[Andy Carson]

Yeah-Ha! Thanks Erika, you rock!!! I called Theshold farm and learned thier cows are actually more shorthorn than ayrshire, but they are supposed to still be very active. They liked the shorthorn in thier cows because they weren’t so “naughty” and didn’t “complain” so much. I am looking for a fast team (if that wasn’t obvious), and I really doubt 1/4 shorthorn is going to slow a team down much when the other 3/4 is Ayrshire and Milking Devon… This cross will work quite nicely. This site is freakin’ awesome!!! Who would have thought you could just ask for a cross of two of the rarest dairy breeds in the US, and a few days later find them? 😀

[Andy Carson]

Thanks for the tip, Geoff. It does seem that I am underestimating the value of these heifers. Granted, you can look at ads and not know if the animals sold at the listed price, but they are in a “neighborhood” that is encouraging. Looking at auction values (in contrast) is very discouraging…

I do have a good number of Ayrshire breeders in my area, I just have to find one that wants to play my reindeer games.

[Andy Carson]

@danielwinters 34833 wrote:

One option might be to build the cart assembly, then people could add an old cutter bar that they have restored and maybe supply a tongue, neck yoke and evener themselves.

Another option to consider would be to start with a 3 pt sickle bar mower for a tractor with a PTO. These are often very cheap. if you use one of these, all the engineering (IE bearings, balance, rpms, etc.) is done already and all you have to do is add a motor and a skid or cart. This is what I think I would do if I was making one of these. Not that there is anything wrong with what you are doing, Daniel, but if you want to make alot of these, it is something to think about.

[Andy Carson]

Thanks Erika,
I did try the breed directory, and have some leads, but wanted to cast a wide net. A hang up some breeders have is “what if they are all heifers?” I had initially offered to buy just 3 bull calves for x + market price (x is negotiable), then offered to buy all the bull calves for x + market price, but either of these deals makes the dairyman assume a risk with reguard to the sex of the calves. It would sweeten the deal significantly if I propose that I would buy all the crossed offspring (at something like x/2 + market price), reguardless of sex. Of course, I would pay less for each calf this way, but I would be assuming the risk rather than the dairyman. Of course, this leaves me with Ayrshire/Milking Devon heifers that I don’t really want. I might find buyers for them, though, and perhaps recover the money or make a small loss. If it’s just a small loss on the heifers, than it might be a better deal for me to just take all the offspring as I would then get the bull calves for cheaper than I would have otherwise. I had suspected that oxen people would have some sort of standard deal worked out with dairys to produce those holstein/chinaninas or devon/chinaninas or other dairy crosses that you see in New England. I still haven’t heard what those deals are like (I suspect they are highly variable and perhaps there isn’t a “standard deal”). What I can say is (at least around here) no one seems to jump at the offer of free semen and a guaranted sale of bull calves for x dollars in return for AI’ing 8 cows at about the same time. The dairymen aren’t totally dismissive of the thought, though, and pass me around to others who they think might be interested. This makes me think I need to sweeten the deal a bit.

[Andy Carson]

Thanks for the comments. I got the shanks and sweeps from agrisupply. Even with the shipping, its a little cheaper than a local TSC. Plus, if ordering online, they are always open. I get most of my implement hardware/metal parts from there.

[Andy Carson]

I finally made a video of this tool to share. It needed a bit more weight than the “vee” design, but it doesn’t clog so it’s worth it. It’s got a full 2 inchs of overlap, but somehow some grass still sneaks through if it’s thick. A second pass takes care of it though. A lot better than a traditional springtooth.

[video=youtube_share;BzcdL3wS4_I]http://youtu.be/BzcdL3wS4_I[/video]

[Andy Carson]

Congrats Kevin, this is great! I think it is very important work to inspire the next generation. You should give yourself a pat on the back for that. Did you do any work with your team for the kids to see? Personally, I have always been more inspired by action and real work (as in Tim’s videos) than by looking at an animal standing where you have to imagine what it could do. Just a thought. Again, congrats on your boys!

[Andy Carson]

What horrible news!!! I feel for you, Geoff.

[Andy Carson]

I have had several rainy days so I broke down and made a cultivator design with two gangs. I kept the angled design feature for several structural reasons and because I like some of the “rolling” action I was getting with a the vee design. I had to amke the angles alot shallower (22.5 degrees rather than 45 degrees), though, because otherwise the cultivator gets really long with two rows and clearance for the tines. I was really attracted to Mitchs diamond design, but having runners makes this shape more difficult to apply. I will likely be able to test it tomorrow if the weather cooperates. I’ll report back.

[Andy Carson]

So I am now up against this problem of too much grass. I have been grazing my oxen overnight, but on rotated fresh pasture, this is very rich and is making them fat. I have already removed the grain. I have decided to take one pasture completely out of the rotation for now, maybe stockpile grass for summer… I think I’m going to divide my big pasture into four, all with access to the gate and the water. That will give me 6 fairly small grazing areas. I have been using areas this size for about 2 grazing nights. Sometimes I rest the cattle in the sacrifice area with hay (which they largely ignore) and/or lawn clippings (they love these, I spread them thin to prevent mold). This plan would give each area a rest of about 2 weeks to regrow before it gets grazed again. This kind of rotation (at least in my hands) makes super lush pasture, probably too rich for these boys in truth. I am thinking maybe I ought to purposely let the grass grow longer than would be ideal for grazing, and graze it a little longer than migh be ideal. This would reduce the forage quality and intake (which is a good thing for me), and I think the grass would still grow back OK. I have been very happy with the lack of pasture destruction by cattle. I even have grass growing back in my sacrifice area (granted, the grass in only 1.2 inch tall). Maybe 3 nights per area rather than 2… This would mean it would take almost 3 weeks to get around to the first area. I could alternate between hay and graze too, but they tend to leave the hay alone when they just came off of lush pasture so I think I would essentially be alternating between graze and fasting. Maybe this is OK, I suppose I like the concept of low levels of intact over low periods rather than “feast and fast”. Perhaps this is a horse habit… There has got to be an art to rotating pastures properly so that the grass is productive, but also not too rich. Anyone have any tips to share??? I think I’m going to have a couple more steers next spring, which should help with this problem.

