Recently I met Carolyn Stern, author of The Emotionally Strong Leader: An Inside-Out Journey to Transformational Leadership. I’m wired for positivity and lifelong learning, so I resonate with many of Stern’s insights and wondered what would happen to the farm family dynamic if folks really cared about working on their internal world.

When coaching young farmers in the hallways of a conference in the U.S. Midwest, I was reminded again watching tears of frustration. “Dad just drops the big stuff like switching land rent while we are walking to the barn. I haven’t really had a deep conversation about his passions and wants for over three years. I’ve decided just to build things on my own for my own family, and that way if the emotions and drama run high, we have options.”

Stern uses a self-coaching approach, which strong-willed, independent entrepreneur farmers would love:

Know yourself

“Connect with yourself and take a hard look in the mirror,” Stern says. We all need lots of self-compassion and a no-judgment zone to be able to accept where we are today. Health issues have a brash way of causing folks to reconsider what is truly important in life. Would you be able to sit with your thoughts and feelings just a while to consider how you are aging and managing in place on your farm?

“Understanding your inner self will help you lead more consciously and purposefully,” Stern says. This revelation came to a family meeting when the dad was ready to share the story of the pain and sacrifice of his parents in the tough times of getting the farm started. His fear of failure was a source of concern which only came to light through his story at the family meeting.

Consult with others

Many farmers have few friends, others have lots. I would start with a heart-to-heart conversation with your spouse. Tears flow when the vision of the parent is not aligned for the future chapter of being 70-something on the farm.

Are you courageous enough to ask others how they perceive you? Compare their observations to how you saw yourself in your reflection time. Pay attention to what your spouse needs. Being emotionally present for your spouse will protect the health of the marriage.

Manifest the model

Stern asks, “What kind of emotionally strong leader do you want to be?” — a great question for Stern’s process, but I am afraid many farmers don’t care what others think. They are used to” being large and in charge.” They may not care to consider the opinions or voice of others on the farm team.

If your parents are not willing to consider therapy, counselling or coaching to discover new ways of communicating and resolving conflict on the farm, perhaps that clarity will allow you to let go of unworkable expectations and seek out new options which fit your goals. You can show up as the best version of you and model the kind of behaviour and culture you want to create in your management role.

Consider your possibilities and barriers

A lack of good communication seems to be a common complaint of young farmers trying to get parents to talk about the future of the farm and the family.

Brene Brown, a social researcher and Texas-based podcaster, often asks people to question the stories they tell themselves. I believe everyone can learn new language to share feelings more clearly and ask for what they need. We’d be happy to share a list of podcasts and videos for you to glean new phrases such as “Where is it written that … (fill in the blank the thinking you want to challenge)?” or “I’m just curious, have you considered…?” Play with possibility and don’t pre-judge the outcomes of your robust conversations. Contact us if you’re looking for the podcast links.

Make an action plan

A couple I coached was elated to share what they learned about healthy boundaries from their counsellor. Their intention was to protect the emotional health of their family and model to the parents the good behaviours they wanted to see grow.

We often say, “Counselling is about recovery; coaching is about discovery.” Search the National Farmers Mental Health Alliance website to find ag-informed therapists.

If your parents are on the brink of divorce because their future vision for stepping away from the main roles of the farm are at odds, perhaps a “redemptive separation” is the action plan. Divorce is not the goal, healing emotions is. “Talk does not cook rice.” You need accountability partners, dates and deadlines to work at better communication and emotional awareness in “bite-size chunks,” Stern suggests.

Make the commitment(s)

Commit to building your emotional support group and commit to your growth as an emotionally strong leader. Many farm families get in the habit of working in isolation and neglect connection to community. We need to be purposeful in reaching out to stay motivated to keep growing and transforming our behaviours. Stern advises to “establish accountability to ensure you are focused on your journey to emotional strength.”

Stern’s facial icons are a good reminder to use a larger vocabulary for our feelings. Her emotion check-in list includes positive, happy, optimistic, inspired, empathetic, excited, confident, proud, content, relieved, hopeful, calm, strong and passionate. The negative emotions common to blow-ups on farms might include intimidated, offended, frustrated, discouraged, afraid, resentful, confused, overwhelmed, and disappointed.

Read that passage about the emotion check-in again. Notice how the positive words make you feel; now, think of when you last felt that emotion.

