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I built a chain harrow out of old logging chains. I welded them to a 2″ steel pipe and then welded the two sets of chains together. Cheap and effective.

Good luck.

George

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Geoff:

When I turn the corner, I leave my cutterbar down instead of lifting it. This helps sweep the hay away. Then I feather like Carl mentioned.

George

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I don’t have a moisture gauge, but we baled some greenish hay last week trying to beat the rain. It was only a couple hundred bales, so I turned them on end in the barn and salted them. I have been checking internal temperature with a probe thermometer and have no heating! Kristan questioned whether the salt on top of the bales was drawing in moisture from the atmosphere or drawing out moisture from the bale.

George

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@Donn Hewes 27759 wrote:

PTO cart update, Not working too well with my new larger hay tedder, This winter I bought a New Holland 17.5 foot tedder. Maybe it is too big? but I have friends pulling the same tedder with the I & J. The hay is heavy and wet, but that is what you want a tedder for. It works great for a little while and then it just starts to drag the wheels and pile up the hay. I think I will try to add some weight. It is hard to go back to the Grimm ( a good tedder) after you have tried something 18′ wide! Made a lot of hay this week.

Hey Donn:

Sorry to hear it is not working well. Is that New Holland the tedder in the picture attached to your first post or a different larger tedder? When you wrote that it drags the wheels, do you mean on the cart or the tedder? Have you tried adjusting the teeth up on your tedder? I am especially curious b/c I bought a 15′ Fahr tedder last year and have a #9 that I am planning on converting to a PTO cart. The Grimm works ok for me on a light second cut, but not in this thick first cut. I figure it adds a day of drying time compared to a modern-style tedder (not to mention extra time).

George

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The building that houses our cheese facility, milk parlor, milk rooms and sausage processing area is a pole barn. I eventually ended up ripping out the horizontal strapping and siding and building stud walls between the posts which were sheathed w/ plywood. The open envelope in the pole structure was a rodent highway and the fiberglass insulation we put in originally became compressed and worthless. Studs and sheathing help a lot with this.

I agree w/ Kevin that the only way to go with a pole structure would be spray foam for the aforementioned reasons. Prices around VT for spray foam start at $5/square foot for a 5.5″ wall. A pole barn would be even thicker if you used 6×6 posts plus the 2×4 strapping and thus even more per sq. ft. Another thing to consider is the price of PT posts and the additional labor for setting and truing up your posts. I would argue that a stick-built structure is cheaper and a better product in the long run.

George

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@Countymouse 27693 wrote:

George,
I am glad you do this, it really gives me (and all of us) another case to look at. I think it is an especially important one because it sounds like your stocking density is much closer to what the land can support. Your case would allow for some specific calculations of how many calories are avaliable from forest both in nut/fruit season and out of it. I think this is important because it seems hogs are capable of finding significacnt amounts of food that I wouldn’t have even expected to “be there” and didn’t enter into my calculations. The manuscript posted earlier mentioned pigs can consume up to 1200 earthworms per day, for example, and this is am important source of protein on pasture. I would have never guessed the number would have been this high or that it would be important. So, a couple specific questions, if you don’t mind, George:

How many hogs do you stock per acre? Do you have to do anything “special” to protect desirable trees?
What are the main mast producing tree species in your forest/pasture plots? Oaks? Any idea what percentage of the total trees are mast producing? Do you know thier average age and/or size?
Does your stocking rate vary depending by season and/or types of trees in the pasture?
How much whey are the pigs fed fed? Do they consume it all?
How does the palatability of whey compare to grain and forage (maybe it’s important to feed a nutritional, but not “yummy” feed)?
Do you farrow your pigs? If not, do you have a hard time finding pigs when you need them?
Do you have any experience with heritage breeds, and have you noticed any performance differences in your set-up?

Reguarding the taste of the pork, I couldn’t agree with you more. I think I would be proud to raise pork that tastes good to me, even if some consumers prefer supermarket pork. I think this is a concern for someone wanted to move huge quantities on the open market, and not as big of a concern for smaller producers who can meet with customers and explain why thier pork tastes better (or at least different). Sorry to bombard you with questions, George, and thanks for any information you can provide.

Andy:

See the responses to your questions below.

George

How many hogs do you stock per acre? I would guess around 8/acre
Do you have to do anything “special” to protect desirable trees? No. I have not found pigs to be a problem with trees.
What are the main mast producing tree species in your forest/pasture plots? Oaks.
Any idea what percentage of the total trees are mast producing? Depends on where their paddock is 10-25%
Do you know thier average age and/or size? Around 18″DBH.
Does your stocking rate vary depending by season and/or types of trees in the pasture? Yes. Rather than putting pen to paper, I look at the prospective paddock and the size of the pigs and size accordingly.
How much whey are the pigs fed fed? We do about a dozen pigs a year and they consumer approximately 10,000 gallons of whey.
Do they consume it all? Generally, yes. If they are small and we have lots of whey when our goats have freshened in the spring, they can’t keep up.
How does the palatability of whey compare to grain and forage (maybe it’s important to feed a nutritional, but not “yummy” feed)? They love the whey. It’s liquid so hard to compare in palatability with solid foods.
Do you farrow your pigs? If not, do you have a hard time finding pigs when you need them? I do not have any sows. The numbers for keeping a sow (at least for my set-up) don’t work. I don’t have problems finding pigs.
Do you have any experience with heritage breeds, and have you noticed any performance differences in your set-up? I have raised some heritage breeds and find no difference in performance or taste.

