Otherwise I am still the hamster on the treadmill. Managed to get the last field planted a few days ago and found that the canola was up and needed spraying for weeds right away. The chem fallow also needed spraying yesterday. It is almost unbelievable how things have grown with all this rain . Grain needs to be moved and rain falls every other day. It is wetter in the fields now than it was a month ago. There is discussion over on agriville about which is worse, flooding or drought. Consensus seems to be whichever one you have right now is the worst. The only drought I have ever experienced was 1988, Otherwise it has been adequate to excessive moisture the rest of the time.
Showing posts with label agriville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agriville. Show all posts
Monday, June 9, 2014
Sunny Skies and Shiny Trucks
Otherwise I am still the hamster on the treadmill. Managed to get the last field planted a few days ago and found that the canola was up and needed spraying for weeds right away. The chem fallow also needed spraying yesterday. It is almost unbelievable how things have grown with all this rain . Grain needs to be moved and rain falls every other day. It is wetter in the fields now than it was a month ago. There is discussion over on agriville about which is worse, flooding or drought. Consensus seems to be whichever one you have right now is the worst. The only drought I have ever experienced was 1988, Otherwise it has been adequate to excessive moisture the rest of the time.
Friday, February 7, 2014
I Need To Stop Reading The News
Really, news stories like this one about a truckload of frozen dead coyotes spotted in downtown Saskatoon recently. True enough, the driver made a poor choice to leave the load uncovered, knowing how it might offend the delicate sensibilities of some city dwellers. But then the comments turned into an arena for farmer bashing. Ranting on about spoiled rich farmers in their $75,000 pickups who spend most of their year on holidays and the rest of it shooting defenseless wildlife. Yes, it was just that crazy. Trolls no doubt account for some of those inane comments but I think there are also a few normally sensible people out there who just don't have a clue about life outside the city and off pavement, how and where their food comes from. And the ever decreasing number of us who are willing to put up with all the B.S. that is dragging farming down from the life style it used to be.
Don't believe me??? Well here is another site I always come away from feeling a little hopeless lately. Agriville is a discussion forum of mostly Sask. farmers. Younger and smarter than me when it comes to growing and marketing grain. The common theme there lately seems to me that we are finshed, Grain production in central Canada is no longer a viable option since the railways are unable or unwilling to move the grain to ports which apparently is why the price is so low here right now. That is a serious problem in a land-locked province like Sask.
Crop prices have been in a downward spiral since harvest and grain movement seems to be at a standstill. Diesel fuel has taken quite a jump up in price. Fertilizer, while cheaper than it was last spring, is now increasing steadily in price.
On the positive side, farm land prices are higher than they have ever been and outside "investors" are beating down the doors to buy our land. So there you have it.
In other news, the lazy farmer has snow. A little unusual for them.
Looking back in history to late 1972, from the old black and white photo album , hard at work on a new shed.
Don't believe me??? Well here is another site I always come away from feeling a little hopeless lately. Agriville is a discussion forum of mostly Sask. farmers. Younger and smarter than me when it comes to growing and marketing grain. The common theme there lately seems to me that we are finshed, Grain production in central Canada is no longer a viable option since the railways are unable or unwilling to move the grain to ports which apparently is why the price is so low here right now. That is a serious problem in a land-locked province like Sask.
Crop prices have been in a downward spiral since harvest and grain movement seems to be at a standstill. Diesel fuel has taken quite a jump up in price. Fertilizer, while cheaper than it was last spring, is now increasing steadily in price.
On the positive side, farm land prices are higher than they have ever been and outside "investors" are beating down the doors to buy our land. So there you have it.
In other news, the lazy farmer has snow. A little unusual for them.
Looking back in history to late 1972, from the old black and white photo album , hard at work on a new shed.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Finished Seeding June 1
Not bad considering. It could have been a lot sooner if things had worked out different. I ended up re-seeding one field. Those herbicide resistant wild oats staged a real come-back when the rain hit them right after seeding. Plus new ones came up. I went ahead and applied avadex to the small half of the field, quickly incorporated it with the field cultivator and then re-seeded to flax. I didn't have enough flax seed cleaned to do the big half over again so I opted for canola. Probably a better choice anyway since that will give me at least two chances to spray out the wild oats with glyphosate (roundup). 6 operations on that field. Good grief! So much for low disturbance farming. Well seven if you count the rock picking but that was done pretty fast and furious so hardly counts.
Now I am hearing from the modern efficient farmers at Agriville that flea beatles and cutworms are running rampant in emerging canola fields. I have not checked and am almost afraid to look at mine. We escaped the frost warning a couple of nights ago.
In other news GMO roundup resistant wheat has been discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. Although varieties were tested in the nineties , no GM wheat was ever approved for commercial production so it is a mystery where this came from. Its not good for the wheat market. More fuel for the anti GMO fanatics. Been there and done that a few years ago when the Triffid flax problem cropped up in 2010. It hurt our markets, price, and forced all flax growers to pay for an expensive gene test before they could sell their flax. It took a while but prices are back up now. I still would like to know just what is so harmful about genetically modified crops . I guess the bottom line is that the customer is always right, even when he his wrong.
Today being Sunday and somewhat of a day of rest I took it easy and listened to CBC Sunday Morning while picking rocks in relative ease and comfort.
Now I am hearing from the modern efficient farmers at Agriville that flea beatles and cutworms are running rampant in emerging canola fields. I have not checked and am almost afraid to look at mine. We escaped the frost warning a couple of nights ago.
In other news GMO roundup resistant wheat has been discovered in the U.S. state of Oregon. Although varieties were tested in the nineties , no GM wheat was ever approved for commercial production so it is a mystery where this came from. Its not good for the wheat market. More fuel for the anti GMO fanatics. Been there and done that a few years ago when the Triffid flax problem cropped up in 2010. It hurt our markets, price, and forced all flax growers to pay for an expensive gene test before they could sell their flax. It took a while but prices are back up now. I still would like to know just what is so harmful about genetically modified crops . I guess the bottom line is that the customer is always right, even when he his wrong.
Today being Sunday and somewhat of a day of rest I took it easy and listened to CBC Sunday Morning while picking rocks in relative ease and comfort.
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