Rain rain go away!

[PA hayseed]

So, I recently purchased a new tractor to replace my aging 45hp tractor, and I upgraded to a cab from an open station. Since I purchased it, it seems that it has been raining just about every day, and we are having the heaviest/wettest season on record. This leads me to my question, do you run your tractor in the rain on your property? I don't care about the rain per say, it is just rain, but I don't want to rut up my field with the ground being as soaked as it is. The 50hp tractor is heavy. I have projects I need to do, and another hurricane coming to the east coast is promising even more rain. Currently have flood warnings and watches in several counties around me.

Maybe I am just crying, now that I have time to do things the weather won't let me.

 

[Ritothebull]

I guess it all depends on how bad you need to get those projects done, what's the worst thing that can happen. I remember once when I bought a new motorcycle and it rained for 2 weeks straight, drove me nuts but it made it even better when the sun finally came out.

 

[4570Man]

It’s been really wet here this summer which has been great for grass cutting. I don’t care to mow in a light rain, but not much can be done in heavy rain.

 

[iflywhatevr]

Yep I will mow or do whatever I can in rain. But the cab certainly helps.

 

[oosik]

Hayseed - I don't know what is wrong with this world any more. You are getting too much rain and we are as parched and dry as popcorn here. I've even put on my RAIN DANCE shorts and gone out and done many little jigs - no joy.View attachment 570472 View attachment 570473

 

[Thomas]

If your getting that much rain I'd think twice traveling on fields etc...ruts=mud than areas to collect water.

 

[RustyT]

Sounds like my spring and summer. Rains for two or three days, clears for a couple of days then rain again. My daughter bought the little RK24 so I could clear up the land where it went to pot when my health did the same. I'll have to sow grass seed where the tractors spun in 4 low trying to go up slopes at the end of the dry spells.

 

[DieselBound]

Hayseed - I don't know what is wrong with this world any more. You are getting too much rain and we are as parched and dry as popcorn here. I've even put on my RAIN DANCE shorts and gone out and done many little jigs - no joy.View attachment 570472 View attachment 570473

Quick, run!, the fashion police are coming! :laughing:

Just rung up 1.17" of precip here yesterday and expect to see another 2 1/2" by the end of the week.

OP, it really depends on what kind of things you need to do (if you're having to do a lot of tight turning, over the same ground is different than a couple straight passes over the same ground). I have different types of ground, some is fill, road, and other is stuff that I could make most any piece of equipment disappear in (even in the non-raining times). I was fortunate to have my B7800 as my scout machine, as its lesser weight allowed me to get it unstuck more easily than with a larger machine: yes, sometimes weight keeps you from getting stuck- I've gotten 9k lb excavators STUCK- weight meant nothing for prevention (when I rent an 19k lb excavator I don't get anywhere near soft ground!). Test the "waters" and you'll soon find out how much you are willing to allow as far as tearing up the ground. Sometimes one has an emergency and has no other option than to tear things up: I've had to make emergency firewood runs; got two vehicles stuck last year doing this- my largest machine was used, from a safe distance, to rescue the rescue machine!

I've been out working in an open station and gotten plenty soaked. With my cabbed tractor I don't have to experience that; but, I still have to be mindful that just because I'm dry that don't mean that mean that the tractor is OK to operate w/o issues.

 

[kneedeep]

Learned the hard way to keep tractors in the shed when ground conditions are not optimal for the job to be done. Planted, plowed, mowed in wet conditions only to realize the work done is unacceptable and has to be repaired before the work can move forward again.
As bad as I need to disk down some weedy fields again, the damp dirt will not allow disk to cut and bury the trash to make a decent seedbed for winter cover crop.
I made a promise to myself NOT to rush dirt work anymore as I am about beat to death from disking the ruts from last year that prevented planting corn in my duckholes . There is a short window for optimum conditions for planting certain crops in a wetland and fixing ruts waste the little time conditions are right. Besides, planters don't work well in muddy wet ground and seed is to expensive to waste.

