[near horse]

@Does’ Leap 27132 wrote:

I will be replacing the inside an outside ledgers on this mower (which are tired and worn) as well as the the mechanism which tilts the knife….. setting up a new mower with haybine guards (with stubs) and a new knife (per Donn’s recommendation) on another MD#9.
George

I guess this is a good place to jump in with another mower question. I highlighted George’s comments because I’m in the midst of servicing my #9 and, like George, replacing the inner and outer ledgers, new haybine guards and stubs for the inner 3. My questions –

1) I have the beveled head rivets for the inner and outer ledgers but it looks difficult – if not impossible to “set” these with a normal field rivet press (like one uses on swathers/combines). How do you do it?

2) With all the lift attachments removed and only the 2 pins holding the bar on my bar still will “hang” at any position I place it at – like it’s binding on the pins. I thought about removing the pins but those suckers are in there pretty tight. I have to pull the bar down all the way to the ground by hand (pull on the end of the bar). What do you all think? Too tight? Worth fussing with? If so, how do you get those pins out without dynamite?

There’s more but that’s the gist.

Geoff

[near horse]

@Carl Russell 27403 wrote:

Nothing wrong with a learning curve…. just hard to swallow sometimes when you had other expectations.

Expectations are the balloon that’s popped by the pin of reality.

Nobody would take you up on some free grazing?

Anyone who’s farming at all has been through something like this – the nature of the beast. Just keep on plugging Andy (BTW – you don’t have to use the grain alcohol to drink, if you went that route AND the fermented/distilled grain left over is a good protein feed). Lots of nice simple still plans online – easily within the fabrication skills of Andy Carson, Ltd.

Good luck.

[near horse]

Hi Okie,

Welcome aboard and ask questions freely. Lots of good knowledgeable folks here.

[near horse]

@Robert MoonShadow 27365 wrote:

Haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about…”peeps”?

Be thankful, Moonshadow! They’re meant to be some type of confection made from marshmallow and shaped like a baby chick (hence the term peep). Not sure if it was some experiment gone awry or a deliberate attempt to make sweets unappealing – I find them hideous.

[near horse]

No worries John – I’ve got a tractor as well. BUT you “peep eaters” are very close the edge of acceptable behavior :rolleyes: Yick.

Perhaps we can solve this conundrum with cars that run on peeps.

[near horse]

Hi Rick,

Don’t have any but many of the standard tractor dealerships have sections of old cultipacker on hand for sale – if I recall I saw them for about $50/ft. Rotary hoes are less common here but should be available as well.

[near horse]

Hi John – Always glad to help :rolleyes:

BTW – did you ever make it to Bill Twigg’s place (Moscow Carriage Works)?

[near horse]

Hi Ed,

Do you have a planter or did you do 50# of spuds by hand?

[near horse]

In case you need other HD equipment manuals, here’s the eBay link. (

http://stores.ebay.com/LOstant-Merchantile_Horse-Drawn-Implement-Manuals (and free shipping).

[near horse]

IMHO – in the long run, it would be great to have a sponsor or two to help fund the scholarship, as well as another committee:eek: to review applications etc but in light of the field days being part of NOFA (temporary?) and the short notice, I would like to do something for this specific event and would be willing to contribute to the fund. I hate to admit it but I don’t really recall what the cost is to attend NOFA/DAPNet this year.

That said, I will gladly contact Small Farm Conservancy or other entities to solicit support for a more permanent fund.

As far as finding deserving applicants, David mentioned that Paul Smith College and Sterling had programs – they might be a good source for beginners.

I do think we need to require DAPNet membership to be eligible.

Again, IMHO, attendance at events like this with exposure to experienced teamsters and their knowledge as well as all the energy that emanates from these events is a great way to charge the battery of newbies! And, all 3 of the positives Carl mentioned.

[near horse]

BTW – I hear there’s a mule days event in June over in western MT. The guys from Intermtn Draft Horse and Mule Association go and said it was a good deal.

Montana mule days June 10-12th, in Hamilton,MT http://www.montanamuledays.com/

[near horse]

It’s pretty easy to point out the inefficiencies in power generation – including conventional methods (example – power losses in transmitting electricity over distance). So those current limitations are not exclusive to “alternative” energy production.

Also, sometimes “efficiency” isn’t necessarily the right measure of usefulness or viability. An example might be Erik’s mention of HP treadmill to pump water. We could argue that solar energy converted into horse flesh and then power to drive a treadmill/PTO to then move water has many “inefficiencies” but the benefit to Erik’s operation, IMO, far outweigh those. He’s sort of paying his horse (in terms of keep etc) for the power rather than the power company. One other thought, if he pumped the water uphill to a holding tank and then, as it was used downhill (for watering horses, garden, rice) it turned a Pelton wheel to generate some power ……. That’s what I like about smaller scale is the diversity of options and synergies available if we look.

Methane production has/is being used/developed on a small scale. If I recall the right acronym, a group in the 70s – VISTA(?) worked on small, cheap methane production/storage for developing countries. Also, there was an effort to use it in Nepal/Tibet where firewood gathering for cooking denuded the sparse number of trees to the point where women spent the whole day searching for wood to cook. They had a rudimentary concrete basin in which they made a manure slurry (I think it was only from their animals but maybe not) – I don’t recall how they captured/stored the gas but they had a single pipe on the ground feeding a single burner in their “hut” so to speak. Heck, I saw where one group in India was using truck or tractor inner tubes to store the gas.

In the north, I think maintaining the temp for keeping the fermentation/digestion going would be the challenge for us small scale producers but perhaps more of a seasonal production – like composting.

The “ram pumps” have and are being employed to do just as Carl mentioned – move water away from the streams and keep stock out of the streams themselves.

Lastly, years ago I visited a small producer in the mtns of north Idaho who make a living off their market garden. They have no electricity, so to speak, except for what they generate from their gravity fed garden watering setup. They dug a holding pond well upslope from their garden(s) – the water runs downhill, past the elevation of the garden, runs a little pelton wheel and then is forced back uphill (still lower than the pond) and through their T-tape setup. It’s incredible what level of production these folks achieve.

BUT – transportation is the issue for them (and for many of us). It’s dang hard to get around that one.

[near horse]

@Julie Clemons 27180 wrote:

…… Walker isn’t quite big enough to hold onto the hames yet.

How about one of those baby slings/backpacks or whatever and then just tie/loop it over the hames? It’ll just rock him to sleep.:rolleyes:

***Note – this is not an OSHA approved action!

[near horse]

I have one of those too and recently picked up a manual off E-bay (there’s a seller who has copies of lots of older equipment manuals, some horsedrawn – I can get you the link if you’d like).

[near horse]

@HeeHawHaven 27171 wrote:

Love the team! We’re just down the road a piece near Boise. We drive a donk, a team of Fjord mules and a fjord horse. You can check out my pics at gallery.me.com/heehawhaven

We’ll have to get together!

Dave

Up for the playday being mentioned?

[Author]

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