The Light Flying Fortress Chicken Tractor - Easier, Less Expensive

[squadleader]

This is a long post, so I'm editing, and adding to, it as the day allows me to, so this post will get longer as the day progresses.

So I built the Heavy Flying Fortress Chicken Tractor. It's way over built and has a few hard to come by materials, it's built to outlive me, but that's not most people's goal.

It is a good design though, and it would be worth the effort to streamline its design. The Light Flying Fortress would still be the same shape and size, just less expensive lumber, less lumber, less hardware (hardwares expensive), easier and simpler framing (which even on the Heavy Flying Fortress was simple to do). Since the Light doesn't exist yet, here's photos of the Heavy, you wouldn't notice the difference between the two, just casually looking at them anyway, so these photos still give you a good idea.

The north side of the tractor. The only side that's solid framed, all other sides are open, or have the roof membrane over them. Construction of this tractor is super easy.

The south side of the tractor is always open, even in winter. That guarantees super ventilation, even in winter. In winter, it's the only open side, the other three sides are closed off with a clear plastic roofing panel.

Blocking three of the four sides, creates an air cushion in the tractor, making the air in the tractor very still, so no drafts, but at the same time, it provides great ventilation. It also floods the entire tractor, front to back, with warming sunshine.

We had a two week cold snap this winter, and got all the way down to minus 5 degrees. Because of this design, like Dr Woods recommended, my flock of thirteen had zero issues with the prolonged cold.

On the new Light Flying Fortress, my idea would be to eliminate the hanging items, the hardware is expensive. Fix mount everything, dust box to the far left, elevated with the roosting bar. Feeder and waterer go to the lower right wall, mounted on wood, sitting on the scaffold bracing.

Those modifications save money and time, in addition now the center of the tractor is completely open, really great for the birds flying up and down from the long roosting bar running down the whole left side.

Another framing simplification is eliminating the main center beam, saving money, but even better, now all people activity will be concentrated along the center of the tractor, where without the center beam, even tall people, will have good head clearance.

This is possible because the Fortress has a belt frame, think of a belt around your waist. Most hoop tractors don't.

It's the wood band you see in the photos that's above the open wire on the sides of the tractor, it completely encircles the tractor in its middle, hence belt frame.

I believe the belt frame ties the tractor together, similar to the way a main center beam does, allowing the main center beam to be eliminated.

The belt frame is important because it keeps the first 27 inches of the sidewalls of the tractor vertical and allows 15 inches of open wire on both of the long sides (the east and west sides). So if you're the height of a chicken, when you stand in the middle of the tractor, as you turn around every side is completely open to your view, the north end has an open wire door.

The belt frame also creates the solid framing space to insert a clear plastic roofing panel in that space, to block wind, but not sunlight in the winter. In addition the belt frame gives you solid framing to easily attach the roof membrane to, where if you use a white PVC 60 mil roofing sheet, will probably last 30 years. If funds are tight you could also use a white or silver tarp, that's not nearly as durable of course.

Another improvement in the framing plan is to move the scaffold bracing you see in the photo, where two braces come together in the center of the doorway. Those braces will be separated, one will attach on the far left of the doorway, the other on the far right of the doorway. Now entering and exiting the tractor is much easier, and less chance of tripping, because the braces are no longer in your path as you walk through the tractor, they're off to each side. They're still doing their job of bracing, and preventing racking, but now they're safely out of the your walking path.

I suggest keeping the the roosting bar along the left, but instead of deck board over a 2x6, use just a turned short side up 2x6, sanded smooth and rounded a little at the top, less expensive, easier to frame, and no poop on the board.

Perhaps tie the dust box frame, into the roosting bar framing, close to the far end (in photo), which is the south end of the tractor.
I do want to keep the basic size of 8 feet (really 99 inches) by 16 feet feet for the core of the tractor, where the chickens live.

The reason I think it's important to keep the size at roughly 8x16 is that easily accommodates the 12 hens and one rooster I have, giving each about 10 square feet of floor area. It costs very little more to make this size, and with all the trouble, hardware and such, if you go smaller, you'd have a tractor that couldn't really house many birds at all. This is a pretty serious undertaking in time and money, might as well do it right.

Also the shape and size works well with Dr Woods principles on open air, and ventilation. This tractor always faces South with completely open wire side, and the other three sides are open too, but they're closed with a clear plastic roof panel in the winter.

