Goodbye 2015!

Before life on the farm, we only had a glimpse of the importance of the end of the year.  Mainly, we just had to work out our charitable contributions or other minor deductions for the year.  Boy, having your own business is a whole different ball game!  I typically do the bookkeeping for Quentin's part of the farm operation and have been busy crunching numbers.  The end of the year for us now is a fine line of spending and selling grain so that our expense-income ratio makes sense tax-wise.  I am very thankful I am not an accountant!

Christmas blessings!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and I hope all of you did, too.  We were out of town for a few days, but are back to the farm now.  What a difference a few days makes.  It is COLD!!  I am very thankful for all the wood Quentin was able to find time to cut for us.  Our wood stove feels so good this week.  The guys are working odds and ends and staying inside more than usual.  Paul is still busy feeding cows, of course, and checking to make sure their water supply isn't frozen over.  Good thing the cattle have thick hides in this cold weather.  As Paul likes to say on cold mornings, "It's a good day not to be a cow."

Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!

 

 

Slow week

A slow week on the farm this week.  The men kept busy figuring out next year's herbicide plan and ordering chemicals.  Quentin also had time to cut some firewood for us; although, it has not been cold enough to start the wood stove yet this year!  The also spent a couple days working on our new church building in town.  No field work, but always something to do!

Combine maintenance

Quentin has scheduled the combine for a "check-up" at the dealership this winter.  Isaac would love to help.  He's an expert at getting in those tight spaces.  We may have to send him to a farm mechanics school!

 

Rain, rain, rain...

If only we could bottle some of this rain and save it up for next July and August...  We received another 2.60" today!  The ponds getting pretty full now.  I am very thankful that the weather is warm enough that it came as rain and not snow.  We would have been buried!  I think Quentin has given up on getting any fall tillage done, but he still would like to start strip-tilling fertilizer as soon as it dries up.

And they say roosters are loud...

You should have heard the noise at our house this week...and it wasn't just the kids!  Paul decided it was time to wean a bunch of calves.  The calves DISAGREED.  You should have heard them bawling for their mamas.  The first night, I kept thinking the kids were making some strange noises.  By morning, it was really a racket out there.  Luckily, they settled down within a couple days.    We walked down to see them yesterday, and they seemed pretty content.  They must have decided the hay was OK.

Cover crops

The cover crops continue to do their work this winter.  The turnips and radishes should winter kill soon.  The rye, much like our wheat fields, did not put much growth on this fall, but will hopefully get a chance to grow significantly taller this spring before corn planting.

 

Cover on Winfrey's

Filling up

Ken's new pond is filling nicely after all that rain!

 

Wheat check

The wheat didn't put on a lot of growth this fall, but it did appear to fill in nicely after the late rain we received.

 

Throwback: Tractorcade

In the late 1970s, Paul and Clayton participated in a tractorcade to Topeka.  I'll have to have Paul tell me the story sometime so I can share.  Some "experts" say we might be looking at more lean years for the foreseeable future, but this family farm continues to survive!

 

Window reads "Help keep this girl on the family farm"  We do still have this tractor!

Gathering for the tractor strike

Filling ponds!

Not much going on this week on the farm.  We took some time to enjoy our families over the long weekend.  However, I am happy to report that it was also a RAINY weekend.  We are not quite sure how much rain since the gauge froze up, but we believe it was around FOUR inches!  Great for the wheat and the ponds!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  We are having a slow week on the farm, just catching up on odds and ends jobs/paperwork.  We are expecting cool and rainy weather for the next few days so are looking forward to relaxing and enjoying our families over Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for too many things to list, but we are especially thankful for the opportunity to be part of the family farm.

Stop farming??

