Feeding The Deer

The deer seem to enjoy this fusarium infested wheat. The bin door had leaked a fair bit out on the ground this spring before I noticed it. The deer soon noticed it and have been eating it up like theres no tomorrow. I guess if I can't sell it I can just let the deer eat it.

Seeding Done

But still busy as usual. Sprayed burn off on the last flax field as weed control is not much when planting with two inch wide "spoons". Did a little chem fallow spray to use up the last half a tank and managed to bend one spray boom when a wheel dropped into a deep hole. Muskrats? I was able to straighten it about 90% right using two tractors.
I was a little surprised to see one grain bin has turned into a 1600 bushel self feeder for the deer due to a slight panel leak in the door that I missed.

So I set up the trail cam to see what other animals might show up. So far nothing but deer. 

Tremendous drying happening in the fields as we have had barely a quarter of the normal amount of rain for May. Fields that were worked wet now have lumps of soil hard as bricks. Not sure how the crop will emerge. It will be rough. 

Soft spots , "frost boils" are still an issue in the yard and many roads. I hauled a couple of loads of gravel with the old yellow International yesterday evening to fill in the worst one on my driveway. 

I have begun to reclaim my yard from the grass and dandelions growing unchecked since spring thaw. The little old John Deere has it's work cut out for it. 

And believe it or not there is possible risk of frost overnight. I can cover up the tomatoes an potatoes in the garden but any crop in the fiel is at the mercy of the weather. I don't think the canola and flax are up yet so they should be fine.

Deer Shortage?

Heard on the news a while back that the White tail deer population in Sask. was down and hunters were having a hard time getting their deer. Complaints were made that the DNR should not have issued so many deer tags. Maybe, but I see no evidence of a shortage locally. Tracks through my yard all the time and trail cam images catch up to 6 deer per frame sometimes. I don't see as many bucks, mostly does and young. This image from my yard one October night shows one laying down to relax while two others graze on grass and grain cleaned off the harvest machinery. I guess I should be a deer hunter.

Step Back Into Winter

Snowing, again! Visibility has dropped to less than half a mile. Not that we were making any great strides in melting the snow from the past five months but we sure didn't need any new snow added. Well we were hoping for a slow melt this spring and we are certainly getting it. Might just prevent major flooding but of course that can all change overnight. More through good luck than good management I had a good supply of hay bales to feed the cattle through this long winter. For all the talk of deep snow and starving deer I have not seen any sign of them raiding my hay bale stacks yet. In fact these two that stopped in for a visit the other day looked just fine to me.

November On The Farm.

Some nice scenery here even though its winter. Hoar frost always does it. Milder than normal now and we are losing some of that snow. I pushed snow today to clear a path for the grain semi to haul out 3 loads of grain. So far it is looking like I was smart (lucky) to sell my canola at October price. Today's price is a dollar less per bushel. It makes no sense to me but the market is always right.

Trailcam animals.

Nothing too exciting to report. Some of the night life in my yard that occurs while I am asleep or watching tv. Mostly deer and raccoons, the occasional coyote. They like this location as there is grain on the ground from when I cleaned off the combine numerous times this harvest.
Back when I had free range chickens they would spend a lot of time cleaning up the grain in this spot. Unfortunately coyotes and my own cats were gradually killing the chickens so they have been confined to barracks for almost a year now.
Cold cold nights and early mornings lately with 20 degrees (F) and white frost on everything. Not the greatest conditions for hauling hay bales home 5 miles on the open tractor but I can't take a chance on the weather getting any better because it might not. 2 more trips should just about do it. Got to feed those cattle. They might be the only safe beef I can find to eat if this news story on beef recalls is any indication.