[AT] Potato diggers - Slight variation

[CRAWLER HEAVEN]

Greg Where are you located?? I believe i have a friend that has a flail
chopper or two for sale. He stopped feeding cows a few years ago . Before
that he stopped milking and because he was raising heffers they didn't get
sold at his auction. He also has a nice manure spreader Gehl i think anyways
its silver and in nice shape, he washed it real good and keeps it in a barn.
I'm in Central New York.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Hass" <gkhass at avci.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 3:46 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Potato diggers - Slight variation


> First of all, Happy New Year to everyone.  Grant's post reminded me of
> something that has been on my mind quite a bit recently. I have some
> problems quite similar to his, one being limited funds and the other
> farming only a little over a hundred acres.  I have no idea how many on
> this list farm at all, particularly how many farm small acreages.  As I
> have mentioned in previous posts, all of the machinery I own except for
the
> corn planter and skid steer is 30+ years old.
>
> I am generally on the lookout for various machines, but the problem
> is:  where I can I find them?  I used to be able to find some at auctions,
> however the auctions that have the equipment I need have pretty much run
> their course and auctions now are mostly large farm auctions.  Our local
> machinery dealers have refused for quite a while to take any of this small
> type of equipment on trade.  It is now rumored that our local John Deere
> dealer (whom I do not patronize and who bought the dealership from the
> previous owner 2 years ago) will not take any equipment over 5 years old
on
> trade.  Three miles from me is a local machinery jockey in his mid-30s who
> handles just the type of equipment I need.  However, he is so crooked that
> not even a flame wrench can straighten him out, which is sad because our
> area could really use this type of dealer.
>
> My only alternative seems to be fence row hunting, which is difficult
> because many of the fence rows are not visible from the road.  For
> instance, my field cultivator and crop sprayer I got from a cousin who had
> them sitting in tall weeds out behind the barn for 15+ years.  Both
> required several hundred dollars in repairs to get them in working order
> but at least now I have fairly decent, usable machines.  My roll-over plow
> I heard about by accident.  A guy a couple of miles away had purchased it
> on a deal with a used tractor and never used it.  It had been sitting
there
> for over 10 years.  The problem with this type of acquisition is that in
> all of these cases I had been looking for the equipment for 3 or more
years
> before I found it.  Should I need a machine in the near future they are
> almost impossible to find quickly.
>
> At the present time I am looking for a flail chopper.  For those not
> familiar, they were a machine 5-ft. wide that cut hay with swinging
flails,
> threw it into an auger, which in turn augered it into a set of knives
which
> recut the hay then blew it into a wagon to feed the cattle on a daily
> basis.  I do not have livestock, but on my limited acreage such a machine
> would do a good job of cutting up the cornstalks so they wouldn't pug my
> plow.  Twenty years ago there were hundreds of them in our area so the
> problem now is to find one.  I have never heard of an online service with
> listings of this type of equipment, although it would probably be handy.
I
> know here's no magical anser to the problem.  I guess I just needed to
vent
> a little going into the new year.
>
> Greg Hass
>
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