I've Been Enlisted

I've been enlisted. No, not into military service. But I have been enlisted to drive the feed truck this winter. In its former life, our feed truck was an Army truck. We purchased the 1991 5-ton, 6-wheel drive Army truck and had the Kelly Ryan feed wagon box added to the back in 2014.

C. Melvin Fritzemeier, 10th Infantry Division, U.S. Army

Since Randy's Dad drove an Army truck in the Korean War, there's a bit of nostalgia there, too.

It still has its Army number emblazoned on the driver's side door. That first step is a doozy. So I use my handy-dandy ladder to get into the truck.

 

 Once inside, it looks a little like mission control. 

 With the gap between the windows and the frame, it's kind of a cold ride on nippy mornings! Randy "says" there is a heater. There may be a blower, but I'm not convinced it's heating anything.

Every morning, Randy uses the loader tractor to scoop out silage from the trench silo. The silage crop was rather small this year, so the silo isn't nearly as full as it sometimes is.

It takes several scoops to get enough silage to feed the cows and the calves.

Once I get a thumbs up, it's time to get the truck turned around and headed back to the corrals.

It's kind of a tight squeeze. My least favorite part of the trip is pulling in and out of the drive and the narrow gate.

To make sure I don't end up in Peace Creek, I have to pull into a driveway past the actual entrance into the pasture, back up and then come in from the north. I make my exit in the same convoluted way.

There are no guard rails on that wooden bridge.

Once I make the trek back to the farmstead, Randy augers some grain in the truck while I follow voice commands. (I turn off the blower first so I can hear him. It doesn't seem to make much difference in the temperature in the cab anyway.)

Then I become fence opener for our neighborhood Meals on Wheels delivery.

I like the warmer days ...

... better than the frigidly cold days. 

It doesn't seem to affect our diners much. They like the meal plan - no matter the weather.

Come to think of it, the cab of the truck is warmer than the outside temperature most days.

However, until the calves get moved to a larger lot, there's a lot of maneuvering involved. So gate duty it is!

I'm in the Army (Truck) Now

I'm in the Army now!
OK, more accurately, I'm in the Army TRUCK.

 

For the past week, due to circumstances beyond my control, my to-do list has had an addition. I'm the feed truck driver.

In its former life, our feed truck was an Army truck. We purchased the 1991 5-ton, 6-wheel drive Army truck and had the Kelly Ryan feed wagon box added to the back in 2014.

C. Melvin Fritzemeier, 10th Infantry Division, U.S. Army

Since Randy's Dad drove an Army truck in the Korean War, there's a bit of nostalgia there, too.

It still has its Army number emblazoned on the driver's side door.

That first step is a doozy. So I use my handy-dandy ladder to get into the truck.

Once inside, it looks a little like mission control. 

To start the feeding session, I have to zero out the scale. We add grain to the bottom of the feed wagon. Randy augers it in from our storage bin.

 

Right about now, we could use some extra help like we had a few weeks ago when Kinley and Brooke were visiting.

In our high-tech operation, I honk the horn when the scale gets to 650 pounds. (My auger operator can vaguely be seen through the dusty rearview mirror.)

He's a good teacher. Once you get the crash course, the feed truck is not so intimidating. Wait ... maybe I shouldn't say "crash course" when talking about driving. Especially when I consider the rather tight turn into the pasture where the silo is located.

To make sure I don't end up in Peace Creek, I have to pull into a driveway past the actual entrance into the pasture, back up and then come in from the north.

There are no guard rails on that wooden bridge, you know!

Once at the silo, Randy uses the loader tractor to put silage into the feed box. 

Several scoops later, we're ready to be Meals on Wheels and deliver the silage to the feeder calves.

Once we get back to the farmstead, Randy hops onto the step of the truck for a short ride to the pasture, so he can open the gate and flip down the feed chute. 

The feeder calves were ready for their breakfast.

I'm getting better at getting the right trajectory to get the feed delivered to the bunks.

These cows across the road on sudan stalks always look a little envious that I'm delivering already chopped feed to the feeder calves. They are having to forage for theirs right now!

While I put the feed truck back in the shed, Randy gets some grain to top the silage in the feeder bucket.

That mixture goes to the calves we are fattening for our own dinner table.

 Mission again accomplished!

A Different Kind of Makeover

I like watching those HGTV makeover shows like "Property Brothers" or "Love It or List It." If I'm in a Lowe's or Home Depot, I'm always hoping I'll run into one of those "Yard Crasher" or "Bath Crasher" guys. When people turn them down, I talk to the TV. "Don't you people realize you just missed the opportunity of a lifetime?" (I talk to the TV during football games, too. Just ask my kids.)

We've had a makeover of another kind in the farmyard. Our 1991 5-ton, 6-wheel drive Army truck has now become our feed truck. We bought the Army truck from a local auto repair shop a year and a half ago. It took awhile for Randy to price and find a feed box for the back.

 

This shows the size of the truck, compared to our pickup.

In May, we took the truck to Goddard's Equipment near Hill City to have a 6- by 12-foot Kelly Ryan feed wagon added to the back.

The guys brought it home last week.

Randy had them install scales, which will let us know how much feed we're dispensing in the bunks this winter.

The inside of the feed truck bed is all shiny and new, at least for now, before it gets its daily allocation of silage feed this winter. 

 

Since Randy's Dad drove an Army truck in the Korean War, there's a bit of nostalgia there, too. I'm guessing he would have liked it about as much as Randy does. Big boys and their toys, you know!

C. Melvin Fritzemeier, 10th Infantry Division, U.S. Army

It still has its Army number emblazoned on the driver's side door.

Randy showed me his "two free knives" with the Goddard Equipment logo. I just love things like "free" knives and "free" ball caps when we bring home equipment in the five-figure range.

However, I must admit that it was time to retire the old feed wagon. It has served us well.

But the old war horse (aka Packrat Hotel) will now become scrap iron.