A Strong Back: The Adventures of Tom Mc Sherry

[frankmac]

... Almost like SA - everyone watches while one works

My first thoughts as well

[Mr Zog]

... Almost like SA - everyone watches while one works

My first thoughts as well

That's because they are all South Africans   

[Tom van Brits]

  yes we did draw some attention today when we poured the concrete in the heat of the day as well, but respect x 3 to my boss that is my senior by a few years and worked just as hard and done all the floating/finishing(Smoothing) himself!

[Tom van Brits]

I was not familiar at all with the 'chain offloader" (if that is even correct) but highly impressed!
You stop, engage PTO and slowly let go of the cluch and the rear doors of the truck opens and the load shifts off in maybe 1minute time!
Then you drive a few yards fwd and disengage PTO, press close (doors) and check if it dit close and drive off.

That also need regular grease and service. I need to count all the grease nippels I need to service on my truck but there are many. Only on the drive shafts there are 3 universal joints not to mention the drive axle, steering arms and the aux unit.

Tomorrow is my first day at chopping sialage. I'll obviously drive loads to the feeders; back and forth to the land where we will be chopping. Looking fw!!

[big oil]

Glad to read you're loving the USA, Tom.  Zog is right, the Amazon app on your smartphone is the bees knees.

You can search for anything on the Amazon app, then compare prices with other online retailers.

A few clicks, done, delivered to your RV if you butter up your UPS driver with cold drinks, candy bars, cookies.

Buying hats or caps.  If you ever see a seed salesman or farm machinery salesman, whatever, those guys carry hats to give away for promotion. 

Tell salesman you need lots of caps, he'll probably hand you 5-10 for free.

If you need boots or shoes, Zappos dot com.  They have an enormous warehouse right next to the largest UPS hub in the USA, in Louisville, Kintuck.

I shit you not, I've placed orders as late as 10:30pm and had the shoes at my front door by 10am the next morning.  If I'm n to mistaking, they offer free size exchanges and returns, though I haven't ordered from Zappos in quite some time.  I went with the best most comfortable boots I've ever worn, Danner, made in USA in Oregon or Washington state iirc.

A convenience store is a money pit if you add up visiting one daily over the course of your stay.

I hope you're buying beverages and snacks in bulk at Walmart or Sam's Club or Costco and not paying $2 for a bottle of pop and $4.29 for a bag of Doritos at a convenience store numerous times a week, that wastefulness adds up over time.

Your foreman has excellent taste in trucks.  His GMC is equipped with the best Diesel engine on earth, the 6.6L Duramax!  His truck was built in Flint, Michigan.

[Tom van Brits]

Thanks big oil! Appreciate all te advice,  I am still working and next in line to be loaded but thought to have a quick look at Wd's.

Cheers bud 

[Tom van Brits]

Sialage season

[thabogrobler]

Kry ek nou heimwee!!

In 2001 me and 2 mates spent a summer mostly in Kansas. We harvested a few mile from you around Johnson City, Ks. It was crazily hot but a very satisfying time.

Our base farm was just west of Cunningham, east of Pratt. On you way from Wichita you would have passed through them.

I do agree, the USA is a GREAT country! I believe if you are willing to work you will make a living.

I love the Wrangler range of clothing, sommer at Wallmart, especially their jeans. Nothing locally compares in quality of comfort. On the shoe front I like Justin, especially this model: https://www.sheplers.com/justin-mens-drywall-waterproof-pull-on-work-boots---soft-toe/050B99.html?dwvar_050B99_color=7010#start=8

If you would like to die of boredom, get struck in that silage compactor tractor - I'm sure that operator dreams in circles!

I was mostly on the trucks or in the workshop - combine or grain cart is also mind numbing for me.

I really like your pictures. It is sad that so many farm buildings just stand empty?

Enjoy your time there and maybe sommer marry a Yankee?

[Tom van Brits]

Kry ek nou heimwee!!

