We started our year much as we always do....Bangs vaccinating our heifer calves. M and R still have not determined how many of our 80 they plan to keep so vaccinated them all. I warned R that he might end up with all of them. He said, no, if M didn't make a decision he'd haul some to the sale himself. Having them vaccinated should increase their value when they do make it to the sale. We had a neighbor stop by to take a look and make an offer. He'd like to take all 80, though, and we need to keep some, maybe 50. He needed to up his offer a bit, too. M is always hesitant to sell to a neighbor (especially this neighbor) because if there's a problem down the road he doesn't want to hear about it. We did have a pen of 20 or so that were a bit on the small side so R took about half of those to the sale this week. The market has been a bit softer lately so we're anxious to see how they sold. That might help determine how many more get sold and when.
Anyway, we had a nice day for it. There were high winds predicted but didn't hit until we were almost done and then weren't as bad as predicted. R's girlfriend took the day off from work to help, and it was good to have that extra hand. The calves are really calm in the pen--in fact, I walked through to write down some numbers of ones I thought we should definitely keep and a couple of them followed me the whole way. They were not, however, calm in the chute and we had a problem with the squeeze on the chute. That's never happened before, and M was definitely not happy! We're going to have to run them through again and brand them once we decide what we're keeping. I'm thinking that's not going to be fun.
It was a busy time around the place that day with the vet and his assistant, our neighbor, and then the owner of the local fencing company who came to see where we wanted windbreak built. We have found it kind of funny that we had a fencing company move in, but he's doing a brisk business and M has become a fan because he has good ideas, builds a good fence and has lots of supplies on hand. We've given him a lot of money lately! They've completed the first section and it looks great. We've been mulling over building another barn for a couple of years but debated where to put it. It appears that the decision has been made and the new windbreak will tie into it. M is getting excited about the whole thing now and hopes to get a barn built this summer. He is constantly thinking and planning on how to make the whole operation more efficient and more profitable. The other day he said, "someday we're going to have a great setup". I corrected him--someday R is going to have a great setup!
R is gone this weekend so I helped with chores yesterday. It was pouring down rain with a howling wind a few minutes ago so I begged off this morning. M grudgingly agreed to that, but I had to promise I'd work on the farm program puzzle. That gives me a headache so I should have gone to do chores. I just keep wondering who thinks up this stuff.....and who thought it was a good idea to have the government involved in farming. Ugh!
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Looking Back....and Ahead
This year has really flown by.....Sawyer is well on her way to being two years old (and should still be a baby), Kade's first school year is nearly half over, and before we know it it will be spring again!
2014 was good for us...and to us. Farming is always stressful, but we came out relatively unscathed. No major disasters, no injuries, the guys didn't maim or kill each other, and we had some fun. Commodity prices are up and down, but we're used to that...or should be. It's all good!
The highlights were the fun trips we took...to Daytona and especially the summer trip to Idaho and my nephew's wedding party....and the time spent with the littles. Sawyer is just a joy, so smart and fun, and Kade is a special bonus. Love that kid and swear that he could really be R's, there are so many similar traits. We're thankful that the boys have good partners in their lives.
My goals for the new year are pretty much the same as always...be a good person, be more organized and ditch the clutter, get in better shape, lose weight, spend more time with family and friends, make more time for fun and keep M from working too hard, etc., etc. I have everything I need and pretty much everything I want. My only wish for 2015 is that we all stay healthy and safe and the world gets a little less crazy!
Wishing all of you a great 2015! Bring it on!
2014 was good for us...and to us. Farming is always stressful, but we came out relatively unscathed. No major disasters, no injuries, the guys didn't maim or kill each other, and we had some fun. Commodity prices are up and down, but we're used to that...or should be. It's all good!
The highlights were the fun trips we took...to Daytona and especially the summer trip to Idaho and my nephew's wedding party....and the time spent with the littles. Sawyer is just a joy, so smart and fun, and Kade is a special bonus. Love that kid and swear that he could really be R's, there are so many similar traits. We're thankful that the boys have good partners in their lives.
