The oldest tractor at the ranch, but the most used.
Spring at the ranch comes both slowly, and oh so quickly and fleeting. Soon the air will be hot and thick but for now a cool breeze keeps things comfortable. I haven’t been to the ranch in over a week so I was excited to see how my fruit trees and other plants were doing.
Sidney wanted to drag the pasture. Dragging is just a polite way of saying “Use the tractor and drag to spread the cow poop around so there aren’t any piles anywhere.” Because when you let the stuff pile up, the grass doesn’t grow well. The growth gets choked out. I think there’s a life lesson there somewhere.
The old feed grinder for homemade feed.
Feed stuff goes in, chopped up feed comes out.
The tractor was being used earlier to haul feed that Robert (my father-in-law) made from the feed grinder. Isn’t it cool? It’s really old – I have no idea how old. It looks dangerous as all get-out to me and I won’t let the kids “help” Papa with this at all. Basically – everything goes in at the top part up here, and gets chopped up inside.
“Help me, Daddy! I needa you hand!”
Robert’s father used water power or mule power to man the feed grinder but now they have it hooked up to the semi truck. Robert estimates he saved about $4000 this winter in feed costs and we were able to secure higher quality feed because we could purchase the ingredients we wanted or grew ourselves compared to just taking whatever the feedstore brings in.
The experiment worked so that this year we plan to plant just about anything we can – heirloom corns for the chickens, feed peas and beans for the cows….it’ll all go through the grinder along with high protein alfalfa hay and we hopefully won’t have to purchase any feed for the ranch next year. *fingers crossed*
So back to the dragging of the pasture. Aren’t my men adorable? Well one is adorable, one is handsome. Micah thinks the tractor is his and loves it. LOVES it. In fact at 14 months old his first real word was “tractor”. I’m not joking here, I’m being serious.
“Mom! I ridin’ my tractor!”
This is spring at the ranch. Plans for the coming year. Preparation. Disking (plowing), dragging, new life, new plants…..I believe Spring has the most hope of any season and I adore it.
Angela ~ What a wonderful post! Spring is, indeed, filled with hope. All things feel possible in the spring. It’s hands-down my favorite season.
Thanks,
Chris
This is so informative – had no idea that “dragging” was a way to spread out the cow poop. I am now wondering if we should get one of these tractors at our house to drag out all the dog poop?
Also – I would love to read a post about the *inside* of the house and go on a photo tour of all the antique appliances in the vintage kitchen! (-:
LOL! Probably but it wouldn’t have the same effect. Dog remains are from carnivores and don’t compost to feed the soil in the same way as cattle or horse remains. #justsayin