Buck Creek Plow Day

[mhicks]

My thanks to Corey & Rick and the families for putting on a great event. Nice shop Corey. I could really get some crazy ideas working in there.

That good old black soil made everyone's tractors work a little, but we had fun.

Thanks

 

[rbeem]

Hopefully Josh will kick in with some more vids and pics. He was active ALL day running around with the camera.
Maybe I should say hyper-active! Wow man...you go go go!
How was sleeping in the machine shed anyway?...lol.

Makes for a looooong day but it was worth it. It was our pleasure to host.
I loved the variety in tractors that showed up. We had a little of everything. Same with the people!
I think we got the carbon run out....wow...what a work out!
No till beans in what was pretty black and moist soil. But we did it and probably turned 5-6 acres.

You are all welcome....Than You!
If you don't get off the keyboard and show up at these things the hobby will die. Without a doubt, we hooked some new plowers Saturday.

 

[wshytle]

Nice pics Jeff! It looks like the sky is everywhere. We don't have that much sky down here in the south. It also looks like it was chilly which I'll take over hot any day.

I'd like to see the engine in that 982 T/D and I agree with Frank about the color scheme on the 782...Nice!

 

[jbaker]

The red and gold 782 was painted up like a old IH demonstrator, even said demonstrator on it

 

[jsandegren]

Thank you to Rick and Corey and all the support crew for the great day! No pics for me sorry, thanks Jeff B for posting pics

 

[thoffman]

I see at least two guys I know there.
I like the Demo 782!

 

[mrstertz]

For those that don't know me very well I was the guy with the White CASE Demo. 328 who rode down with my cousin Josh. Thanks to Cory and Rick who let us sleep in the machine shed (which was heated by the way) we slept like a rock and I was very comfy. It sure beat the tent.
I had a great time, the soil turned over nice and the ladies and girls did a great job with the food and other behind the scenes work.
Door prizes were great, and the best thing about holding the first one is it can only get better with the next one!
Thanks again Cory & Rick!

 

[mrstertz]

I felt bad for Jeff B. he had some unfortunate issues with a blown rear tire. It had liquid ballast in it and it blew out in the furrow. I plowed it under. I think next year if he can make it, he will be turning soil with the rest of us.
We have all been there when starting out. My cousin Josh let him drive his 100 for a few passes. Glad he got some seat time anyway.

It was good meeting you Jeff!

 

[fcurrier]

When a tractor has to leave it's furrow and the one behind takes over doesn't that start a curve in the "line", or do you leave an "unturned" spot?

This is my version of a Correspondence Course in turning ground.

 

[jstertz]

Guys--I'm gonna have several posts to get some of these pictures where you can see them. I took special specific shots of many of the tractors plowing which I'll send to Kraig so that he hopefully can post them for us in a larger size. I have some great videos to which I will establish links once I have them posted. In these next several posts though, I want to share "my" thoughts on the weekend through word and pics...

The trip down was thankfully uneventful but it was really scenic. The colors on the trees where absolutely beautiful and the south western part of WI and the north eastern part of IA is so hilly and fun to look at. It also gave the old Cummins a good workout up all those hills! We arrived at Corey's farm about 7:30 pm prepared to sleep in our tent. It was supposed to get down to around 30 degrees and would have been really chilly. Corey asked us if we'd rather stay in his heated shop to which we gladly agreed. He had some old furniture in there and they made up a pallet for Caleb. We were able to help them set up a few last minute things for the PD and then we started a little fire to relax around.

Caleb (my son) and Mike (my cousin) here are enjoying some time feeling the warmth from the bonfire and conversation with Rick and Corey.

Caleb slept soundly on his pallet after playing on Corey's childrens' Wii in the shop (had a nice TV in there

) Mike crashed on the couch and I stretched out on one of the recliners. It was much better than the expected tent time in the cold weather.

In the morning we got up early and unloaded our tractors.

I brought my 100 and my daughters 224 Case. Mike brought is Case 328 Demonstrator which we call the "White Knight" a play on the Black Knight Demonstrators of the early '70's.

Mike has done a lot of that work and has created a "what if" tractor. Case never actually produced a GT is this paint scheme but they did produce their regular tractor line in these colors right before they merged with IH. It really makes for a striking machine and Mike executed it flawlessly.

We helped set up what we could. I was amazed at the generous donations of some of our sponsors, local businesses, and forum members. There were more than enough prizes to go around.

Here we are, the Fearsome Foursome. (L to R) Mike, Corey, Rick, and myself. We kept our eyes peeled for the first person to arrive in the morning and it was no other than Dave Schwandt driving his sharp Ram with two of his QL's in tow

to be continued...

 

[jstertz]

Then things got into high gear!!!

It was cold and clear at this point about 30 degrees. A perfect day for plowing at this point. In this day of clipart and picture editing it was cool to see that the plow used in the flyer was the genuine article.

This plow had been used by Corey on his 782 on Friday night before we got there. Him and Rick couldn't wait until Saturday and just had to go out and turn at least a little dirt, hence the missing letters! Good thing Mike, Caleb, and I didn't arrive earlier, who knows how much plowing we would have done on Friday night

!!!

Yes, you heard that right, Corey has his own Red Power GT. He has owned it for several years and it is a nice looking machine. I encouraged him to join the forum. He checks it on a regular basis, so why not make it official!!!