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We raise a dozen or so pigs a year in semi-forested environments. My aim is to have a variety of savanna-like areas on my farm somewhat akin to a shaded pasture. When it is hot, that is where my goats go. After selecting the best shade trees (generally red oak and hard maple) I will clear the rest and fence it off for pigs. They generally get moved every couple of weeks. During the summer months they have no shelter. They do great as long as they have ample shade. We pump whey from our cheese operation to the pigs and they consume it all. I will also put out a self-feeder http://www.draftanimalpower.com/showthread.php?2730-Self-Feeder-For-Hogs. However, when pigs have unlimited grain, they tend to be less aggressive in turning over soil. Depending on my goals (early market weight vs. renovation) I may or may not put out the feeder. I have 4 three-month old pigs who have had nothing but whey and what they can scavenge from the semi-forested environment they are in. This winter I had 2 pigs that reached market weight by January but I wanted some whey consumers when we were in full-cheese production in March. I kept them on a liquid only diet for the last 3 months. They were healthy and dressed out well at 200+ lbs each. Regarding flavor, folks love our pork. I tasted some “supermarket” pork at my in-laws a while back and couldn’t believe how tasteless and dry it was – like a whole different meat altogether.

George

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Carl:

We cleared around 12 acres a couple of years ago. We left the stumps in and are renovating it for goat pasture. It needs lime. How much did you pay for the EZ flow and how stable would it be on side-hills and obstacles? How about beefing up the tires to facilitate rolling over stumps?

George

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Robert:

You mentioned above that you measured your two donkeys. That’s what I did when I made my single trees. I would add a couple of inches to their widest spot. My experience is that it is better to go a little big than a little small as rubbing can be an issue with a single tree that is too small, especially when hitched in tight to a pole.

George

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George:

Generally speaking cheese is regulated by the federal government, specifically the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO), and enforced by states. Here is the link: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/MilkSafety/NationalConferenceonInterstateMilkShipmentsNCIMSModelDocuments/PasteurizedMilkOrdinance2007/default.htm I suggest studying it before you deal with your inspector.

The big hurdle in cheesemaking is the pasteurizer and I agree Bob White systems our prohibitively expensive. I bought a 60 gallon industrial soup kettle and had a skilled TIG welder make ports for my thermometers. I purchased the indicating thermometer, recording thermometer, and air space thermometer for less than $1000 and have about $1000 into the soup kettle. I had the valve cut-off and welded smooth to avoid purchasing the $2500 “leak detect valve”. We produce around 11,000 pounds of cheese yearly with that vat pasteurizer. Part of the PMO requires you heat your air space to 5 degrees above pasteurzation temperature (150 degrees in this case). I modified a pressure cooker to do the job (on the floor next to the vat).

[IMG]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IrCwld3NMk8/TfpkkChwBzI/AAAAAAAAA-U/9AT5lYxgqbQ/s800/vat.JPG[/IMG]

Depending on how much cheese you want to make, another option is to buy and 15 gallon pot. Here is a picture of an agitator I made and the pot. You could take the ideas listed above (welding thermometer ports to the lid, etc.) and heat it with propane.

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-J_uUh-R9Kvg/TfpkpGEBudI/AAAAAAAAA-k/oVTRZvyxg78/s512/small%252520vat.JPG[/IMG]

Listed are a few ideas, there is much more to it that this but I thought I would provide some food for thought.

Good luck.

George

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Geoff:

I will take some pictures in the next couple of days and post them.

George

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Here’s our new barn. It is 50×78 which includes 14′ sheds on 3 sides and 12′ walls. It is stick-built, slab on grade construction with attic trusses for hay storage. All wood (minus trusses and sheathing) come from our property. It includes a 30×30 heated shop and a 20×30 horse barn with two box stalls, tack room, tie area, and run-in shed. I hired a crew of 4 guys to erect it. This was the first time in my life I hired someone to build something for me and it was like Christmas – well worth the money. Now for the siding and interior details…..

George

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JTueomsX_ok/TfiVmCGD3SI/AAAAAAAAA98/Si6dPFk4Y9E/s800/sheathed%252520barn.JPG[/IMG]

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I just remembered that the bolts I purchased for the job had a Phillips head. I had to grind the head flat enough so that I would fit flush or slightly below the depression on the ledger so as not to interfere with the knife sliding across it. You cannot grind to much off so that you can’t hold the bolt tight with a screwdriver as you tighten the nut on the back side.

George

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Geoff:

I ground the existing rivets off and replaced them with small bolts and lock nuts. I’ve mowed with it for two years and the ledgers are still held fast. If you have a wire feed welder with low amperage welding capabilities, you could tack the nut to the bolt for extra insurance.

George

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We have the other extreme here in Vermont – 20 inches of rain in the last 2 months. We are relatively unaffected having well drained soils and a pasture based system, but I have several farmer friends whose vegetable fields are literally underwater. Large dairy farms have found large portions of their planted corn crop not emerging due to rotting seed and washout.

George

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