My goals for the new year are pretty much the same as always...be a good person, be more organized and ditch the clutter, get in better shape, lose weight, spend more time with family and friends, make more time for fun and keep M from working too hard, etc., etc. I have everything I need and pretty much everything I want. My only wish for 2015 is that we all stay healthy and safe and the world gets a little less crazy!
Wishing all of you a great 2015! Bring it on!
The Holidays
Once again I've been slacking on my blogging. My mom lets me know, so I need to do better! With the holidays pretty much behind us, I think I should have more time.
Since I last blogged we've had more cow stuff to do. We brought our heifers home and ran them through to vaccinate and pour them. It didn't get done when they were preg tested because the vet didn't bring the stuff with him. He thinks we need to go to spring shots,, so I guess he was trying to encourage that. Just made more work for us because we don't want to do spring shots. Now that M and R have figured out a good spot to make the portable tub work, it's a lot easier to work cows and just the three of us handled that chore. We are feeding a pen of heifer calves, and R and M recently separated out some that we won't be keeping. They still need to make another cut to pare down the numbers. We've had the cows still out grazing with a little supplementation to keep them happy, especially when it was super cold. We were anticipating another change in the weather with cold and wind so R and his girlfriend moved them home so they'd have access to the windbreaks, and they'll start feeding in earnest. I haven't had to help much, but R and J are going on a snowmobile trip over the weekend which means I'll have to go help M for a few days. The neighbor's fencer is leaving for a couple of months so we'll have to feed the neighbor's cows until he decides to haul them back home. They didn't have a great hay harvest over there so wants to keep them here as long as he can.
We also got J and K moved into their new (to them) house just before Thanksgiving. They traded houses with K's parents (who owned them both) and will be buying the house from them. K and her mom had been moving slowly for about a month so the crews assembled on "moving day" just had to move furniture, and it went pretty smoothly and didn't take too long. There are several lots so J has room to park his truck off the street if he needs to and hopes to build a shop someday. They've now got a garage so I'm thinking K will be working on more projects. They have some updating that they want to do as time and $$ permit. First thing to do is have the stairway moved and that is slated to happen in January. We're wondering if the bigger house will bring a bigger family!?!? We had a potluck Thanskgiving at the new house with M frying the turkey which he hadn't done in awhile. It was cooked to perfection!
Our holidays were much more quiet than normal since M's sister and family didn't make it here this year, and C's family had their own thing going. We only had 8 for Christmas dinner and could all fit at one table. I'm not sure that has ever happened before. If memory serves, this is only the second time in 27 years that we haven't had Christmas with M's sister, either here or a few times at her house. K decided she wanted to have Christmas Eve at her house and then later panicked that L would be offended that she just took it over. I assured her that she was not going to be upset at all especially since our chef was still in South Dakota. She had a houseful with her family and ours, and it was a lot of fun. Sawyer was kind of over opening gifts before too long....especially after the Elsa doll appeared.
M planned a great gift for Kade. He had been wanting to get him a snowmobile, but decided he was too big for a 120 and not quite ready for something bigger and couldn't find what he wanted. Finally, he decided to get him a 4-wheeler so we made a quick trip to Miles City to look for one. I said it would be a good Santa gift, but M said, "no, it's from me". The deal is that when he grows out of it we'll get him something else and Sawyer can have this one. It was definitely a hit, but I don't know how we'll top it next year! Could get expensive.
Since I last blogged we've had more cow stuff to do. We brought our heifers home and ran them through to vaccinate and pour them. It didn't get done when they were preg tested because the vet didn't bring the stuff with him. He thinks we need to go to spring shots,, so I guess he was trying to encourage that. Just made more work for us because we don't want to do spring shots. Now that M and R have figured out a good spot to make the portable tub work, it's a lot easier to work cows and just the three of us handled that chore. We are feeding a pen of heifer calves, and R and M recently separated out some that we won't be keeping. They still need to make another cut to pare down the numbers. We've had the cows still out grazing with a little supplementation to keep them happy, especially when it was super cold. We were anticipating another change in the weather with cold and wind so R and his girlfriend moved them home so they'd have access to the windbreaks, and they'll start feeding in earnest. I haven't had to help much, but R and J are going on a snowmobile trip over the weekend which means I'll have to go help M for a few days. The neighbor's fencer is leaving for a couple of months so we'll have to feed the neighbor's cows until he decides to haul them back home. They didn't have a great hay harvest over there so wants to keep them here as long as he can.
