LB7: The Rebuild, Ch.2 -- Building slowly

[TheBac]

The mound was "needed" because our watertable comes to within 12" of surface in the first 100' of our backyard, and within 30" in the second 100'. With the pump system, they want 48" of spacing between the groundwater and the field output..so hence the mound. The aerobic system would only need half that height...so it would save money and materials...but they just dont get that. Our old system was at least 30 years old, so they cant tell me that the water table really had anything to do with it. (and no, our drinking water doesnt show any Ecoli or bacteria contamination...so that argument has no weight.)

The way I understand it, they want the outflow to be treated and be 90% clean water before it hits the drainfield. The aerobic system is supposed to be 95% clean.
They want the pump installed so the "dose" is distributed over a larger area within the drainfield, instead of just within the first few feet of it (typical gravity-fed system). It has something to do with a scum-mat forming in the area where the water sets, which stops that part of the system from working...then the water has to move farther into the system to drain correctly. I think its a waste, as the whole system will eventually fail no matter how you get the water to it in the first place. Also, if the pump fails, its $1000 to replace it. The siphon system is similar to a gravity-fed, which again seemed to work just fine for the 30 (or more) years that the old system was here. But, you know how it is with engineers and politicians....common sense is the farthest thing from their minds.


I hope I explained that so it makes sense???

 

[SteveFord]

Yeah makes sense and it sucks. Are they forcing you to change or is the old system just going bad? Usually if your forced to change atlleast around here the county steps in and helps with the cost depending on the amount or work and cost.

 

[TheBac]

Old system is failing. Got water on surface. It would have been nice to get sewer system installed in our area, as our section is the only one in our township that isnt served, but that gets voted down every time it comes up. We'd have subdivisions started up almost immediately if there were sewer/water close by.

Like I said, I screwed up 10 years ago. Not the first time. But thats the way it is...

Thanks for letting me vent. I needed it.

 

[SteveFord]

No problem. To bad we don't live in the same state cause I'd hook you up at cost to ease the pain. Good luck with everything.

 

[durallymax]

Wow Tom that sucks, sounds like MI is a PITA some times.

If it makes you feel any better though tom, you have it much easier than I do over here In Wisco. Being a large dairy farm, we get to deal with the DNR, NRCS, EPA and just random city folk every day. Its no fun at all. We are in the process of becoming a CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) We've been in the grey area for a few years but now we are adding a few more cows so we have to become a CAFO. If you want, I could go into detail about how ridiculously stupid the rules are for CAFOs, none of them make any sense and none have scientific research to back them up.

One of my favorites happened to a friend of ours.

He became a CAFO a few years ago. Part of being a CAFO means that the runoff from the Silage Trenches has to be confined. So he installed a collection tank. There also needs to be a way to monitor when it is full. so he built a PVC float stick. Very simple design and never fails. The DNR came in a said that it was illegal and that he needed to install an electronic monitoring system with an alarm. Ummm wheres the common sense there. A PVC float will never fail, an electronic system has a million ways to fail.

This is just one of the many dumb laws we encounter. The DNR seems to be trying to push all of us farmers out of business.

Fortunatley for us the EPA hasnt been much of an issue yet, but they are trying to pass air quality standards. In California, CARB has sucessfully passed air quality standards for farms. And since cows produce methane, the farmers have to pay a tax to cover the cows emissions. I was talking to a farmer I know from there who farms 1500 cows and last year he spent $40,000 on his "cow emissions tax". F-in Joke.

We also have a lot of rules for all farms for our buildings. Our shop is a good example. The floor drains have to drain into one tank and the toilet has to drain into another and both must be disposed of as hazardous waste. So what did we do?? Run all of it into one 6500 gallon tank and we pump it into our tank spreader and haul it all out onto the field. As far as the inspector is concerned the tank rarely gets full, besides he cant see the plumbing under the concrete anyways.