I recently read an article called "Stop Farming Unprofitable Acres."  It caught my eye because Quentin and I have been discussing this very thing lately.  The idea is to flag areas in your fields where you are consistently losing money.  With new technology, it is easier to see where these areas are.  Of course, some you can see with your own eyes.  I snapped this picture from the combine as we did some outside rounds by a tree line.  Where the trees came close to the field, there were essentially no beans for the first 8-10 rows.  As soon as there was a break in the trees or they were further away, we had beans.

After watching some of these areas for a few years, Quentin talked to our local USDA-NRCS agent about buffer strips.  The idea is that if you have areas in your field where you are losing money year after year, it is a good idea to put a strip of grass in between the trees (or other hazard) and your field.  Yes, you end up with less acres, but your overall profitability should go up since you are reducing the acres where your net profit is negative.  Also, the strips would be easy to take out in the future if things change (e.g. a tree line is taken out).  Right now it is just food for thought, but Quentin may be discussing this with you in the future to see if it makes sense in some areas of your fields.

Strip-till operation

Quentin bought a strip-till fertilizer applicator last year. It has been a good addition to the farm.  He is able to put dry fertilizer and anhydrous in rows right where the crops can use them.  This should make the fertilizer more available to the plants when they are young.  Also, the shanks can help break up any hard pans in the row without having to plow up the whole field.  He's been spending his days getting it set up and might even do some fertilizer application yet this fall if things dry out.

Rainy days

We have been blessed with a couple rainy days here.  We received about 1.75" total.  I guess the men won't be doing any fall field work for a few days, but I don't think they mind!

Working terraces

 Fall is a good time to rebuild those terraces.  Paul invested in a new scraper this fall and has been giving it a good workout.

 

Seeing green

The wheat is trying its best to come up.  We are seeing lots of green in the field now.  Much of it did not make it up until the last rain, but it's coming on now.  Hopefully, it will put some good growth on before it turns cold for the winter.

 

Busy?

Farmer to wife: What are you doing today?

Wife: Raising your children. Why?

(Wrong answer.  The correct answer would have been "I'm busy.  Very, very busy.")  Just kidding!  For those of you who don't know me well, I was an agronomy major in college so I always enjoy being involved with the farm work.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a few fields grid sampled this year.  However, we wanted to get an idea of the soil fertility on some of our other fields, too, so Quentin and I went out yesterday to get a few samples on the rest of our fields going to corn next year.  It's not as extensive as grid sampling, but it should give us a pretty good idea of what is happening in a particular field.

For those of you who might not be familiar with soil sampling, it is WORK!  We will be sending in only 2-3 samples per field, but to get one soil sample, 25 probes are taken from all over the sample area.  Each probe is taken to a depth of 6 inches.  Mix all the soil together from the 25 probes and you have a sample.

 



One probe down, 400+ to go.

We based our sampling areas off the yield maps to get an idea of "good" and "poor" areas of the field.  This will allow us to compare the fertility to help pinpoint why some areas do better than others.  It is amazing what you see when you get out there.  Without even looking at the map, I could usually tell whether we were in a good or poor area based on the probe.  Many of the poorer areas had a very shallow topsoil, and it was nearly impossible to get the probe down to the 6 inch depth before hitting a hard pan.  The poor areas also tended to be drier with less soil structure.  The good areas were relatively easy to probe and had good moisture.  Sometimes they were darker soils, which probably indicates they have more organic matter (a very good thing).  We will be interested to see what the results say when we get them back.

Soil testing

One project Quentin is working on this fall is soil testing.  He started small with some fields of Paul's and Kenneth's, but hopes to expand to include all the fields in the next few years.  One thing he found is the fields are getting pretty low in pH.  That means a lime application to help nutrient availability.  Hopefully we can get some on before the ground freezes.

A light shower again yesterday.  Only 0.15", but it helps to keep the ground softened up.  We'll take what we can get!

Break?

Slow week on the farm.  You would think the guys are taking a much needed break after harvest, BUT they have just shifted their focus for a few days.  We are getting ready to move in to our new church building, and we are spending all our free time getting things ready.  Very exciting for us!