You'll never have inadequate ventilation using this setup, and as a tractor, poop management consists of taking five minutes to pull your tractor once a week with a chain draped over your vehicle's trailer hitch.

If you free range everyday like me, even more chickens could be housed. It would also be very easy to use a cheap tractor, with zero amenities (ala Joel Salinger, Google him), to double the daytime foraging area.

Just use 48 inch hardware cloth, rolled the long way and zip tied, to connect them, certainly they'd want to roost in the Fortress, so just slide a pop door to close off the cheap companion tractor at night.

Back to the Light Flying Fortress, first we drop down from salt water pier lumber of rough cut 2x6's, and instead go with all regular pressure treated lumber (ground contact), commonly available at places like Home Depot. I don't think it's a good idea to use untreated wood on something like a tractor, that's always exposed to weather. I also read an article by an expert, who says exposed treated wood will last a lot longer if an annual water repellant is applied, something like Thompsons Water Seal.

The skid system and the main bottom frame would both be constructed from regular ground contact pressure treated 2x8's from Home Depot, that's easier and less expensive than rough cut lumber.

Initial construction of the skid and lower frame, is best done by elevating the frame and skid systems, to make them easier to work on, we used 5 gallon buckets in this photo. I would build the skid system, and attach the main frame to it, before adding any super structure to the tractor.

It's incredibly convenient, being able to lift and flip the frame and skid system at will. With a little help from others, it's easy to do.

An easy way to make sure the frame is square, you must do that before attaching the scaffold bracing, which locks it in, is to make sure the diagonal measurement between both sets of corners is same. If the frame is level, and both diagonal measurements are the same, you know the frame is square, that's important.

Here's the Heavy Flying Fortress frame being constructed. You can tell the frame is right side up because the upper level scaffold braces, which are covered in white PVC pipe, are on top.

The PVC pipe will be wrapped in Gorilla Tape (duct tape on steroids), it's worth doing, the chickens love to perch on the pipe and look out through all the open wire, on all sides of the tractor.

 

[Counting chickens]

This is probably the direction I'm Heading... Thanks so much for all your help!

 

[squadleader]

I've had a lot of coffee today, that's probably pretty obvious, and my minds been racing a little bit on this idea.

I'm thinking about the Disco Dance version floor plan of the Light Flying Fortress.

The current interior.

I spent some time in the tractor today just trying to imagine how to accomplish different goals with the space.

Ok, I like the idea of getting rid of the main center beam for better head clearance (mostly), and expense.

I like the change of moving the scaffold cross bracing off to the left and right of the doorway, getting these trip hazards out of the tractor entry, and the area you might normally walk in.

Next I'm really digging a totally open center (ala the dance floor, hence the Disco Dance floor plan version).

Next I'm envisioning this completely open dance floor, with a balcony mezzanine surrounding it on three sides.

As I enter the tractor through the north end (where the door is), the roll out nesting box is on the lower right, as mine is now. The eggs roll through the north wall, into the collection box in the covered outside north end of the tractor.

There's a new roosting bar along the whole right side, a little higher in this plan because it connects to the north wall, using the belt frame, but must be above the roll out nesting box. I'll restrict them from using the very end of the roosting bar over the nesting box, so they don't poop on it.

On my left, where my current roosting bar is, that whole side will still have a bar, but all along the inside of that bar will be all the items that currently hang, with this system we'll be using the current 2x6 that runs beneath my roosting board parallel to the wall, and connecting with the belt frame, with short pieces of 2x4's, with the waterer and feeder items on top of those 2x4's.

A cool side benefit of this is the feeder and waterer will have perches around them for the birds, and the birds will reach across the open space to eat and drink. But for mice, the feed and water might as well be hanging in the sky because they're too small to reach across the open space, like the birds. You won't be offering food or water to mice.

There's huge framing advantages to keeping the hoop wire on the outside of the frame, like this tractor does.

All framing being available inside the tractor, like the belt frame, is invaluable for inexpensive interior framing, for bars, and supporting feed, water, and a dust box, while additionally, giving extra balcony living space for the chickens, and more grazing area.

That whole left wall will house all those items off the ground, so the chickens can graze beneath them. In my current system, they can't graze beneath the feeder and waterer.