We also got J and K moved into their new (to them) house just before Thanksgiving. They traded houses with K's parents (who owned them both) and will be buying the house from them. K and her mom had been moving slowly for about a month so the crews assembled on "moving day" just had to move furniture, and it went pretty smoothly and didn't take too long. There are several lots so J has room to park his truck off the street if he needs to and hopes to build a shop someday. They've now got a garage so I'm thinking K will be working on more projects. They have some updating that they want to do as time and $$ permit. First thing to do is have the stairway moved and that is slated to happen in January. We're wondering if the bigger house will bring a bigger family!?!? We had a potluck Thanskgiving at the new house with M frying the turkey which he hadn't done in awhile. It was cooked to perfection!
Our holidays were much more quiet than normal since M's sister and family didn't make it here this year, and C's family had their own thing going. We only had 8 for Christmas dinner and could all fit at one table. I'm not sure that has ever happened before. If memory serves, this is only the second time in 27 years that we haven't had Christmas with M's sister, either here or a few times at her house. K decided she wanted to have Christmas Eve at her house and then later panicked that L would be offended that she just took it over. I assured her that she was not going to be upset at all especially since our chef was still in South Dakota. She had a houseful with her family and ours, and it was a lot of fun. Sawyer was kind of over opening gifts before too long....especially after the Elsa doll appeared.
M planned a great gift for Kade. He had been wanting to get him a snowmobile, but decided he was too big for a 120 and not quite ready for something bigger and couldn't find what he wanted. Finally, he decided to get him a 4-wheeler so we made a quick trip to Miles City to look for one. I said it would be a good Santa gift, but M said, "no, it's from me". The deal is that when he grows out of it we'll get him something else and Sawyer can have this one. It was definitely a hit, but I don't know how we'll top it next year! Could get expensive.
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| Their expressions are priceless, the little diva and the cheeseball. |
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Cow Stuff
We shipped our cows last weekend, and it was a frantic week up to that point. The new water line was put in, old waterer pulled out, fence taken out to dig the water line and then put back after that was done. There was a broken pole in a windbreak so that had be replaced so that the windbreak didn't fall over. In the midst of all that, J and R put in three cattle guards and M hauled several loads of calves for neighbors. We, thankfully, had good weather for most of that activity.
We rounded up on Saturday and then helped our neighbors round up their cows. We sell our calves together, and he has a portable scale so the buyer comes right to the ranch. It is so much less stressful than having to haul the calves to a scale somewhere. We do have to haul to their ranch, but it's just a couple of miles cross country.
Sunday morning we were at it at daybreak, getting the cows and calves into the corral and sorting the calves from the cows and then sorting out the steers from the heifers. We have only sold the steers so far so we're feeding 100+ head of heifers at the moment. Some of those will go to market later and some will be kept for replacements. We had lots of good help so it went pretty smoothly. J and Jared were on trailer duty hauling the steers to the neighbor's while the other guys got another load ready to go.
As soon as we got settled up with the buyer and the trucks loaded with calves we headed back to our barn to pregnancy test our cows. I was impressed with the vet getting right after it and getting it done. All I had to do was keep records and sometimes I could hardly keep up. Sometimes he likes to talk so our neighbor told his wife not to talk to him so he wouldn't get distracted. We finished just before dark and then came to our house where a great meal awaited us. It's nice to have your own personal caterer for a sister-in-law.