I found that repairing and maintaining the equipment is time well spent in wet conditions. Also since moving to a cab tractor, I can plow at night to get done if necessary. I prefer to plant and spray in daytime but am working on a Spray App for guidance to allow some nighttime planting if I must.

JMHO!

 

[Wagtail]

I've even put on my RAIN DANCE shorts and gone out and done many little jigs - no joy.View attachment 570472 View attachment 570473

.....

 

[oosik]

Now - Wagtail, be nice. Ha, ha, ha No - after quite a few little dances - no rain. But I heard this voice - "If you must wear those shorts - for God's sake, stay inside".

 

[Jstpssng]

We haven't seen much rain this summer, but there's a storm coming in tonight that is supposed to dump about 2 inches of rain on us. It's probably too late for my last batch of corn, but the parched ground will soak it up like a sponge.

 

[TheMan419]

I keep the tractor in its barn during rain unless there is an emergency. Had a big rain starting and realized one of the culverts was blocked. Of course that had to be remedied. Need to mow and it is a light rain? No thanks I can get to it another day.

 

[oosik]

The last rain here was over 30 days ago and it wasn't even enough to wash all the dust off my Jeep. I pulled it out of the carport so Mother Nature could wash away some of the dust and bird poo.

Around here - I stay inside if its going to rain or is raining. We almost always get lightning along with any rain. I do not want to get zapped/fried like a couple of my really tall Ponderosa pines have.

 

[Ritothebull]

If I waited for it to dry out around here this summer I wouldn't have gotten anything at all done, nobody has been able to cut any hay around here yet because of all the rain we are getting and now the hurricanes are coming.

 

[Texasmark]

I stay out of the fields when wet as I am on clay and clay doesn't forget.....sometimes it takes years to eliminate compaction caused by rolling on wet/soggy/damp fields. I understand you irony. Run it up and down the driveway, or think of some excuse to visit a neighbor down the road. Or just get it out on the road and run it. I do that in the winter when mine don't get used much. Keeps things lubed and limbered up. Also keeps the oil circulation so that the detergents and soot remain in suspense rather than settling to the bottom and making sludge from non use.

I have proven the above on two occasions. In one I had a covered, plastic container I used for a drain pan and for some reason didn't empty it.....maybe a year later I ran across it and the oil was relatively clear and the solids that were initially suspended in the (detergent) oil were on the bottom of the container.

The Ford 3910 I recently purchased, 1988 model with 900 hrs had the same problem. Upon receiving I changed the oil. I worked it hard for a couple of hours and the oil was already dirty. I drained the oil again and through the drain hole, mounted on the side of the pan, I could investigate the bottom of the pan and it had about a quarter inch of sludge just sitting there. I put in new oil and some snake oil and ran it over the same field in a second pass.

After that, while still hot I drained it again and this time there was no sludge on the bottom of the pan. New oil and filter and now the oil is clean when I check it.

 

[CMV]

My mom just sent me a video of people kayaking in the streets of my hometown in SW PA just outside of Pittsburgh

Afraid we will be similar come this weekend once Florence gets here in the Carolinas.

 

[PA hayseed]

CMV - I can't imagine what some people are going through right now, with all this rain. I am fortunate because I built on a hill top and not in a valley. It stopped raining today, but it is supposed to start again tomorrow and possible rain in the forecast for the next 8 days.

Texas Mark - thank you for that post. That is why I come here, someone will always give me a perspective that did not occur to me. THere is a perfectly good road for me to get my seat time on. In my mind I wasn't going anywhere so why would I be on the road.

OOsik - man, if I could push some of this your way I would. "I feel your pain". I say that with a slightly southern draw, my lip is quivering and I hang my head a little lower. ..... That is my bill clinton impression. I could do another with a cigar but that would not be appropriate here.

 

[deserteagle71]

I really wish you East Coast folks would share some of the bounty! Haven't seen any rain to speak of since May, and I'm getting tired of the thick smoke in the air plugging up my sinuses. A week of good rain would be just the ticket for putting out all the fires!

 

[ruffdog]

All the rivers are no-wake because of the high water and flooding but we are now getting some SUN! The mosquitoes are horrible now even in this nice sun.