The Jolly Rancher: “The Right Stuff”

  • Thursday, May 7, 2015
  • Jen Jeffrey
Jen Jeffrey
Jen Jeffrey

Maybe I should re-think this series and entitle it “The Busy Rancher”. I hoped to write more often of the goings on at the ranch, but things have been quite busy just getting it all started.

I last wrote about my ‘manure troubles’ and needing equipment that was not just user-friendly but ‘new-user-friendly’. It would have been fine to use the old equipment that came with the ranch if I had been running a farm for the last 20 years and knew how to make old things work, but as a new rancher I need to begin with ‘the right stuff’ as I learn how to use it.

Murray is a small town and so are the counties surrounding it. There are enough farmers though, that we have Tractor Supply and Orcheln’s where we can purchase most of the farm items we need, but sometimes we have to travel to get a few other things.

We first needed to get a tractor and we drove to Paducah to Hutson’s John Deere Dealership. Stephen Vernelson was a tremendous help and I got a front loader and an arena grater with my tractor. He even threw in a Tshirt and a few hats with our deal.

Next on my list was what every woman really wants – a manure spreader. No, not a politician…but a real bonafide manure spreader to keep the flies down at the stables. For those who have never heard of one (like me, before buying the ranch) it is a cart with a moving chain that will spread a large pile of manure out across empty land away from the ranch. It has blades that do a little chopping as the heap rotates passed the back opening. These are not cheap and to find a good one was time consuming.

I found the one I wanted online on Millcreek Manure Spreaders Facebook page. I watched Youtube videos of how they worked and decided which one was best for me. I liked the compact ones that I could bring into the stables and fill with manure as we clean the stalls and then take it off each day, but my husband Jason felt that if we were going to make the investment in a pricey piece of equipment – we needed the best and to get one that would last us a lifetime.

So we purchased the SS Deluxe that is stainless steel and the bottom is covered with a coating that protects the wood against ammonia in the urine-saturated stall bedding.

The closest dealer was in Covington, Tennessee which was about a three-hour drive and it would be an all day trip. I expected as we drove Jason’s truck with our utility trailer in tow, that we would pull up to a dealership like the one where we bought the tractor, but it was at a man’s farm and the spreader was still in a boxed crate. I was just glad to finally have it.

When we got back home, Jason wanted to try to get it out of the crate and look at it. I think he was just as excited as me. We were told it was simple to put together – it was all assembled except for the wheels and tongue. I was confident that my businessman husband who had never run farm equipment could put it together. The problem was getting a 400 pound piece of steel out of the wooden crate. And, with the chain mechanism underneath, we couldn’t let it get mangled as we somehow got it out of the crate - it was going to be tricky.

Jason read the directions and they seemed simple enough… ‘Take a forklift and…’ wait, we didn’t have a fork lift. I guess people who need a deluxe manure spreader would probably have a fork lift. But new ranchers who were taking it a step at a time did not. Then the rains came. A whole week of rain.

Luckily, we had neighbors who wanted manure for their gardens and left carts for us to fill until we worked out the situation with the new spreader which had a tarp covering it while it rained.

Meanwhile, Jason took a trip to Kansas to check out his Greyhound hobby and I went to Lexington to check out Rolex. All the girls who board with us said that Rolex was the best weekend all year. My niece Kassidy lives in Lexington attending her last year at UK and I invited her to go to the event with me. With her busy schedule, we could only go on the last day so I spent my first night with friends in Frankfort. The Dickersons and I had such fun reminiscing.

Of course I loved staying the night with my niece too and getting to know her fiancé a little bit better. We enjoyed watching the horses in the jumping event, but with it being an “English equestrian event” the vendors had nothing I was interested in buying. I am a western-type gal. It was a fun weekend and it was good for Jason and I both to be doing our own thing. We love our time together, but every couple needs individual things to enjoy on occasion.

When we got back well rested, we both wanted to tackle getting to the spreader. We knew we really needed a forklift so we called my cousin Rob Morton and he said we could bring it by his place and his farm hand Federico could help us. He helped us and we were able to put the wheels and tongue on and drove it back to our house ready to use.

As my husband was leaving for work the next morning, I believe he was surprised to see that I had the trailer hooked up to my Jeep and ready to take the spreader to the ranch. He might have assumed I would wait until he got home for us to take to over there, but this is what is so fun about this dream of having the ranch – to get my hands in it all and try something I have never done.