The next day we preg tested at our neighbors. It was a cold and miserable day and I asked myself more than once why I was not at my job--indoors! I had taken the day off and gotten my boss' wife to work for me. I joked with her that if the weather was crappy she was supposed to call me and say she had an emergency and needed me to come to work. She didn't call. M and his friend, Roger, were brining the cows to the tub, R was loading the tub, and the neighbor's wife, Holly, and I were up on the tub getting the cows down the alley to the chute. M admitted that he was actually feeling sorry for Holly and I out in the elements. I told him that I couldn't feel my feet after the first half hour so after that it just didn't matter. We finished about 3 and then had a nice stew lunch.
This weekend we moved our heifers closer to home. It's the second time we had to get them out of the same pasture. It wasn't easy the first time, and it wasn't any easier the second time. The pasture has a couple of boggy coulees without good crossings, and of course, they were as far away from the gate as they could possibly be, and we had to get them across both coulees. We found one limpy one, and she made it clear that she wasn't going anywhere so we left her behind. After much cursing, we finally got them out and from there they moved easily, but slowly. We drove around on Sunday trying to find the limpy one but couldn't get everywhere with the pickup so didn't find her. M went out yesterday on the 4-wheeler and found her and got her moved out with the other cows. She had worked her way in that direction.
Something spooked the heifer calves in the corral one night and one got her leg injured. R called in the morning and said one "had a cut on her leg". More like tore the skin halfway off her leg so we've been cleaning that and dressing it every few days. So far she's doing well, and she's an excellent patient. She'll be stylish, too, getting a new color of vet wrap every three days.
J has been hauling gravel and doing some road work. C has been helping with the cattle hauling and R was on vacation for the weekend. We had Kobe for the weekend and thought it was going really well until he and Junior disappeared for a bit on Sunday afternoon and Kobe came home with some new body jewelry--porcupine quills. Hope he learns one of these days.
We're making progress on our fall paperwork thanks in part to some gale force winds with cold temps that have kept us indoors. We're still hoping for more good weather because we still have lots of projects to work on. First up, pouring cement and setting the new waterer in place. After that, it's all gravy.
We rounded up on Saturday and then helped our neighbors round up their cows. We sell our calves together, and he has a portable scale so the buyer comes right to the ranch. It is so much less stressful than having to haul the calves to a scale somewhere. We do have to haul to their ranch, but it's just a couple of miles cross country.
Sunday morning we were at it at daybreak, getting the cows and calves into the corral and sorting the calves from the cows and then sorting out the steers from the heifers. We have only sold the steers so far so we're feeding 100+ head of heifers at the moment. Some of those will go to market later and some will be kept for replacements. We had lots of good help so it went pretty smoothly. J and Jared were on trailer duty hauling the steers to the neighbor's while the other guys got another load ready to go.
As soon as we got settled up with the buyer and the trucks loaded with calves we headed back to our barn to pregnancy test our cows. I was impressed with the vet getting right after it and getting it done. All I had to do was keep records and sometimes I could hardly keep up. Sometimes he likes to talk so our neighbor told his wife not to talk to him so he wouldn't get distracted. We finished just before dark and then came to our house where a great meal awaited us. It's nice to have your own personal caterer for a sister-in-law.
The next day we preg tested at our neighbors. It was a cold and miserable day and I asked myself more than once why I was not at my job--indoors! I had taken the day off and gotten my boss' wife to work for me. I joked with her that if the weather was crappy she was supposed to call me and say she had an emergency and needed me to come to work. She didn't call. M and his friend, Roger, were brining the cows to the tub, R was loading the tub, and the neighbor's wife, Holly, and I were up on the tub getting the cows down the alley to the chute. M admitted that he was actually feeling sorry for Holly and I out in the elements. I told him that I couldn't feel my feet after the first half hour so after that it just didn't matter. We finished about 3 and then had a nice stew lunch.
This weekend we moved our heifers closer to home. It's the second time we had to get them out of the same pasture. It wasn't easy the first time, and it wasn't any easier the second time. The pasture has a couple of boggy coulees without good crossings, and of course, they were as far away from the gate as they could possibly be, and we had to get them across both coulees. We found one limpy one, and she made it clear that she wasn't going anywhere so we left her behind. After much cursing, we finally got them out and from there they moved easily, but slowly. We drove around on Sunday trying to find the limpy one but couldn't get everywhere with the pickup so didn't find her. M went out yesterday on the 4-wheeler and found her and got her moved out with the other cows. She had worked her way in that direction.