In 2001 me and 2 mates spent a summer mostly in Kansas. We harvested a few mile from you around Johnson City, Ks. It was crazily hot but a very satisfying time.

Our base farm was just west of Cunningham, east of Pratt. On you way from Wichita you would have passed through them.

I do agree, the USA is a GREAT country! I believe if you are willing to work you will make a living.

I love the Wrangler range of clothing, sommer at Wallmart, especially their jeans. Nothing locally compares in quality of comfort. On the shoe front I like Justin, especially this model: https://www.sheplers.com/justin-mens-drywall-waterproof-pull-on-work-boots---soft-toe/050B99.html?dwvar_050B99_color=7010#start=8

If you would like to die of boredom, get struck in that silage compactor tractor - I'm sure that operator dreams in circles!

I was mostly on the trucks or in the workshop - combine or grain cart is also mind numbing for me.

I really like your pictures. It is sad that so many farm buildings just stand empty?

Enjoy your time there and maybe sommer marry a Yankee?

This was now a lekker read, thanks for the reply bud!!

Yes many farm houses abanded, and I am always thinking what stories those building could tell ....so many of them and old vehicles and farm implements just standing there.
If that was back home some scrap metal dealers would have fallen over their feet to try and get hold of it!

Luckily my boss don't do the sialage tractor contracts anymore so we do not meet to ride in circles for 12hours plus a day!
Sialage choppers have however advanced since you guys were here. I noticed that we are harvesting at 10miles an hour plus and it is amazing how quickly you swallow 100 acers of corn!

I am just on the truck (mainly) and workshop where we fix anything on a Peterbuilt and trailer including tires and brakes. A whole new experience but I must admit not at all easy going and yes it's hot! We also any other farmwork the boss need us to do. I am getting used to short nights and long days, and in a way this remind me a lot of a demining contract in the DRC where a couple of South Africans were operating within the UN. Always weird to see how many South Africans especially Afrikaans South Africans are around in the world. You find them everywhere....over weekends in Wallmart in the USA or at the Rodeo 

Another American friend asked me today what I miss about SA, and I said apart from my family and friends not really much...and that is scary and sad. It is not supposed to be that way, but contrary to what the media make us believe of America this just an amazing country. It is clean and safe. My room mate forgot his passport and wallet in his truck in the field the other night. To give you an idea; we don't ever remove the keys from a trucks ignition. The next day we poured cement and only the late afternoon did he get to his truck. Nothing was missing, including tools and other valuables.
Sadly there are psicos in every community and here is no different. Yes once in a while you will hear about a mass shooting or something sick, but keep in mind this is a huge country.
Kansas is very similar to the Orange free state in SA but a lot warmer. It looks very similar and all I miss wrt scenery is mountains bit one will have to travel to Colorado to see the Rocky mountains I believe. Being the 3rd longest mountain range (under correction) it should have some spectacular sightings as well.

Many South Africans here say that SA still is the most beautiful place they have seen but I think only because they did not see the rest of the States (like me) or even other places in the World. For me till this day the DRC was ja dropping beautiful, keep in mind I went all over the country with the demolition team as their medic.

All in all coming back to what I have said many times before; I can be happy anywhere because you are responsible for your own happyness. For now home is still where my family and close friends are, back in SA but I am overly impressed with the States, many great people and loyalty seems to be solid characteristics here.

[Tom van Brits]

When you work on a farm you can't be allergic to
 A: Work
 B: Cow shit
 C: Fun
 D: All the above are correct.

D 

 

[Mr Zog]

When you work on a farm you can't be allergic to
 A: Work
 B: Cow shit
 C: Fun
 D: All the above are correct.

D 

 

Look on the bright side.... 

You get to cool off from the heat with all that nice cool water   

[Tom van Brits]

When you work on a farm you can't be allergic to
 A: Work
 B: Cow shit
 C: Fun
 D: All the above are correct.

D 

 

Look on the bright side.... 