Rain!

We received over an inch of rain yesterday.  What a blessing!  It was a nice, soaking rain, too.  The wheat ought to be happy today.

Park the combine

Harvest 2015 is officially over!  Quentin finished the last little bit this morning, right before the rain started.  (Rain!)  This must be a record.  Two years ago, they harvested on and after Thanksgiving Day.  Here we are the day before Halloween and already finished.  Yeah!

Now the combine goes back to being a jungle gym/resting place for the kids.

Ready to roll

ALL the guys were ready to get the combine out today, but the beans were a little too wet to cut.  The misty weather we had yesterday must have seeped in to the beans.  Hopefully, they will go tomorrow as we are expecting rain on Friday.

 

Tires look good Dad.  Let's go!

Check the fields



The last of the beans are getting close.  I'm not sure they will go today, though.  It's supposed to be cloudy and damp.  We'll see what the afternoon brings, but I expect the combine to stay parked until tomorrow.

 

Should we go check the fields, Dad?  I think those beans are almost ready to harvest.

Turnips, anyone?

Our cover crops are starting to grow.  They are trying to take advantage of the small amounts of moisture we've received.  Quentin is hoping by adding turnips and radishes to the mix, he can break up hard pans in the soil.  We had to try a bite, and they aren't bad eating either!

 

Hay rides

Waiting to get back to the harvest...we decided to have a little fun.  Quentin was volunteered (by me!) to provide hayrack rides at our church's Hallelujah night Saturday.  He got the Model B out and put a couple big bales on the trailer to make sure it could pull a big load.

 

Rain report

I know some of you down south are probably drowning in water by now, but not too much rain to report here, I'm afraid.  We received about 0.1" Friday morning and 0.3" Friday evening.  The wheat is going to need more than that!  More chances in the forecast next weekend so we'll pray that we get a soaker then.

TBT: Dozer

I found this picture (1980, I think) of Clayton on his bulldozer.  It caught my eye because I think this is the same dozer sitting out under our pear tree!  It doesn't move much anymore, but still works when we need it.

 

The guys finished up harvesting everything that was ready yesterday.  That only leaves part of Austin Frank's and a field of after-wheat beans yet to cut.  I think it might be next week before those are ready to go.  We are expecting rain tonight-tomorrow.  That would be such a blessing!  Quentin dusted in the last field of wheat yesterday in anticipation of some rain.  He didn't want to wait too long to get it in the ground.  Hopefully, the wheat they planted earlier will go ahead and come up with a nice rain, too.

Broke down!

Oh no! The header had a minor (we hope) breakdown yesterday.  The men are splicing the cutter bar back together this morning and will hopefully be cutting again soon.  They have a little bit left on the home place and will likely try to cut some rounds on Austin Frank's today also.  There are some parts of the field which are ready and other parts that are still a little green.  The weather is warm and windy so the beans are drying fast.

Cutting again

The men are back in the field today.  There are a couple fields that seem dry enough to go.  They started on the "home place" on Chambers' around lunchtime.  Hopefully, they'll be able to finish up on that this afternoon.  There is another small field that looks ready near the house (Claude's) so they may move back here and do that tomorrow.

 

Harvest break

The men finished up on Street's yesterday afternoon and even cut a small field for a neighbor last night.  That leaves only the beans on Chambers' and a small field of Paul's on Claude's, about 3 days worth of harvest left if all goes well.  None of those fields are ready quite yet so they will have another small break.  Quentin is working on finalizing seed orders for next year so it is nice to have a couple days look at data, meet with the sales reps and hammer out the details.  In the meantime, we continue to pray for rain.  The ponds, pastures and wheat ground could use a good soaking!

Filling up the trucks

The men are harvesting again today.  They finished up the field north of Paul and Helen's last night.  There was a good breeze, and they were able to keep at it longer than a normal evening.  Today, they moved on to a large field on Steeby's.  If they finish up with that, there are fields that look close to ready on Osterloh's and down on Street's at Rose.  The next couple days are expected to be warm and sunny so they will be keeping busy!

