What did you do to or on your Kubota today?

[DustyRusty]

did a brush and stump clearing job with the mini-ex on saturday for a client nearby. Pulled out 4 dump truck loads of junk. While dumping the second load at my burn pile, my fuel gage on the Ram went to "E". While investigating the cause (dump body in raised position), I lightly grabbed the fuel line from the pump...snap!. Fuel (gasoline) shout out of the break in the line. F'me. Now what?

Luckily, I had the other dump truck stored here from the plumbing company. Used that to finish the job and with the help of the client, I was able to tow my disabled truck to may garage. New pump assembly on order.

The U-27 did a great job on the stumps (most were in the 12-15" diameter). I gave the client a full day's worth of work. I left with approximately another 24 stumps to do but suggested that I grind them instead. I just don't have any more room to store them until I can get them burnt up.

I didn't take a single picture.

Dig a hole on his property and bury them. Out of sight out of mind. In 20 years when they rot to nothing, who will care?

 

[dirtydeed]

Dig a hole on his property and bury them. Out of sight out of mind. In 20 years when they rot to nothing, who will care?

I tried that route...he wouldn't go for it. Now he wants me to come back and dig out around his pond perimeter...we'll see about that.

 

[dirtydeed]

Drove a friend to get a steroid injection. I figured I'd stop in at the local kubota dealership to kill some time...walked out with service filters for the B2650...wallet $100+ lighter.

Inquired about a debris rake and ripper for the U-27. Can't wait to see what those will run.

 

[fried1765]

Drove a friend to get a steroid injection. I figured I'd stop in at the local kubota dealership to kill some time...walked out with service filters for the B2650...wallet $100+ lighter.

Inquired about a debris rake and ripper for the U-27. Can't wait to see what those will run.

Try: Ox Thumbs (Southeastern Aerials) (Carrollton, GA) for a ripper.
They make a 28" deep ripper, which is the deepest of any.
I have it.
Very nice!

 

[johnjk]

Driveway is flooded due to the 4” of rain in the last 24 hrs. Due mainly to the clogged catch basin the county won’t clean and the corn fodder from last years harvest. Used the B3200 to make quick work of the corn damns and cut down the grass edge to give the water easier access to the ditch. The HST whine seemed a bit louder than normal and it is a bit low. Need to grab some at the dealer in the morning. Back to the barn before the next wave rolls in

 

[DustyRusty]

I tried that route...he wouldn't go for it. Now he wants me to come back and dig out around his pond perimeter...we'll see about that.

You are not charging him enough so until you go up on your hourly rate, he will keep finding more work for you. I told a friend to raise his hourly rate, and he told me that he would think about it. Then one of his customers told him that he wasn't charging enough for the work that he does. Still hasn't raised his hourly rate, and he is getting further out for work that he has committed to. I keep telling him that he needs to charge more for his time so he can make the same amount and still have time to relax. He works 7 days a week from sun up till sundown. That is no way to live your life, but it is his life to live.

 

[NCL4701]

The several years fallow field in front of our house that is part of the land we just took title to a month ago was bothering me with its light smattering of saplings and more homogenous 4’ to 7’ dried remains of a variety of stuff that grew there last year. Being in my face daily, its grossly neglected disarray was mocking me constantly. That and I preferred to mow it pretty high to knock down the saplings and old crap from last year before the new growth really takes off, which meant I had about a week to get it done.

It was still rowed up for tobacco so I wasn’t sure how bush hogging was going to go. It went. Had to follow the rows and turn around at the ends like I was discing it instead of mowing, but it worked. Unlocking the brakes and spinning it like a zero turn at the end of the rows without slowing down did bring back the many hours of doing the same with a pick up style 3 point disc harrow when I was a kid.

Then cut a short path through a blackberry patch with some small trees in it to make reasonable access to the old well that needs closing. Got the chance to see if the ragged old Howse 500 was still up to cutting 1.5” trees. It was.

Found a washed place about 30’ long in the middle of the field shallow enough I could creep across carefully in 4WD but deep enough if one side was in the wash and one side out, the tractor would roll; or if it was hit at full normal mowing speed it would likely bust something off the front end. Filled that in right after mowing was finished.

Longer term, I definitely want to flatten it and put a diagonal swash through it for drainage. Right now, we’re waiting on a visit from the NC Forest Service, who did the forestry plan on the rest of the place a few years ago. We will likely add the new acreage to the forestry plan and they’ve already told us we can likely leave it in native grasses, or something other than planting trees, but I don’t really want to do anything else to it until we know what our options are.

