We had no sooner arrived back at the bus and the boss came over and said "you can start work whenever your ready". We had a few things to sort out and then it was back to the grind stone. Steve was now the "Chief Lime Spreader". It was another new experience. He had to learn how to operate the satellite GPS computer system that automatically drives the tractor and also tracks where you have spread the lime. I had a few turns at driving also, just in case I ever get asked to work!!!!!!
Steve also had fun driving his big Tonka Toy front end loader. The lime would be dumped at the end of the paddock by the truck and Steve had to load the lime into the spreader using the front end loader. He had to make sure that it was always spreading approx 1 tonne to the acre by reading the stats on the computer. All very high tech...
Some of the farmers around the area still use an old method of burning the stubble before they seed again which results in choking smoke that settles in at night for great sleeping and the neighbours (also affectionately known as the Hairybacks) were major culprits. Some of them have no idea and light the fires when the winds are up and the result is below.
Some are more sensible and do it at night, but still with the lingering stench.
There was a couple of weeks break between fertilising and seeding while we were waiting for the rain. We started to give the bus a "Spring Clean" and that's when all the Reno ideas started popping into our heads. So off to Geraldton and back again with some wood to build a new Entertainment Centre and some Vinyl Tiles to replace the carpet. The new Entertainment Centre looks great - Steve did an excellent job. We ripped out some of the carpet and replaced it but didn't get to finish it all as Steve was called back to work on the Seeder. We have a stock pile of tiles for when we have a "quiet time" again to finish it off.
Seeding was a whole new experience again. The Tractor, Seed and Fertiliser tanks and the actual Seeder Bar was approx 25 metres long. I will let Steve take over here. I understood the basics of the computer GPS systems after the lime spreading but now had to add in liquid fertilizer, seed and granulated fertilizer to the equation. The seed and granulated fertilizer were on the computer system but the liquid was on a gauge which had to be watched behind you all the time, too simple actually LOL - seeing as most of the time you were checking behind for something anyway.
The seeder bar was about 14 metres wide so when you turned at the end of each run you had to allow for 25m of whole machine length and 14 metres of bar width which is bringing up the rear, all the time getting within reasonable distance to the fence so as not to have any patches once it all grows. I did really well except for one turn, you wouldn't believe a bolt head at the very end of this chain caught a single fence wire and by the time you see the fence move about 30ft had been ripped out.(Wire cutters to the fore).
