journal/Archive/Business Ideas/Farm Innovation Ideas.md

Watering solutions

• Solar-powered heater

  • Inverse coffee percolator
  • https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/SteveTank/SteveTank.htm
  • http://www.the7msnranch.com/2010/12/solar-heated-water-trough-product.html

• Fence-powered heater

  • Run fence at 120v straight off the line
  • Run fence at a constant, elevated voltage

  1e-7 ohm-meters of resistance for steel, 3mm steel diameter R = rho x L/A 1e-7 ohm-meters * 1 mile / (pi/4*(3mm)^2) = 22.77 ohms a drop cord is like... half an ohm you would need to step up the voltage to nearly 10kv to get equivalent power running a line at a constant 10kv doesn't sound smart. chargers pulse for a reason

• Super-insulated bucket, pride of the farm - MBH5B - https://www.ruralking.com/brower-manufacturing-insulated-bucket-holder-blue-mbh5b

Improved fencing grazing solutions

• Adapting the GPS-style collars
  • Put a base station out and use some sort of radio time-of-flight
  • Put a base station out, use wifi or something to comm, but still rely on GPS
  • Use dog fence wire. Just lay it out on the ground, no need to worry about fence staying taut
• Temporary high-tensile wire to do alley grazing;
  • How tight can polywire go? around 180lb - density is 3.1lb / 1320 ft = .0023 lb/ft
  • High-tensile wire is 1500 lb - 99lb / 4000 ft = .024 lb/ft (10x heavier, 10x stronger)
  • close enough formula: T = W*L/4/H = w*L^2/4/H ; so a T/w ratio is constant;
    • .3 in: T = .0023 * 30*30/4/.025 = 20 lb
  • Put up panels rather than stringing wire to prevent movement
  • Use a tractor as a back-fence rather than as the whole thing
• Super simple tractor made of cattle panel
  • Pallet back
  • Trampoline top
• All-in-one automatic winch like Thomas Massie's https://www.instagram.com/repthomasmassie/reel/DCEvt4Ugi9y/
  • 100lbf at 20ft / hr = .75 watts
    • This is... so doable with a solar winch, at even tiny efficiencies
    • 2000 lb winch pulls how many amps?
• Wheeled chicken tractor, using feelers like you would with a corn head

Agronomic ideas

• Pastured pigs
• Interseed covers on corn
• Strip cropping
  • Sheep / cover crop grazing in corn
  • Pumpkins in sweet corn
  • Twin 60" corn with covers
    • Micro-chicken tractor!!
• Nigel Palmer
  • Extract waterhemp
  • Extract corn / soybean seed