The P2K

This is the P2K ("Peters 2000", named after the man who built it), which I wrote about in my last post. My father visited a farm in Burley, Idaho and saw a custom made machine for mixing cow feed and decided to have one made for himself. This self-propelled, self-loading mixing marvel is one of only a handful in the world and a dream to run. Instead of loading with a tractor and being exposed to the elements, one can sit in the cab of this beauty and listen to the radio while working in the comfort of a heated cab. Complete with an in-cab scale, the P2K allows you to exactly measure ingredients for complete bovine nutrition.















Unfortunately it's not quite running as well as it should. The incline conveyor is continually getting jammed so we're back to loading with a tractor, hence it is no longer self-loading. It's still self-propelled but extremely low powered, especially in hot weather and we often need to give it a little push up hills with the tractor. Another problem is that it was never built to mix hay, which of course we do, so we blow bearings on the mixer regularly.

We'll certainly miss her when we decide it's time for her to retire, which may be soon. We've been offered a deal on a traditional pull-type mixer and watched one in action last week. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of the P2K but it chops hay with ease. I think my father is still pretty attached to his custom-made P2K but my brother on the other hand is eager to see it go. It's got a lot of character anyway and thought I better write up a little about it before it's decommissioned once and for all.

Wildlife in the Cab of the P2K

This pretty little orb weaving spider sits in the window of the "P2K" (a feed mixing machine). I kicked her out a few weeks ago but she has since moved back in. I don't like spiders a lot but her determination won me over so I let her be. It is a little scary at times when I drive over a bump in the road and she's in the middle of her net when it bounces toward me along with the bumps, like a trampoline. It's a good thing she holds on tight.
I'm guessing it's a female because I noticed a young spider hiding in the corner a few days ago. At least I hope there's only one.

















Up in the corner of the same machine are these little fellows, which I believe to be European paper wasps. Not too aggressive but again, a little unnerving at times. Sometimes two or three will stand guard outside the hole that leads to their nest. I'm not sure what it is about this year but there are well over a hundred paper wasp nests on our farm, much more than usual. They also seem to be very curious about people and often fly close or even land on me. I've only been stung once this year though, after one flew into my shorts.

A New Beginning

This blog is the next installment from my previous blog about teaching English and living in South Korea.

As I am not teaching in South Korea anymore but instead farming in Western Canada, I've created this new blog to share about life on the farm and this next stage in our lives.