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| You can lead a cow to water..... |
Something spooked the heifer calves in the corral one night and one got her leg injured. R called in the morning and said one "had a cut on her leg". More like tore the skin halfway off her leg so we've been cleaning that and dressing it every few days. So far she's doing well, and she's an excellent patient. She'll be stylish, too, getting a new color of vet wrap every three days.
J has been hauling gravel and doing some road work. C has been helping with the cattle hauling and R was on vacation for the weekend. We had Kobe for the weekend and thought it was going really well until he and Junior disappeared for a bit on Sunday afternoon and Kobe came home with some new body jewelry--porcupine quills. Hope he learns one of these days.
We're making progress on our fall paperwork thanks in part to some gale force winds with cold temps that have kept us indoors. We're still hoping for more good weather because we still have lots of projects to work on. First up, pouring cement and setting the new waterer in place. After that, it's all gravy.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
The Harvest That Wouldn't End....
....is now over....for us at least. There are still quite a few people that are still plugging away at it. There should be a huge sense of relief, but there isn't because a) everyone's to-do list is a mile long, b) a lot of the grain we harvested is right now worth next to nothing and c) J and K moved out of their "summer house" and back to Scobey (that makes me sad because I liked having that grandbaby closer).
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| My little John Deere girl |
We had two weeks of good harvesting weather and the guys put in some long hours...enough that I was a bit worried about them and their lack of sleep. We rented another combine so we had three going for awhile until the last rain delay and then we sent one back. That one we had to pay for by the day whether we used it or not so it didn't make much sense to have it sitting for a week when we were close to done. The other one we just pay by the hours used. We needed about 2 more hours before the last rain delay to finish here at home, but we weren't that lucky. Then we sat for a week with frost and fog and just damp conditions. M did feel as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders when all the wheat close to home was cut so he didn't have to look at it standing there every day.
J had a couple of issues with his combine. One of the inside tires on the front of the combine came loose. Luckily, he felt that something was wrong while we were in the process of moving and stopped before it fell off and caused a really big problem. The John Deere mechanics were there quickly, but it still took a few hours to get it fixed. Then he had a shaft break in the spreader. He was able to continue without it, and it still isn't fixed. He was just hoping the pulleys didn't start a fire.
There are a lot of quality issues with the grain harvested late and with lots of rain on it. The rain causes bleaching of the kernels and the kernels are not as hard as they are when harvested at a hot and dry time. Of course, the elevators and grain companies seem to seize on any opportunity to discount the worth. This was also not a year to raise wheat with high protein since we didn't have a hot and dry summer. We tend to get more bushels and less protein in a good year. Right now the protein scales are worse than I have ever seen them. The price of wheat is low anyway, but if you don't have 14 protein you almost have to pay them to take it. We heard a rumor of someone selling for 95 cents a bushel. We have a 50,000 bushel pile of wheat on the ground right now that we have to find a place for--and we're pretty sure it won't be going to an elevator any time soon! And, all of our bins are full. Sometimes it makes you wonder why you're working so hard and spending the money to get the crop harvested when it's worth so little. Hopefully, the market will settle down in a few months and make sense again.
The highlight of harvest was that M's dad came out three different days and rode the combine. He hasn't been to the farm in probably three years and a few weeks ago wouldn't get out of bed so it was a big deal that he was feeling well enough to come out. We were all pretty excited. He took turns riding with J, C and M. When he headed home the first day he said he would be back the next day. We all thought he'd be tired and sore and would change his mind, but he showed up around 11 and stayed until the rain shut us down at 5. He had a lot of catching up to do!
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| I love this three generation photo |
J and C have been spraying to get some problem spots cleaned up. M and R have been hauling the last of the hay bales, and M cut some late oats. He was hoping it would make grain because he didn't want more bales to haul, but the frost took its toll so he swathed it and will bale it.