He made multiple rounds throughout the course of the day in between taking care of those of us who needed help or something specific.

By about 8:30, the guys there were getting antsy to get plowing and so Rick fired up the old 108 and struck out the field so we could get started. The soil was beautiful black dirt but was pretty tough after a couple of years of no till. It had enough misc stuble over the soil to cause most of the guys to remove their coulters after the first pass or two.

Speaking of Rick, he had brought several tractors from his collection.

By now the guys were rolling in steadily and I was very impressed at the wide variety of tractors there at the first day.

I don't know who the idiot photographer was that cast his shadow on the picture

(sorry Kraig!) There were several really nice green machines there including this really strong running 318.

There were several old Bolens in the action including the 1961 model on top!


As has already been noted from Jeff Bakers pix, this 782 "Demonstrator" was a really sharp tractor and was a well executed resto mod!

The owner had it weighted well, running good and it plowed like it too. It was nominated for best looking tractor at the show too.

Can we say CASEIH?!?! My Casey with Rick's 108.

to be continued...

 

[jstertz]

Then things got busy in a hurry! Guys were dropping plows into the ground and getting to work. I started plowing with my daughters Case 224 which she named "Casey". I was disappointed almost instantly! Most of the guys were plowing 6-8" deep. This left my tractor tilting heavy into the furrow. The way that the sleeve hitch is set up on the Case GT's puts it under your rear axle. Basically it was scraping up the soybean trash on the ground and scooping it under the tractor until it began to lift the back wheels up and I lost traction. There are a couple of adaptions that we are going to make with the hitch that should allow me to plow without those plug ups. Ultimately, I ended up parking Casey and started plowing with the old 100. What a fun plow tractor! I was amazed how well that little beast did.

This is the aforementioned '61 Bolens. Cool little 7 hp tractor! Very unique!

Another pic of the 782 Demo that also didn't post earlier. I really like the look of this machine!

Dave on one of his QL's plowing a straight furrow. I really enjoyed getting to know Dave a little and he even let me drive one of his QL's!

I'm looking forward to using the 100 as my regular plow machine. Here Jeff Baker was taking a few rounds with it after his 169 tire failed. Speaking of which, to answer Frank C's question. Generally, with a multi bottom plow, you wouldn't want to stop mid row. However with these little plows you can work around it if someone has to put out do to equipment failure. Usually it doesn't cause as much problem as does someone who can keep their tractor wheel in the furrow. Those end up making the furrow more crooked than one person pulling out. IMHO. Jeff seemed to enjoy his first plow day in spite of his equipment failure.

We were making good progress when the first wave of rain showed up about 1:00. We all kind of decided this would be a good time to take lunch. Rick and Corey's wives daughters did a great job with the food. I especially enjoyed the breakfast burrito's

. They used the money raised from the food for the local school swim team. Good food and a good cause, what could be better.

It also was really nice to be able to warm up in the heated shed...

Since everyone was in the shed at this point, Rick and Cory decided to give away the door prizes. There was some really neat stuff there and everyone got a couple of gifts. One of the funny things that happened was that Mick Morgan got a John Deere t shirt that he said he was going to use as an oil rag and a minute or so later one of our JD guys got an IH T shirt! They both decided mutually to switch before their hands spontaneously combusted!!! It was all in good fun and I really enjoyed chatting with the "other brand" guys!

My sediment bowl gasket had failed right before PD and when I got a new sediment bowl for a door prize, I was quite thankful. After the prizes were awarded and the rain had subsided for awhile, many of us had a hankering to get back in the saddle. Some of the guys had to hit the road but the rest of us plowed for another couple of hours until the heavier rain hit at 3pm.

My son Caleb made a good friend in Rick's son. When I asked them what they thought of the first ever Buck Creek plow day...

Well said boys!!! I couldn't agree more!

 

[jchamberlin]

Great posts, Josh. Thank you.

 

[mrstertz]

[Quote-Fcurrier]When a tractor has to leave it's furrow and the one behind takes over doesn't that start a curve in the "line", or do you leave an "unturned" spot? [End-Quote]

Normally yes it would... but when your only cutting a 10" wide chunk at a time it doesn't affect it much.
Honestly with so many guys plowing all with different experience levels and some for the first time it gets really crooked.
On our first land, I plowed 10 partial rows to straighten it out so the furrow would be semi straight.

Also when the land started getting close to the end someone started another furrow along the edge of the field, but that produced another unwanted dead furrow to close to the edge of the field.

It takes practice and time doing it to learn and that's half the fun.

 

[mfrade]

Great pics! And thanks to Josh for the commentary, nicely done!

 

[jstertz]

Thanks Mike F and Jeremiah C--It was a fun weekend. Wish you guys could've been there. It would have been a little hike from the east coast though! I'm already looking forward to doing it again...

 

[jstertz]

OK--Here are a couple of links to videos I took at the plow day. More will be following when I can get to it. Maybe later today, maybe not for a week depending on my schedule. I hope you enjoy them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTqmt8OTQtM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG4faZITm2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fay3ZzINDE

 

[kmcconaughey]

Josh, Jeff, great photos! Thanks. Looks like it was a fun time.

 

[mrstertz]

Here is Josh S. plowing with his 100 and vintage Brinly Plow to match.
Great job on the pictures and write up Josh!

 

[fcurrier]

Mike, you couldn't have done better at giving credit where credit is due.

More pics! I just turned the page!