News from the field
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Painting Grandma’s House
Sunny, 74 degrees
Humidity 23%
Dew Point:43 degrees
Wind: S @ 3 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Grandma’s (Great-Grandma’s) house is painted.
Prep-work takes the longest.
Pressure washing.
Taping windows.
Moving cars & equipment.
Moving dogs & cats.
Once the paint starts coming out of the nozzle it all goes fairly quick. Less than three hours for two coats.
The clean-up takes longer.
No plans to use the sprayer for a while, maybe not until next Summer, so we take time for a thorough cleaning. The sprayer is now almost as clean as when it came out of the box.
Since there is a little time before Carolyn and i head back to North Carolina, she decids to continue painting.
This time the downstairs stairs and walls.
Frist time the walls have seen paint since the house was built.
Of course, Uncle Ernie’s bear coat must be move from its traditional place on the wall going downstairs. There is a rumor, by the way, that Uncle Ernie shot the bear while hunting with Teddy Roosevelt. Some family historians contest this claim stating that Teddy died before Uncle Ernie was born. Others quote the Mark Twain philosophy of never letting the facts get in the way of a good story!
One way or the other the house has two coats of new paint. The stairs going to the basement have new paint. The walls going downstairs have paint. Uncle Ernie’s bear coat is safely hanging in a closet. And Carolyn has plans of continuing her ‘painting jones’ in the laundry room and ‘new’ room during wheat harvest 2023.
(Music: Jamie’s Got a Friend by Jeremy Mai)
Corn Harvest?
Sunny, 82 degrees
Humidity 50%
Dew Point: 51 degrees
Wind: WSW @ 7 mph
Forecast: Partly cloudy
For a triple handful of years i’ve been driving the Trego Center Dairy grain-cart. 95% of this driving is in the Summer.
Wheat Harvest.
But 2017 brought retirement and expanded my grain-cart duties. They now include some corn harvest time. Great fun. Also helps me ‘level-up’ my grain-cart skills.
So when Carolyn and i got to the Farm this October Bruce mentions that all of the corn picking is done. Nothing to put in the grain-cart?
Nothing.
Nothing?
Nothing!
We knew that the drought is causing a significant cutback in corn but nothing? ‘Well not nothing.’ Bruce says. ‘A couple of weeks ago John and i spent almost two days picking.’
What is left is a negative crop. Will cost more to cut than it will bring at market.
‘Actually,’ Bruce goes on, ‘we didn’t even attach the grain-cart to the tractor this Fall.’ To prove the point, we drive around some of the corn fields.
Pathetic.
When we got back from our ride i took spray window cleaner and paper towels out to the grain-cart tractor. Just to remember what it is like to be a ‘real’ grain-cart drive getting ready to cruise the fields.
Climbed into the grain-cart tractor and sat. Didn’t even fire it up. Just sat.
What’s the use.
The tractor is not going anywhere. No need to see out the windows. A grain-cart driver without grain to haul is sadder than a cowboy without cows to heard.
Getting ready to paint
82 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Dew point: 56 degrees
Humidity: 65%
Wind: SW @ 7 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Not a good year for corn.
Corn harvest was begun and ended in a couple of days and most of that time was spent moving equipment. But one of the nice things about a farm is that there is always something to do. So, we’re painting the outside of Grandma Elfriede’s house.
We’ve almost got the pressure washing done. Getting rid of the dirt and loose paint.
As always the dogs are taking an active interest. Seems that happenings around Grandma’s house often lead to treats. So they are taking on an active supervisorial role.
Milo harvest….no need for a grain-cart
85 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Dew point: 48 degrees
Humidity: 45%
Wind: SW @ 5 mph
Forecast: Sunny
The Kansas State Agricultural Extension says this year’s milo (AKA: Sorghum) crop will yield about 60-80 bushels per acre. Our milo crop is a little less. Even by Western Kansas milo crop 2022 standards. Which ain’t good. When i showed up at the milo field next to John & Jan’s well….there is nothing for the grain-cart driver to do. The grain-cart isn’t even in the field. So….i took the long way home.