“I love you, my child, and you’ve grown to be a great asset to our farm, and I am proud of you and all you have accomplished. I’m optimistic for the future of this business and the legacy we are creating together.” Many young farmers would love to hear this spoken aloud, and the reverse is true for farm parents. Respect, positivity and appreciation go a long way to build emotional health.

Do you have a clear picture of who you are and how you lead on your farm? In your family?

Awareness is a good first step. Read Stern’s book or listen on Audible. You’ll enjoy her tips and tools to gain emotional strength.

The post Being an emotionally strong farm parent appeared first on Grainews.

In this theme our family would like to share a few of the livestock supplies that we built out of what some might consider junk. Some of these projects are not born out of lack of money. To be completely honest they usually come from lack of planning. Many farmers can relate with the recurring theme of our farm. We all of a sudden realize that we need something and it is either not available for two weeks, or what you could purchase ready made isn’t quite like what is needed. So, what does a farmer do? We build it of whatever supplies are at hand because we are too busy to go to town.

A lamb creep feeder

A good example of this would be our lamb creep feeder. We, as a rule, do not creep feed. Therefore we were not prepared to creep feed our winter lambs last February. Then we started to realize, quite quickly actually, if we wanted them to use their shelter we had to entice them into it. Food is a wonderful item to lure small animals with.

But right in the middle of lambing was not the time to be building a creep feeder. So, we repurposed a ready-made mineral feeder for the lambs creep feeder and it worked excellently. It held about 50 pounds of grain at a time and easily mounted in a three-sided calf shelter. We hung it at lamb level on a cattle panel, which was angled across a corner of the shelter to keep the ewes out.

This absolutely would not work with goats though. Does would easily figure out how to crawl through a cattle panel but ewes just behaved and stayed out of the creep area.

• From the Manitoba Co-operator website: They’re big and unwieldy, but farmers urged no to burn grain bags

Jug hangers

Then there was the problem of not being able to hang the gates (or panels that open) on our lambing jugs. These are small, usually portable pens erected just prior to lambing. Jugs provide a safe and private place for ewes to birth, as well as a comfortable and protected area where the lambs and ewes can bond to each other.

We had the panels, but my husband just couldn’t find the perfect size or strength of hangers to serve as a hinge to fit his own mental image of what was needed. So, he made them out of two lag bolts welded together at right angles to form an “L” shape (see slideshow).

One side of the lag bolt was screwed into an anchor post, leaving the other bolt upright. He then cut a length of metal tent pole to slide over the top of the upright lag bolt as a sleeve, drilled a hole through it, and wired it to the galvanized stock panel creating a hinge (see slideshow). The panel can be swung like a gate, and lifted off the hanger as needed. They didn’t break last year so we are already one step closer to be ready for lambing!

Feeder ideas

Over the years another thing we are continually building is feeders for small animals and poultry. Those we have utilized many things for. Last year we were pulling out old fluorescent light fixtures in our kitchen and my son and I thought they would make excellent troughs without much work. All we had to do was add ends (see photo at top).

He traced the shape onto half-inch boards, and then used a mitre saw to cut them out. They were attached to the fixtures by drilling a pilot hole through the metal, positioning the wooden end, and then nailing them together. If they need to be more stable a wooden cradle can also be made to support them.

Another trough we needed was one to feed milk to our young goats in. For these we actually had to buy supplies. We got six-inch diameter PVC pipe and cut it in half lengthwise (see slideshow). We allowed about four inches per goat and made the pipe the appropriate length. We used food-grade materials for the glue, pipe and ends. To secure them in the pen we used broken rake teeth and pegged them into the ground. The idea was to have one end poke through the fence enough to be able to pour the milk in and the kids feed at the trough. They worked but we did have a problem with the goats crowding to the front and not utilizing the whole length of the trough. Due to being made of PVC material, they wash out very well.

The men and women that pioneered the Canadian countryside were much better at making do with what they had than we will ever be, but it is fun to try. All you have to do is let your imagination loose and a great many useful items can be born out of things other people would consider clutter, reaffirming the old phrase “necessity is the mother of invention.”

The post ”Repurposed” materials can be practical and fun appeared first on Grainews.