Soybean harvest

Quentin is back in the combine today.  He was able to finish up Kenneth's and is working on the small field west of our house.  After that, they will need to do some scouting to see if there are more beans ready.

Planting wheat

The men are trying to get some wheat in the ground before the moisture is gone.  They planted Steeby's yesterday afternoon and will plant Marilyn's this morning.  The wheat ground on Rose Marie's needs worked again and some more moisture before we plant there, I'm afraid. 

 

After wheat beans

The after wheat beans are still green.  They are hurting a bit from the dry weather, but are trying to fill pods.  Hopefully, the last rain came in time for them to use it.  It is our first year to try after wheat beans on Rose Marie's, although Paul had a few last year that did well.

 

Dry pastures

We received 0.6" of rain last night!  It was very welcome.  Even the cows have been waiting on the rain.  The pastures are very dry, and Paul has started to feed some hay to supplement.  They would love some nice green, tender shoots to munch on, I'm sure.

Pond check

Kenneth had a pond redone in the pasture south of our house.  No rain to fill it up yet!  They did run in to a small spring, which has filled the bottom a little bit.  The men planted wheat on top of the dam, but at last check it hadn't come up.  Like everything else, it could use a rain.  There is a chance of rain tonight, but they are not expecting much out of the system.  This time, we are praying the weatherman is WRONG and we get a good soaker.

 

Too wet!

Quentin ran in to some wet beans on Kenneth's so he shut the combine back down.  He did get a large portion of the field harvested, but has no plans to get the combine out today.  It needs a few more drying days first.

Chipping away

Quentin continues to slowly chip away at the soybeans as they dry down.  Today, he was able to get back in the field.  He is harvesting Kenneth's beans south of the creek right now.  After that, we'll have to scout around and see if any other fields are ready.

6 years old!

Another milestone at the farm.  Isaac turned 6 on Friday.  With no harvest or rain, we were able to relax and enjoy some family time this weekend to celebrate!

Still no rain in the forecast, but we are praying!

Back to the field?

Wow, some of the late beans are drying fast!  Quentin thinks they'll be back to harvesting next week.  Without much rain on the horizon, we may be done with harvest in record time.

Full pods

The pods on the late beans are looking better than I might have expected in many fields.  It is hard to tell how much damage the dry weather has done.  Most of the fields are drying down already and are past the point where a rain would help.

 

Group V beans planted in early June

Soybean update

All the early beans are harvested as of last night.  The late beans are turning fast.  It won't be long until they are ready to harvest, too!

 

The men would like to plant wheat, but it's too dry.  There is a chance of rain this weekend.  We could sure use it!

Next field!

Another field down!  Quentin is finishing up a small field east of the hay barn, and then will move on to a small field on Rose Marie's and then Kenneth's.  Not too many early beans this year, about 80 acres.  It was our first year to try them.  They should finish them up easily today or tomorrow.

Soybean harvest!

The early beans are dry!  Quentin is out cutting on the second field of Marilyn's beans.  He won't be able to cut too long tonight, as the COOP will be closed, but will likely fill the two trucks and grain cart before he quits.

Dry?

Do these beans look dry enough to you?  We are about to find out.  Yes, the combine has left the barn.  Quentin is going to try a few beans to check the moisture.  

Group IV planted in early May

We never received that big rain we were hoping for so we are anxious to see how the beans yield this year.  The later planted soybeans are still pretty green, but turning.  We hope they have enough moisture to go ahead and fill out those pods!

Turning beans

The early planted soybeans are losing leaves and turning brown fast.  Here's one of the fields that is furthest along.  These are Group IV, planted in early May.