Then we also have to deal with the city folk. This is probably the worst, but by far my favorite to deal with. We have a few fields right next to high end subdivisions, they immediately call the cops right as we enter the field when we are spreading manure or doing fieldwork. They complain about the smell, the noise, the lights and the mud on the road, which we take care of when the job is done. Before we start our work in these areas we call the local authorities and notify them of what we are doing so that they know to tell the people there is nothing they can do.

And why is there nothing they can do? The Right To Farm Act that we have in Wisconsin. It says that we have the right to farm so if you dont like the noise, the smell or the lights at 3 in the morning, move to a different house or STFU.

My favorite is when people come up to the tractor to tell me that what I am doing is illegal, I am disturbing the peace. I tell them that Im not doing anything Illegal. They say they will call the police, so I pull out my phone and give them the non-emergency number and say "here call them". I tell them that the police will do nothing as we have a right to farm. Most of the time they just walk away pissed off, but I have had some take me up on teh offer and call the police and be rejected. Only once have the police actually showed up.

One more example of this is when my buddy was hauling out his manure pit. The Semis had to drive through a subdivision and park on the road to transfer to the tanker. There was a local guy whose house was right next to this act. He took pictures of it and called the sheriffs. The sheriffs called my buddy and met him at the guys house. The man came out furious saying what they were doing was illegal and handed the sheriff the pictures. The Sheriff tore up the pictures and said go back in your house and dont ever call us again for BS like this, we have real work to do and what they are doing is not illegal, they have a right to be here under the Right to Farm Act. I wish I wouldve been there to witness it.


With the way the goverment and many non-farm people are acting these days, its making it harder and harder to farm, especially for a big farm like ours. If it keeps getting worse, we may be forced to just tell people to starve, we quit.

Sorry to derail, i ended up on a bit of a vent there.

 

[TheBac]

I have been delivering to dairy farms (and pig farms and large seed farms, etc), so I completely understand, Vinny. Youd be surprised what a UPS guy can learn just talking to his customers daily.
Most of my dairys have had to "go big or go home" in order to compete. There are no more "small operations", except for the organic guys.

 

[durallymax]

didnt know you were a Up's guy. I have a lot of respect for you guys. Our Up's guy shows up as late as 8pm. Talk about a long day sitting in a rattle box.

The only thing I dont care for with UPS is that they sometimes loose packages, but since they work late and get them too me and they are quick and cheap, I still prefer them.

Its almost impossible to stay small now. Unless you find a niche market for your milk such as organic, its just not feaseable, unless your wife works off the farm and makes a lot of money, and you the small farmer work 16 hour days doing all of the work yourself, then have no time for your kids.

Its tough, especially when the younger generation wants to return. We expanded to cover my moms heart transplant bills. And are continuing to expand so that there is a place for me and my siblings to come back to. By making it larger we can specialize. I hate cows, but will always be a dairy farmer as I see it as the best way to make money and the best job security. Right now its hard to argue that point, but things will change hopefully. Being big lets each sibling take a different role. We are turning our farm into an LLC or Inc this summer, depends on which one the lawyers say will be best. This way each family member can buy into the farm, but no matter what the farm is still protected if a sibling gets greedy. I just graduated with a degree in Crop and Soil Science. I will be taking over the cropping side of the farm as well as managing the shop. Theres a lot to keep me busy in this department but I want to incorporate newere more advanced and efficient machinery as well as a lot of precision farming devices. to offset the costs of this I am looking into starting to expand into custom work. I like dealing with other farmers some times, and I feel the custom route would be fun for me and allow me to incorporate new technologies. My sister loves cows, so she can do that part if she feels she wants to when she graduates high school. My brother is undecided.

Many people bash big farms, but they dont know one thing about farming. Every other industry has gotten larger so that they can specialize, why cant farming.

My favorite is the people who want every farm to be a 100 cow organic farm. There are many parts of this that wont work, including the fact that organic cant feed the world, but the biggest part is, how do you find enough people to farm? You wont.

I like chatting with the Ups guy, if you get bored maybe swing over a drop off a package for me and we'll chat.:thumb:

 

[sweetdiesel]

It doesnt end, EVER, i guess the only true ending would be if you got out of the sport completely. There always more go fast parts to by, and more "industructable" parts to break.

