Planter Repairs/Little Girl Farm Play

This post has been patiently waiting to be written.  The photos just sitting there on the camera card waiting for me to compress them, watermark them, and load them on blogger.  The main issue to why it wasn't written sooner...... the farmer in my life and I haven't been in the same room much since I snapped the photos!  If we were, we were too tired to think about blogging. I needed his input to properly educate about the planter! 

Finally!  We have met in the middle and created this little post.  It's about planter repairs and parts and watching our little girl play while he worked on it one Saturday!

First we will explain the main part that he wanted to replace prior to planting corn.  
It is the flow monitors.

Other parts of the planter.

Seed Firmer: Pushes the seed to the bottom of the seed slot.
Closing Wheel: This gently closes the seed slot and covers the seed with soil.
Seed Box: Holds the seeds prior to being planted.
Marker: One side is always down, keeps your rows spaced evenly.
Tanks: Holds the liquid fertilizer that is applied on the soil where the seed is planted.
Flow Monitors: They are on the equipment to enable the Farmer to see if you have a plugged line or not.  

Allow me to show you what farm kids do while their parents are working on the farm!

She was very serious about hooking the chain up to the ATV to be able to move the chair.  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

When it wouldn't hook and stay on the hitch part, without any help from us, she found a solution! Note, you must hold your tongue JUST RIGHT, to get it to work!

I'm telling you, the work gloves are not only for work, but play too!  She finally got it hooked and ready to go!

Obviously, as responsible parents we did not allow the 5 year old to drive the ATV.  Her legs are too short anyways, but in her imaginary farm world she did JUST that! :)

There was some serious farm talk done as well that day between Grandpa & PV! I think they are discussing what crops will be planted where next year! :) She's giving him her 2 cents worth!

There are always repairs to be made to machinery and trucks at the farm.  We don't have the latest and newest machinery, but we get by just fine.  Machinery is quite expensive these days.  When we purchased our (used) Grain Drill with Air Seeder two years ago, we paid  in the area of $50,000 but feel it was a great investment.  Since Milton is the only one that plants/drills crops, investing in a larger unit seemed like the next logical move.  Combines,  we have seen some of these go for $350,000 or more for new ones and other machinery doesn't fall far behind.
We are hoping our combine continues to get us by for a year or two, they have had it for 10 plus years and bought it used at that time.  Sometimes repairing a part outweighs the purchase of  a newer /bigger piece of equipment.  Sometimes it does not.  Just like any business, one has to weigh the pros and cons of the situation.

We hope this post has been enjoyable, educational, and enlightened you into the world of agriculture!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie & Milton