In the meantime, the men are getting ready to plant wheat.  They are disking and spreading fertilizer, at least.  They might need to wait for a rain to plant, however, and there's not much in the forecast for next week.

Dirty work!

Why the "farm wife" job should come with a professional cleaning service...

Quentin spent the last couple days cleaning up the combine and corn head.  While Quentin returned to his natural skin tone after a hot shower, I'm pretty sure that this shirt will never be the same.

Cover crops

What in the world is that growing in that field?  I thought we just harvested the corn!

Quentin is trying out cover crops on one field of Paul's this winter.  He planted a rye-radish-turnip mix, which he will kill in the spring before soybean planting.  In the meantime, they might graze some cattle on it this winter.  Cover crops can be very good for soil health, weed suppression and water infiltration.  We are excited to see if they will work for our operation!

Beautiful fall day

Beautiful fall weather today.  We are thankful for the rain we received, even if it was only 0.5".  Quentin has started sifting through some of the yield data to check how the corn hybrids and fields shaped up.  They'll need to order next year's seed sometime in the next month so no time to lose!

Finished!

Corn harvest is officially done for the year!  The men finished up about 8:00 last evening and took the last truckloads in this morning.  It's been raining off and on all morning.  What a great day!

First tractor

Throw-back Thursday...
It all started here.  Quentin got his first tractor for Christmas when he was 2.  We still have it!  It has a lot of wear and tear, but the kids love to pedal around on it.

Quentin has moved the combine to the last field of corn!  We're keeping one eye on the weather to see if he'll be able to finish up before rain comes.

Plugging away

Corn harvest continues in full swing.  The men have one more field over east that they want to finish before the rain chances move in (Friday).  They shouldn't have any trouble finishing that tomorrow, if all goes well.  Then, they'll just be one field left to cut closer to home (about 60 acres, I think).

Learning to drive?

The kids LOVE the combine.  Poor Quentin has lots of company in the cab sometimes.  These two were "driving" while Dad greased up the combine.  In about 15 years, we'll have some good help! 

The men continue on Chambers ground again today.  They had a long day yesterday and likely will today as well, but they are making great progress.  There is a good chance of rain Thursday night in to Friday.  It would be wonderful to be done before then!

Snout view

The view from inside the combine.  This header that they bought last year doesn't seem to lose as many ears of corn as the last one.  A good thing!

The men started in on Harry Frank's fairly early this morning.  It is very windy today, which dries up the stalks and lets them get in the field a little earlier in the day.  Quentin thinks they could be finished with harvest by the weekend, if everything goes well.  We'll send up a prayer for the equipment so nothing will break down!

Look, no hands!

The combine can steer itself!  Quentin still has to run the header (orange lever) and turn the combine around on the ends, but it is equipped with a guidance system so it can follow the rows all by itself.  It's pretty amazing.

 

The men nearly finished up last night at Paul and Helen's so they went out this afternoon to cut the last truckload.  They will be moving over to Rose Marie's tomorrow to start there.

Full trucks

The men have moved up to Paul and Helen's house to cut.  The dew is heavy this morning so they have plenty of time to empty the trucks from last night.  After the COOP closes each evening, they keep cutting until they have everything full.  In the mornings, they take all the trucks in to dump and work on getting the combine greased up and ready to roll for another full day.  The sun is out now so I expect them to be going again soon.  They should be able to finish up that field today, if they have a good day.  We are expecting some family to come next week that can help drive trucks.  Just in time!  We'll be moving to the fields farthest away from the COOP, and Paul is already struggling to keep up with the combine now.  If the line to dump at the COOP is very long, Quentin has to shut down the combine and wait or stop and take a load in himself.

Filling pods

We did get a nice shower last night.  There was 0.65" in the gauge this morning.  Not as much as we were hoping, but still very welcome.  The later planted soybeans are filling pods quickly and need the moisture.  With the sun shining on this pod, you can see the tiny seeds starting to grow.