The next high priority is getting the corral water project completed since we'll have cows and calves there in less than two weeks. We had a line break about the time we got all the cows moved out this spring and it was too wet to dig it up and fix it then. They plan to modify the system now. M has been pondering it all summer and now with input from C, J and R they've come up with a plan. We also have cattle guards to dig in at R's and gravel to haul into his yard. I finished clipping the wires for the last stretch of fence around the hay yard. After 285 clips (and 57 squats) I was wishing R had made it just a LITTLE bigger--ha! I also painted the barn doors. We had some guys repaint the metal barn and they painted right over the white doors so everything is silver. R's girlfriend and I thought it looked stupid so I finally had time and a nice day to paint; however, the paint was crappy and it took a gallon to do two doors and I'm not happy with the result. I'll try again in the spring unless we have a string of nice weather still this fall.
I'd like to get my patio project done (or started). I told M we had to get it done before haying. Didn't happen. Then I said he couldn't go on vacation until we got it done. Didn't happen....I caved since I wanted to go on vacation, too. Now he's so busy that I hate to ask for his help and may just have to do it myself.
Hopefully, the decent weather continues so we can get a handle on all of our projects before the snow flies.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Harvest Continues.......Sort of
It has rained two more times since my last post, but we got a few good days in. They switched back to wheat so were able to go late into the night for a couple of nights. Our nephew and his friend are here this week so the guys decided to cut the place that is difficult to haul out of where the trucks have trouble keeping up since we had the extra help. That was a good plan! M and J figure they had a record day cutting 20,000 bushels of wheat in a day. M thinks it is the best crop he's ever cut with his average never going under 55 bushels to the acre all day. M's sister is here, too, and spent a day in the combine. She picked a good day to do that. Too bad the wheat is bleached to some degree and the elevators are severely discounting the price. Every rain affects the quality....and the general mood and morale of our crew.
We didn't want our visitors to get bored so we enlisted their help for a couple of projects. M bought a small Quonset-type storage building from a guy in Richland who was moving but has been pondering for a year how to get it moved here. They lifted it up and got it on a trailer and hauled it here and set it on railroad ties. M says there was a lot of luck involved in the process, but it's here now. It may be the home for the Jeep for the winter.
Yesterday we preg checked our heifers. We found out on Tuesday that the vet was going to be in the area, but M was afraid to commit at that time in case we could get back to harvest. There was really no drying on Wednesday and it was still muddy and cloudy yesterday morning so he called the vet right away to see if he could still do it in the afternoon. Then we scrambled to get ready. We had to round up the heifers which was a bit of an adventure. The pasture they were in is a bugger to gather from with bogs and coulees and trees to hide in. First thing, we had cross a bog on foot to chase some out. Hard to stay on the bumps, and I got wet feet right away. Felt lucky that I didn't break an ankle! Then they circled and hid in some trees and some were in another bog. To make a long story short, it took a lot longer than it really should have. Then once we got them out of the pasture we had to make a few jogs to try to keep them out of the wheat that hasn't been cut yet. That went pretty smoothly but took some time. K made us a great lunch and delivered it to the barn. Sawyer was happy to see the dogs and the cows, and we were happy to see her.
We had a hard frost overnight. I had covered my cukes, but they still don't look too good. The frost shouldn't bother the crops too much except for some late oats. We'll probably end up haying them, and no one is looking forward to hauling those bales home. M and R spent most of the day hauling the hailed out wheat bales and discovered that the fields are pretty soft, and just not drying out very fast. We had some sun and wind today, but we could really use some sustained heat. Too bad they can't send us some of that record heat they're having in California.
We keep plugging along, but this harvest is just unbelievable. We haven't cut an acre in the past four days, and we need to get back to it soon.
We didn't want our visitors to get bored so we enlisted their help for a couple of projects. M bought a small Quonset-type storage building from a guy in Richland who was moving but has been pondering for a year how to get it moved here. They lifted it up and got it on a trailer and hauled it here and set it on railroad ties. M says there was a lot of luck involved in the process, but it's here now. It may be the home for the Jeep for the winter.