True dat

 

[sweetdiesel]

Ouch. Im sorry Simon. What the heck happened?

No reason to be sorry Tom

I Am A diesel addict

 

[TheBac]

Vinny, you might look up Irrer Seed Farm or Pat Feldpausch Farms, both in Fowler, MI. Both are big seed operations, and do a lot of the custom farming stuff. They just keep getting bigger and bigger.

I cannot believe how much equipment costs. I really never understood how you guys do it when a combine costs $500,000.

I completely understand about incorporating the farm. Most of mine are LLCs. Funny you should mention the younger generations coming back....my farmers are slowly but surely turning over control to sons or son-in-laws. I think of the 10 largest farms on the route when I started in '97....6 are now being run by the next generation.

Sounds like you've got a good read on what needs to be done for you to be successful. :thumb:

 

[durallymax]

I wouldnt do combining, grain is not my thing. I would do custom forage. Much more fun. I love chopping corn, because its similar to pulling. Go as fast as you can with the power you have, work the piss outta that $500,000 chopper. Our chopper is an 08 7350 Deere with 480hp and a 6 row corn head. We are looking to upgrade to a Claas 950 soon, but I might look into just buying a much bigger one and doing custom stuff. The biggest chopper is the Krone Big X 1000. 1024hp and up to a 14 row head. It eats some serious corn, 400 tons per hour, we can only push 170 through our Deere. But the Krone with heads is about a $700,000 package whereas our Deere was $360,000.

Theres no doubt that dairy farming is very capital intense.

The average age of a farmer is like 56 or something right now. They are a dying breed, but yes on the larger farms the younger generation is coming back.

 

[TheBac]

Well, its been a while.

Pistons, crank and cam are done. Bearings are coming, getting headgaskets and head bolts from C-Power, going to look at NAPA for the majority of my gaskets. Still have to buy the flywheel and rod bolts. Going to go to Sears tomorrow and buy me some new tools.

Where exactly did you guys buy your piston rings? Ive been looking for a while for an online site, and struck out. Only place I found was Summit, and they wanted over $500. Uh, nope.

 

[paint94979]

Well, its been a while.

Pistons, crank and cam are done. Bearings are coming, getting headgaskets and head bolts from C-Power, going to look at NAPA for the majority of my gaskets. Still have to buy the flywheel and rod bolts. Going to go to Sears tomorrow and buy me some new tools.

Where exactly did you guys buy your piston rings? Ive been looking for a while for an online site, and struck out. Only place I found was Summit, and they wanted over $500. Uh, nope.

Talk to Henry?

 

[TheBac]

Talk to Henry?

He doesnt have them listed on his site.

 

[paint94979]

Not listed.

he can get you anything you need... most likely the best prices as well

 

[ripmf666]

He doesnt have them listed on his site.

http://www.duramaxdiesels.com/forum/showpost.php?p=339688&postcount=102

 

[ripmf666]

I dont see you finding alot of the gaskets for these motors at NAPA just a few water pump and cross over bridge. The o rings and most the others are Gm only parts.

 

[lotsofmiles]

Tom, I forget did you go with the Harbour Freight engine puller? Need to find one to yank my 5.7, but want to make sure it can handle the dmax if the need ever comes up. A friend said I could borrow his, but you want to talk about a slooooow rebuild. I dont think he's going to want to loan it out that long

 

[TIM Z]

Continued Luck to you on your Build Tom!:thumb:

 

[TheBac]

Tom, I forget did you go with the Harbour Freight engine puller? Need to find one to yank my 5.7, but want to make sure it can handle the dmax if the need ever comes up. A friend said I could borrow his, but you want to talk about a slooooow rebuild. I dont think he's going to want to loan it out that long

Ive had my engine hoist for 20 years. I couldnt tell you where I bought it.
I did get the engine stand from HF, though.


Henry, you'd be surprised what you can find if you look hard enough. :rofl: