Farming progress

[Mobuck]

Well, things have perked up around here since Saturday. Some problems as usual but nothing that can't be repaired. The self propelled sprayer Tom bought last winter has some quirks that didn't become apparent until it went to the field. Even though he ran 100 gallon of water through the system, we found some things that need attention just a few minutes into the first field. Parts are on order and not terribly expensive (vs an $800 pump, anyway) but has shut down the sprayer until end of week.
I was on the road first thing this morning getting a hopper of seed which amounts to one afternoon on the planter. When we get finished with the major part of the fields, we'll plant the yield test plots--that takes 4X longer due to having to empty the planter between seed varieties.
The planter ran well this afternoon so maybe we'll be close to the finish line on planting by Wednesday evening. This outfit is such a big improvement over what I was running in the mid-90's(2X the number of rows @ 20% faster ground speed). Now we plant as much in 3-4 hours as I could plant in an entire afternoon until dark.

 

[turd]

Corn?

 

[Selena]

Must be nice, except for our high ground it's too wet for us to even consider getting in the fields.

 

[Mobuck]

Soybeans.
We're pushing the soil moisture boundaries but the window is open so I'm not waiting. Last year we added some newer sooper dooper closing wheels to the planter that help solve the wet soil issues.
We wouldn't be able to go w/o duals on the planter tractor but as it is, the outfit rolls right across the wetter areas w/o making a track.
Looks like the weather forecast has changed and now we only have today and 1/2 of Wednesday to plant before the next shower. We may have to make a choice as to whether we leave the test plots and move to the north farm and then come back for the plots or just wait and hope the showers don't add up to much.

 

[Selena]

Unfortunately I have too much experience with men that like to "push" that window. While a certain unnamed idiot who shall remain my brother isn't so bad... Before Dad retired the ancient TD-14 with "swamp tracks" had to be used to pull out tractors twice a week. I won't even talk about his pet JD 4020 he claimed he had taught to swim. Most of our ground was originally swamp and nature being the mother she is likes to remind us that certain areas still can be if we don't pay attention to the drain tile.

 

[Mobuck]

"Most of our ground was originally swamp and nature being the mother she is likes to remind us that certain areas still can be if we don't pay attention to the drain tile. "
No question about that. We planted some ground yesterday that we couldn't harvest last fall because it was under water.
Going to have to pay more attention to the beaver dams this summer.

 

[SAJohn]

We had high clay content soil in our orchard. I cannot count how many times we used our Caterpillar to tow the regular tractors out of the mud. Once, another unnamed brother of mine actually managed to get our Caterpillar stuck.

 

[Don Lovel]

I always like how even a tractor with great tires or tracks is still dependent on the operator to NOT drive it off into a bottomless mudhole

 

[Mobuck]

Some of this ground borders on the consistency of pudding--a skin on top with a yet to be determined depth of goo.
In early 2017, I and a guy from the county NRCS office staked the boundary of what I intended to plant. We found(and photographed) that I could in fact push a 3/8" diameter bamboo flagging stake 4' into the ground with my bare hands and pull it back out w/o much effort.
We didn't finish this evening so hoping the forecast for rain 12 of the next 14 days is wrong.

 

[Mobuck]

HAPPY DAYS
Finished planting yesterday and put the toys away. 4-5 hours on the sprayer and we'll be done for about 3 weeks until the next round of weed control. Depending of course on not having a replay of the 2018 hail out and replant.
Ten days of rain on the forecast so just in the nick of time .

 

[gramps]

Oh goody. Ten days of rain instead of 12! Good luck!
gramps

 

[Mobuck]

Finished the first round of spray this evening after a few minor setbacks with the old "HAGIE". Getting to know the old girl is similar to dating your high school girl friend after being married to another woman for 30 years.

 

[Muley Gil]

Thank the Good Lord for folks willing to farm. That's a job I couldn't do. Back last December I was snug and warm in my home and there was 20" of snow on the ground. But my neighbors were out on their tractors, moving round bales, cause cows gotta eat, snow or no snow.

 

[Mobuck]

Thank You
I toil so that others may eat.

 

[Dave P.]

Thank You
I toil so that others may eat.

Based on the size of the "others" I see around, maybe you
could take a day or two off and go hunting
or fishing for a bit.
Dave

 

[Selena]

Thank You
I toil so that others may eat.

Based on the size of the "others" I see around, maybe you
could take a day or two off and go hunting
or fishing for a bit.
Dave

Since I feel a rant coming on I'll keep this short...

We provide the food, our consumers decide their diet. Taking a day off isn't going to change their lifestyle only degrade our own.

 

[Dave P.]

Thank You
I toil so that others may eat.

Based on the size of the "others" I see around, maybe you
could take a day or two off and go hunting
or fishing for a bit.
Dave

Since I feel a rant coming on I'll keep this short...

We provide the food, our consumers decide their diet. Taking a day off isn't going to change their lifestyle only degrade our own.

Agreed, but it might help your sense of humor.
Sometimes making that last dollar cost's more
than it's worth. Gotta stick your head up once
and a while and look around.
Some days it doesn't hurt to sandbag it a bit.
Rants are entertaining......yours have been a bit
weak lately.
Dave

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Since I feel a rant coming on I'll keep this short...

We provide the food, our consumers decide their diet. Taking a day off isn't going to change their lifestyle only degrade our own.

Problem with taking a day off from farming is that it can put you behind the curve when you are racing the weather to get something done. When you find yourself sitting in the kitchen, looking out at a rainstorm and thinking "Why, oh why, didn't I do [farm thing] yesterday?" you fully appreciate the whole scenario.

:wink: :roll: :wink:

 

[Three44s]

That reminds me of a day in October a few years ago.

We were close to finishing the last of our hay baling. But I was talked into going to a State/Federal meeting about wolf management issues.

We ended up grazing that hay in the windrow because I opted to go to that meeting. The value of the meeting ended up WAY short of the loss in feed value of that hay. The cattle ate it but it was black by then as they grazed it out of some amount of snow cover. As a matter of fact I can not think of ten cents of value I derived from that meeting other than finding out that the collars transmitt around 151 MHz but I think I later read that info later from another source.

Big whoop!



Three44s

 

[Mobuck]

We got finished planting/ spraying just in time. We had a bit of rain last night and more beginning this evening.
I was informed I got my job promotion effective NOW.
I'm getting concerned that my fluid transition will be more like a belly fop into the deep end of the pool and the learning curve may be steep as our next big project starts soon. The next 2 weeks are going to be hectic.