I have always had a strong will and believe in myself to do whatever I put my mind to. I believed that I could roll the trailer with a 400 pound manure spreader onto my jeep hitch myself with no problem and I did just that! I believed I could drive it up the road to the ranch and unload it in its place by the barn.

Now, hubby believes in me – but he likes to make himself ‘available’ just in case. I left for the ranch and he left for work, but just as I suspected he would do he slowed down in the middle of our country road to watch me back the trailer up. He watched me back the trailer right up to a potted planter in the yard and he sat in his truck pointing at it. I got out of my Jeep as if I planned to stop right there and get the spreader off. Jason pulled in the driveway and I told him I knew what I was doing and I meant to stop right there. Then he asked me how I would get the trailer gate down with it backed against the planter. I admitted that he made me nervous and assured him that I would get it straight and he just needed to go to work.

As soon as he pulled out I actually did great at straightening it up and backing it up. Everything takes practice to be good at something. My second attempt was successful.

The three girls who rent our ranch house are moving out this month and two of them got full time work so only one of them is currently working at the stables. Taylor is the western rider who barrel races and though she will be moving, she wanted to help out at the ranch for the summer. It took a few days before the new manure spreader was filled after cleaning stalls, but the moment she texted me and told me it was full I was excited!

Now, I loved my last adventure taking off the manure even if it was with antiquated equipment and took all day. I loved the feeling I had doing it. Of course to go through the same problems each week, it would become a hardship and not enjoyable, but with new equipment I was ready for another adventure – a little less eventful.

It was so simple to hitch the spreader onto my tractor, start up my tractor and head out with my load of manure. I loved the hum of the tractor and driving it! I loved driving the slow speed that makes me take the time to notice what is around me as I drove to a neighbor’s land where he lets us spread our manure.

The ride down the road was great. The breeze blew through my hair, the sun shone on my face and I felt empowered on my tractor. I safely made the turn to the fish hatchery and got off my tractor to release the levers on the spreader and open the back latch so it would be ready to do its magic!

It was TOO easy! I loved it! I got back on my tractor and slowly spread the manure. I decided the only thing unsafe or scary about this adventure would be snakes around the pond. Sure enough, I saw a black snake as large as a straightened out bicycle tire slither slowly in front of me. I slowed my tractor down until he got all the way across. I didn’t hurt him and he didn’t hurt me and we both went on our merry way.

Now, I am sure it was a corn snake (or rat snake) that is non-poisonous but around water and high weeds it could just as easily been a venomous snake which made my adventure a little scarier – and I like that. I was powerful and fearless on my John Deere! I ended up lowering my front loader on my tractor just a little so that it would flatten out the weeds as I went. I knew it would make it easier for when my neighbor mows it too.

Working my tractor and manure spreader was enjoyable. I watched as the load slowly dispersed and after I made it all the way around the pond, my cart was empty. I did it! I drove it back to the ranch with a proud smile across my face and took a water hose to clean it out. That took no time at all and within a few minutes I rolled it back into its place and backed my tractor in front of it.

This rancher is jolly again and ready for more adventures. If any of you have been reading my stories since I was in New York or Chattanooga you may remember me mentioning my youngest son Andrew who was in the Army and did a tour in Iraq. He will be moving to Kentucky and will live in the ranch house with his wife Stephanie and their four-year-old daughter Ellie.

He will be a ‘ranch hand’ and help me out and I will be a Gramommy’ in Heaven! I nick-named my son “Bug” 26 years ago (long before everybody started calling their children that) and now that he has his own family we added more bugs. Stephanie is “Ladybug”, and Ellie is “Elliebug” and her twin half-sisters are twinbugs. They live with their father, but will be visiting their mom and Andrew at the ranch often.

Who would have thought I would be this excited to have bugs at the ranch? I hope to have more time for writing now. I will head to Chattanooga this weekend to move them and bring them to Kentucky, but my son will still wear orange and root for the Vols … that is, when he isn’t busy shoveling manure.

jen@jenjeffrey.com

 

New farm equipment makes Jen Jeffrey's job at the ranch a breeze
New farm equipment makes Jen Jeffrey's job at the ranch a breeze
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