Pros - they are paid for and cheap to run and generally run more reliably than older tractors of different brands. They handle hillsides better than wheel tractors and dont tear the ground up as bad usually, a wheel tractor that will pull a similar load has a wider footprint from the big duals but more compaction. Also they ride better than older wheel tractors especially the bigger cats.

Cons- they are slow in the field and really slow on the road, and they are loud.

In this area near Spokane probably 90% run tires with remainder rubber tracks. With the consolidation of farms and distance to be traveled the crawler is mostly a yard ornament, yet will still get the job done. The D5 I pictured doesn't get used that often but real handy when everything else is working miles away.

Here's the tail end of fall work after half an inch of rain. C65, JD 512 disc ripper and about all the stubble it will handle. Time to put stuff away and relax a little!

The weather this whole year has generally been cold and wetter than normal which made harvest late and fall work late but then this past few days we have had mostly sunny weather and temps in the 60s which is very rare around here in Nov. we have had 8" of snow and 0ºF at this time of year before though 35F and rain is the usual November weather. It dried out just enough to spray yesterday and we had 190 acres of no-till winter peas that we did not have time to spray earlier this fall so we did it yesterday. That was the first time I have ever done field work in November, a few neighbors sometimes might finish some tillage in early November but it is more likely to compact the soil being wet so we always try to finish in October. Today it has been pouring rain all day and there is snow likely in the forecast in two days so we will be having more normal weather soon.

There was volunteer spring wheat but that usually winter kills, the main thing we were after is the cheat grass around the edges of the canyon and these fields are starting to get bad for jointed goat grass so applying assure II now gets a good kill on that and allows the peas a better start first thing in the spring. (assuming the voles leave any peas left alive in the spring)

It was a really nice day, wearing short sleeves even though the sun was way south in the sky (we are far enough north that the sun only shines about 9.5 hours this time of year)

How the peas look like on the small part that had tillage since it was a firebreak in harvest.



Making the first round around a 134 acre field, it is about 3.5 miles around this odd shaped field.



Looking up the hill, this hill is over 40% slope- the steepest hill we farm.



Dad took over while I ate some lunch, I snapped a few pics while he made the second round, the tractor is a 1976 MF 275 the sprayer is home built with a 500 gal tank, originally built in the 1970s but extended to 60ft and upgraded with foam markers, fencerow nozzle, etc. a few years ago. The tractor now has a GPS as well. The tractor is less than ideal for the job since it is 70hp and 2wd even with lots of ballast it will spin out on some hills and runs out of power even in L 3rd at 5.5mph. A track tractor with a pull sprayer is ideal on the hills, we have had custom spraying done with a couple different self propelled sprayers and they tear the hillside up pretty bad- worse than a wheel tractor.

Going downhill the full sprayer pushes pretty good



Looking down the 40% slope, this angle flattens the hill out a lot.



View of the hill, this comes close to maxing the levelers on our JD hillside combines, I have yet to get a harvest picture here, maybe next year.



Chiseling the hill a year ago.



Just past the steepest part, climbing up around to a skinny point.



Next two pics were from where the tractor was in the previous pic looking backward showing the field uphill plowed in the fall of 06 and chiseled last fall. No erosion on that 40% slope either year. One year back in the 80s the ground was worked down fine and a cloudburst hit and it eroded about 70 tons an acre in some spots.





On around the field coming across a north slope.



I sprayed until dark, with just a few acres left I ran out of chemical so I folded up and moved home -done with field work for the year.



Our old 65' chevy with 1300gal tank for water, we bought this truck used so it is not in as good of shape as our other chevy grain trucks.

Nif; thanks again for the great pictures. I like the one with the Cat pulling the chisel on the steep hillside. Need to get my protractor on the screen to check that slope. Looks like 40 percent or more.

Hi NIF I see you have some nice trees on your property , are they self seeded or have you planted them under a government scheme like we have environmental areas to keep the tree hugers happy which has got to improve some unproductive areas of landscape cheers Atlas

good job with the pics i farm here in Ontario so i know something about farming when i was you in my dad did farm with a d2 and ad4 that was in the 1950s and the 1960s i have self leveling sives in my combine it shows are max slope here is about 6deg. thanks for shairing.

Thanks for the comments guys,

Oldtracks- the problem with using that method for checking the slope is that the picture might not be completely level. Based on how far from the max of leveling it is on combines we call it a 40% slope.

Atlas- The small pine trees to the right of the sprayerin the third pic from the bottom in the above post were planted by the BIA management on all that CRP ground they bought from the previous owner. The bigger trees and all the ones on our property are all self seeded. Down on that lower elevation the south slopes generally do no have many trees because there are so many rocks that the topsoil in only a few inches deep and will not support trees. Up on most of our ground it was all naturally heavily forested, the pieces that have not been cleared or heavily logged or still that way. These three pics are right behind the home place on ground that was never cleared.







Just to the east of here it is nothing but woods, mostly thick second and third growth forests on private, state, and lumber company land until you get about 40 miles east to the bigger mountains where it is all national forest. The national forest is no longer allowed to be logged (thanks to tree huggers and our good friend Bill Clinton)

This is off of Pot Mtn. at 7,100ft in the north fork of the clearwater drainage, one of the tallest peaks in the county.

Here are some hillside harvest pics of a variety of machines. None of these pics are mine.

All of these except for the ones of the 6622 were taken by Ray Brown in Columbia county Washington.











The newer rotatry gleaners have the ability to harvest without levelers because of the patented system of a transverse rotor with accelerator rolls that throw the grain to the sieve.















These next four are from the western end of the palouse in Washington of a 6622











Also if you want to see some pics from a pro of newer hillside combines check out these links taken by Rick Dalton, the John Deeres were in the palouse, the CIH combines were in Columbia county, WA.

www.rdaltonphotos.biz/Agriculture/Palous...658253748_W5ZYX-L-LB

www.rdaltonphotos.biz/Agriculture/Palous...r6FH#643780824_ENrYj

www.rdaltonphotos.biz/Agriculture/Dayton...uh7r#642955536_eXbe7

www.rdaltonphotos.biz/Agriculture/Palous...AtQR#360380116_8iNMB

NIF,
Thanks again for the great photos. I am amazed at the sidehill farming.
If the farm ground is that steep, what do the pastures look like??

Out here on the prairie we sometimes get what we call a "gully washer" in that it will rain 3 or more inches in just a couple hours of so. Do you ever get that kind of weather there? For the steepness of the hills it does not appear you have much erosion.

Hi NIF Thanks for the explanation of timber managment on your farm. As far as the farming and managment in your area i guess one would have to learn farming all over again,i think farming is one of the most rewarding and challeging industries on this planet,with the weather politics etc and at the end of the day it is the last few acres of any harvest that is profit if nature is kind to you? farming is similar to the lottery never boreing . cheers Atlas