I am so sick of rain, and mud. I have literally stood in the field (or
sat in my cab) and cursed the rain and the mud that results from it.
In nearly 40 years of farming I don't recall a year so wet. Water levels
in the fields have been rising since the end of April. To the point that
some of the acres we struggled to seed in the mud will now be impossible
to harvest.
I know the old song goes, "the farmer needs the rain" but this is
ridiculous. The excess rain has caused us no end of problems and frustration.
Crop development has been slow but some are finally ready to harvest.
Unfortunately it rains every few days and just about the time the crop
is dry enough to try a sample, another system moves in with rain.
With all the moisture in the system the ground and grass stay wet til late
morning so the combines will not be able to get an early start. Days
are getting shorter and the sun sets early which usually means the grass
(and crop) takes on moisture so we can't combine late either.
Statistically we are about 8% harvested but in a normal year we should
be at the 28% level already. Peas normally harvested the first week of
August are still standing(or laying) in the fields. Every day and every
drop of rain degrades their quality further.
On the positive side, cattle have more grass than they can eat and I have
not had to water the lawn or garden all summer.
In hindsight I guess summerfallowing some of my land was a mistake as
most of it is too wet to work properly, but who knew this was coming
back in April?
Took this photo a week ago on a rare sunny day trying to disk summerfallow.
Yes, the tractor is stuck in the mud.
I wish that I could say something encouraging, but sometimes there's just nothing to say. I guess I CAN pray for you. Take care.
ReplyDeleteYou are using a disk plough? I've never seen a modern one before, just the steel wheel versions. Of course it does not appear to be a Minneapolis-Moline so I can't really been envious.
ReplyDeleteIf you would have had front wheel assist you would have gotten a lot further out there before before you got stuck.
Dang global warming!
Gorges, I guess the fact that we are not alone in our weather problems
ReplyDeleteis what keeps me and others going. Very little harvesting done here so we
are all in the same boat (almost literally).
Budde, they are called "diskers" here. With all the mud, heavy weed growth
and last years wheat stubble to work through I knew my shank type tillage
machines would be plugging all the time. A nice heavy tandem disk (with
rock cushions) would be ideal but the 15 foot Massey Ferguson 360 is what
I have so it will do the job. The logic of using a smaller tractor without
duals is that if I do get stuck I still have the big tractor to pull this
one out. That does'nt worry me as much as thinking about pulling loaded
grain trucks and combines out of the mud if we ever do get a chance to
harvest this fall.