Now here's how to really leverage this tractor to being able to handle more chickens than anyone might think possible.

The right hand side roost bar will be higher than the left side feed and water bar, so all of the chickens will naturally roost on the right.

By adding a poop board beneath the right hand side, we'll drastically reduce the poop load within tractor.

Just before doing the weekly pull, take a big drywall trowel (like a putty knife but about 16 inches wide), and run it down the poop board, and 60 percent of the entire week's poop, hits the dirt for the first time, and is left behind within the next few minutes, in the pull you're about to do.

By drastically reducing the poop load within the tractor, adding all the extra living and playing space of the three sided balcony, and the elevated dust box, I'll bet you could double the number of birds to 25 in this tractor if you wanted to.

Fresh grass every week, or anytime you choose, with little poop accumulating in the grass during the week because of the poop board, and even the ability to easily move it more often, if conditions demanded it.

With this layout, every single square inch of the floor of this tractor is available for living space and grazing, with little poop, and with a ton of second story auxiliary space thrown in!

In the spring, summer, and fall, a chicken will have the entire floor of grass, an almost completely unobstructed view in all directions, and completely open ventilation in all directions.

Thanks to compliance with Dr Woods principles, in the winter the air will be still, but well ventilated, completely blocked on three sides, they'll have sunshine in all directions, and a tall open south end, that completely floods the entire tractor with sunlight, because of the low angle of the winter sun in the southern sky, and this completely open unobstructed floor plan.

I think we're onto something here.

 

[alisonleah]

Squadleader, can I hire you to build the Light Flying Fortress for me? I'm dead serious. This is exactly what I've been looking for, but there is no way I could build this myself. Message me if you're interested.

 

[squadleader]

Hi Alison, I've always talked for a living, and while I've had many buildings and streets built, I was never the one actually doing it, so I'm the last guy you want building something for you!

My boy got me involved in chickens, and it's been a fun distraction. Since I wanted to do this with him, and I'm a lousy carpenter, that fact drove the design, so trust me, practically anyone can do this, just take it one step at a time. If you can't physically do the necessary lifting and so forth, you could get a handyman to help you by the hour.

It's really quite simple though, the heart, soul, and strength of this tractor is the frame, everything leads back to the base frame, and you also depend on its strength not to rack or break during a pull.

The secret sauce of easily pulling something this heavy is the 60 mil PVC sheet roofing that wraps the two skids. The PVC sheet is also the best permanent roof for a tractor like this. Get it only in white, which is reflective, as black gets crazy hot, and will roast your chickens. The PVC sheet has a projected lifespan of 30 years. It's usually used as roofing for large, flat roof commercial buildings.

You won't need anywhere near a whole roll of the PVC sheeting like a roofing contractor uses, so you'll need to contact a roofing supply house and see if they or a roofer they know will sell you a sheet the size you need. It'll probably be of a size that requires someone to join or weld two sections together. Do not attempt this yourself, have them do it, it's a critical joint and they have the experience to do it properly, and that should be part of what you're paying for. I'd buy a sheet the correct size for the tractor, ordering an extra three feet of width, and cut the PVC for the skid wraps from the extra.

I can't emphasize enough how important wrapping the skids is. The PVC is very smooth (reducing pull friction), and just as importantly, the PVC creates a smooth rounded shape to the skid, much like the leading edge of an aircraft wing. These design features give you the ability to easily pull the tractor in any direction, front, back, or sideways.

Of course, you understand this is being done with a heavy vehicle, by simply draping the pull chain over the trailer hitch. It takes five minutes or less to accomplish the pull, which going sideways, like I do most times, is 8 feet, or going forward or backward, would be 16 feet, either way, not far at all. If you have a suitable open area, this tractor actually only needs a relatively small area to only occupy the same ground once a year, an acre is plenty, if it's all usable. Not returning the tractor to the same spot for a year, gives the ground time to absorb the chicken poop and recover.

It's also very important to only face the open end of the tractor, south or slightly south-east, with 10 degrees off of south, to the east, being the absolute perfect orientation. I've already discussed why this is so important in some of my previous posts.

I've had lots of time to look at my tractor and try to see ways to improve it, so here are some of my thoughts.

The two most destructive forces on structures, in the long run, are moisture and UV sunlight. For this reason, I'm a big believer in large eaves on structures, to protect the structure from both these.