I don't expect the rain was enough to keep the men out of the corn field.  There is a nice breeze and sunshine this morning so they will probably be able to cut by this afternoon.  They should be able to finish up on Steeby's, at least.

Throwback Thursday: Combines

Combines sure have grown since 1975!  I wonder how many acres they could cover in a day with this guy.

 

Quentin is out harvesting on Steeby's today.  We're keeping one eye on the sky since there is a chance of rain by early evening.  At least the field is close so they can get the combine home in a hurry if they need to.  Still praying for rain for those soybeans!

Still dry

Not much rain to report, I'm afraid.  We got another 0.1" last evening for a grand total of 0.2".  The storms just missed us again.  On the upside, corn harvest is rolling along.  After a cloudy, humid morning, the sun came out and Quentin headed out to try cutting on Kenneth's this afternoon.

Important milestone!

We hit an important milestone on the farm today.  Farmer Noah turned 1!  Poor guy.  Every year he'll have to compete with corn harvest on his birthday.

Only a few rain showers so far last night and this morning, amounting to about 0.1".  The sun is out now so the men went to finish up the field at Winfrey's.  They had to quit by late afternoon yesterday because the COOP wanted to close early for the Labor Day holiday.  It shouldn't take them long to finish the field they are on now, but they probably won't start another one before tonight.  They'll need to move everything back home in case of rain.

Harvesting again

After a couple days off, the men are harvesting again today.  They are finishing up a field at Rose now and will move up to Winfrey's soon.  We are expecting rain this week, but they pushed the greatest chance back until tomorrow.  They are hoping to get a full day of cutting in today, but would be thrilled with a couple inches of rain tomorrow!

Filling the semi

Back at it

The corn is finally dry enough to get back to harvest.  The men should be able to finish up the field on Marilyn's, but that might be it for the week.  We have several chances of rain starting Sunday night so they might not start another field before we see what the weather will do.

First farmer

If we are figuring right, Quentin is a 4th generation farmer on this farm.  His great-grandfather farmed where Paul and Helen live now, and his grandfather bought the farm where we are now living.  We farm both and more!

By all accounts, great-grandpa Elmer was very proud of his horses.  However, we are happy to have our tractors to do the work for us!

Elmer and his horses

Attack of the podworms!

Quentin and Paul went out to scout fields this morning.  There have been reports of soybean podworms (same insect as corn earworm) in the area.  Most of the fields were infected.  The earliest soybeans planted were already past the maturity window when the podworms attack, but the rest of the fields will probably have to be sprayed.  They were able to round up some chemicals today and are hiring a neighbor to spray starting tomorrow.  Hopefully, we can take care of them before they do too much damage.

Planning for next year...

The men tried the corn again this afternoon.  Still wet!  A test batch was 16.8.  They will likely wait until Thursday to try again. 

In the meantime, the break gave them time to check out some corn and soybean test plots.  It is almost time to order seed for next year already!  Quentin is busy trying to pull together what data we have to compare hybrids and will be scouting some soybeans to see how those varieties are faring this year.

Hurry up and wait

Still waiting to start back up on harvest.  Today was sunny and windy so it was a good drying day for the corn...not as good for the poor soybeans.  Quentin hopes to have the combine back out by tomorrow afternoon to try a little more.

Soybean pods

The later planted soybeans are putting on pods fast.  There are pods all the way up the stem now.  They will need a little moisture to fill out, though.

 

 

Corn harvest is still on hold.  We did not get much rain, but the moisture is still too high in the corn ears.

Showers

Corn harvest is on hold at least until the sun comes back out.  Quentin ran in to some higher moisture corn by Wednesday evening so he shut the combine down.  Yesterday and today have been overcast days with some light showers.  We are praying the rain will be heavier today so the soybeans will get a good "drink".

Then and now

Here are Clayton (1987) and Quentin (current) showing off their tall soybeans.  I hope the moisture holds so we have a great crop this year!