Tag Archives: Massey 35

Machinery, Pigs

Toad strikes again

Leave a comment

Thank goodness for a Defender. We needed to take the pigs to Leintwardine and decided to trailer train them in the field. As with all good plans we had to modify them somewhat.
Mike used the tractor because we knew the fields were still quite wet. However, to get to the pig field requires us to go down a muddy slope and up a fairly stiff grassy one. Needless to say the tractor/trailer got stuck and no manoeuvring could free it. So, out came Toad the Defender. We got into our field via our neighbours (thanks Bob) and then pulled the tractor with one of our old sailing ropes. It was touch and go, but with a bit of attitude we managed to pull the whole rig free. The photos show the rope attached when it then got stuck coming back into the small paddock. Again the Defender managed to get it out although because of the angle of the rope we nearly took the gate post off.
So Plan B for trailer training the piggies; we brought them up to the concrete area with the feed bucket and then fed them on the trailer ramp. Fortunately they loved it so we didn’t have to worry about training them everyday. When D-day came they went straight into the trailer with no bother at all.

 

landietotherescue
stucktrailer Tractor and trailer stuck and making a right mess of the paddock.
Machinery, Pigs

Go Go Weaners

Leave a comment

Joe came to pick up all 8 weaners today. Now moving pigs is either straight forward and it takes no time at all, or it’s a nightmare. Today turned out to be the latter.

Initially we followed defacto plan A, i.e use a bucket of feed and walk the weaners plus Sultana up into the yard where they can be enclosed in a small space. Back the trailer up and walk everyone into the trailer. Normally works a treat. two problems today a)  Joe planned to put the weaners in the back of his truck and b) the pigs didn’t play ball.

Half of the weaners wouldn’t cross the boundary where the electric fence normally is. The others were in the yard and caught one by one to load into the truck. Now weaners at 8 weeks are quite small and you can ‘pop them in the car’, however these are 13 weeks. As soon as one was put in another escaped. Re-think required.

OK plan B, let’s get all the weaners and Sultana back in their paddock and then encourage them into the ark. Once in the ark they’re contained and we can carry them one by one into Joe’s truck. Hmm… the truck isn’t working let’s use our livestock trailer to avoid any more escapees. There’s quite a dip from the yard into the field but the Defender should manage it.

An hour in and things are going our way. I won’t say it was easy catching wriggling muddy weaners but it was working. However it’s a little unnerving being in the ark with a squealing weaner when Sultana comes barging in barking, to see what’s going on. She was very good about the whole thing and a few pounds of pig nuts pacified her.

 All we had to do now 2015-01-06-moving-weanerswas drive out of the field back to the yard. The Defender tried her best but it’s very muddy a steep slope and the trailer is quite heavy. Massey to the rescue. First tow the defender out. Second pick the front of the livestock trailer up on the 3 point linkage; I don’t have a tow bar on the Massey.  Third drive back to the yard.  It all went like clockwork, honestGnome-Face-Wink-64

2015-01-06-massey

Sorry no photos of us with weaners in our arms; all of us were fully occupied no spare hands to take any snaps.

Machinery, Pigs

Kiwi & Sultana take up Winter residence

Leave a comment

With the porkers gone we’re free to move Kiwi, Sultana and her litter plus 2 arks to the other end of the field for the Winter. Straight forward you’d think. Plan was straight forward, move one ark, move Kiwi, move second ark and then move Sultana and the piglets. It’s a good plan however remember the quickmud? The quickmud didn’t really want to release the ark nor us once we were in it’s grip. The wooden floor I made and the Porkers never used other than a toilet was wedged tight inside the ark. After 45 mins of pushing, pulling, swearing and Amanda losing her welly(lol), we managed to get it free. A photo or two would have been hilarious but in Amanda’s words “Due to the difficulty of taking photos whilst trying to lever a large ark out of mud, without a) releasing the ark so that you have to start levering all over again and b) loosing your boots which are firmly stuck in that mud, we have only one rather uninspiring photo of lots of bits of wood under the ark, which in no way convey the sheer frustration of trying to move the bloody thing, or how long it took!” …not a happy bunny.

2014-12-10-Kiwi-hurry-up

Kiwi checking on progress
Kiwi checking on progress

While all this was going on Kiwi was happily grazing, rattling a few pig nuts and she was in her new quarters. Ark number two was a lot quicker, without a floor and less mud it was down the other end of the field in no time. All we had to do now was to walk Sultana and her piglets down. Shouldn’t be a problem after all the piglets will just ‘follow Mum’ … err no that wasn’t what they or Sultana had in mind.

2014-12-10-Sultana-herding-croppedSultana thought it would be fun to round up the ewe lambs and put then in the lambing shed. Meanwhile the piglets went in all directions except the direction of Sultana. More pig nuts and we have Sultana back with the piglets, temporarily at least. No matter what we tried we couldn’t get all 8 to follow her. Eventually we had 5 and Sultana following the bucket and off we went. So what about the last 3? Fortunately with some ‘sushing’ they went into Ark number 3, perfect.  Amanda backed the Landrover up close by, then one by one we caught the piglets without letting the others escape and bundled them in the back of the Landy. After short drive to the other end of the field they were re-united with Mum and their siblings. Time for a shower and a cuppa.

 

Machinery

Time to tackle the Massey

Leave a comment

The draught control on the Massey isn’t working . It’s the draught control keeps the implement (e.g. plough) at a constant depth independent of the tractor’s ups and downs as it travels over the ground. Very clever system invented by Harry Ferguson some 80 years ago. Anyway mine isn’t working so armed with the workshop manual and a phone, to call a friend, I’ve started to dismantle the Massey. Minor problem the Massey came off the production line in 1960 and so all the nuts and bolts are imperial and all my large spanners are metric.  Tracked down some large spanners and I’ve got the offending part off,  it’s off to the mechanic tomorrow.

Whilst the tractor is in the shed I’ll try and fix the fuel leaks. Got the fuel tank off to sort the drip from the tap and clean out 50 years of muck. Need a few washers to sort the rest of the leaks out, all in all no biggy.  As you can imagine the old girl is not looking at her best.

Currently looks like this!
Currently looks like this!
massey_ferguson_35_2
Should look like this.