It seemed silly to pay someone to plow the ⅓ mile gravel driveway when Monica owned a perfectly good F250 farm truck. (Plowing couldn’t be that difficult, could it?) So she bought a plow blade, had the installers give her a quick “How To” for running it, and figured she was good to go.
Now Monica wasn’t inexperienced with vehicles: besides driving sedans and minivans in the suburbs, Monica had toured 49 states on a motorcycle. She had also slow-crawled through many back-country trails with her Jeep Wrangler, equipped with an air-actuated front differential locker, big Super Swamper radial tires, and a 4” suspension lift. She had conquered “Baldy” – a steep, sandy hill at a private off-road camp in northern Wisconsin, disemboweling a rear shock while navigating over some large boulders. In Colorado, she negotiated 12-point turns on the old single-lane mountain trails. And at her elementary school, Monica routinely parked at a 45-degree slant on the snowbank. (The kids loved it; the principal hated it).
The most important lesson from the Dakota Dirt Diggers 4WD club (a great bunch of guys who were happy to teach Monica about their favorite hobby) was probably, “If you never get stuck, you’re not doing it right.” Glorious freedom to make mistakes! Other important lessons were how to avoid getting stuck (usually) and what it took to get unstuck (tow-straps, chains, and winches). Yep, thanks to her Dirt Digger buddies, Monica was somewhat fearless behind the controls of farm vehicles.
The first few snowfalls, light and fluffy, were great practice for the plow controls.
Then one beautiful winter day Monica got overzealous plowing around her pole barn and did, indeed, get stuck. (There was a dip in the lawn that she had forgotten about.) The truck had great clearance, but the snowplow frame didn’t. Out came the shovel, the high-lift jack (which she had owned for years but never had a reason to use) and the camera (to memorialize the event). Lesson learned: the plow has less clearance than the truck.
It was a great first winter learning to snowplow! Only a few times did Monica back into a rock-hard snowbank (going too fast). Or get stuck up to the windows in the hard-packed drift snow across the driveway (going too fast). She volunteered to plow out a friend a few times (only once getting so stuck they had to call the tow truck). And she helped plow the church’s parking lot – several times pulling vehicles out of ditches (neither going too fast nor getting stuck).
In the spring, Monica ordered several loads of Class V to firm up the driveway and around the barns. The trucks came once the roads were cleared for heavy equipment. After one dump truck dropped its load and was turning around, the rear tires sunk into the soft spring lawn. The trucker tried, but the tires only spun and sunk deeper into the soft earth. No stranger to stuck vehicles, Monica – friendly and helpful person that she is – offered to help, explaining that she actually had experience pulling vehicles. Out came her heaviest chains! A quick hook-up between the dump truck and her little F250 – one tug and he was out. Although he probably never shared that story with his buddies over a bottle of beer.
New livestock necessitated new vehicles. Monica purchased a Kubota tractor to move the 1000-pound round bales for the two cattle and a few 700 pound square bales for the six goats. All was good until after a few thaw-freeze-thaw cycles ... Yes, the Kubota could lift a dry round bale without too much trouble. But when the top few inches had absorbed water and the base had become encased in ice – oops! In the end, Monica took the bales apart and fed the cows one scoopful of hay at a time. Lesson learned: store the hay in the pole barn so it doesn’t freeze to the ground.
By winter, the farm had grown to 80 chickens, 14 cows, and 10 goats.
Yes, the Kuboda could lift a round bale if it was kept in the pole barn over winter, but it was very difficult to maneuver: with the bale in the front and an implement on the back for ballast, the now very-long tractor required multiple-point turns. She dreamt of something that was both stronger and more maneuverable.
Monica started looking for a skidsteer (just what every retired elementary teacher dreams of!) She had never driven one – had never even sat in one – but fearless Monica started shopping. It wasn’t too long before she found one, in-budget, and with acceptable hours. She drove the F250 with 20’ trailer up to get it, but made the sales guy drive it onto the trailer (not willing to look foolish with an audience).
The skid loader was perfect – maneuverable, stronger, and more power! The new snow on the driveway was the perfect place to practice. (And so cozy warm in the cab compared to the chilly open seat of the Kubota.) Who knew the skid loader clearance was only 3 inches? Yup, stuck again. (Towing skills certainly come in handy on a farm.) Claudia in the truck, Monica in the loader – it was out in seconds. Another lesson learned!
Remember the Dakota Dirt Digger motto: “If you never get stuck, you’re not doing it right.” Monica regularly found herself stuck in the mud with the riding lawnmower, stuck on a high rut in the skidloader, stuck in a ditch with the ATV (who put that ditch there by the silo?). Once, trying to deliver a hay bale to the goats, Monica got the skidloader stuck in the snow … tried to pull it out with the truck but got it stuck, too … and then fired up the tractor, driving it out of the summer barn (intending to free the truck and skidloader) but got the tractor stuck in the drifted snow. Claudia headed to the garage for the snow shovels.
That spring, Monica was moving a round bale across the yard to the goat pasture. The frost was starting to come out of the ground and it was slippery. Heavy machines make deep mud ruts; low clearance makes heavy machines stuck. Usually not a big deal. But this time she couldn’t go forward, she couldn’t go backwards, and she couldn’t get out – trapped inside the cab by the round bale! Oops.
Monica enjoys farm vehicles; Claudia not so much. The most helpful thing Claudia could do was phone Heather: a neighbor, stay-at-home mom, and very experienced farmer. As Claudia reached for the phone, it rang – it was Heather! Calling out of the blue! Within minutes she and her kids were at the farm studying the predicament. Her oldest son had just received a winch for Christmas and was really excited to try it out. He winched the bale off the forks and Heather used the forks to push the loader slowly backward.
And Monica drove the skidloader straight back into the barn until the ground was solid again. Lesson learned!
In time, Monica got quite proficient with the skid steer, able to unload the 20 foot trailer full of round bales as if she had been doing it for years. She could load and unload any farm vehicle onto the trailer without assistance (ATVs, tractor, skid loader) – for which Claudia was grateful because just watching the operation scared her silly.
Guys like to brag about their vehicles – make, model, even the number of cylinders. Let’s see: F-250 (10 cylinders), minivan (4), second minivan (6), tractor (3), skidloader (3), mower (4), ATV (4), second ATV (4) – not bad for a suburban gal turned farmer. Not that anyone cares, but the tire count, including all the trailers, was 40.