On the south, open end, of the tractor I have to forgo my aversion to sunlight because I need it, but I can still get moisture protection, by using clear roofing panels to provide a three foot overhang or eave to keep moisture off the structure. That also keeps me dry when I'm using the two drop windows into the tractor on that end from roof drip, and keeps the dust bath at the south end from getting wet.

I only built a one-foot eave on my south end and I hate it. If it's raining and I have to open one of those doors, the drip off the roof onto me is very annoying.

On the east and west sides, you'll notice in photos, I am securing the PVC sheet roofing to the tractor at its belt frame, which is the belt of wood about 24 inches off the ground that goes around the tractor, which leaves the hardware cloth sides below the belt open, except in the winter.

An improvement would be to make the width of the roof sheet at least one foot extra on each side, extending down from the bottom of the 2x4 that secures the PVC sheet to the belt frame. Take that extra one foot of PVC and bend it up, creating a nice one-foot eave down the east and west sides of the tractor. This will keep rain off the wood framing and skid system, and in the summer give more shade on the east and west sides of the tractor, where the summer heat loads are, and yet will still allow full ventilation of the open sides.

I would take a light piece of wood, say 1x2 salt treated, screw it to the bottom side of the PVC eave, all the way down each side of the tractor, to give the edge of the PVC strength, then maybe use a piece of metal angle every four feet or so, to keep the PVC eave turned up by resting the wood edge of the PVC sheet on the metal angle, which holds it up.

Finally, on the north end of the tractor, I would have that eave three feet also, mine is 28 inches. The extra width would allow you to stand outside the tractor in the rain, without any real chance of getting wet, and keep the door, even when chained open, fully out of the rain. This is nicer in the rain, since you always pause before entering the tractor, plus you collect the eggs under this eave, and you also access the scratch bin under this eave.

HowardE, a member here, whos posts are a wealth of information, makes a good point about uninsulated roofs. In certain conditions, when there's lots of humidity, and the temperature falls below the dew point, moisture from the cooled air collects on any surface lower than the dew point. This means occasionally the bottom of the PVC sheet will collect this moisture, just like an uninsulated metal roof does. This moisture drips down into the building if it's a flat roof. On a half circle roof, like my cattle panel hoop tractor, it drips slightly, not enough to be a problem because it mostly follows the roof down, and drains out on the sides.

An improvement would be to install the wood battens as I have done (between the hoop and the PVC sheet), but add a layer of insulation over the battens, then lay the PVC sheet over the insulation. The battens also keep the insulation an inch off the hoop (the thickness of the batten), making it impossible for the chickens to reach the insulation to eat it, even though it's probably impossible for them to reach the insulation because they have nothing to stand on within the tractor to reach it anyway.

I would get the 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of insulation board in a thickness that is able to bend to the shape of the hoop. I would run the sheets long way down the hoop, starting with the first board straddling the center of the hoop, adding boards beside it on either side coming down the arch of the hoop. If necessary, I would go with two thinner sheets that are able to make the bend to conform to the shape of the hoop, if a single thickness board of the necessary thickness couldn't make the bend without breaking.

Here's the board HowardE recommends "I would opt for hard insulation board under it. The polyiso foil faced stuff. White inside, shiny aluminum side up facing roof."

That quote is from this post of his:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/metal-roofs-and-condensation.1144174/

By the way, I used black (UV resistant) 120-pound tensile strength (very heavy duty) zip ties to hold my battens in place on the metal hoop. They'll be hard to reach if they ever fail. I'm not worried though, I could always come back and place another 3/4 inch salt treated board on the inside of the tractor, in the same location as the existing battens, and screw them together, which would replace the holding strength of a failed zip tie, if that should happen. Out of sunlight though, I'd be surprised if these heavy duty zip ties ever fail.

Regarding the battens, I used 3/4 salt treated 1x6's, which I ripped into two pieces. These are very soft, low quality wood.

If you follow my advice and go with the three-foot eaves on both ends of the tractor, you're going to need stronger battens. Go with five quarter by six-inch salt treated deck boards, they are thicker, and more important, a much harder and stronger wood. Rip those down the center, making the true dimensions of your battens 1 inch thick by 2 and three-quarter inches wide, by whatever length you choose. Put the battens on twelve-inch centers.

