tregocenterdairy

With the end of Wheat Harvest 2026 it’s time to clean and lube the combine and grain-cart. Then put them to bed until Corn Harvest 2026.
            Middle/end of October.
The grain-cart is relatively easy to clean. Washing a Moose (cleaning the combine) is a different matter. It’s a couple of days work.
            Step one: Start at the front.
            Step two: Head back.
            Step three: Stop when you run out of combine.

Wheat Harvest 2026 is done!
Just in time. 
Another Kansas Thunderstorm hits about five hours later. Drops enough rain (even horizontally) to have put us into another two ro three day rain delay. 

West Kansas is known for….. 
            Sunflowers. 
            Sunsets. 
            Wheat and….
            Pheasant hunting. 
The wide-open landscape full of easily obtainable grain and good bird cover keep Kansas the number two pheasant hunting spot in the Country. Second only to legendary Nebraska. Although the state has a robust program of repopulating public waterways with fish, there is no program for repopulating the pheasant population. So, many folks around here raise flocks of pheasants. When the young birds are about 10 weeks old, they are set free.
Last week we release about 150. 

Our rain enforced wheat cutting hiatus has provided us with the opportunity to get some non-harvesting things done. The grain-semi gets new hopper door bearings and solenoids. The big tractor gets a radio. The laundry room at Grandma’s house gets a new sink. Perhaps most importantly the Milk Barn Bar & Grill gets a new ethernet cable. It’s a lot more fun lounging in the M.B.B.G. when the 84-inch TV works! 

Things break. 

If you’re a Eukaryote being and make things….
            they break. 
Side Note: Once saw a video of a sea otter lounging on the ocean surface in Morro Bay. The otter is happily breaking open clams for lunch. The otter’s anvil stone (laying on its chest) breaks in half. The otter flays a moment trying to get control of its clam, hammer stone and two pieces of anvil stone. Finally gives up. Swims off to call whoever oversees Pacific Coast tidal stone production. 
Our rain induced downtime is affording us the opportunity to fix stuff.
            New vanity & sink in the laundry room.
            Running a new Ethernet cable to the Milk Barn Bar & Grill
            Put a radio in the big tractor. 
            Fix the grain semi hopper doors. 
There’s always something to do on a farm. 

A threat of PFAS contamination in fish a few years ago curtailed most trips to the Lake (Cedar Bluff Revisor). Several years now without any increase in local health problems is revitalizing the fishing.
Our recent fishing trip is only marred by a lack of fish. Saw a fair number topping (breaking the surface) but only caught one.
Still a day fishing beats a day of almost anything else.

Grain-cart rule #1: Don’t spill any wheat. Of course, there are often contributing factors. Like the semi hopper door not quite closing all the way.
Of course (again) the grain-cart driver has the final and ultimate responsibility to check the doors.

Fueling, fixing, general maintenance is hard in the middle of a wheat field. So we have a flatbed service truck. A mobile service station. It has an external tank for carrying diesel fuel, a compressor (great for filling tires), tools, and enough space to carry just about anything we need to keep equipment running and in the field.

Some wheat is good. Some is bad. Some we don’t talk about.

There’s always something for a city-boy to learn on the Farm.
            The why & wherefore of crops.
            Equipment usage and maintenance.
            Large animal husbandry.
            Mule pasture maintenance.
The last one is very new. At least to me.