Yesterday we preg checked our heifers. We found out on Tuesday that the vet was going to be in the area, but M was afraid to commit at that time in case we could get back to harvest. There was really no drying on Wednesday and it was still muddy and cloudy yesterday morning so he called the vet right away to see if he could still do it in the afternoon. Then we scrambled to get ready. We had to round up the heifers which was a bit of an adventure. The pasture they were in is a bugger to gather from with bogs and coulees and trees to hide in. First thing, we had cross a bog on foot to chase some out. Hard to stay on the bumps, and I got wet feet right away. Felt lucky that I didn't break an ankle! Then they circled and hid in some trees and some were in another bog. To make a long story short, it took a lot longer than it really should have. Then once we got them out of the pasture we had to make a few jogs to try to keep them out of the wheat that hasn't been cut yet. That went pretty smoothly but took some time. K made us a great lunch and delivered it to the barn. Sawyer was happy to see the dogs and the cows, and we were happy to see her.
We had a hard frost overnight. I had covered my cukes, but they still don't look too good. The frost shouldn't bother the crops too much except for some late oats. We'll probably end up haying them, and no one is looking forward to hauling those bales home. M and R spent most of the day hauling the hailed out wheat bales and discovered that the fields are pretty soft, and just not drying out very fast. We had some sun and wind today, but we could really use some sustained heat. Too bad they can't send us some of that record heat they're having in California.
We keep plugging along, but this harvest is just unbelievable. We haven't cut an acre in the past four days, and we need to get back to it soon.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Harvest Update
And now for a quick harvest update. Harvest to-date can be summed up in one word--frustrating! August is supposed to be hot, dry and dusty, but that was not the case this year. We had 3.5" of rain in August--not normal.
The boys had most of the peas done by the time we got home from our vacation. The lentils weren't quite ready so M and R swathed some of the hailed-out wheat--ours and the neighbors. Then they baled the neighbors but combined ours. No one was a fan of that, but it got done. They had put off desiccating lentils because a big storm was in the forecast. Thankfully, we only got 2 inches (only!) as places not too far south had 5 to 9 inches. I can't even imagine that. But then, just as things would dry out, we'd cut a few hours and get rained on again. The lentils close to home are all cut except for the hailed ones. M made a pass through those and decided they weren't worth wasting our time on at the moment. We had a 360 acre piece that they finished cutting wheat on last night. If they had a really good day they could get it done in a day--they were there for three days because of rain showers. The days are kind of short because it's so dewy in the morning and gets so cool and damp once the sun starts to go down.
On the bright side, we haven't had rain for two days now, and they've gotten some good days in. There were showers in the area yesterday, and we didn't get wet. And, they were cutting on some of our poorer ground and the yield was really good, into the 40+ bushel/acre range. The trucks were sure on the move by my house yesterday.
We're making progress, but we've sure got a long way to go..........ugh!
The boys had most of the peas done by the time we got home from our vacation. The lentils weren't quite ready so M and R swathed some of the hailed-out wheat--ours and the neighbors. Then they baled the neighbors but combined ours. No one was a fan of that, but it got done. They had put off desiccating lentils because a big storm was in the forecast. Thankfully, we only got 2 inches (only!) as places not too far south had 5 to 9 inches. I can't even imagine that. But then, just as things would dry out, we'd cut a few hours and get rained on again. The lentils close to home are all cut except for the hailed ones. M made a pass through those and decided they weren't worth wasting our time on at the moment. We had a 360 acre piece that they finished cutting wheat on last night. If they had a really good day they could get it done in a day--they were there for three days because of rain showers. The days are kind of short because it's so dewy in the morning and gets so cool and damp once the sun starts to go down.
On the bright side, we haven't had rain for two days now, and they've gotten some good days in. There were showers in the area yesterday, and we didn't get wet. And, they were cutting on some of our poorer ground and the yield was really good, into the 40+ bushel/acre range. The trucks were sure on the move by my house yesterday.
We're making progress, but we've sure got a long way to go..........ugh!
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