Under Stormy Skies

I took this picture of the stormy skies to the south of me last evening. These thunderstorms make for some impressive sky photos.
Summer 2010 is starting out even wetter than spring. Its been a losing battle. Ground that I could work in April is now either under water or too muddy to drive through. Things usually work the opposite in a normal year. I've managed to get mostly caught up with crop spraying by working in far less than ideal conditions. Some days were too windy but I tried to avoid working beside any of the neighbour's susceptible crops. Makes for poor relations.
The ground was always too muddy but I pressed on with 4wd and managed to drag the sprayer through without incident. The ruts I made last week now have water in them from recent rains.
I finally realized that the destruction in the yard while I was away Friday was caused by a hail storm. Broken tree leaves, satellite dish cable and multiple dents in the metal roof of my porch finally clued me in. Strangely enough I can't see any crop damage. Still one more field to check though. To show just how local these storms can be, I was only 8 miles away spraying a crop when this thunder/hail storm hit my yard and there was nothing fell where I was working.
Between crop spraying and thunderstorms we were able to get all last year's spring wheat hauled to Viterra. Six semi loads that would have taken me a week with my old IH but only a long afternoon with today's semis and grain vac. Expensive but time is money too.
All the unseeded acreage in the country is starting to affect grain prices as the market begins to realize there may not be enough grain out there to satisfy the demand. Thats good news for anyone with a good crop growing or old grain in the bins.
Grass is growing like crazy and theres a tremdous crop of hay and pasture out there but I hardly dare start cutting until this wet weather eases up a bit. Those heavy swaths of grass will take forever to dry and will likely rot before they can be baled.
Mosquitos are becoming a real problem for any outdoor activities.

Fencing, spraying weeds, etc.

Thats my Dad fixing fence back in the hot dry summer of 88. I thought about him yesterday while replacing some fence posts.
Most of the time I will use the tractor and front end loader to push the posts into the ground but where the fence goes
through trees and bush it is impossible to get the tractor near so I do it the old fashioned way, with a crow bar and
"post maul" as Dad used to call it. Thats about a 12 pound hammer on a long handle and it will drive fence pickets deep
into the ground, but it takes a good man to swing it. Dad would hold the post steady with his left hand and swing that big
hammer with his right arm. Once the post was lined up he would go at it with both hands on the hammer. Smooth steady swings
using the weight of the hammer, not so much the strength of his arms to drive the picket into the ground.
Fence repair, not one of my favourite farm jobs but one that has to be done if there are cattle.
It was a good day for it, cool and cloudy eventually turning into a fine rain that would soak you through before you realized
just how much it was raining.
Its been a rare day that we haven't had rain lately it seems. Producing lush green pastures for the cattle but causing problems
for those still trying to plant their crops. I was lucky enough to finish up a week ago but am now trying to catch up on
crop spraying. Weeds grow well too when it rains this much. Unfortunately all that moisture makes it "interesting" trying
to spray the crops. I've had to put the big front wheel assist tractor normally used for heavy tillage, onto the sprayer. Even
with that I've been close to stuck in the mud a time or two. Theres some pretty nasty ruts left behind me which will provide
some rough rides for the swather come harvest time.
Its clouding up in the west again and more showers are predicted for tonight and tomorrow. Looks like the sprayer will get
a day or so off.

Planting Progress

Seeding moves along steadily on the farm. Until today. The intermittent showers of the morning turned to steady, at times heavy rain. By noon the air seeder was digging up drier soil than what was on the surface so decided to call it quits. Kind of ok to have a short break after the past couple of weeks of non stop tractor work. We have had some incredible warm, almost record breaking temps which really dried up the surface of fields and started everything growing.
I'm way ahead of the provincial average, which is about 38% complete last time I heard. I'm about 90% finished. With the rain we have had today and whats forecast for the next day or so I don't think I'll get the crops all in the ground by the 24th. Thats always been a sort of target date for finishing seeding crops here.
The John Deere anhydrous cultivator worked well and survived some of my incredible rocky ground without breakdown. A leaking exhaust manifold on the tractor caused some concern til we discovered what it was and decided I could go on working with it as is for now. For about the second time in the 14 years I've owned this Magnum tractor I got it stuck bad enough that I had to unhitch the anhydrous cultivator to get out of the mud. With the aid of a huge nylon tow rope borrowed from a neighbour I was able to extricate it from the mud with no harm done, other than time lost and frustration at the incredibly wet ground on this particular field.
This picture of the old Loadstar unloading fertilizer into the air seeder was taken one morning a week ago. Less than a half hour later the truck was stuck in the mud on a wet hillside. Sometimes trying to take a shortcut is just a waste of time and effort and I should have known better.
My "garden patch" sits un-worked growing weeds as I have had no time to do anything with it. Seeding crops takes top priority right now so the garden vegetables will just have to wait a few more days. My "lawn" remains untouched with the mower yet this spring and it is looking more like a hayfield every day. Might get a chance to cut it before the fields dry up enough to get back in the tractor. If not, no big deal. I don't think the neighbours will complain.

