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Farm Journal -Cider Hill Farms


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FARM JOURNAL #8

It?s been hot on Cider Hill with highs in the mid 80?s. Things are still dry but we are keeping busy, doing basic work around the farm. We did a little grass cutting with the x585 garden tractor, but with the lack of rain, there was little need. After we changed the oil in the 9420t, we fueled it up. Hurts bad every time we do though ha ha!. We decided to run the mulch ripper over the field that we disked last week so it was hooked to the 9420t. The John Deere 5420 went over the field before the ripper though to make sure there were no stones missed. Don?t want to go over one of those stones with the ripper, that would cost some major down time. Meanwhile the IH 5288 was hooked to the Frontier blade to fix some of the roads along side of the John Deere 772b grader. After the road was fixed, we got the excavator out to the pond to dig it out a little. After the rains earlier this year, lots of mineral deposits have collected along the bottom, so we try to keep it cleaned. Here's what we've been up to:

Mowing in the early hours:

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Filling up the 9420t:

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Picking up rocks:

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Driving down to the field:

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Hooking up to the mulch ripper:

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Tilling the fields:

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The farm is still badly in need of rain. Quite a large amount of dust was kicked up while tilling the fields:

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Meanwhile, several farm employees are fixing the roads:

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Starting up the excavator to dig up the pond:

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Digging up the bottom of the pond:

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I would like to thank David Hinton (DPH) for writing this journal.

Hate to say it, but that?s all for this week folks! Next week?s journal will focus on irrigation at the farm.

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Cracking pics again Timmy lad... superb narrative as well DPH - well done lads for another entertaining post... I Looooooooooooove the CAT 360 pics... they look almost real... and boy oh boy is that grader a beast as well  :o :o

Looking forward to the irrigation pics next week as well  ;)

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  • 1 month later...

Hello lads, I have decided to put a few pictures of the farm up in the FTF gallery...the trouble is choosing the best ones to put up though! If there's a picture any of you would reccomend uploading to the gallery, post the link, or a description of the picture below. :)

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Hello lads, I have decided to put a few pictures of the farm up in the FTF gallery...the trouble is choosing the best ones to put up though! If there's a picture any of you would reccomend uploading to the gallery, post the link, or a description of the picture below. :)

That's a tough one to call Tim... I'd say most of them mate... they are all first class and worthy of posting  :-\ ;)
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  • 4 weeks later...

FARM JOURNAL #9

Now that September and half of October have rolled by, work out in the fields is about finished. Last week, we received the first frost of the fall, killing most of the plants that were left in the field. In the next few weeks, the rest of the plants will dry up due to the cold weather, and we will begin fall tillage. Now that all of the harvesting is done, we managed to finish laying the rocks in the irrigation ditches, and managed to clean up some trails out in the woods. Last week, the farm received three five month old pigs from a local auction, our hope is find some goats and sheep to add to the general atmosphere of the farm. The pigs will be spending the winter in the pig barn, and outside if the temperature is above 10c. Our hopes are to add to the general atmosphere of the farm over the next few years, hopefully attracting more customers. Here are some of the latest happenings on the farm:

Picking up rocks to finish the irrigation ditches:

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Dumping the last rocks in the irrigation ditch:

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The irrigation ditch is now complete. Unfortunately, it will have to be cleaned next March due to the pine needles and leaves:

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A local farmer who supplied us with the pigs came with his New Holland 8340 to clean out space for a fenced area for the pigs:

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Cleaning out the rest of the mulch pile for the loader to pick up:

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Our John Deere X595 lawnmower has finally gave up, bending 2 blades and cracking the front axle while hitting a rock in the trails outback. The farm may decided to fix it, or use it as parts for the John Deere X585:

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We set up a small area inside the lawnmower barn for the pigs at night, or when the temperature is to cold for the pigs to be outside:

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The outdoor pen, located on the left side of the lawnmower barn:

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The weather was slightly above 10c today, so we decided to load the pigs up in a trailer, and bring them down to the larger pig pen. Hopefully, they will get used to it before the colder weather sets in:

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Unloading the pigs:

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The pigs in the larger pig pen. Several buck thorn will be planted before the ground freezes to give the pigs something to eat next spring:

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Meanwhile in the forest:

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Popping a large tree stump with the excavator. This tree was cut down this fall, for fear of it crashing into the barn:

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Dragging some medium sized buck thorn trees with the crawler. The buck thorns were cut down last summer, but were never cleaned up:

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Occasionally, we find a large rock popping up on the path, or in the middle of the forest. We dig up the rock, to prevent damage to transmissions or tires:

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Placing the rock in the dump truck:

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Hate to say it, but that's all for this week folks! Next week's journal will focus on hay cutting from mid September.

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:o well done Tim... just when I thought your journals can't get any better... you go and pull something out of the hat mate...

This is by far my most favourite post on the forum... your journals make some cracking viewing... I too am glad to see some animals arrive on Cider Hill Farms as well...

Now then... dare I say it... Typical Deere mower... you'd best buy that MF7 I reckon mate  ;)  :D :D

I love the forest pics... the Cat 360 and the backhoe loader look superb in those action shots...

I hope we have FTF contributor of the year mate - your name has my tick against it for sure...

Can't wait for the next journal now - well done and MANY THANKS for posting  ;)

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Got to be one of your best journals this year.  Love the addition of the pigs.  Your pig pen looks so real.  I also like that picture with the excavator trying to take out the stump, it looks real.

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FARM JOURNAL #10

After receiving several days of rain and little sun, today's weather was perfect to perform the second cut of hay. We took our swather, hay rake, and several tractors to our 100 acre field several miles away from the farm. About 3/4ths of the field was cut with the windrower, and the rest of the fields were cut with a sickle bar mower. All of the hay cut with a sickle bar mower was raked into windrows for the baler crew to pick up. Rain was predicted for the coming evening, so the crew had to work rapidly. The remainder of the hay will be cut the following week. Here is some pictures of the hay crew:

Arriving at the field. Our pickup is temporarily in the body shop, so we are using the flatbed in the meantime to haul around all of our farm equipment.

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Unloading off the flatbed:

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Heading out:

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A worker from the previous shift is finishing up a row with his John Deere. He will unhook the hay rake, and drive the tractor back to the farm when he finishes:

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Hayraking with the Farmall:

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Finishing up:

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Packing up the tractor:

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An impressive fall scenery view in back of the fields:

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Meanwhile in the other fields, the swather is busy at work:

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Hate to say it, but that's all for this week folks! Next week will focus on fall tillage part one.

I would like to thank DB94 for the use of his lawn

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Hello lads, I now have a complete album from all of the 2006 pictures. I also have an album from all of the 2005 pictues. There are a few pictures in the photo albums that have never been seen by anyone but myself, they have never been included in a farm journal before!  :o

Cider Hill Farms 2005 album: http://s28.photobucket.com/albums/c233/CiderHillFarms05/

Cider Hill Farms 2006 album: http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o195/CiderHillFarms06/

Feel free to check them out  :)

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