# I'm back



## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

hey guys I just quit lexus about 2 months ago or less. I found a job working on a Sod/Grass (kentucky blue grass) farm. I like the people there, Mike is an excellent boss to have. He is very easy on me, and is there to work with me and the crew and to joke along when we do. I harvest sod rolls and stack them on the Ford 3910 rear hitch forks carrying a pallet full of the 54 stacked rolls. the machine drops the pallet off, and then i stack another 54, after each stack i grab a Case 586E fork lift, and move the pallets to the shop area where customers pick the rolls or pallets up. I like being a farmer. It is a new experience, I feel like I am building some good muscles after only a few days. I love it at Wistl sod farm, its great.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

Ive been working on a 1000 acre sod farm now for 4 years and I get treated very good by them. My health, and life insurance is paid and they have a gauranteed 10% of my income placed in a profit sharing plan that they pay to it not me. You dont find perks like that very often.

<div><embed src="http://widget-51.slide.com/widgets/slideticker.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" wmode="transparent" flashvars="cy=un&il=1&channel=216172782117057873&site=widget-51.slide.com" style="width:400px;height:300px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:400px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=un&at=ph&id=216172782117057873&map=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-51.slide.com/p1/216172782117057873/un_t017_v000_s0ph_f00/images/xslide1.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=un&at=ph&id=216172782117057873&map=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-51.slide.com/p2/216172782117057873/un_t017_v000_s0ph_f00/images/xslide2.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a> <a href="http://www.slide.com/pivot?cy=un&at=ph&id=216172782117057873&map=F" target="_blank"><img src="http://widget-51.slide.com/p4/216172782117057873/un_t017_v000_s0ph_f00/images/xslide42.gif" border="0" ismap="ismap" /></a></div></div>

I didnt realize those family pictures were in that slide but oh well.


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## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

morgan, i didnt know that you worked on a sod farm. Yeah, the people i work with are awsome because the owner works with us, and is easy on you when he doesnt see what he wants to. The harvester in your pics looks like ours. The tires are about 24'' wide on the rear, and the harvester's system is widened more than 8 inches i think so that the roles can be much wider than the way it was originally built. Now he has a harvestack system that takes care of buisness with a touch of a few buttons. It cuts, rolls, stacks, feeds new pallets into itself, drops the pallets full of sod, etc. The technology is pretty cool, but expensive. We usually cut around 18 pallets a day but when a big order is placed, it can be around 30 to 50 pallets, but the trebro harvestack machine on the deere is the one that cuts that many. I have used a ryan sod cutter. Self propelled with an old B&S motor on front to till the weeds in his corn and pumpkin field. The job is good. 

I noticed you have the canopy for sun protection, so do we, red in color. 

Thanks for the pics, i enjoyed seeing them, ill have to take some myself.


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## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

Great slide show Morgan. One of these days I am going to have to learn how to do that then link it to a post. Looks like you have some beautiful girls too. 

I was wondering how much a role of grass weighs. It looks heavy so I didn't know if you needed a loader to put it on the truck or if you could lift it by hand.

Andy


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## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

a 2 foot wide X 5 foot long roll in moist soil weighs about 5 - 10 pounds each. The big rolls, probably 300+ pounds.


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Great pictures Morgan! What does a pallet or roll of Bermuda grass sell for? Does it crowd out the rest of the grasses and weeds once it is established? Reason I ask is that we are considering revegetating our pastures and I was looking at sod verses spraying, disking, and reseeding. I am trying to get my daughter's horses off of fescue especially now that she just got another horse and she is due to have her foal October/November time frame.

How is Shelby doing? Hope she is doing well.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

Shelby is still in the hospital but she might get to come home tomorrow, thanks for asking.

A big roll of bermuda weighs between 1300 to 1800 lbs and contains 40 yards of sod. Our pallets we cut slabs not the small rolls contain 50 yards which is 150 pieces and yes we count them and it weighs anywere from 1500 to 2000 lbs depending on moisture. We harvest about 250 pallets a day at Winstead Turf Farms. http://www.winsteadturf.com/ 
We have:
Meyers Z-52 Zoysia
It is a blue green color with thick blades 
A slow grower, runs like Bermuda 
Needs 4 to 6 hours of good filtered light to live 
50 Sq. Yds. per pallet or 450 Sq. Ft. 