Crop insurance
Sunny, 90 degrees
Humidity 67%
Dew Point: 60 degrees
Wind: NE @ 9 mph
Forecast: Sunny
It’s a bad year when folks start hoping a crop will totally fail. But a lot of folks out our way are close to that point. Admittedly these folks all have crop insurance. Nowadays most dryland farmers do.
In the 1930s farmers were dealing with the effects of the Great Depression.
And the Dust Bowl.
Many families lost their farms.
Elfriede has a story about when she was young. Her dad ran a ‘guide’ rope from the house out to the barn. Another from the barn to the chicken house. She said there were days when the dust was so bad you couldn’t see three feet in front of you.
Farming is not for the faint hearted.
The federal government, under the prodding of FDR and the ‘New Deal’, came up with initiatives to help farmers. Including federally backed crop insurance.
It was a hit and miss program until Congress passed the Federal Crop Insurance Act in 1980. Some say it’s still hit and miss.
As always, the devil is in the details.
A casual online search of ‘crop insurance’ instantly leads down a rabbit hole. And, as one might expect, with any Federal program there is a web (pun intended) of conflicting information and gray areas.
But the general idea is that insurance providers, approved by the Federal Government, work with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to provide crop insurance. These insurance policies will generally payout about 70% on a field where the crop is a total loss. The 70% is determined by the average of the corn crops grown on that field. Compiled over several years.
However, insurance adjusters can divide up the field. Say it’s a 100-acre field the adjuster might allow 70% for 40 acres, 50% for 20 acres and 30% for the remaining 40 acres. And the adjusters can require the farmer cut whatever grain is there.
The ‘devil’ in the details.
The cost of running the combine and other equipment may be more than what the insurance and harvesting the crop is going to pay.
So, it is possible to lose money.
It might be better to have the whole field declared a total loss and get the 70%. Hopefully that will cover the cost of the seed. And planting. And weeding. And fertilizing.
But even with all the insurance caveats most folks have crop insurance. Otherwise, they have the chance of being out the cost of the seed. And planting. And weeding. And fertilizing.
Everywhere i go this Summer i hear folks talking about rain.
OK, we always talk about rain.
But right now it is almost all folks talk about. That and irrigation. And insurance. And how nice it would be to have an oil well. Or two.
Just to take the ‘edge’ off. Ya’ know!
Pivot Corn
Sunny, 98 degrees
Humidity 44%
Dew Point: 57 degrees
Wind: ENE @ 20mph
Forecast: Partly cloudy
2022 is not a good year for corn. At least not a good year for Western Kansas corn. Corn crops around here are almost 40% gone.
Dead.
No amount of rain & cooler temperatures will save this corn. And there’s still 8-10 weeks before we start picking. So, the 60% that still has a chance is on borrowed time.
But, as always, we have hope! Just a little bit of rain will save the rest of the corn.
OK….
A lot of rain!
And soon.
Times like these dryland farmers start thinking about irrigation. Most folks in Western Kansas are ‘dryland’ farmers.
No irrigation.
Except from the sky.
There are a few folks using groundwater irrigation. Generally, they live near a good source of water. Down in a draw. Near a stream. Places where the water table is not too deep. Somewhere that the wells for the pivots can be drilled fairly easily. People around here use pivot irrigation.
Pivot Irrigation
Pivots are big.
Really big.
The use a lot of water.
Once installed pivots pretty much stay in one place. Except to go around in circles. (Takes about seven days for the pivot to make one full circle.) So, crops are planted under the pivot.
In our neck of the woods people using pivots end up putting about 12 inches of water on their corn. Twelve inches for the whole growing season.
One family with pivot irrigation has already put 15 inches of water on their corn. And most people, with or without irrigation, won’t start picking corn until the middle of October. So, they’ve got a lot of watering yet to do.
