Whenever I need to climb the grain leg on our farm to do maintenance, I have to take a moment to enjoy the view and snap a few photos. Enjoy!
East view from grain leg.
South view from grain leg.
West view from grain leg.
A view of the yard.
Spraying soybeans 2017.
Following last summer’s devastating hail event on our Morgan field we were advised to plant Liberty Link soybeans this year to give us later season options for weed control. Driving by the field one week prior to planting made our stomachs turn. The weeds had grown very quickly this spring and were threatening to make planting difficult. We sprayed a burn down herbicide on the field and, after working it with our vertical till machine a week later, the planting went quite smooth.
Spraying Liberty Link Soybeans
A pre-emerge herbicide was applied after planting and again about a month later. Two weeks after that, we had a lot of grass laughing at us as it continued to emerge and flourish. An application of Liberty was applied and now we are preparing to cultivate the field on Monday, July 17. A lot of extra effort and money has been spent on this field due to last June’s hail. We expect our efforts to pay off by keeping the weeds from seeding. This should make the future years of weed control a little more normal.
Old dirt removed from around the concrete.
Steers explore the manure pile.
A long overdue task was completed at the end of June. The cattle yard base has eroded over the years and becomes a mucky mess of foot deep manure that the steers must muck through to get to the cattle shed as well as stepping off the south side of the concrete pad next to the barn.
Last summer we started the task of locating some high quality clay to rejuvenate the yard but fell short of finding any. This spring we watched as a neighboring farm site was torn down and clay piles appeared on the horizon. We approached the party responsible for the clay and were granted access to it. Our window of opportunity came at the end of June as rains subsided and the yard dried up enough to work with the dirt.
A job well done!
The first thing that had to be done was remove the poor quality dirt. A mountain of dirt/manure was created. This will be hauled to the field in fall once the crops are harvested. We then borrowed a dump truck from a neighbor to haul in the clay. The clay was packed layer by layer throughout the cattle yard to give the steers a firm foundation.
All in all, a lot of time was spend on this project but it the results are well worth it. Happy steers make great steaks! Continue reading
First pass ridging – 2017
The pace of corn growth accelerates as we approach the middle of June. It’s more of a sprint than a race to complete the task of building ridges in our corn. We started on June 17 with a quick test run to make sure that the cultivator was set up properly.
Ridging wing – rear view.
On June 20 we hit ground running. Two cultivators ridging corn. There was some slow going, at around 3 mph, in corn that wasn’t quite big enough to handle the amount of dirt that flows from the ridging wings. The larger corn let us easily travel at 6 mph. That speed covers a respectable amount of acres in a day.
Close encounter with rain.
The rain caught us.
On the last day of ridging we were pushing hard to beat the rain. I kept one eye on the radar on my iPhone as showers skirted around us on the north and south. The tip of the south rain was within striking distance but managed to slip by at around 8 am. Pushing hard, we finished the field as the rain closed in at 9:20 am. The windshield wipers were running on the trip home but another year of ridging was behind us. Oh, the satisfaction.
Rain on the windshield while traveling home.
Cultivating Corn and Cattle Yard Rejuvenation Videos
We have been farming the field on the left of a number of years with reduced tillage methods. The field on the right has had conventional tillage. The hillside erosion differences were quite evident this spring.
The affect of tillage on hillside erosion. More clay showing on the right.
Warm enough February day for the door to be open.
It happens every spring. We open the machine shed door, after clearing any remaining snow and ice from in front of it, move any equipment blocking the planter and extract the sleeping planter from it’s nest. Once the planter is outside, it receives its spring wash down. The dust that has settled on it over the past 8 months is flushed away with the power washer and the planter is ushered into the heated shop for it’s pre-planting work over. Because it worked on the day we completed planting is no reason to assume it will make it through another planting season without some refurbishing and lubrication.
Washing the dust off.
Planting weather is fickle in Minnesota. It can lull you into believing that you have all the time in the world to get the crop in and then the updated forecast puts us under the gun to get as much in before the rains or cold snap hits. We don’t want a half ready planter to come between us and the impending deadline. Continue reading