New management

Someone thinks he's the new manager on the farm these days.  Noah follows Grandpa around the farm and "helps".  He loves to check cows, bale hay and anything else Grandpa might be doing.

Grandpa's Lil' Helper

Paul was able to bale a little more hay yesterday, but we had another 0.9" of rain last night.  That puts both the haying and corn harvest on hold for a while longer.

Scandal on the farm

Paul tells me we have a new white calf on the farm.  Quite scandalous in a herd of black cattle!  Someone wasn't staying on their side of the fence.  This one cow didn't have a calf earlier when she was expected to, but perhaps she was just saving herself for the right bull.  I guess we have the neighbor's bull to thank for this calf!

Rains continue to come.  Not a lot, but enough to keep us wet.  Quentin is starting to rumble about harvesting corn as soon as he can get in the fields without tracking them up.  Soon, we hope.

Hit and miss

A forecast of hit and miss showers have kept the men out of the hay field the last few days.  Yesterday, the showers missed, but we have a system moving through this evening with thunderstorms.  More chances linger in the forecast so I don't expect any more hay baling this week.

Quentin continues to work on the combine in anticipation of corn harvest.  He mostly finished with the adjustments and such on the combine itself last week and has now turned his attention to the corn header.  I've heard a little grumbling, of course, but we agreed that the time spent on adjustments now is better than fixing a broken combine mid-harvest!  However, tomorrow he will be making his third trip this week to the parts dealer so I can understand the frustrations.  He also plans to begin getting the drill ready.  He'd like to get some cover crops in as soon as the corn is out of the fields.

Nice kernels!

Bales and bales

The men chipped away at haying this week.  It went pretty well except for some still, humid days and a flat tire on the baling tractor.  They were able to switch out tractors pretty quickly and get back to baling.  They are currently waiting on a tire repair, but will be out of the hay field for awhile now anyway.  Last night, we had almost 2.5" of rain!

Flat tire!

In the meantime, the hay has been doing very well.  Lots of bales and we are running out of places to put them.  The combine takes up a good chunk of hay barn space!



Loading up bales

Haying again!

After some slow drying days, the men are out raking and baling hay again today.  They hope to get a lot done before the next rain.  We have a good chance in the forecast for Friday evening.

In the meantime, Quentin has been working on the combine, getting everything ready for corn.  Harvest is coming more quickly than we realize!

It's beginning to look like fall

The corn fields are beginning to look very fall-ish!  The corn is drying up fast and harvest will be here before we know it.  Quentin has started talking about getting the combine and corn header out and ready to go, but I know they would like to finish haying first.  Paul mowed some hay yesterday so they may be able to get back to baling later today or tomorrow.

Podding beans

We went to tour a few soybean fields yesterday.  Most fields are podding now and have some at least around the bottom of the stem.  (They flower and pod from the bottom up.)  The earliest beans have pods all the way up the stem now.  The pods are still pretty flat, but they look great.  The last soybeans planted are still flowering and should be putting pods on soon.  Quentin has been out scouting for podworms.  They have been spotted in some fields around the area already this year.  Last year, we sprayed for them and may have to again this year.

Persistent rain

The rain showers are persisting at just frequent enough intervals to keep the men out of the hay field.  I think they have around 100 acres left to hay and would be thankful for a dry week to finish up.  The early season corn is starting to dry up fast.  The later season still looks pretty green, but will be turning soon, I'm sure.  The beans are putting on pods and soaking up moisture and sunshine!

More rain!

We were not expecting much out of the latest cool front, but we had 0.4" of rain yesterday and another 3" this morning!  Not great for the hay, but the soybeans are very happy!

Hot days!

We are having a lot of hot, humid days!  The soybeans are holding up well, but could use a rain soon.  The men are plugging away at the haying.  They had a couple delays.  A cloudy morning with sprinkles slowed drying one day and a hydraulic hose broke on the mower yesterday, but they are going full force again today.  We do have some rain chances over the next few days and hope that we get some moisture for our soybeans!

Back to it

Back to raking and baling today!  We are supposed to have a stretch of dry weather this week so they should be able to get quite a bit done. 

Soon we'll be ready for more rain!  I've decided farmers are a very demanding group.  Rain.  Not too much rain.  More rain.  Dry out a little.  Not too dry.  More rain.  Seriously, though, it has been a great year weatherwise so far.  We're excited for harvest.  I have seen some early corn (on a neighbor's field) that is drying down already.  It won't be long before harvest season is here!