Bermudas
Tifway II - Blade thickness is between medium to thick - more winter hardy 
Needs 8 hours of full sun to live 
50 Sq. Yds. per pallet or 450 Sq. Ft. 


Palisades Zoysia
TURF OF THE 21st CENTURY 
Is a medium broad textured high density Turf 
Has vertical growth 
Less Trimming 
Shade/Heat Tolerant - Cold hardy 
Less Watering 
Requires 4 hours good filtered light to live 
50 sq. yds or 450 sq. ft. 


Royal Zoysia
Thin Blade 
Very slow grower 
Blends well with Bermudas 
Requires 4 hours good filtered light to live 
50 sq. yds or 450 sq. ft. 

My Boss owns the Patent to the Palisades

We demo one of those trebro Auto Slab's http://www.trebro.com/ 
but Bobby would rather use the guys than pay $200,000.00 for the harvester.

Randy, the Bermuda grass sells wholesale for around 67.50 per pallet, you would be much better off if doing a pasture to spray, disk, and if not seed, then you could sprig some Tifton 44 Bermuda, or Vaughn Bermuda, both of which are Hybrids and have no seed and I highly recommend either.

Vaughn's Number 1 Bermuda a testamony
http://www.tanglewoodfarms.org/vaughns11bermudagrass/

Tifton 44 Bermuda Grass specs
http://www.tifton.uga.edu/fat/tifton44.htm

I hope I covered everything, if not let me know what else you want to know.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

I just noticed this Randy, 

Does it crowd out the rest of the grasses and weeds once it is established?

No Bermuda will not crowd anything out, you still have to spray. I spray with a product that I get at TSC called Pasture ON which is a form of 2-4-D or another product that is called GRAZE On can be used. I wouldnt spray any MSMA on a pasture because for one it only controls Crab Grass and for another it contains Arsenic which can make an animal sick or even cause death. If it was me trying to get rid of the Fescue Randy, what I would do is wait for the first freeze to make everything go dormit and everything will go domit except for the Fescue because the winter freeze doesnt effect it, then I would go in and spray Round Up and nothing that is domit will be effected only things that are green will be effected. Then next spring go in with Bermuda. This is just an idea of course.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

> _Originally posted by chrpmaster _
> *Great slide show Morgan. One of these days I am going to have to learn how to do that then link it to a post. Looks like you have some beautiful girls too.
> 
> I was wondering how much a role of grass weighs. It looks heavy so I didn't know if you needed a loader to put it on the truck or if you could lift it by hand.
> ...


Goto www.slide.com and load pictures then link to it, that it. Thanks I think my girls are the best.
We use a loader to lift the rolls, I put the weights in a previous answer.


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Thanks Morgan,

I am trying 2 cases of Z-52 Zoysia in our yard to see how it grows here. Once established it seems to get really thick and crowd out pretty much most other plants. If it grows in our yard well, I may try taking some plugs to transplant out in the pasture. 

What do you think of the Z-52 Zoysia grass? Is there much nutrition in it for horses? 

Real sorry to hear Shelby is back in the hospital. Prayers sent.


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## Morgan (Oct 26, 2006)

> _Originally posted by TF Admin _
> *Thanks Morgan,
> 
> I am trying 2 cases of Z-52 Zoysia in our yard to see how it grows here. Once established it seems to get really thick and crowd out pretty much most other plants. If it grows in our yard well, I may try taking some plugs to transplant out in the pasture.
> ...


Weeds are not a huge problem with the Z-52, water is more of a problem with it. You almost always have to irrigate the Z-52 for it to thrive, also the Z-52 is such a slow growing grass, I really dont think you will be happy with it in a pasture. The Z-52 does so much better in shade than in direct sunlight due to its water needs. Bermuda is the way to go around here IMOA


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