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Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Thu Nov 26, 15 11:26 pm Post subject:
If you get a chance to go visit them, take it. We loved our time there.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15997

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 7:13 am Post subject:
I would like to see how they do things, but they seemed to need a lot of horses for not too much return. Am I imagining it, or did their hay crop look a bit sparse? I don't think that pedal powered tractor would be good for very much even going up hill. Certainly no good for hauling logs.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 7:42 am Post subject:

Lots of horses, odd small tractor. They eat very, very well, and very sociably. An Amish restaurant was a communal place. Think big tables, shared by ten, twelve, twenty people, all sharing big piles of good, simple food.

Minimal experience, but as they don't need to pay for cars, holidays, phones, the Internet or the latest trainers, they don't need to maximise their hay crop, just produce enough to feed their stock, and there's lots of land, so bales per acre probably less of an issue. Seems to be a simpler, quieter way of life and very incongruous within driving distance of Washington DC.

They also make a lot of quilts!

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 11:44 am Post subject:
That tractor is clearly only a cultivating tractor, and as such would primarily be working on fairly level ground, and only be putting knives just under the surface of the soil. An electric assist pedal power is probably all that's needed for that. As such, I think it's one of the less-laughable ways of cutting carbon emissions on a small veggie farm.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 12:12 pm Post subject:

Slim wrote:

That tractor is clearly only a cultivating tractor, and as such would primarily be working on fairly level ground, and only be putting knives just under the surface of the soil. An electric assist pedal power is probably all that's needed for that. As such, I think it's one of the less-laughable ways of cutting carbon emissions on a small veggie farm.

This guy has it sussed.

Ty Gwyn

Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4613
Location: Lampeter

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 12:14 pm Post subject:
Considering it weigh`s just over 2 3/4 cwt without the driver,any drag of the tines is going to resist its movement, Notice it was parked on top of bark shreds, You`d better start getting some steak`s down your neck Slim to build up them muscles before you contemplate giving that a go,lol.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 12:21 pm Post subject:

Hairyloon wrote:

dpack wrote:

numbers

from practical experience it takes 4 keen cyclists to power a 1.25 kva pa system and charging 12v lead acid batteries with a military grade pedal crank generator is

Seems to concur with the numbers in the link.

Quote:

if that was a tractor built for two dozen it might work for light stuff if it did not sink into the earth .

Or perhaps the thing to do is build a bicycle for a horse...

we did consider dog power as we had no horse available

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 12:40 pm Post subject:
problems that the new generation battery technology might overcome. iirc the next gen batteries are capable of storing enough energy for a days work and can deliver it with to motors at a high rate which allows for a decent hp delivered to the machine. hideous expensive at the mo but the plan to mass produce them will make such machines a practical option.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 2:50 pm Post subject:

Ty Gwyn wrote:

Considering it weigh`s just over 2 3/4 cwt without the driver,any drag of the tines is going to resist its movement,

Notice it was parked on top of bark shreds,

You`d better start getting some steak`s down your neck Slim to build up them muscles before you contemplate giving that a go,lol.

Looks like these bad boys have plenty of oomph for cultivation

https://youtu.be/Oy3LqlTq4e4

Tavascarow

Joined: 06 Aug 2006
Posts: 8407
Location: South Cornwall

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 3:33 pm Post subject:

Ty Gwyn wrote:

Regular cyclists have the muscles.
This is taken from a thread on the Cycle tourist club forum posted this morning.
A Big Dummy is a make of cargo bicycle, no electric assist, just pedal power.

Quote:

Cycling back from my local animal supplies dealer. Just under 50kg of corn and a bale of hemp for bedding for the chickens. A few other bits too.

On JUST starting my ascent up a hill (so no major load) my chain came apart. I only found 1 half of the Quick Link and it looks intact. Sadly the other half did a Mary Celeste so I'm at a loss as to what happened. Luckily I had a spare link on board so I could pedal on home.

With the 50 odd kilograms I averaged 11mph sometimes easily 20mph and a max of 29mph. I'm pretty chuffed with my Big Dummy...b

EDIT: Yes I know. Shameless bragging. Did I say it was raining too.

Just as a farmer in the past could scythe all day or walk all day behind a horse, they weren't considered fit just normal.
Modern farming is too reliant on diesel driven horses even the organic ones.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Fri Nov 27, 15 4:59 pm Post subject:
I'm really starting to like this guy's setup: https://youtu.be/fVQxlnaFr0s Almost as fast as I used to do it on an International 274!

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15997

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 15 7:46 am Post subject:
I notice they are always shown on really easy to work soil. I don't think they would be any good at all on most field soil, and not sure they would even cope with the stones in our garden, let alone clay. Think I will stick to my raised beds that I can just about dig by hand in one or two goes.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 15 8:16 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

I notice they are always shown on really easy to work soil. I don't think they would be any good at all on most field soil, and not sure they would even cope with the stones in our garden, let alone clay. Think I will stick to my raised beds that I can just about dig by hand in one or two goes.

I think a lot of people think land is land when they're talking about it being more efficient to crop plant crops rather than animals. I'll stick to walking across our land though.

Slim

Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Posts: 6612
Location: New England (In the US of A)

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 15 9:37 am Post subject:

It would suit just fine for the only types of soils that I would strive to run a profitable vegetable farming operation on. It's clearly not meant for tillage!

Heck, even if it were only used for secondary cultivation a few weeks after a tractor did the primary cultivation it would still reduce the cultivator diesel usage by a half.

Jeezum, when did I become the positive one around here? I thought I was supposed to be shooting ideas down

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Sat Nov 28, 15 10:08 am Post subject:

Slim wrote:

That was exactly my point.

And I posted a video of a solar powered tractor - stop trying to claim all the glory.

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