The gasket sealing the cover plate to the axle housing was leaking like a sieve before we tore down the old Jeep. After removing the cover plate, the reason was clear. Someone had removed it before and used silicone sealant to form a new gasket. That had deteriorated. Making matters worse was the broken stud, which meant the plate couldn’t be snugged up to the housing properly.

After scraping the remaining silicone off the axle mounting surface, there was still a lot of rust remaining. In order to get the plate to seal again, all that corrosion and crud needed to come off too. Using a sanding block and 400-grit paper, we sanded the surface until we had it shiny and smooth again.

But there was yet another problem to deal with. At some point the axle must have struck something solid, and some metal from the housing was protruding above the mounting surface, which would hold the cover plate away from the mounting surface at that spot. Using a fine-tooth hand file, we attacked that protruding lip and worked it down until it was smooth with the mounting surface.

But there was still the broken stud to deal with. In our last instalment, we welded a nut onto the protruding portion of that broken bolt in order to twist it out. But this time, the stud was broken flush with the housing, so that tactic wouldn’t work here.

Instead, we pulled the set of stud extractors, commonly referred to as easy outs, from our tool box.

The first step in removing a broken bolt with this type of tool is getting a relatively smooth surface to work with. That meant sanding the broken, jagged end of the bolt down to a flat surface — or as flat as we could get this one. Part of it was broken below the level of the mounting surface.

To smoothen it out, we put an 80-grit sanding pad on a dual-action sander and carefully worked protruding chunk until it was smooth with the housing surface. Then, using a centre punch, we marked a starting point for a drill bit as close to the centre of the broken bolt as we could eyeball it. (Getting that right is important to prevent damage to the threads in the axle housing).

Then, we drilled a pilot hole right through the centre of the broken stud. Next, we selected the widest drill bit we thought we could safely use without drilling outside the bolt and damaging the hole’s threads.

More from the Grainews website: How to remove a broken stud

The broken stud was in a threaded hole that went right through the axle housing, so we were able to apply penetrating fluid from both ends to help free it up.

Now it was time for the extractor. Drilling the largest hole feasible allowed us to select the thickest, and therefore strongest, extractor that would fit. This part calls for a bit of a tender touch. The extractors are made from hardened steel, but they’re still relatively thin. They can, and will, break if you twist too hard. Trust me on this. I speak from experience. If you do break one off in place, you’ll end up with a broken hardened-steel stud inside a broken mild-steel stud stuck in a mild-steel housing. Drilling that out is something you may want to trust to a machine shop, which means added cost and delay.

Even after applying a little heat, this stud wouldn’t budge. Rather than press our luck and risk breaking the extractor, we opted to simply leave things as they were for a while. We continued applying penetrating fluid over several hours and then let the piece sit overnight. Patience is a virtue with this job.

The next day, we applied more heat and more fluid. Eventually, the heat and fluid did their jobs and the stud turned free with a gentle twist. Then, we were able to easily back it out.

With a new gasket in place and the backing plate back on, the axle is now ready to be mounted back on the chassis and fully reassembled. †

The post We find more front axle problems appeared first on Grainews.

The Jeep needs 3/16-inch mild steel brake lines, so we stopped at an auto parts store and picked up a full 25-foot roll along with the correct number of fittings. The total cost was about $50.

The tools

To turn that role of steel tubing into formed lines, we need to cut and bend the pieces into the correct shape. Then, a 45° double flare has to be put on each end. Doing that requires a few special tools. In true Grainews style, we’re going to stick with the basic, low-cost types for this job. We want to use tools anyone can justify adding to their roller chest.

This project calls for a special tubing bender, which costs about $15. Aside from that we needed a basic flaring tool kit that typically retails for $40 to $50. Other than that, only ordinary hand tools are required.

Cutting and bending

When doing a project like this, keep the original lines — or what’s left of them — to use as patterns to fab up new ones. Measure the overall length of the originals and unroll that length of tubing from the roll. Cut it with the tubing cutter that comes with the flaring kit.

After cutting the pieces to length, ream out the resulting minor deformity on the ends. We used an ordinary step-style drill bit for that. Next, file a bevel onto the outside edge with a hand file. After that step it’s possible to get right to flaring the ends on the shorter pieces. But a couple of sections for the Jeep were too long to lock into the vice without standing on a step ladder to reach the end. With those, we went ahead and bent them to shape first, which made it easier to fit them into the vice.