Flattening it isn’t really a big deal. I have a 3/4 worn out single gang disc buried in the back of the shed that would get it done if I chained some weight on it and ran over it a half dozen times. There’s an old double share moldboard plow back there as well, but doubt that’s needed. Alternatively, my brother has a double gang disc a couple years old with maybe 30 hours on it. It’s green, but otherwise way nicer than the one in my shed. It would be a good excuse to pay him a visit anyway.

I like it better a little trimmed up.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

The several years fallow field in front of our house that is part of the land we just took title to a month ago was bothering me with its light smattering of saplings and more homogenous 4’ to 7’ dried remains of a variety of stuff that grew there last year. Being in my face daily, its grossly neglected disarray was mocking me constantly. That and I preferred to mow it pretty high to knock down the saplings and old crap from last year before the new growth really takes off, which meant I had about a week to get it done.

It was still rowed up for tobacco so I wasn’t sure how bush hogging was going to go. It went. Had to follow the rows and turn around at the ends like I was discing it instead of mowing, but it worked. Unlocking the brakes and spinning it like a zero turn at the end of the rows without slowing down did bring back the many hours of doing the same with a pick up style 3 point disc harrow when I was a kid.

Then cut a short path through a blackberry patch with some small trees in it to make reasonable access to the old well that needs closing. Got the chance to see if the ragged old Howse 500 was still up to cutting 1.5” trees. It was.

Found a washed place about 30’ long in the middle of the field shallow enough I could creep across carefully in 4WD but deep enough if one side was in the wash and one side out, the tractor would roll; or if it was hit at full normal mowing speed it would likely bust something off the front end. Filled that in right after mowing was finished.

Longer term, I definitely want to flatten it and put a diagonal swash through it for drainage. Right now, we’re waiting on a visit from the NC Forest Service, who did the forestry plan on the rest of the place a few years ago. We will likely add the new acreage to the forestry plan and they’ve already told us we can likely leave it in native grasses, or something other than planting trees, but I don’t really want to do anything else to it until we know what our options are.

Flattening it isn’t really a big deal. I have a 3/4 worn out single gang disc buried in the back of the shed that would get it done if I chained some weight on it and ran over it a half dozen times. There’s an old double share moldboard plow back there as well, but doubt that’s needed. Alternatively, my brother has a double gang disc a couple years old with maybe 30 hours on it. It’s green, but otherwise way nicer than the one in my shed. It would be a good excuse to pay him a visit anyway. View attachment 125530
I like it better a little trimmed up. View attachment 125531

Good day I am not sure how your forestry plan works down there, but maybe also check in with either your local extension agent and /or USDA/NRCS if interested…if you haven’t already done that. There may be some options for adding a pollinator habitat for example, if that is something interested in. Good luck.

 

[NCL4701]

Good day I am not sure how your forestry plan works down there, but maybe also check in with either your local extension agent and /or USDA/NRCS if interested…if you haven’t already done that. There may be some options for adding a pollinator habitat for example, if that is something interested in. Good luck.

Good advice. When I called the Forest Service to amend our forestry plan I was pleasantly surprised to find they have habitat preservation as one of their goals in addition to timber production. We have enough timber they, and we, are hopeful we may be able to leave the fields open and leave the half acre or so of trees in the new part out of the mandatory harvest being they’re a sight barrier between us and the development. Not sure they’d let us put it back into ag production but good chance we can keep it as a reasonably maintained meadow.

 

[RCW]

Good advice. When I called the Forest Service to amend our forestry plan I was pleasantly surprised to find they have habitat preservation as one of their goals in addition to timber production. We have enough timber they, and we, are hopeful we may be able to leave the fields open and leave the half acre or so of trees in the new part out of the mandatory harvest being they’re a sight barrier between us and the development. Not sure they’d let us put it back into ag production but good chance we can keep it as a reasonably maintained meadow.

Like @rc51stierhoff , don't know what your NC Forestry Plan calls for.

Timber markets have been wonky lately. Both softwoods and hardwoods.

Just point of interest, a friend recently sold ~110,000 board feet of timber in upstate New York. Mostly hardwood; ash, black cherry, hard maple, red oak, but did have 12-15mbf of hemlock. At least some of the ash had been hit by EAB.

Stumpage price $1+/bf, which is really good in my estimation. After looking at the tally, probably some pretty high-quality stuff, especially the cherry, maple and oak. Buyer is betting on some veneer logs coming out of there......

He had a good Forester mark, tally and bid it. His return more than paid for the consulting fees IMO.

If you do have a "mandatory harvest," consider a good forester. Worked for this fellow. (I'm educated as a Forester and Biologist. Haven't been in the industry, but follow it)

As far as the other parcel, now that you're retired have you considered Christmas trees for part of it? That is short-rotation Forestry. Should work with NC's Plans?