Theres A Storm Across The Valley

With apologies to John Denver for borrowing that line from his song, "Rocky Mountain High", this was the scene out of my office window yesterday about 5:30.
ITs one of the benefits of this line of work that I get a constantly changing view through those windows in the cab of my big red tractor. Yesterday's dark Western sky made a nice backdrop for the special bright green shade that the poplar leaves show for their first stage of opening. The new worked black soil beside the weathered stubble of last year's canola crop. Its one of the many reasons I never get bored with this farming business (or lifestyle).
Its been a series of starts and stops trying to get the anhydrous applied in preparation for seeding the crop. Its a week ago today that I started and I should be finished with that job by now but recurring rain and snow days have stalled me twice now. Close to an inch of rain on the weekend and now another half inch last night.
Its true, rain is so necessary to produce a crop but first we have to get that crop planted. And there is a limited "window of opportunity" to get that job done. Most crops need around 100 days of frost free weather to reach maturity so we like to get them in the ground by the end of May so they will be ready to harvest in September.
The rain will surely make the grass grow which will keep the cattle (and me) happy for the summer.

Busy Times

Obviously I have been a little busy lately and hardly keeping up with the blogs I follow let alone writing. Today it is raining so I am not in the field. I started in with the anhydrous applicator (see the JD 1610 in previous postings) on Tuesday evening and have made pretty good time when I am actually in the field. Various holdups and complications have kept my total acres down to about 300 so far with maybe another 300 to go.
Rain shut me down Thursday morning but the ground was dry enough to work by noon. Just before heading out I checked on a complaining cow in the pasture and found her 2 day old calf looking pretty hollow and obviously not had anything to drink. Luckily for me she is the oldest and quietest cow on the farm and patiently followed me as I herded the calf to the barn. A combination of a slow learning, long legged calf and a cow with teats that hang nearly to the ground made a combination that were not going to work without a little help. Thanks to my long suffering sister in law who I call on in emergencies like this we were able to take care of that situation, temporarily anyway.
It made for a late start on the anhydrous cultivator and after ten minutes I found a flat tire. The resulting dissambly, running to two towns to find a new tire, various other adjustments meant I did not get rolling again til 7:30 in the evening. I was able to almost empty the tank by working til just after midnight. The first raindrops were beginning to fall when I got out to check on a leaking anhydrous hose. I figured I'd call it a day even though there was only a half hours work left in that field. It was a long time since dinner, or lunch as some call it. 5 miles home to a late supper (or early breakfast) at 1:00 am. The cow and calf appeared to be fine and this cat seemed to be pretty friendly too. Rain is falling, grass is growing, a day of rest on the farm.

One More Step Forward

All the pieces are finally coming together. This picture (taken April 24) shows the first day in the field for the JD 1610 anhydrous cultivator we have been working on. Except for a few leaks that needed sealing up it seems to be working out pretty well. Those narrow Bourgault NH3 knives with the carbide tips are easy pulling and don't disturb the soil much. Someone commented that those carbide tipped knives will still be working long after we are retired or have shuffled off this mortal coil. I hope they do last as they were quite expensive.
Unfortunately the weather has put a stop to field operations today with some light snow and temps down near the freezing mark. Kind of nice to have a day off for a change and of course a little rain will do us a lot of good. Grass and trees are starting to show some green but the cows still come home to eat hay out of the feeder after a day of foraging the field and pasture. Not enough grass growth to keep them satisfied just yet.
We are pretty much on schedule for this time of year. With a little luck and a few breaks (not breakdowns) I have hopes of getting the crop seeded by the usual time.
I've already put in a row of early potatoes in the garden. They probably won't show any leaves for weeks but at least its a start.

More spring preparations

Spring marches on. With almost record breaking warm temperatures it feels more like May than April this past week. No seeding going on in the immediate area that I have noticed but then it is still a little early. We know that Sask weather can lull us into a sense of security with beautiful weather and then turn around and hit us with a late spring snowstorm or frost and we might regret planting crops too early.
It has been great condtions for working on the big green machine, a John Deere 1610 chisel plow that we are installing an anhydrous fertilizer kit on. Its a lot of work and expense but at current rental rates this machine should pay for itself in about 3 years. And by that I mean the rental rates we won't have to pay. After over ten years of renting anhydrous applicators and paying as high as $3 an acre for the use of them, it will be nice to have a machine of our own that is always always available and kept in a good state of repair. Some of the rental stuff tends to see some hard use and a lack of maintenance.
Hopefully next week will see us putting anhydrous into the ground in preparation for planting. With a little luck ,,, seeding the first week of May.
As usual, plans subject to change due to weather changes. The cattle guys (including me) would like to see a little rain to get the grass growing, but not enough to seriously delay seeding crops