More from the Grainews website: Putting penetrating fluids to the test

The tubing bender came in handy, but it can only make bends with one radius. In some places we wanted tighter curves, that meant improvising by locking two 3/8 bolts into the jaws of a bench vice. Sockets from a 3/8 drive could be slipped over one bolt to give us the radius we wanted. The other bolt acted as an anchor to force the bend.

We mostly used a socket for a 5/8 nut, which gave us a tight bend, but not so tight we risked kinking the line.

Flaring the ends

To put the 45° flare on each end, the first step is to make sure the cut ends are perfectly square. One easy way to do that is to put each end into the flaring vice upside down. When the tubing is locked into the flaring vice and protruding just slightly from the bottom, a hand file can be used to file it flush with the surface.

Then flip the vice over and insert the tubing into it the correct way. Let the tubing stick out exactly the same height as the shoulder on the appropriate flaring die. That ensures exactly the correct length of tubing will be bent over to form the double flare.

Forming the double flare is a two-stage process. First, the die is placed in the end of the tubing. It is forced down by the hand tool. Twist the tool until the die bottoms out on the vice. Then remove the die and twist the point of the hand tool down onto the tubing end. This folds over the single flare left by the die and creates the double flare. Don’t over torque the hand tool or it could compress the flare too much.

This sounds like a simple process, but with the kind of flaring kit we used, it can be challenging to get the flares correctly shaped. Both halves of the flaring vice need to be perfectly even. If they aren’t, the flare won’t be formed at 90° to the tube, and it might not seat properly. That means it will be a leaky line. It’s easier than you’d think to end up with a useless flare. Getting everything lined up correctly can sometimes be a slow, frustrating process.

Take your time at this stage or you’ll find yourself starting all over again.

If you forgot to slide both fittings onto the line before flaring both ends, you’ll be left with a useless piece of tubing and have no choice but to cut off a flare you just made. You can’t get them on if both ends are flared. And if you are putting small radius curves in the line, make sure the fittings are where they’re supposed to be or you won’t be able to slide them into place over a tight bend.

Before installing the line, use compressed air to blow out any metal filings from the cut that might contaminate the brake system.

Getting the fittings on the line to thread into place usually means tweaking the angle of the tubing a bit. Lubricate the fittings with a little brake fluid before threading them in. Never use any other type of lubricant, that could contaminate the brake fluid.

With the brake job out of the way and the Jeep now capable of stopping, the next thing we have to do is make it go.

The post How to fabricate steel brake lines appeared first on Grainews.

We don’t know why the stud originally broke. But judging from the torque required to remove the other three in the assembly, a good guess is someone had a large bowl of Wheaties in the morning and used his excess energy to grossly over-torque them all when installing a replacement bearing. That snapped off the stud. The broken stud was simply left as it was ever since. Hardly a quality repair, but we’re finding the old Jeep had a lot of poor quality repair work done to it over the decades.

Before we could reassemble the overhauled axle, the broken stud needed to come out. Here’s how we removed it.

Because we didn’t know why the stud originally broke, we assumed the worst, which is that it could be rusted and stuck in place, although it didn’t look to be in bad shape. So we applied penetrating fluid from both ends several times over the course of a week to get maximum effect, hopefully loosening and lubricating the broken piece.

Fortunately, a couple of threads on the broken stud were protruding from the housing, which meant we could get a nut onto it by almost one full turn. Using a MIG welder, we tack welded the nut to the top of the stud.

Getting a nut welded onto the broken piece made it unnecessary to drill the stud and use an “easy out.”

More from the Grainews website: Frame-off restoration, part 1

A MIG welder works much better than a Stick welder for this job. It’s easy just to insert the gun tip into the nut to get into good position to make the weld. Be sure to just use short tacks to do this job. You want enough penetration to firmly attach the nut to the stud, but you don’t want to generate too much heat, burning through the stud and welding everything to the housing. That would require a trip to a machine shop or make it necessary to replace the housing entirely.

After the weld had cooled, we put a wrench on the nut and gently applied some torque. The broken stud easily turned out. The stud was oily along its full length, which meant the penetrating oil had fully worked its way through. And there was no sign of excess rust, which supported our suspicion that the stud was likely broken by too much torque during installation.

Scott Garvey is machinery editor for Grainews. Contact him at Scott.Garvey@fbcpublishing.com.

The post How to remove a broken stud appeared first on Grainews.