Could be considered in conflict with Pollinator/Preservation Habitat due to maintenance and some pesticide requirements, especially if near watercourses....

 

[rc51stierhoff]

Good advice. When I called the Forest Service to amend our forestry plan I was pleasantly surprised to find they have habitat preservation as one of their goals in addition to timber production. We have enough timber they, and we, are hopeful we may be able to leave the fields open and leave the half acre or so of trees in the new part out of the mandatory harvest being they’re a sight barrier between us and the development. Not sure they’d let us put it back into ag production but good chance we can keep it as a reasonably maintained meadow.

Depending on your goals and how you want to go about them, the wording that seems to be used for some of programs that I am in is ‘wildlife plantings’ and ‘wildlife habitat’ and ‘landscaping for wildlife’…I am sure there are more terms but those seem to be some of the terms that I have noticed in my plan/contract that have options for managed grasslands, managed haying, pollinator habitat, etc. Not sure that helps or not, but under the umbrella of those terms there are notations and classification for managed grazing, haying, special plantings for wildlife, etc. the terms seem to be very broad to me and can include bird boxes for pollinator habitat as an example or special planting of grasses and flowers, or fruit trees…it’s really broad. Then inside of say bird boxes there is quite a spread there too…ranges from bats to owls to blue birds etc…sort like the tax code as far as I am concerned and I would not have found any of it if not for helpful extension agents and helpful state forester. Long story short its possible that a management plan could include managed lands (acres) that not forested. Good luck….there is a lot of rocks to look under between state and fed guidelines…at least up here for me.

I struggle to search those sites and seem to have better luck searching those terms on a search engine.

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Internet/FSA_File/crpcp4d.pdf

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/Wildlife_Habitat_Planting_420_NHCP_PO_2018.pdf

 

[Moose7060]

Had my new tractor delivered today by the dealer. A lot smaller than my M7060, and not a Kubota, but at least it's orange!

 

[NCL4701]

Like @rc51stierhoff , don't know what your NC Forestry Plan calls for.

Timber markets have been wonky lately. Both softwoods and hardwoods.

Just point of interest, a friend recently sold ~110,000 board feet of timber in upstate New York. Mostly hardwood; ash, black cherry, hard maple, red oak, but did have 12-15mbf of hemlock. At least some of the ash had been hit by EAB.

Stumpage price $1+/bf, which is really good in my estimation. After looking at the tally, probably some pretty high-quality stuff, especially the cherry, maple and oak. Buyer is betting on some veneer logs coming out of there......

He had a good Forester mark, tally and bid it. His return more than paid for the consulting fees IMO.

If you do have a "mandatory harvest," consider a good forester. Worked for this fellow. (I'm educated as a Forester and Biologist. Haven't been in the industry, but follow it)

As far as the other parcel, now that you're retired have you considered Christmas trees for part of it? That is short-rotation Forestry. Should work with NC's Plans?

Could be considered in conflict with Pollinator/Preservation Habitat due to maintenance and some pesticide requirements, especially if near watercourses....

If I could do anything I wanted, I’d treat it like a wilderness area: not harvest anything; keep enough areas clear and enough trails to allow hunting, fishing, hiking, and general enjoyment of the place; have a place for wildlife in the midst of the developments; manage it with a light hand. That may be possible. Not quite sure.

For the past couple of years, it’s been a legal chess match with a pair of developers. Forestry was the fastest and surest way under NC statutes to block their political games. If we have to harvest, it’s no worse than being forced out: the developers would scorched earth the place and plant hundreds of $500k houses all over it before our mailman figured out we left. A harvest would change the wildlife habitat but wouldn’t destroy it completely.

First round of harvest is the pines in 3 years. Hardwoods is 7. We have a little time to figure out our alternatives. There are several steps to go, and unfortunately they’re one at a time. Aiming for completion of legal maneuvering by mid-2025.

If we do harvest, engaging the services of a consulting forester to broker the deal and oversee the harvest is a definite for us. One of the main things I learned from the forester who did our plan was I don’t know squat about the business side of logging and timber. He didn’t say that but it was pretty obvious to me.

 

[Realtor]

Tested the Ballast block I made last week. What a difference, Little tractor felt so much better. Cut these stumps back in the pasture and hauled them outside the fence line.

 

[rc51stierhoff]

If I could do anything I wanted, I’d treat it like a wilderness area: not harvest anything; keep enough areas clear and enough trails to allow hunting, fishing, hiking, and general enjoyment of the place; have a place for wildlife in the midst of the developments; manage it with a light hand. That may be possible. Not quite sure.