[Andy Carson]

Mitch, I think that’s a good thought about the diamond shape. Having the wood at an angle sovles alot of problems and strengthens the design considerably. I will draw it out and see what it looks like.

I am digging up grass clumps/soil mix when the cultivator digs deep. This ground was not plowed, though, it was disced. because some of the grass clumps landed “tips up” and some landed “tips down,” I think I am bestBoff undercutting all of it, esp when it’s dry like it has been. I think if it’s done well, the roots will dessicate and the . That’s the theory, at least. Despite the plugs, the field isn’t bad, so I think it’s working. I will know how well it works better when I quit tilling and see what springs back to life…

[Andy Carson]

I increased the spacing between the tines on the cultivator, and went out again. Penetration was poorer, because each tine had to dig more of it’s own path rather than having it half dug by the previous tine. So, I added weight. This increased penetration, but then it got back to plugging. It clogged alot over the weekend. It seems that with the current set-up, I have a choice of poor penetration with no clogging, or good penetration with some clogging. The more I go over this field, the fluffier and drier the soil gets and this increases plugging quite a bit, esp where poorly chopped trash is mixed with soil. I actually think I might switch to a spike tooth harrow at this point, but I think I will redesign the cultivator to have two gangs for next time I use it. I think I have taken the vee concept as far as it can go. It seems good in some situations, but I expect the gang arrangement will be more flexible and less sensitive to soil/trash conditions. I’ll report back.

[Andy Carson]

Very nice work, Daniel. I like how this is put together and i like the concept. How did you pick the pulley sizes? You’ll have to share them if they seem like the right speed, I think other might be interested in going something like this too. The only thing I can suggest is that I would consider adding a guard of some sort for the pulley/belt. I looks close to where you sit and i can see loose clothing etc, getting caught. Again, nice work!

[Andy Carson]

Still have to get my videographer out… Somehow, due to the magic of soil dynamics, I clogged alot today. The soil was definately drier today, and kinda fluffy. When it was wetter, I had no clogs. Funny, i would have suspected the opposite due to clods. Clod fall off, though, and fluffy soil mixed with grass clumps stick. Soil dynamics is fascinating… It is pretty easy to unclog though, as i can just tilt the implement from the side and shake it a bit. I will take it out a couple more time before I fix this problem, as in the right conditions the action is perfect. I’ll have to see.

[Andy Carson]

I am also very curious how this turns out.

As a riding cultivator, this tool looks ideal, and I have little doubt that it will work fantastically. The pedal steering seems esp nice, smooth, and efficient.

I am unclear if the disc is intended as a light or heavy disc. I am not certain it is heavy enough to be a primary tillage disc, and it’s pretty narrow for a finish disc (a compromise to fit between the wheels). You could get more work done with a committed implement either way. It is an advantage, though, to have it mounted on wheels for transport.

I have concerns over the harrow design, as the teeth are spaced pretty close and in a single line. Trash might not pass through (as would with a mult-gang setup) and might not be pushed to the side (as it would if the tines were in a deep vee). Having either a multi gang set-up or a deep vee setup would require having tines set back a significant distance from the the axle. If these were left down when turning, the wheels and/or the tines would be drug sideways adding significant resistance to turns and putting alot of lateral stress on the wheels. The single line tine geometry probably represents a compromise so that the wheels aren’t stressed and one doesn’t have to elevate the tines in every turn. It’s also pretty narrow for a harrow, you could definately get alot more work done with a committed harrow.

I know very little about plow design and function, so can only make comparative assessments. How important is it that the furrow wheel be at an angle (as in many designs)? How important is it that individual wheel height can be adjusted (so that there is not a tilt from the landside to the furrow side)? It also looks like alot of sulky plow designs use furrow wheel and landside wheel placements that are not exactly in line with each other front to back, and many place a third wheel. This would give a high degree of stability (along the pitch axis) that seems difficult to achieve with a two wheel setup of equal height and equal front to rear spacing. The overall constuction of a committed plow seems heavier and more resistant to stress in almost every respect. Did engineers overbuild traditional sulky plows, or underbuild this tool? This might be why Pioneer offers a 10 inch plow only… It would be useful to note that if this is the only tool you’ve got, and you break it plowing, you have just broken ALL your implements. Again, I am not a plow guy so can only compare this design to committed plow designs and question how important these differences are, but it seems you could do more work with a committed plow. How much more, I don’t know, but if everything else is waiting on the innately slow process of plowing, I bet one would want to most efficient plow possible.

Despite my concerns, I still think this is a pretty cool implement. I look at it as a very nice riding cultivator that might do other stuff too. I suspect alot of people that buy this as an “only tool” will end up replacing this or that attachment with committed tools that suits their situation better for whatever reason. That said, some of the tools may work great for some people in some situations, and no matter what you would always have a really nice riding cultivator. My two cents…

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