard sizes. This also means I get my hands dirty, sometimes to the point where they don’t come clean. Especially under my finger nails, so if you see me with dirty hands it is not because I haven’t washed them about five times it’s just because they are temporarily stained or as a friend suggested I just might be on the forefront of the latest trend in manicures. J

That being said my husband and I have been working on tractors as of late. You know simple things like taking the rear axle off of a large front wheel assist tractor (those tractors with the large chunky tires on the front and back) and splitting a smaller tractor in two. (Okay so the not quite so simple stuff ;-).)

To spit this tractor we had to undo all of the lines, wires and bolts that hold and cross over the center of the tractor. Not to mention figure out a way to hold up both sides and roll them apart. I took off the sheet metal (the stuff that covers the engine) on the left side (that is the side the un-split picture is looking at), unhooked the steering lines (yes tractors have power steering just like cars), and the fuel line. All of this was to get to the clutch in the center of the tractor (the area where my husband’s hand is in the split tractor picture).

The clutch on this tractor is shot, meaning it basically didn’t have a clutch that worked for anything. If you have never driven a standard transmission vehicle a clutch is one of the most important parts. You have to push the clutch pedal (to the left of the brake pedal) in the car to the floor to start the car, same goes for some tractors like this one. Then to put the car into gear or change gears once you get moving you have to push the clutch pedal each time. When you push down on the clutch pedal in the car it activates the clutch which is connected to the transmission which enables you to start the car or change gears. So without the clutch your car, or this tractor, has no way to start or go anywhere. Thus the clutch is a very important part of the vehicle, and this is why we had to split this tractor.

As a side note, while we have the tractor split we decided to take the steering motor off and have preventative maintenance done to it. This was a very good choice because taking the steering motor off of this split tractor took me all of five minutes. When I took the steering motor off the front wheel assist tractor earlier this week it took three hours!!! Oh and I had to nearly stand on my head for half of the time getting to eight small and hard to reach bolts. And of course that doesn’t include putting it back on, ugh. Sometimes doing the hard things in life really make you appreciate the easy stuff.

But back to topic of working on our now split tractor, the other cool thing about doing things like helping my husband split this tractor is getting the double take from others, especially men. The funniest is when a guy who doesn’t really know you over hears your conversation about doing stuff like this and then cocks his head to the side when he looks at you the second time with a slightly confused look on his face, priceless. J

I also like doing things like this because it’s pretty cool to know that you can take something apart, get a few new parts, put it back together and have it work like new. It’s kind of like taking that really difficult recipe of that really cool dish they made on a cooking show and actually being able to make it taste and look as good as it did on TV or in the picture of the cookbook.

And yes working on a tractor inevitably means getting dirty and stained cloths no matter how hard you try to keep clean. It also means new calluses cuts, scraps and gashes caused by a slipping wrench or an off kilter screw driver among other things. However, all those calluses, cuts, scrapes and new scars on my hands are from working; working hard and not just living life but experiencing life on the farm. Something I want to pass on to our son.

I hope you’ll stay tuned to hear more about things I’ve mentioned already (like the difference between wrenches and ratchets), our crops, cattle and the not so normal day to day life on our farm.

Later,

The Moderately Involved Kansas Farm Wife