Post by 70ds on Sept 21, 2009 22:03:51 GMT -5
I will start out this journal with the addition of some trucks to Minkler Trucking ( a division of Minker Farms) The first addition is an 04 W900 KW with a 450 horse N-14 Cummins and 10 speed. It has 350,000 miles on it. We have been working on this deal since May. We are running a full time fuel tanker and we wanted to get into the NH3 and propane hauling.(I don't have a propane tanker at the moment yet so this one will have to do both, You will just have to use your imagination when it is hauling propane. 
) We bought the truck and trailers from the company that was hauling NH3 for Johnson Ag. Minkler Trucking is always looking for a chance to expand to other markets. Road oil is the next path we are looking toward going down. There is an old refinery here in town that loads it out it can keep the trucks rolling in the summer time. Anyway here is the newest addition.
We have been wanting to add a few more hoppers in our fleet. We were still having trouble staying ahead of our combines in good fall crops. I had talked to the Volvo dealer when we bought our white VT 800 about the possibility of adding a few trucks and if he gave any volume discounts. Well he called me last week and said he had a deal. A construction company had ordered 6 VT800 with heavy specs and the 625 horse engine with the 13 speeds. They had headache racks and were ready to pull lowboys. The guy had ordered that many because he wanted to update before the 2010 emission laws. The guy had backed out due to the economy slowing down his business. I knew Dustin over at Johnson Farms was looking at trucks too. He was wanting to move them bad so he shot a good deal on them. I told him I could take three and said call Dustin. He took the other three. I put new Wilson grain trailers behind them and they took off today hauling anything you can in a hopper. Here they are lined up in front of the shop.
We are staying busy on the farm. The cane is about baled. We will be thinking about the 4th cutting of alfalfa before long. Silage and fall harvest is right around the corner. All three will probably hit in about 2 to 3 weeks. Right now our focus is on getting wheat in the ground. We have started with the conventional tilled ground first. The field cultivators really have to hump to stay ahead of 2 big air seeders. We are running 4 at the moment. There is some rain in the forecast so we are trying to cover as much ground as possible.
The 8850 is performing well so far. David is running it.
Adam is running the 4960 in between shagging seed wheat and fertilizer to the drills.
Dad is in the 8630.
Ben has been running the Versatile off and on.
I have been running the 8870 and CCS. Here it is filling up in the yard getting ready to head out.
Drilling.
James is running the 9530 and one of the other drills. Here he is filling up.
Drilling.
We got .15 hundreds of rain this morning that slowed us down till noon. It gave us time to get a couple semi loads of seed wheat loaded so it could be taken to Rangeland to get cleaned.
We have some soybeans that are about ready. We are hoping to get them cut and get wheat drilled in behind them. We also have some corn acres to do the same with. The 2 7088s are sitting in the shop ready to roll as soon as they are dry. I think we are about a week away though. Once we get the conventional ground drilled that will free up some of the guys to get the combines rolling. It is shaping up to be crazy busy for a while now around the farm. Questions and comments welcome.
) We bought the truck and trailers from the company that was hauling NH3 for Johnson Ag. Minkler Trucking is always looking for a chance to expand to other markets. Road oil is the next path we are looking toward going down. There is an old refinery here in town that loads it out it can keep the trucks rolling in the summer time. Anyway here is the newest addition.We have been wanting to add a few more hoppers in our fleet. We were still having trouble staying ahead of our combines in good fall crops. I had talked to the Volvo dealer when we bought our white VT 800 about the possibility of adding a few trucks and if he gave any volume discounts. Well he called me last week and said he had a deal. A construction company had ordered 6 VT800 with heavy specs and the 625 horse engine with the 13 speeds. They had headache racks and were ready to pull lowboys. The guy had ordered that many because he wanted to update before the 2010 emission laws. The guy had backed out due to the economy slowing down his business. I knew Dustin over at Johnson Farms was looking at trucks too. He was wanting to move them bad so he shot a good deal on them. I told him I could take three and said call Dustin. He took the other three. I put new Wilson grain trailers behind them and they took off today hauling anything you can in a hopper. Here they are lined up in front of the shop.
We are staying busy on the farm. The cane is about baled. We will be thinking about the 4th cutting of alfalfa before long. Silage and fall harvest is right around the corner. All three will probably hit in about 2 to 3 weeks. Right now our focus is on getting wheat in the ground. We have started with the conventional tilled ground first. The field cultivators really have to hump to stay ahead of 2 big air seeders. We are running 4 at the moment. There is some rain in the forecast so we are trying to cover as much ground as possible.
The 8850 is performing well so far. David is running it.
Adam is running the 4960 in between shagging seed wheat and fertilizer to the drills.
Dad is in the 8630.
Ben has been running the Versatile off and on.
I have been running the 8870 and CCS. Here it is filling up in the yard getting ready to head out.
Drilling.
James is running the 9530 and one of the other drills. Here he is filling up.
Drilling.
We got .15 hundreds of rain this morning that slowed us down till noon. It gave us time to get a couple semi loads of seed wheat loaded so it could be taken to Rangeland to get cleaned.
We have some soybeans that are about ready. We are hoping to get them cut and get wheat drilled in behind them. We also have some corn acres to do the same with. The 2 7088s are sitting in the shop ready to roll as soon as they are dry. I think we are about a week away though. Once we get the conventional ground drilled that will free up some of the guys to get the combines rolling. It is shaping up to be crazy busy for a while now around the farm. Questions and comments welcome.