For the past couple of years, it’s been a legal chess match with a pair of developers. Forestry was the fastest and surest way under NC statutes to block their political games. If we have to harvest, it’s no worse than being forced out: the developers would scorched earth the place and plant hundreds of $500k houses all over it before our mailman figured out we left. A harvest would change the wildlife habitat but wouldn’t destroy it completely.

First round of harvest is the pines in 3 years. Hardwoods is 7. We have a little time to figure out our alternatives. There are several steps to go, and unfortunately they’re one at a time. Aiming for completion of legal maneuvering by mid-2025.

If we do harvest, engaging the services of a consulting forester to broker the deal and oversee the harvest is a definite for us. One of the main things I learned from the forester who did our plan was I don’t know squat about the business side of logging and timber. He didn’t say that but it was pretty obvious to me.

Oh my…I am rooting for you.

I am a bit paranoid about that type of thing myself. We just bought a neighboring property late last year and annexed it into our forestry management plan at our place up North.

Before we bought we thought about what happens if the other neighbors sell…can we still use our land the way we want? I certainly can not buy them all out. I never went to a lawyer or anything so I don’t really know, but I was looking / considering deeding off a portion the property during the survey/close/transfer and in case I would ever want to put in a conservation easement it would be set up and I would just pay the survey fee the one time when we did the initial suburb/ close…or the other option was maybe later we put into a wilderness trust …to me it did not look like a clean answer (legal wording very broad and personally you need someone who is weaponized to understand it IMO) and that when push come to shove probably the person that will make out is the lawyer. I did not know / understand enough to involve one (I feared being taken for a ride), so I did not. Maybe I should have. I hope to not have to deal with (yes I know that is not a strategy). I saved the lawyer fees and hope to buy more implements.

if you havent already maybe watch Yellowstone (or an older / different series called Deadwood)…they’ve got some ideas.

good luck and best wishes. I hope doing good with the stress of that.

 

[ajschnitzelbank]

Oh my…I am rooting for you.

I am a bit paranoid about that type of thing myself. We just bought a neighboring property late last year and annexed it into our forestry management plan at our place up North.

Before we bought we thought about what happens if the other neighbors sell…can we still use our land the way we want? I certainly can not buy them all out. I never went to a lawyer or anything so I don’t really know, but I was looking / considering deeding off a portion the property during the survey/close/transfer and in case I would ever want to put in a conservation easement it would be set up and I would just pay the survey fee the one time when we did the initial suburb/ close…or the other option was maybe later we put into a wilderness trust …to me it did not look like a clean answer (legal wording very broad and personally you need someone who is weaponized to understand it IMO) and that when push come to shove probably the person that will make out is the lawyer. I did not know / understand enough to involve one (I feared being taken for a ride), so I did not. Maybe I should have. I hope to not have to deal with (yes I know that is not a strategy). I saved the lawyer fees and hope to buy more implements.

if you havent already maybe watch Yellowstone (or an older / different series called Deadwood)…they’ve got some ideas.

good luck and best wishes. I hope doing good with the stress of that.

When I hear comservation easement, I think of land trusts. There are few in my area that help property owners (mostly for free is my understanding). Not sure if working with a land trust is something you’ve considered, or if there’s a good one in your area even.

PS: The Land Trust Alliance accredits local land trusts.

 

[DustyRusty]

My land was harvested of almost all the hardwood right before I bought it 40+ years ago. I had the softwood harvested about 10 years ago and the logger said that removing the softwood would allow the remaining hardwood to flourish. He wasn't wrong, and it is getting close to the time to do another selective cutting. Partially thinning the trees helps the rest to grow, and will help you with some $$$ to buy more of whatever you want or put it away for a time when you will need it. I am a believer in investments that have a history of growing through the years. The only mistake that I made was not selling my GE stock when the price was high.

 

[fried1765]

My land was harvested of almost all the hardwood right before I bought it 40+ years ago. I had the softwood harvested about 10 years ago and the logger said that removing the softwood would allow the remaining hardwood to flourish. He wasn't wrong, and it is getting close to the time to do another selective cutting. Partially thinning the trees helps the rest to grow, and will help you with some $$$ to buy more of whatever you want or put it away for a time when you will need it. I am a believer in investments that have a history of growing through the years. The only mistake that I made was not selling my GE stock when the price was high.

THAT is the ONLY mistake you have made ????

 

[DustyRusty]

No, you are correct. Responding to your posts is the other mistake that I have made.

 

[Old_Paint]

Tested the Ballast block I made last week. What a difference, Little tractor felt so much better. Cut these stumps back in the pasture and hauled them outside the fence line.

Your ballast block looks remarkably like the chunk of concrete the previous owners poured around a basketball goal post next to my driveway.

This was not a fun evening.