The important point here is if you only create the 16-foot long hoop cage, then cover it with half-inch hardware cloth, there are no eaves on either end whatsoever. Rather than extend the hoop structure, simply cantilever the five quarter battens over the ends of the tractor to create the three-foot eave, then put the insulation and PVC sheet over them.

Those deck boards battens, on twelve-inch centers, will easily carry the load of the three-foot eave. I'd make sure the battens that cantilever on each end of the tractor are at least eight feet long each, to give them enough length over the hoop to keep them from bending down. Use extra zip ties on the battens that are cantilevered on either end of the tractor since there will be more upward force on those battens over the hoop, that keeps the cantilevered end of the batten from bending down.

If you use clear roof panels on the south end of the tractor like me, you'll have to screw an additional piece of wood on top of the battens that will have the clear roof panels on them. The thickness of the additional piece of wood should match the thickness of your insulation and the PVC sheet. This will keep the bottom of the clear roof panels at the same level as the PVC sheet roof. It's important for the clear roof panels to go over the PVC sheet, for about a foot where they the two roofs intersect. You're going to have to screw a plastic screw strip onto these battens, and in turn, the clear roof panels are screwed to the plastic screw strip, which is why this spacer has to be a wood board.

When you use the plastic screws strips for the clear roofing (they conform to the shape of the clear roof panel), and place one of these strips at the edge of the clear roofing (which extends over the PVC sheet one foot), any water that should try to come to the south end of the tractor, will hit that screw strip a foot back from the roof intersection, and the water will follow the strip down the side of the roof, never getting close to the intersection of the two roofs causing a leak. I've had zero leaks at that intersection, and my tractor is on a hill that slopes to the south (leading roof water toward the intersection of the PVC sheet and clear roof panels).

That first screw strip I mention above, should not be screwed through the PVC sheet, that would leak. Instead, it's cantilevered that first foot, the clear roofing panel is screwed to the plastic screw strip, but the plastic screw strip isn't screwed to anything. This first row of plastic screw stripe only performs two functions. It holds the edge of the clear roof panels together, and acts as a water stop, water that hits it, changes course, and follows the plastic screw strip down and off the roof.

Regarding the frame. In my opinion, especially with something big and heavy like this tractor being dragged around, nothing but screws, and nuts and bolts should be used, no nails on structural elements.

In consideration of the fact you're going to need to notch the vertical frame that sits on the skid, about an inch deep, where the bottom scaffold braces are attached to the vertical frame, I think the main vertical frame should be 2x8.

The main reason I think the framing lumber can go from the true dimension 2"x6" lumber I used (which is hard to obtain), to 2x8 conventional lumber, is that as I outlined in my previous post, we are welding the horizontal skids to the vertical 2x6 main frame, they are becoming one.

That's why you must not skimp on the elements of the main frame, especially if you reduce the lumber size as were assuming here. At the lap of the two skids and the crossover boards, I've got four 3/8 inch galvanized carriage bolts coming up through the skid bottoms (before wrapping the skid) in each corner lap. I've then got a 5/8 inch galvanized carriage bolt that comes up from the bottom in the center of the four 3/8 bolts. The 5/8 bolt is not only holding the lap together, but extends up, and is used as the anchor for the shackle on each corner, which is attached to the pull chain.

That means each corner has five bolts going through it.

Then we have the four scaffold braces on the top, and four more on the bottom, of the vertical 2x8 main frame board. This completely eliminates the possibility of the frame racking during a pull.

Then we take metal angles and place two on both skids, about a third down on either side, and run a 3/8 inch carriage bolt up through the skid, and sideways through the vertical main frame, tying the vertical main frame to the skid.

With 5 bolts on each corner, 2 angles along each side tying the skid and frame together, and the scaffold bracing preventing racking, I don't think you can beat the strength of this system.

Regarding securing the scaffold bracing to the vertical 2x8 main frame, do not use regular lag bolts, the 2x8 is too thin for a regular lag bolt, it will compromise the strength of the wood. Use a 5/16 SPAX powerlag, they are much smaller than a regular lag, but much stronger. With regular lumber like we're using here, we can't compromise the strength of the wood by using a regular lag that cuts out too much meat of the wood. Here's a photo of the SPAX at Home Depot.

