Even a “retired” farmer wants to stay busy, so, Bev says, they did a little fencing and put 45 heifers on 38 acres of pasture near their new house overlooking the river. They have the use of a summer pasture, about 30 miles east, where they keep 40 cow-calf pairs. To the west about 25 miles, they rented a quarter for hayland. And, “just west of where we live now, we have a quarter and 80 that we’ve put into oats for greenfeed,” she says with a grin. “We have 15 horses right now, too,” says Bev. “Our three youngest children are still in beef 4-H and horse 4-H,” she explains. (Cody and Ron live with their Mom and Dad at the new farm; their sister, Tannis, attends the University of Saskatchewan.) New farm, new tractor Laurie came home with a brand new tractor in December 2000 – a New Holland TM150. Bev says, “He felt that with the type of land we have here with hills and such, he needed it so he could handle the round bales in winter. The farm has some slopes,” she explains. “I don’t know how far it is above the river, but two creeks run through our quarter here and down to the South Saskatchewan. We pasture the heifers and horses between the creeks.” Bev was happy when Laurie brought the big blue tractor home in December. They already had a 90-hp tractor they used for baling. But for handling big bales on the sloping river bank, Laurie knew they needed more power and front-wheel assist. Laurie chose a New Holland TM150 and put it to the test last winter. Every day, he delivered hay to cows and horses in the frozen and sheltered pasture. He’d load a round alfalfa bale on the tractor’s bale fork, drive downhill, cross one creek, cross over to the other creek and follow up that creek to get to the far feeding area. Later, he’d return with another bale for the closer feeding area, between the two creeks. The 120 PTO-hp TM150 handled those deliveries in all conditions, from frozen ground covered with snow to gushing creeks, soft mud and soft hillsides. “It worked great!” Bev says. Haying chores Last summer, Bev took over the tractor for some of the haying operations, and also delivered some feed to the pasture. “With this tractor, it’s pretty easy. I don’t mind it at all, and I don’t like hills!” When she’s baling, Bev says, the TM150 is “a fairly easy tractor to operate. Shifting gears is really easy. When you’re turning corners, you don’t always have to be grabbing different levers. When you change speeds for turning, you just use one of the buttons on the stick: one’s slow and one’s fast. It’s very, very easy.” Bev says, “It’s a big tractor, but it doesn’t feel like a real big tractor. It’s not overpowering, yet it does have the power if you need it. I do feel more secure in it. If you ever do get into trouble, you can kick into front-wheel assist and get yourself out.” A new toy And, by the way, a new blue tractor wasn’t the only thing Laurie came home with to enjoy semi-retirement. He also drove in one day with a bright yellow Mustang GT. |
