We are like every other farmer in Kentucky, waiting for dry weather so that we can start cutting hay. We have about 100 acres that needed laid down two weeks ago. So instead of making hay we have been staying busy with other tasks. Last week we sold two heifers that lost calves, and two cows that turned out to be open and didn’t calve. They were nice, young cows and sold good at the Owenton market.

​One of the recent storms broke a barn door hanger on the equipment barn. The hay baler sits right behind this door, so it was pretty high priority to get it fixed before it dries up. After about seven trips back to the shop to get additional tools that we kept forgetting, we pulled the tractor up close to the door to keep it from falling over while we fixed the hanger. The bucket also turned out pretty handy as scaffolding.

​As a side note, has anyone else noticed that the wasps are horrible this year? There were four nests on the back of this door alone, and two in the tract. I hate wasps! Let me say that again with more emphasis, I HATE WASP!!!  But somehow, despite swatting them with my hat like I was dodging a missile strike while standing on a ladder, I avoided getting stung and I managed to not fall off the ladder. I consider that a major success in its self.
With the help of Greg on the ground handing me tools, washers and nuts that I dropped in the grass, we were able to get the door rehung. The new rollers worked very well making the old heavy door seem lighter and much more manageable. 

​I wish that it would stop raining, but at least now when it does dry up I will be able to get the baler out of the barn.

​Yesterday we received our two Case IH Farmall 100 tractors. 

​I am not going to lie, I am like a kid at Christmas!  I can’t wait to bale some wheat as soon as the weather allows, or fix some of the gravel roads on the farm, or spray any of the pastures that could surely use it. It doesn’t matter what the chore, I just want to put these new beauties to work.

If you know me at all, you know that my love for red tractors runs pretty deep. My grandfather operated a dairy and row crop farm in northern Indiana. He learned to farm with horses and continued to do so for the better part of his life. After years behind the reins he decided to purchase his first tractor, a Farmall H.  “It wasn’t much, but it sure beat those horses.” He would always say.  Then after several years he traded up to the bigger, more powerful Farmall M. Now that he had gotten his taste of horsepower he decided to add a Farmall 560 diesel narrow frontend. This tractor would later be handed down to my dad when he bought the farm I was raised on. After getting every last bit of use out of that old 560, dad sold it and purchased a much newer model, an International 784. I remember riding with dad on that old Farmall 560, but I learned to drive a tractor on the 784. Dad has since added an Internationl 886 to the inventory on the farm. My love of red tractors is because of the same reason most people have a favorite color tractor, it is what they were raised with.

The two Farmall 100’s we received are identical other than the loader. They are 100 horse power tractors and should prove to be much more capable on our steep terrain when baling hay or pulling the 15 foot batwing mower. It will also be nice not to have to use the pickup truck when raking hay.
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The tractor with out the loader has its wheels set as wide as they will go, so it will become out mowing and spraying tractor. Not having the loader on the front when going down the hills should be beneficial as well making it safer for any operator. 

​After figuring out how most everything on them worked, we filled them up with fuel and parked them in the barn for the night. I think Greg has claimed the one without the loader as his!

I want to thank H&R Agri Power in Hopkinsville for partnering with our efforts at Eden Shale Farm and furnishing us these two tractors.   Without the cooperation from people such as them we would not be able to reach and educate the cattle producers of Kentucky. From all of us at Eden Shale Farm. Thank You.