You get to cool off from the heat with all that nice cool water   

It helped 

It was very hot and humid today, and after the truck was cleaned I washed my old CAT boots (over 10 years old) and put them in the sun to dry. Took a quick shower and serviced my truck and at 12 the boss called it a day. We are off and will clock in Monday morning @ 8am. This week is going to be busy with sialage chopping it seems because I can see that many corn fields are ready now and the boss has contracted more trucks.

Tonight I went for a 5km run and nearly karked myself....it was around 9pm and getting dark when a skunk ran over the gravel road just in front of me!!  Never saw one up close and must say it is rather a beautiful creature. I almost see daily deer crossing the roads and even almost ride over a coyote yesterday with the truck! At first I thought it must be a jackal but dr Google confirmed my sighting.

Many pheasant here, as for in many! There is a pheasant farm nearby and South Africans farming there as well and when the let them out in hunting season I think many escape into the surrounding farms.

I can still not get my head around all the cattle here, it is huge farming. I would so like to photograph it but one will have to ask for consent. I miss taking pics and will take the camera with tomorrow when we drive to Garden city for a Wallmart visit. Need some things to get by for the week. My staple diet now being bread and I want to make some nice sandwiches since I'll spent many hours a day in the truck now. 

[thabogrobler]

The guys we used to do custom cutting for in Johnson City is Floyd farms. I'm sure your boss will either know them, or.know about them. Ma Betzen asked me VERY nice not to bliksem the one Floyd laaitie, the exact same one that was up for a murder charge a few years later...

Anyhow, at some point we where on our way from Johnson City to Cunningham and I'm sure we passed Cimarron. Somewhere we went past a HUGE feedlot - see it in context as Floyd farms has(d?) a 10 000 head feedlot. We drove for miles and miles and it was just cattle upon cattle. I have a number of 250 000 cattle it my head, but it can be completely wrong.

On the key front - uep, initially we got karked on a lot due to our key removing habits. Our farmer was away custom cutting for 6 months a year and did not even have keys to his own house!

Even the stores/barn is unlocked. These yanks do have a strange sense of trust in their fellow human beings! One argument they had for keeping the barn unlocked it that should.someone need to do a tyre repair when driving past, they are free to use whatever they need to get moving again!

And yes, them Mericans can work very hard aswell. Ma Betzen used to drive the service truck when we moved, towing her caravan, haul wheat or corn like the rest of us, serive her own Suburban and even change her own tyres on her truck - yes the 379 Pete!

Pa Betzen is this super nice, tall guy, but man, as strong as an ox! If you ever get the opportunity to feel the weight of a combine sieve, please appreciate the fact that Pa Betzen picked up one in each hand!

And their sayings: Yea, well, I guess - the merican version of ja nee, nou-nou. And they love  the 'G*d damnit!'

And the most disgusting is these chewin', spitting group...sometime you have the privilege to share a cab woth a cup of spit...

[Tom van Brits]

The guys we used to do custom cutting for in Johnson City is Floyd farms. I'm sure your boss will either know them, or.know about them. Ma Betzen asked me VERY nice not to bliksem the one Floyd laaitie, the exact same one that was up for a murder charge a few years later...

Anyhow, at some point we where on our way from Johnson City to Cunningham and I'm sure we passed Cimarron. Somewhere we went past a HUGE feedlot - see it in context as Floyd farms has(d?) a 10 000 head feedlot. We drove for miles and miles and it was just cattle upon cattle. I have a number of 250 000 cattle it my head, but it can be completely wrong.

On the key front - uep, initially we got karked on a lot due to our key removing habits. Our farmer was away custom cutting for 6 months a year and did not even have keys to his own house!

Even the stores/barn is unlocked. These yanks do have a strange sense of trust in their fellow human beings! One argument they had for keeping the barn unlocked it that should.someone need to do a tyre repair when driving past, they are free to use whatever they need to get moving again!

And yes, them Mericans can work very hard aswell. Ma Betzen used to drive the service truck when we moved, towing her caravan, haul wheat or corn like the rest of us, serive her own Suburban and even change her own tyres on her truck - yes the 379 Pete!