But they’ve stopped.
They’ve run out of water.
The water table, the pivot well is tapped into, has dropped. Dropped below the level of the well.
Every now and then dry land farmers talking, especially during dry times, about irrigation farming. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if….’
But there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Sometimes the water just isn’t there.
In the sky.
Or in the ground.
TANSTAAFL
Sunny, 90 degrees
Humidity 23 %
Dew Point: 47 degrees
Wind: SW @ 9 mph
Forecast: Increasing clouds
As Mannie said (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein) ‘There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch’.
But there is!
And we got it!
For years now KHAZ in Hays (99KZ Country) has given away lunch to folks out harvesting. This year Applebee’s partnered with 99KZ Country to give away free chicken dinners. Rheta put our name (Trego Center Dairy) in the drawing.
Lo & behold…we won.
July 1st.
The 99KZ folks called in the morning. Told us we’d won and asked how many ‘field hands’ we had. They showed up at about 12:30 with chicken strips, dippin’ sauce, french-fries and drinks for all.
Just when you think there’s no such thing as a free lunch….
one shows up!
Post-Harvest Clean up
Sunny, 101 degrees
Humidity 20%
Dew Point: 51 degrees
Wind: S @ 13 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Well the wheat is in the bin. Time to turn our attention to post-harvest clean-up.
Carolyn has been working on the outside of Grandma Elfriede’s house….Great-Grandma Elfriede, now.
Time sure flies.
But then so do meadowlarks, swallows, drones, and dreams.
I’m cleaning field trucks.
Bruce is cleaning up some fallow ground. Killing weeds, the old fashioned way….putting the green stuff under the brown stuff. This afternoon he’ll finish the field Clayton Andrew started. Come home to clean up the tractor, then head off to another field.
As my good friend Rick says….‘On a farm there ain’t never nothing to do’.
The Last Cut
Sunny, 92 degrees
Humidity 28%
Dew Point: 54 degrees
Wind: S @ 23 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Wheat Harvest 2022 began with planting.
Guess that is obvious.
As Bruce finished planting the wheat, he had a bit of seed left. Rather than going through the trouble of cleaning it out of the planter he got an idea.
Don’t know if he was grinning, but i’m saying he was.
Putting the last of the wheat in the small piece of ground in front of Grandma’s house would do several things.
Clean out the planter.
Keep weeds from growing there.
Look cool.
It did all of this and provided a great little video of the last wheat cut during Wheat Harvest 2022.
Wake-Up Call
Sunny, 98 degrees
Humidity 22%
Dew Point: 34 degrees
Wind: SSE @ 15 mph
Forecast: Sunny
There is nowhere more relaxing than in a John Deere tractor in the middle of a freshly cut wheat field.
There is nowhere more relaxing for a short afternoon snooze than in a John Deere tractor in the middle of a freshly cut wheat field.
Bruce has just gone on the combine to the field South of Aunt Leona’s.
Clayton Andrew is off-loading wheat from the semi into the new grain bins out near Aunt Leona’s. As soon as he is done, he’ll come back. Take the wheat off the grain-cart and head back to the bin.
I’ll head off to the field near Aunt Leona’s to resume my grain-cart driving duties.
But for now i’m sleeping. The righteous sleep of a laborer after a job well done.
Suddenly….
Clayton is back.
Has parked the semi.
Grinning he blows the semi horn. Just to gently let me know it’s time to wake up and put the wheat into the semi.
It’s good to work with family.
Hitch….The BIG hitch
Sunny, 94 degrees
Humidity 76%
Dew Point: 66 degrees
Wind: S @ 8 mph
Forecast: Intermittent rain
My idea is to move the new hitch for the undercutter over. Slightly.
It is in the back of the gray pickup.
The hitch has some assembly required. All the pieces are of black steel (battleship quality) and constructed as square ‘tubes’. The long pieces are the length of the pickup bed.
