John Deere makes quick work of snow

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/01/2018 (2839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Country living… the rural life on the open prairie — this city boy admits to having been fully converted!

However, after spending six of the last 36 hours in my tractor, clearing huge volumes of snow on three separate occasions, I’m reminded that the winter months can be a bit wearisome.

Luckily, my recently acquired 1025R John Deere tractor, with a two-stage front snowblower attachment, is up for every winter challenge that comes my way. Well, truth be told — ALMOST every challenge.

When I lived in the city, shovelling snow was a common routine following a good snowfall. I made sure all walk paths were cleared and the driveway, too.

And, although I had contemplated a powered walk-behind snowblower a few times during the heaviest of snowfalls, I never really encountered a winter so terrible that it made such an implement essential. That, of course, all changed when I moved into the country, and bought a house on the bald prairies.

My property is roughly one acre wide, and five acres deep. The house is situated mid-way along both width and depth.

The big orange storage shed, located near the highway on the front side of the property, just south of my 400-foot driveway to the house, is 120 feet long, by 50 feet wide.

The driveway widens as you approach, to the full length of the house. Although the accumulation of snow is the obvious factor regarding snow clearing, the combination of the wind and location of my shed present the greatest hurdles.

A north or northwest wind causes a half moon drift to form along my driveway, around the north face of the shed — depending on the wind speed coming from these directions, it luckily takes some time for the drift to fully form.

A wind from the south, however, creates rapidly forming tails of drifts through the driveway to the east and west of the shed.

Having succumbed to the overwhelming volume of snow that the wind deposits onto my driveway on many, many occasions, it has become a daily, and sometimes an hourly, ritual to keep a watchful eye on the winter weather (primarily wind speed and direction) predictions.

Having lived here for over a decade now, sustained winds at or above 30 km/h can easily box us in, unless aggressive clearing maintains the driveway passage.

For many years a 1990 John Deere 430 tractor with a front two-stage blower, that I had purchased used following the first winter on the property, gave me a fighting chance in the battle against the wind and snow.

It was rugged enough, but required a lot of maintenance. And although it was equipped with a cab attachment, it was not heated and provided no shelter from the cold — the windows would quickly fog up, and rendered clearing snow a chore.

Often the 430 tractor simply did not have enough power and was no match against winter’s fury.

When the wind gusts reach of 70 or 80 km/h, it’s then necessary to call in the big boys.

Norbert Tessier of Tessier Landscaping serviced my property countless times when the winter winds howled throughout the years. His huge tractor was equipped with a front bucket that could easily lift a small sedan.

Now known as Pure Image Landscaping, owned by the Vermette brothers, I call upon them when the snow gets too crazy to manage.

Rather than “blowing” the snow, I’ve encouraged these winter warriors to create east-west snow hills along the north and south axes respectively, from the house to the highway, which inherently block the wind and give me fighting chance against accumulating and drifting snow.

These calls are less frequent now, since I purchased my new John Deere 1025R, with its two-stage front-mounted snowblower attachment and heated Tektite cab.

In a previous column, I raved about the front bucket attachment for my 1025R, which I primarily utilized to backfill along the foundation of the new two-storey addition to my house.

However, the tractor’s primary function is snow clearing — without it, winter’s unruly behaviour would force me into seclusion and hibernation, with no means of escaping the property.

The increase in power provided by the 1025R was apparent during the first pass on the first day of use — and the snowblower, which is power take-off (PTO) driven, channels the snow through a hydraulically operated shoot, throwing it more than 50 to 60 feet away, nearly double that of the old 430 tractor I owned.

The blower on the 430 relied on its own weight to cut through the snow as close to the ground as possible, whereas the new blower on the 1025R can, through hydraulics, dig down onto the surface by lifting the front end of the tractor — it is truly amazing how much power this tractor exhibits.

The years of living on the property have allowed me to establish an optimum snow clearing zone footprint.

And, during any given snow clearing exercise, this entails the removal of snow over a 40,000 square foot surface… or described another way, nearly an acre of snow clearing is required.

Generally, all this area can be fully cleared with my 1025R in just under two hours, provided the wind co-operates throughout the process. And the heated cab almost makes it… enjoyable!

Last winter, I still had to call the boys with their big toys out one time, despite having the 1025R at my disposal — with drifts nearing heights of five feet or more, my 1025R was incapable of keeping up with the accumulating snow, due to ongoing and heightened winds.

This winter, my tractor has thus far been able to maintain the driveway, without any additional help. I’m hoping to keep it that way. Of course, Mother Nature may alter my plans. So, I keep a watchful eye on the weather predictions and hope for the best.

Without my John Deere, there’d be no hope at all.

Ah, the country life — wouldn’t change it for the world!

BossEnterprise@outlook.com