What Daddy’s Tractor Does in the Winter

So I’ve been rereading my recent blog posts and I’ve noticed they are all about chickens.  In fact, you may have noticed that the tractor has been entirely missing from “Daddy’s Tractor” for some time.  Has it been sitting idle?  Is it broken down or rusting in a fence row?  What does Daddy’s Tractor do in the winter anyhow?

Actually, Daddy’s tractor has been quite busy as of late!  For the last few weeks the tractor has been acting as snow plow.  Out here in the middle of nowhere the county snow plows take several days to get to our roads.  And even after they’ve been cleared the wind often blows across the open spaces, filling in the gap between the piles of snow on both sides of the road and blocking you in even worse than before.  So out come the neighborhood tractors.  Daddy, grandpa, and many other farmers use their equipment to help out all the families who live on these back gravel roads.  Its just one of the neighborly things that still happens in the country.

The tractor has also been busy improving the quality of our fields.  Earlier this winter we redid the terraces in the field behind our house.  Terraces are a must on our rolling fields; they keep water from washing away topsoil so our fields stay filled with good dirt and streams stay clear of runoff.

The snow actually helps you see the newly built terraces; the raised lines of soil are the first places the snow melts.

And more recently the tractor and skid steer have been working to rid a farm of the fallen trees and old fence rows and adding good topsoil where its needed.  They are also using the dump truck for this job, which is a lot of fun for Daddy :-).

The tractor also has the job of taking hay to the cattle.  One of the older tractors on the farm has a bale spike (observe) on the back so it can easily lift and carry those huge hay bales out to the field.

And its hard to believe, but soon Daddy’s tractor will be hard at work getting ready for spring planting!