FARM SHOW Magazine

ALL about #FARMING, #RANCHING & #AGRICULTURAL LIFE. Learn about clever Farm Inventions, Time-Saving Tips, DIY Projects, #Farm Hacks, Workshop Tips & #AG Videos!

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Troy Hall says his father Ken’s Deere XUV835 Gator is a great utility vehicle that does all sorts of work, but until recently it had one big drawback. “The engine air intake was close to the rear wheel where it drew in a lot of dust and dirt when the vehicle was used on gravel roads and dusty fields,” Hall says. “He was constantly cleaning the air filter because the engine was losing power.” https://t.co/iAnpIEbns9

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Cal Miner, Willmar, Minn.: "I cut a 265-gal. fuel oil tank in half and then welded bed frame angle irons around the edges to build this 2-wheeled trailer. Bed frames are made from springy, high carbon steel so you don’t want to use them on structural projects or they’ll crack, but they work good as an edge liner to hold the tank straight." https://t.co/CdSe7XxnA4

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Al Hernke is one of those well-seasoned farmers who’s never seen a piece of junk metal that can’t be made into something worthwhile. “We had an old 25-in. dia. and 25-in. deep Terragator rim behind the shed, and after looking at it several times while mowing lawn, I decided that it was just the right shape to make into a small tree spade,” Hernke says. https://t.co/tuEvE8CW9Z⁠

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Growing up on an Ohio dairy farm, Mark Jones says he avoided milking cows whenever possible, always loved machinery, and especially enjoyed seeing scale model tractors at farm shows. “Those little tractors really spurred my interest to build a scale model of my dad’s Cockshutt 570 and two implements from scratch,” Jones says. https://t.co/tuEvE8DtZx⁠

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

John Betka figures he’ll get more years of use out of his $250 home-built grapple than he would from a $1,600 grapple. It’s already proven to be a useful piece of equipment for moving trees, lifting slash, and transporting boulders around his Walkerville, Montana, property. https://t.co/yaE3psWYy3

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Dennis McClung’s urban “farm” in Mesa, Arizona, began with an old in-ground swimming pool. “When we bought our house, we loved the location and knew we wanted to grow food, but we had a limited space and budget,” McClung explains. A big area of the lot was taken up by a pool that required $10,000 of repairs. Instead, McClung turned it into a hoop house to create a greenhouse. https://t.co/QKktmh8Y9f

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

“My Kubota B6200 tractor, which I sometimes enter in pulling contests, has a light front end. I tried hanging weights on front, but it didn’t really help,” says David Simpler, Elkton, Md. “So I found two new 16-in. dia., cast iron Brillion cultipacker wheels weighing 25 lbs. apiece. They fit perfectly just inside the lip of the wheel rim on the tractor’s front wheels.” https://t.co/vPV0RJvf2C

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

While electric wells are unmatched from a convenience standpoint, they can leave you in a lurch if the power goes out. Some aim to counteract this problem by installing hand pumps on their electric wells. This ensures they always have a way to access their water supply no matter the status of the power supply. https://t.co/6DXTWl8MTB

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

“In an issue of FARM SHOW Phil McIntyre of Montgomery, Texas described how he moved an RV carport with his Massey Ferguson 50 hp tractor. I recently used the same idea to move a big building with a Deere 4120 tractor,” says Jeff Weller of Dunnellon, Fla. https://t.co/iEA81I65ky

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Flat-bottomed bins with an aeration system work well to dry grain but farmers still need to go in and shovel out the last couple hundred bushels. Hopper-bottomed bins empty by gravity flow, but aeration systems don’t work as well in them, often leaving dead pockets and spoilage. https://t.co/YbZzNHQ9db

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Old 3-pt. mounted graders can be turned into low-cost pull-type units for use with tractors that don’t have a 3-pt. hitch, says Tim Mounce, Downing, Wis., who sent FARM SHOW photos of a 2-wheeled, pull-type grader that he made. https://t.co/sOLYYcRRWq

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Robert Pomnitz wrote to FARM SHOW in the fall of 2023 to describe the journey of a homemade tractor he built more than 50 years ago in 1972. He built the tractor from spare parts, ran it for a few years, sold it, and reacquired it 35 years later. https://t.co/GemIk4W7ye

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

The Rosetown Antique Power Club has one of the rarest of rare tractors. No authenticating documentation or even a serial number exists. However, it appears to be a 1916 Ford Model B, one of only 30 ever built. https://t.co/GemIk4W7ye

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Pvc conduit “insulator arms” up to 4 ft. long can be used to hold a single strand of electric fence wire to keep horses from damaging wooden fences. The long arms are a great improvement over commercial long-shank insulators that put the “hot” wire 5 or 6 in. away from the fence, because the animals can’t get close enough to chew or rub on wood rails. https://t.co/8EzljMJwY3

[Jen @SweetTexanRose]

I don’t know what’s funnier, the fact the guy has a Lawntoon or the fact his wife rides along with him. 😂

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Herb Wright of Melfort, Sask., got a helpful idea from his neighbor for modifying his floor sweeper to reduce the amount of dust it kicked up. Wright drilled a hole in the top of the sweeper and added a cordless vacuum to it. Now the vacuum takes care of most of the dust while sweeping the shop. This was an inexpensive modification because the vacuum was free since the power head was broken.

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

When Andy and Tony Mulvihill learned they’d have to spend at least $2,000 a year to rent a truck crane to switch out the dry and liquid tanks on their new Rogator, the brothers quickly decided to build a large A-frame crane to do the job. https://t.co/llxS25AxQz

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

“My Deere dealer told me a 4-cyl. Kubota diesel wouldn’t fit in my Deere tractor, but I proved him wrong,” says Tim Bulthouse, Grand Haven, Mich., who repowered his 1981 Deere 400 garden tractor with a Kubota 4-cyl., 1.2-liter, 24 1/2 hp industrial diesel engine. https://t.co/pilyYfIkr3

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

One of the handiest systems we’ve seen for storing and dispensing bulk lubricants is this one set up by B.J. Gingerich of Tremont, Ill. “It’s convenient because we don’t have drums sitting all over our shop floor and making a mess,” says Gingerich, who is the shop manager for a small, family-owned company in the crane rental business. https://t.co/DBkJzDaXp5

[FARM SHOW Magazine @FarmShow]

Ruby Murray makes the most of Louisiana's growing season by continuously starting vegetable plants. But she never has to buy seed-starting containers. Murray discovered toilet paper rolls make perfect biodegradable pots. "Cut the rolls in half. Make four slits on one end to fold and make a flat bottom. Slip the half rolls in a box or tray to support each other. Fill them with potting soil and plant the seeds. They hold up just fine over six weeks of watering until the plants are ready," Murray says. Read more: https://t.co/3BBLg902gk