Josh Russell's Page

Farm about 4500 acres. That a medium sized farm around here anymore. The bigger tractors have a suspension under them so they ride pretty good, the smaller ones don’t yet so at times they can ride rough, but over all ride pretty darn good. They wont start to hop like a wheel tractor on the hills so you keep better traction. Takes some getting used to when you hop on a wheel tractor again, they move so much different, feels like you lost all your maneuverability on the wheel tractor compared to the tracks. Well check my page out here in a day or so, I went and rode with a buddy in his combine in the Sky Rockets today and got several pics.

We run smaller tractors than most as we are one of the few farms with some what flat ground for the most part. We run two JD 8400T, and a Challenger 55 as our main tractors. Then we run a Cat D-5 and a Cat D6-B as our light duty tractors in the spring when packing and harrowing peas. Gotta love those old steel tracks (clank, clank, clank) all day long. They do have cabs on them, AC and radios, but they are still loud, dusty and over all more tiring on a guy. Allot of the guys run the newer Challenger MT tractors in the 400+ range, a bit older 65-85E Challenger or a Case Quad track, all intermixed with many a old Cats that are still in use. On the super steep ground you will only find the cats running it as they are the only ones that can really hold the hill and make the turns on the really steep stuff. The rubber tracks just don’t turn all that well compared to steel track.

Oh yeah I am sure glad we caught that cracking before it broke apart in the field, now the other 8400T needs the same welding, but its just starting so we are going to run it until after harvest as we don’t have time to get it fixed. Got the new flex header on the 2388 now and should get to those dry peas today. Only about 100 acres of those to cut right now, with the rest of the 160 coming later on as they are still green (they are up on the mountain). Will start wheat on Monday, straw still a bit tough so we are hoping that the 100 degree weather over the weekend finishes the wheat off.
I bet it is pretty convent to have that front PTO on your tractors. Heck we seldom use a PTO at all on this farm. The bank out wagon and the Schulte mower are the only things we use a PTO on and they are used seldom. Heck we don’t even have 3 point hitches on our three primary tractors.
Well hope your able to stay cool today.

Well you win the stuck award for sure. I have gotten a pickup or two stuck, my fourwheeler good stuck and my snowmobile REALLY stuck, but the one time I got a tractor even close to stuck I still managed to get it out on its own power. Well got one of the two 8400T tractors up and running again, while taking off the side saddle fertilizer takes to put the weight package back on we discovered some big time frame work cracks. So we had to take the tracks off and the trolley cart that holds the boogie wheels on to get it welded up. Now the other one is out of service for tomorrow as its getting new tracks put on it. SO maybe, just maybe! We will start harvest tomorrow afternoon. I hope this is no indication as to what harvest holds in store, its been a frustrating week and a half getting things prepared. Never have we had so many things go wrong at one time before. Lol, guess I can say that now however.

I have to give you credit for that stuck, cause you stuck her good. The guys in the flat part of the valley have big irrigation wells, but out here in the hills we cant irrigate even if we wanted to, so mother nature gives us what she wants. Now if you go about an hour west of here you get into the desert area and they grow potatoes and what not there that like the sandy soil, however with that its ONLY irrigation for them. The thing that boggles peoples minds is that in our dry land wheat, 140-150 bu. Wheat is not unheard of and averages are often right around 100-110.

Lol, well don’t feel bad, your not the only one I have ever talked to that thought it rained up here all the time. Can’t tell ya why people seem to think that, but they do. The Westside gets rained on the majority of the year, while the east side gets next to nothing. I am sure I told ya, but we only get between 15-20 inches a year and last year it was 13.
As for the pods yeah they just shatter out in what is the plants normal cycle. Of course we don want that to be its normal cycle. We got a small shower, just enough to wet the asphalt and that was about it. Around Spokane they got half an inch, that’s about 3 hours north of here.

Sounds like things can get interesting for you guys over there to say the least. There is a small bit of “bale” selling here, but its more or less by the ton. There are some good irrigation sites in the valley here, thanks to a great big aquifer under us.
Any more there are very few nasty wreaks out here, used to be different with the old school equipment, but the newer stuff is wider, has more power and is more reliable. In some of those pics you do see the Blue Mountains in the back ground, and they are farmed about half way up on the initial face slope and then after that its just mountains clear into Idaho from here. We are in the Palouse country which is were you see the John Deere combines in the picture. Its just rolling hill after hill after hill after hill from here clear to and past Spokane WA. Well we got a little bit of rain last night believe it or not… SO that just messed up the dry peas as they are going to shatter out now. I will just have to wait and see how bad they are.
Have a good one,
Brett

Yeah there are areas around here that guys hay, cant say its a big industry here, but its not a small one either. They do alfalfa, grass, a mix of both and some Timothy hay. Don’t know what its like for you guys, but if you don’t irrigate the hay here, it doesn’t amount to much so everyone that hays, has irrigation.
The scary part is that those pictures don’t do the hills justice and those ones are mild compared to some just up the road from the three John Deere combines in the pics. Upwards of 50-55% slope on some of that ground. Hey did you guys get a big spike in hay prices about two years ago? We did here and now all the hay guys are having a hard time readjusting back to more normal $110 a ton prices. Got up into the $175-230 a ton range for awhile there.

Well from what I saw and talking to the mechanic, I would not buy one of their balers, that thing has been broke down more than it has been running from what they guy said and well when it was in our field it was broke down the whole time. Silage out of pea vines is a new thing, well at least around here anyway. Normally we incorporate them back in the soil as they still have lots of nitrogen left in the vines, but this was an experiment on our part and that variety of peas has some real ropy vines and we were trying to avoid the mess they make when you have to work them in. We do minimal tillage now and run a no till drill over most of everything, however we still seed some ground with the JD 455 drills cause they have so much down pressure that they are in a sorts a no till drill. Both spring and winter wheat, green peas, and dry peas all in a summer fallow rotation is what we grow. However due to weather and what not I think the green peas are going to get dropped.