As I mentioned earlier, the bottom scaffold braces (Northern Tool has them), because the ends are mashed flat, will require you to notch out the bottom of the vertical 2x8 main frame where you attach the scaffold braces because the unflattened tube of the bracing, sits on skid for a few inches which jacks up the insection point where you're screwing the brace to the frame.

7' scaffold braces (actually 8' in length), drill out the rivet and an X of these gives you two braces.

This isn't an issue on the top four braces because there's no skid the brace must pass over on the top, only on the bottom four braces.

The hole on the scaffold bracing is much larger than the SPAX powerlag, so I would drill a smaller hole in the mashed part of the scaffold brace that properly fits the diameter of the SPAX powerlag. If that causes the end of the brace to extend beyond (I think it will), then take a hack saw and cut the end of the brace flush with the outside edge of the 2x8 vertical frame board.

You can see how the braces prevent the frame from racking.

Here you can see the lower braces crossing over the skid board, which is why you have to notch the main frame board, to account for half the diameter of the brace.

I've come to the conclusion that my frame is probably much heavier built than required. What's above are the reductions I think can be made in the framing.

However, I made a mistake in thinking the main center beam can be eliminated. After consulting with Aart about his hoop with no center beam, it's clear a hoop house needs the center beam to handle snow loads, so don't eliminate it.

I hope all this helps you Alison and anyone else considering a tractor like this. I used a lot of hardware with my tractor, screws, nuts, bolts, chains, angle iron, all kinds of things. Hardware is expensive, and the materials alone for my tractor are at least $3,000. That's with zero for labor cost, so this tractor is way more expensive than most people would be interested in.

The hope, however, is that there are ideas and elements here that may be of use to others.

In my opinion, the main element of any large tractor like this is its frame, and its ability to stand the strain of being pulled.

I believe the innovation of the PVC sheet wrap of the skid is crucial. I also believe this frame is the best possible frame for any large tractor, the bolted overlaps at the corners, the shackle at each corner to pull in any direction, the top and bottom scaffold crossbracing of the frame, all these things come together to allow you to build anything on this frame, and then be able to easily pull it.

The caveat of this, which must not be forgotten, is you must not be careless with weight and let whatever you're placing on the frame, become too heavy to pull.

I saw an interesting post about someone having some Amish carpenters build her a Woods House. Just to clear, they probably aren't Amish, but Mennonite, which is kind of like Amish Light. I've had a Mennonite man working for me about ten years now, and he's one of the best employees I've ever had. Tremendously industrious and skilled, but that's not important, anyone could build this.

Here's a link to that thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...sign-amish-built.1211813/page-6#post-19622187

I believe a real carpenter could easily build a Woods house on my frame. It would be much prettier in your yard or field than my hoop tractor. If I had known how much my tractor was going to end up costing, I probably would have specified the frame (the part that counts), and had someone build a Woods House on top of my specified frame.

I don't think there could be a better combination than a Woods House that you could easily pull once a week onto fresh grass. Not only does it eliminate having to deal with poop, but the chickens are on fresh grass all the time instead of dirt or litter. I free range my chickens, but I like knowing if I ever have to because of predators, I can retreat my chickens into the total safety of this tractor, 24/7 if necessary. I don't use it that way, but like having the option.

I think a good carpenter could build a lightweight Woods House that would work on my frame. Weight would have to be respected though with regard to how it's constructed, as lightly as possible, and using screws, not nails, since it's being pulled every week. The stress of the pull is mostly absorbed by the frame though, that's why we want it strong, so it doesn't rack, and pull your new Woods House apart.

The true downfall of heavy tractors is, in reality, people don't move them regularly because they don't pull well. The sides of the skids are too square and hard-edged, and they dig in, making the pull difficult, risking damage to the tractor, and possibly bulldozing dirt at the leading edge of the skids.

Wrapping the skids in PVC sheeting stops all that and smoothes out the edges of the skids, making the pull easy.

I've even discovered in use, that the huge anti-dig mats I use (50 inches wide), don't have to be raised for the pull, they come right along easily during the pull. I even have two cinderblocks on each corner and don't even have to remove those to pull the tractor.

I literally back up to the pull chain, drop it over the trailer hitch, step off three paces from the edge of the mat, put a marker there, pull the tractor to the marker, and I'm done for the week.