My D6D

[.RC.]

They are forecasting another La Nina in the next few months, so give you something to do while it's raining.

Well the triple La Nina we just had delivered next to nothing for us except a bit of winter rain that got us through, but our summers were just essentially flops, much like this latest one. On top of that the triple la Nina delivered a huge drought over in the US, that is why their cattle numbers have not been this low since the early 1960's. I would imagine producers over there are not looking forward to another La Nina.

2017 was our last above average (our average is around 36") rainfall year and it was not an amazingly above average with 42" of rain. Unlike 2010 when we had 70" for the year.

RC, do you have to break the track to do that job?

Yes, but that is an easy job to break and put back together. I have done it five times by myself on this machine now. I join it back together down low at the rear of the sprocket. I put a block under the grouser, so it points upwards then the other half link flops together, after wire brushing it all to make sure it is quite clean.

 

[Costnsg]

Thanks for that explanation, RC. I'm a little apprehensive since I haven't done it before, so your comments are welcome. I may not be quite so handy with this equipment as you are, however.

I did manage to move a 900# gun safe that was anchored to the floor out of the house and up a ramp into a Uhaul truck all by my lonesome during my last move (no special equipment involved). Does that count? haha

Thanks again...

 

[Cliffy]

Nw qld had had 2 above average seasons in a row. Another cyclone announced in the gulf yesterday.

 

[DMiller]

Good for range feeding!!

 

[.RC.]

Nw qld had had 2 above average seasons in a row. Another cyclone announced in the gulf yesterday.

That looks bloody good, they are going to be exploding they will be that fat. Is that mostly Flinders grass? I am not that familiar with the Flinders and Mitchell grasses.

I snapped these pics today. Dieback is killing off the best pasture. The Biloela Buffel seems resistant to it, but is less palatable then USA or Gayndah Buffel which is highly sensitive to it.




And to make this relevant to my D6D. I plan on adding a hydraulic remote to the rear of the D6, so I can pull my hydraulic breakout yeoman plough to rip this country (if I get the dozer over to it as it is 150km away by road) In fact a diverter valve for this project turned up in the mail today. I snapped photo's of another D6D that had a diverter valve installed for the rippers for a rear hydraulic remote.

 

[.RC.]

Photo of diverter valve installed on another D6D that was at an auction.

 

[Queenslander]

so I can pull my hydraulic breakout yeoman plough to rip this country

What sort of results has the Yeomans plough been giving,RC?.
We’re lucky not to have any dieback here….yet, but a mate has been trying to deal with it for a number of years.
He has Gayndah and Bilo buffel on handy scrub soils and has been having some short term success with burning.
He’s about to drag some heavy offsets over it in the next season or so.

 

[Cliffy]

Spot on. Primarily Mitchell, buffle and flinders. Having issues with Mitchell dieback aswell. We believe its from over rest/under utilisation and lack of biodiversity. We are trying heavy impact grazing during the growing season followed by spelling using rotational grazing.

 

[Pony]

Yeah I've only got a tiny bit of softwood scrub country, so no real dramas with dieback.
Probably the one good thing with having breeder forest country is its mostly native grasses.
Although I did rip a bit of heavier red soil in paddock on a new block that was a bit degraded by a previous owner a couple of years ago,
It responded really well and has hung on.
I don't know how deep the yeoman go, I ripped this down as far as I could, I reckon about 400mm average. It was on a gentle slope and it has really kept it rough and stopped any run off so all the rain soaks in.

 

[skyking1]

Really enoying all the ranching talk. This is just the right distance between me and farming.

 

[.RC.]

Yeah I've only got a tiny bit of softwood scrub country, so no real dramas with dieback.
Probably the one good thing with having breeder forest country is its mostly native grasses.
Although I did rip a bit of heavier red soil in paddock on a new block that was a bit degraded by a previous owner a couple of years ago,
It responded really well and has hung on.
I don't know how deep the yeoman go, I ripped this down as far as I could, I reckon about 400mm average. It was on a gentle slope and it has really kept it rough and stopped any run off so all the rain soaks in.

It gets into our black spear grass but not real bad. The worst for it seems to be Bisset Blue Grass where it can be brutal on it and the previously mentioned Gayndah and USA buffel. I do not have a lot of Gayndah or USA buffel. The photo above of the die back area there is only about 300 acres of that prime country then it goes onto more grey clay country where the bilo buffel is and prior to the dieback it could fatten some cattle (it still can, just not as many). The neighbours is currently up for auction, way out of my price range, it is expected to bring $2700-$3000 an acre. It is likely going to be a large western owner with probably 20 000 acres of prime bottle tree, brigalow country that buys it. I find only they can afford this quality country now. Not us coastal dwellers that happened to snap up a small parcel back near thirty years ago when it was $300 an acre. Land prices seem to be that stupid now I worked out a lot of them, if you had to borrow the money you would be flat out paying the interest. So I decided to improve what I have. (then went and bought out a neighbour at the height of the silliness )

What sort of results has the Yeomans plough been giving,RC?.
We’re lucky not to have any dieback here….yet, but a mate has been trying to deal with it for a number of years.
He has Gayndah and Bilo buffel on handy scrub soils and has been having some short term success with burning.
He’s about to drag some heavy offsets over it in the next season or so.

