Saturday, April 20, 2013
When we went out this morning, you could see the frosty sugar-coating on everything. It got down to the mid-30s. But by noon the sun is out brightly, not a cloud in the skies. The temperature is in the mid-50s, so the frost is gone!
I don’t think it was cold enough to damage the wheat crop.
In other good news, Mr. Paul Meyer is here from Milan, Indiana to dismantle the grain bins at the Burke farm. We are pleased that he is here with a crew of guys to take the bins down. They brought “bin jacks” and will take apart each ring, beginning at the bottom. The bin jacks lift the entire structure slightly, then the bottom ring is unbolted, and the whole thing is lowered. Then repeat the process, ring by ring, until all that is left is the top ring with the roof attached. The roof is taken apart, and finally the top ring is taken apart. All that is left is the circle of concrete foundation. We hope their schedule allows them to also get the bigger bin down soon, so that we can break up the concrete foundations and get all that buried while Shepards are already here working.
The soils are slowly drying today. In most– but not all– the flood waters of local ditches and creeks have receded. We expect a higher flood crest on the West Fork of White River, almost 25 feet at Edwardsport, Indiana on Wednesday. That is at the upper limit of a “moderate’ flood event. Flood stage begins at 15 feet. The record flood level is 29.4 feet. It’s going to be some widespread flooding in 6 of our farm locations. There will likely be some debris to pick up again!
Ross says he’s going to prepare his corn planter on Monday. Rather than return to applying NH3, he will use the next available day to plant corn. John can finish the NH3 job by himself in a couple days. I’ll be spraying. I will likely spray one more day on corn ground, then clean the sprayer and begin spraying for soybeans. When John finishes with the NH3, he’ll take over the sprayer task. Hopefully, by then I’ll have some fields dry enough to plant soybeans. It’s my goal to get some in the ground this month.
Have a good weekend.
