lightman, red fuel is legal here in south louisiana if you own farm equiptment due to the fact that south louisiana got trashed by 2 major hurricanes so know the facts before you call me names.

 

Back in 96-97 we ran probbaly 5000 gallons of red a year.
Some went through my truck that stayed on county roads or the farm. Once I forgot to tighted the filter housing on my L-tank after changing a filter and went to switch the pump on and fill the truck. Fuel shot all over me and the back of the truck before I could reach up and turn it back off. I quickly jumped in the truck and began a run toward town @ 90 MPH to wash the stuff off @ the carwash. Well, I got pulled over and busted right there on the spot with red fuel all over me and the truck on the highway to town.

Luckily I explained what happened and got let go.

Those were the days. 92 cents at the pump for taxed fuel and 49 cents for red. It was nice to fill the truck for 16 bucks!

Don~

 

Boy how I miss those days.

 

So if it puts out more smoke, then its got to be worse for the environmnet? Sulfer cant be to great to breathe!

 

If any of you guys gripeing were truly farmers or ranchers you would know that you can get a full refund of the tax paid on on-road gasoline and diesel when you file your income tax. All you have to do is keep a log and have a meter on any farm tanks to seperate on-road from offroad use.

Still won't help you if you're caught with a tank of red in a truck registered to operate on-road

 

Can you show me in this thread where anyone has a problem with a farmer or rancher running red diesel off-road, as it was intended to be used?

Rusty

 

I have an onsite tank and when working hay in the summer I'll use it in the trucks. However I try not to make a habit of using it on the road but all this stuff about spending hours and hours worrying about how to get rid of the residual color is a little over the top as far as I am concerned.
Joe

 

high sulphur doesn't mean better lubricity. That's a myth.


There's a reason they call it "Farm diesel"


If you get busted, it will cost you your farm

Rusty and others have already covered the proper ethics of the practice.

jh

 

i run red in mine.....sorry if it affends any body.....you pay taxes on the green diesel to fix the road, so i can haul my cattle to the sale.....to feed your familys.....ill use my tax exempt red diesel to get it to you....

 

Interesting things to get from this post:

1) You only have a "real job" if it's "like a rancher or farmer". I guess everyone else has fake jobs? Care to publish a list of occupations held by those who deserve their money, as opposed to those who just collect checks for no reason at all?

2) The gov't is trying to destroy ranchers and farmers. Hmmm. Is that why we had the LARGEST farm bill in US history? Lots of money for those "poor farmers." Exactly how is the gov't destroying the farmers?

3) Farmers deserve special treatment (i.e. "a little slack"). So farmers can use red fuel on the road when others can't, because they deserve some slack.

Now MY comments:

-- NO one's forcing you to be a farmer. If you're sick of being broke, try something that the economy values more and pays better. You have no right to pick a random occupation and expect certain outcomes. Should janitors be paid the same as doctors? Either way, the pathetic whining about being a poor farmer reflects poorly on you, and is an embarassment to all those hardworking farmers who DO NOT COMPLAIN. They are man enough to accept the responsibilities of the occupational decisions they made. Are you?

-- Who are you to say that if you aren't a farmer you don't know what hardship is? I'm sure there are plenty of people whose lives are MUCH more difficult than yours.

-- As for farmers getting slack... HA! Let's see, there's special farm loans, crop insurance, special ag benefits galore. Farmers are perhaps the most coddled group of people in the country! They get more deference in gov't policy than any group I can think of.



I always react the same way to posts like yours. First anger, then disbelief at how someone could be so uninformed. Maybe we need to take a closer look at the local schools, because Exhibit A here is due cause for concern.

All that was missing was a "Ford owns Cummins" on the end.

 

By that line of logic, every 18-wheeler on the road has the right to be running red since they're moving "stuff" used by American families as well. It seems that everybody wants the benefits (i.e., the availability of good public roadways), but some apparently think that other "suckers" like me who run taxed fuel on the public roads ought to carry their fair share of the financial burden to build and maintain them.

Sorry, but there really isn't such a thing as a free lunch!

Rusty

 

i understand what you are saying, farmers and ranchers do get alot of bennifits...infact they are very needed.
- do you have any idea at all how much it costs to plant a field.....including the cost of fuel, for trucks and tractors,fuel for plowing, planting and harvesting, the cost for seed for what ever you are planting, and the cost for extra laborors to help with the harvest

- do you have any idea how much of your crop is lost to certain things i.e. drought, disease etc., you need something to insure that, expecially if you lose your crop.

- infact, the government did try and destroy farmers at one time, my father, who owned a combine company combining for farmers, lost his job due to the Pick Program, where the government paid (pretty much forced) farmers to plow up their fields for the year

- have you ever read most of the tags on produce in the store, most says grown in mexico.....mostly onions

look.....my point mainly is.....dont say nothing about farmers and ranchers unless you know why they need special bennifits, its not like we drive to the office and drive home, our money doesent just go to the bank, we buy a crop, harvest it, take the money we made, and use it to buy another crop.

ranhcers dont have to pay taxes on things we buy at the hardware store or home depot etc. are you gonna complain about that?

also..who said we chose the profession...not every one can be a lawyer or doctor...also...most of it is cause thats what you have been taught growing up...theres no way im gonna sell my famlys land "cause i want to be something better" if your a city person you wouldnt understand
not trying to arugue....but look at the facts before you freak out guys!

 

NO doubt farming is rough. My point is just that you have choices-- not necessarily easy ones, but choices nonetheless.


What chaps my butt is that we get these HUGE gov't farm bills that are supposed to help the "poor family farmer", and all they do is help the rich celebrities with luxury ranches and help the big corporations like Tyson and ADM.

If actually DID help the family farmer, I'd support them a lot more. As it is now, it seems they are just a big fat handout to big AG corporations.

It's THIS that's making life tough for the farmer.

The other thing is that farmers are victims of their own success. If they make advances in efficiency that allow them to produce more food than ever, what happens? The price of the crops drops way down and the farmer goes under!

There's something wrong with a gov't policy that pays people to fallow a field to try to keep prices up.

Why not plant that field and grow BIODIESEL?!! My mach fours are thirsty critters

jh

 

Before anyone starts to complain about the U.S. farm bill, just to let you know, our great president spends the same amount of our yearly farm bill in about half a month in the middle east which is getting us no where. it seems that our gov. cares more about other countries than it does its own. like mxdsl183 said, no man picks this carrer, the carrer picks the man. I am a 4th generation farmer and im not going to let someone that doesnt even know me or have any experience about farming tell me how it is because you have no idea. you may hear that farming is easy and you get benifits but untill you get out there and try to make a living no one wants to hear your opinion. hopefully i wont be around when the day comes after the gov. destroys the hard working family man and imports its own grain and meets from another country. DONT BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU.

 

Life long farmer here.
Most people don't understand that the reason for subsides is to keep the American farmer in business so we don't have to depend on other countries who some day might be our enemies for food. Europe learned this lesson the hard way after WWII.
There is definitely abuse in the system from corporate farms, the same ones who pay big bucks to have the same corrupt politicians elected over and over.