To be honest the Yeoman has not had a lot of use the past ten years. The seasons have been that unpredictable, I never knew if I should rip and remove grass, or if I would need the grass. If I had the money and was buying again, I would probably look at a TTQ Raptor. I have heard stories a chap near Rolleston pulls one behind a dozer for contract work. A much heavier machine, but when I got the Yeoman, there was virtually nothing much more available for ripping where there were stumps and rocks. I find the Yeoman is not a real heavy duty ripper, more suited to semi clean and farming country. They are a good machine though. I have read that dieback does not affect short pastures and burning, fertilizing and reseeding can nip it in the bud.

 

[Queenslander]

We have first hand experience of land prices, as we sold some country at the height of the silliness.
When we bought it in 1988 the land was worth twice as much as the cattle to stock the place.
The price we were offered 18 months ago was at least ten times the value of the stock..when cattle prices were high.
Still have enough to keep us busy and cause the odd headache.

 

[OzDozer]

Farm prices seem to be ballistic Australia-wide. I don't know where the money is coming from, it must surely be a lot of corporate money?

In the wheatbelt region of the Great Southern in W.A., where I did earthmoving contracting from the mid-60's to the mid-80's, a former client has just sold his family farm - because he's aged and wants to retire, I'd guess.

He had around 7000 acres of good wheat, canola, coarse grains, and sheep country in a pretty reliable 14" (355mm) Winter rainfall zone. The farm was established by his father in the 1930's.

Around 20 years ago, that farm would've brought about AU$2M. He just put it up for AU$21.2M, no offers, and it sold within a month. In previous times it would've possibly taken a year or two to find a buyer.
Not so now - today there seems to be billions waiting at all times, to be thrown into property of any kind.

 

[DMiller]

US is no different, Farms north of here forty years ago, were at double what the crops would bring, now are at ten to fifteen times. Hard to make a living knowing will not ever pay for the ground growing on. Leases abound currently where some that own do not know what will do as the pricing continues to rise and profits margins suck.
80-90% of Farm Equipment is Leased, two or three seasons goes back to supplier, new lease units arrive, do not ever own much of anything. Corporate America awaits in the wings to snatch all this up as can buy outright, then lease to locals to farm it, only issue, fewer locals even interested these days. Can see this turning a Vile Nasty corner in short order as no one to tend the fields and set/harvest crops.

 

[Cliffy]

R.c. This is coming up in our vege garden. we used fertiliser from the yards and has come up since the rains. Do you think its lantana?

 

[DMiller]

Looks Virgina Creeper

 

[Pony]

Doesn't look like Lantana to me.
Looks more like what we call pig weed.
I spent 10yrs up the Cape and don't remember seeing any pig weed, so don't know if it actually grows that far north.

 

[colson04]

Land prices are absurd here too. Too many cities growing out instead of up. In 2002, a 132 acres of sandy farm ground came available. My grandfather had leased this ground for 25 years and was given first rite of refusal. At the time land was going for $800-1000/acre for good, tillable acreage. The children that inherited the land offered it to him for over $4,000/acre as that was what a developer offered for it. My grandpa balked at the absurd price. Developer got the bid, started developing it right away. This parcel is directly across the road from our dairy. The initial developer got the land plotted, road in, utilities in, and then went bankrupt. The land sat 10% developed from 2006ish until 2016 when another developer finally picked it up. By the end of 2018, it was 100% developed. Crazy part, in 2016, what was left of the development sold for half of what it had initially brought as vacant land in 2002, but there was lots of foreclosures still on the market in 2016.

I bought my 72 acres in 2016 for about $4,000/acre. Just last fall, a neighbors parcel sold for $8,000/acre to a large grain operator. They're snapping up everything they can get, big or small, these guys want it all.

 

[DMiller]

Our 78 bought for 167k, added barn, rebuilt fences, added gates, built shop added a well then house and now new well, less than $500 in it, keep being pestered by agents $1mil to a mil.2. Really do not want to leave just yet.

 

[.RC.]

Farm prices seem to be ballistic Australia-wide. I don't know where the money is coming from, it must surely be a lot of corporate money?

Here in Queensland, it is not the corporates buying up to run cattle. They got pushed out long ago as they could see there was no money in it.

If you run some really optimistic figures. Say you have 300 acres of the good stuff I have and you can fit 50 steers on it all day every day all through winter which is not an uinreasonable figure. You buy in 50, 300kg steers at $3/kg liveweight so $900 each. You aim to sell them in twelve months to the abattoir for a carcass weight of 320kg, lets be optimistic and say $6/kg which is much higher then prices this week (this week for generic ox over 300kg carcass I read is about $5.40/kg or less). So say $1900 sale price. A gain of $1000 for your 50 head, or $50 000.

You bought the 300 acres at $2500/acre (which is less then what it would actually bring) so $750 000, with stamp duty it will be close to $800 000. If you borrowed all that at today's interest rate of lets say 8%, your yearly interest is $64000 alone.

That is why the corporates are out at the moment. I seriously do not expect land to climb in value much for years now. There will be a pause until commodity prices play catchup.