Hubby has one solid complaint about farming. There’s always something that needs fixin’!

Get one thing fixed and something else breaks down. It’s always something. Now some things are higher priority than others, and many times our plans for the day are changed by something that needs fixed.

One job that’s needed done for awhile, is changing some knives in the TMR. We have been waiting for a warmer day (so we didn’t have to freeze our fingers off!) to check this one off the list.

Well, that day came this week.

We’ve had our TMR since the year Kayla was born. Dan bought it new back in ’95.

A TMR is a type of equipment we use everyday to mix up our feed ration for the cows. (TMR ~ “Total Mixed Ration”)

Now I love to bake, and I really love mixing up for the cows too.

I think of our TMR as my big Kitchenaid mixer! It has a scale on it that helps me get just the right mix to help our cows get all the nutrients they need.

So naturally, it’s really important to me that this particular piece of equipment stays in good, working order.

You see, cows like to eat the same thing EVERY DAY. And that means this machine and I have to work together to get the same feed every time I mix up. I follow the recipe (ration sheet) and I’m careful to mix it long enough without over-mixing it.

It has a series of augers inside that turn and roll all of the ingredients together to mix them up. The first auger that the ingredients make contact with has triangular knives on the edges to cut things up into smaller pieces, like hay.

Over time, these knives get worn and dull, or get weak and break off. An errant flip of the bucket could also shear off a bolt or knife, allowing it to shift so it doesn’t cut anymore.

Well, our warm January day brought this task to the top of the fixin’ list this week. Reed had a day off from school for the holiday so we had a little helper too.

In the magnet tray you can see the triangular knife we were changing out, along with the bolts, lock washers and nuts.

Yep! Looks like it could use a little work!

We changed out many of the knives and straightened up a bunch too.

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I helped put the new knives on too, but of course, no pictures to show for it. !)

It went pretty good, and in about an hour we had her good as new!

I sure was glad to get this job off the list.

And it’s always good to hear Hubby say “That’s a good job done!”