My plan is to scoot them over so i can put water jugs and stuff for the field on one side.
Being a 6 foot 1 former Marine (both a life time ago) i assume a ‘mechanically correct lifting stance’ (as pictured on the side of millions of packing crates), grabbed hold of one of the long pieces and pull.
The piece of the hitch, smiles.
Whispers,
‘That was a lifetime ago boy. Go get real help’.
Eventually Bruce helps by showing me how the Heavy-duty telescoping crane engine hoist works. Same hoist we use to lift things like….well….internal combustion engines.
Wednesday Bruce & Clayton Andrew put the hitch together.
Conveniently i am on a run to Kansas City International Airport to pick up Carolyn….with an almost clear conscious. I thought the hitch assembly would be on the weekend.
By the time we get to the farm the hitch is together and on the under-cutter. And Clayton Andrew made a video.
Hitch….The BIG hitch addendum
Check out the video ‘Cleaning up a field for next year’s wheat’ in the Post-Harvest Clean up post above to see the BIG hitch in action.
A Gentle Harvest
Sunny, 79 degrees
Humidity 54%
Dew Point: 61degrees
Wind: S @ 13 mph
Forecast: Sunny, High 98
Wheat harvest is often hectic.
It is usually hectic.
The old saying ‘Make hay while the Sun shines’ is easily adapted to….’Cut wheat when its ready’.
Corn,
at least field corn,
can hang around in the field for quite a while. Weeks. And then a few more weeks. But wheat has an opportune time to cut. A time that is mostly regulated by moisture. Too much moisture and the elevator folks ‘dock’ the load. Too little moisture and the elevator folks ‘dock’ the load. Around here 11% to 12% is just about an ideal moisture content.
We’re not quite there.
The cutting we are doing today is the most laid-back wheat harvesting i’ve ever seen. But the intention is to check out the new software downloads on the combine. However, wasting wheat just to check out the combine’s computer updates is obviously a waste. So, Bruce is creating a patchwork of the field just West of the Farm.
Leave the wheat that is too wet.
Cut the wheat that is just right.
Make sure the computer updates are working.
So….
We’re having a really laid-back wheat harvest….at least until all the wheat is all ‘just right’. Then we’ll kick it into high. And have get a good, old fashioned hectic Kansas wheat harvest!
Getting close enough to the WiFi to download computer updates. Wheat Harvest 2022 should start this weekend!
Farm Fix
Sunny, 82 degrees
Humidity 44%
Dew Point: 58 degrees
Wind: S @ 11 mph
Forecast: Sunny, High 102
Being away from the Farm for 10 to 11 months a year, Carolyn & i get our ‘Farm-fix’ via YouTube.
Currently there are dozens (and dozens) of farm related vlogs (video blogs) on YouTube. Some we follow. Some we skim through. Some we never visit more than once….often it only takes 15 seconds to decide to not come back.
The ones we watch are on YouTube they are mostly done by younger farmers. Many millennials who have grown up with vlogs.
One of the things that i’ve noticed when were at the farm is that equipment is becoming more and more loaded with electronics.
Almost all have GPS.
Most of implements come with computer programs. Modern farm equipment is loaded with iPad looking in-cab screens. Planters now tell you how fast the seeds are coming out, how far they go in the ground, how much pressure it takes to push the seed into the ground, and data i don’t understand. And all those measurements are monitored by individual sensors. Sensors that allow the farmer to make adjustments on planting.
And cultivating.
And spraying.
And harvesting.
And that something is wrong….or that the sensor has screwed up.
I’ve noticed that Bruce has the John Deere technologist on speed dial. But that makes sense, Bruce is ‘older’.
The millennials are younger. They grew up with all this technology. And they all have their technologists on speed dial.
And the millennials all spend about as much downtime at home and in the field playing with computers as we do. And we’re all ‘older’.
Go figure.
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