Pa Betzen is this super nice, tall guy, but man, as strong as an ox! If you ever get the opportunity to feel the weight of a combine sieve, please appreciate the fact that Pa Betzen picked up one in each hand!

And their sayings: Yea, well, I guess - the merican version of ja nee, nou-nou. And they love  the 'G*d damnit!'

And the most disgusting is these chewin', spitting group...sometime you have the privilege to share a cab woth a cup of spit...

  I relate to all of this, and yes just pass us is a small town called  Ingalls with a huge feedlot.
We will be chopping corn there tomorrow, already got the instructions on whatsapp group to be out and about at 6H30.
Our boss lady is also very much the same you described above; she can do arc welding on the trucks and whenever we miss a driver she will jump in and haul loads and the guys says you never hear her miss a gear. That is one of the biggest embarrassments you can have driving under heat next to a chopper"s header or right behind when he cuts a tunnel (skiet n gat)
I was told that the boss rides a Peterbilt with a fuller box like an automatic.....and that takes some doing but yes they gree up with these machines.
What matters at this stage; I am coping and keeping up with the rest of the team and enjoying it as well.
Life has meaning once again!
I try to test different things, tastes etc to get more of the American culture and try not to miss an opportunity to go to town in our limited time off.
I quite like Dodge City, reach in history and it got a lot of the old and new. Still need to find time to go to the museum which is apparently quite good. 

[Mr Zog]

I think you need to start a new thread now Tom...   

[big oil]

I’d caution you taking pics or vid footage, until you’re more established.

Sounds a little harsh but I’d hate to see ya get shafted over sharing pics of their ops.

livestock farmers are gunshy after the recent video footage was released by a disgruntled worker at a mega farm. 

I’ll search for the story.

[Tom van Brits]

I’d caution you taking pics or vid footage, until you’re more established.

Sounds a little harsh but I’d hate to see ya get shafted over sharing pics of their ops.

livestock farmers are gunshy after the recent video footage was released by a disgruntled worker at a mega farm. 

I’ll search for the story.

Thanks for the caution bud, rather save than sorry so I would refrain.
I will focus on taking pics of any nice sightings I may come across and the ones I did post of the trucks and so on is all okayed 

[big oil]

https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/06/05/fair-oaks-farms-animal-abuse-video-calves/

[Blou Zebu]

I’d caution you taking pics or vid footage, until you’re more established.

Sounds a little harsh but I’d hate to see ya get shafted over sharing pics of their ops.

livestock farmers are gunshy after the recent video footage was released by a disgruntled worker at a mega farm. 

I’ll search for the story.

I also wanted to ask abpout this. You said you wouldnt be allowed to post pics of the work itself but you do? SO explain? Or are you just enjoying what you are doing and want to share?
Thanks for the caution bud, rather save than sorry so I would refrain.
I will focus on taking pics of any nice sightings I may come across and the ones I did post of the trucks and so on is all okayed 

[big oil]

I’d caution you taking pics or vid footage, until you’re more established.

Sounds a little harsh but I’d hate to see ya get shafted over sharing pics of their ops.

livestock farmers are gunshy after the recent video footage was released by a disgruntled worker at a mega farm. 

I’ll search for the story.

Thanks for the caution bud, rather save than sorry so I would refrain.
I will focus on taking pics of any nice sightings I may come across and the ones I did post of the trucks and so on is all okayed 

I also wanted to ask abpout this. You said you wouldnt be allowed to post pics of the work itself but you do? SO explain? Or are you just enjoying what you are doing and want to share?

I haven't seen anything yet to be of much concern, he has just shared power washing shit off a truck and cutting silage.

I highly doubt farm boss gives two shits about him posting what he has.

I'm afraid it won't be that way if he were to get caught shooting pics of livestock ops.

Tom, I'm just being that guy because I don't want something to happen to ruin this opportunity, an opportunity that may lead to bigger opportunities in the land of milk n honey.

I know you got this.