Got a tractor!




About a month ago, after spending a ridiculous amount of time augering only a few post holes, I made the realization that I physically couldn't keep installing fence posts the way I had been with my modified hand-held gas-powered earth auger.  Although the Stihl BT 130 Earth Auger I had purchased in May of the previous year had worked well and enabled me to erect enough fencing to start raising bison, I could no longer take the physical punishment of both bracing the motorized auger against my body as it drilled an eight-inch diameter hole four feet into the ground (with lots of clay, rocks, and tree roots) and then repeatedly lifting the entire apparatus out of the hole to remove the soil.

With the summer rapidly approaching and a clear need to get the fencing and many other hard jobs completed, Jess and I decided it would be best for us to buy our own small tractor.  After consulting with friends and conducting a lot of online research, we decided to purchase the John Deere 5045E Utility Tractor with a H240 Loader and PHD200 Post Hole Digger.

One of the first things I did with the tractor after it was delivered last week was auger a post hole.  That tractor dug the post hole so quickly and effortlessly I almost started crying!  In less than two minutes the tractor was able to drill out a four-foot hole in clay soil that was so dense it would have taken me over an hour to auger with my previous method.  


 The front end loader was incredible too.  With a few scoops the tractor can move more earth than Jess and I could working together with shovels over a period of days.  I have a feeling that fencing the ranch is going to proceed a lot more quickly now. 

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