Friday, May 31, 2013
On Wednesday night, late, I finished planting soybeans. It was a relief to get that done. The two remaining unplanted fields had looked too wet on Wednesday morning, but the the high temperatures (88F) coupled with high winds (25mph) dried the surface sufficiently. Beginning at about 6pm, I planted the Grubb field, and then moved across US 50 to the Nellie farm. The beans went into the soil beautifully. Working a little later than usual, the planting was completed that night. You could see many farmers working late into the night, for rain was predicted the next day.
On Thursday, the rain did not show up, and that allowed me to begin the process of replanting those areas of fields that had drowned out in the recent heavy rain events. When I stopped at dark last night (930pm) I had planted about 185 acres at 5 different farm locations. This morning’s rain stops the replant process, and I estimate about 150 more acres to re-do. An easy day’s work. When will it be dry enough to do that?
The wheat crop is beginning to change color, and it looks like it should be a good-yielding crop this year. With the extended cool and wet weather, the harvest may be delayed from what we’ve experienced the past few years. It may be 3 weeks away to wheat harvest.
Here is the wheat at the Huey farm. Looking pretty good.
We received .71″ (18mm) rain overnight, so there is no field work today, no replanting possible. The 9330 and air drill remained at the Huey farm for the night, but since it will be several days before resuming replanting operations, we brought it home this morning. It’s sunny this afternoon, but storms are predicted after dark.
Tomorrow evening, our French student, Yvertin Jaquet, arrives at the Evansville (EVV) airport. His day will be very long; the typical trip here from there takes 25+ hours from door to door. His home and family farm is in Artenay, about 2 hours south of Paris in a beautiful agricultural region called “The Beauce”. He will be here for the month of June, and get to experience a bit of replanting, some spraying, wheat harvest, and planting of double-crop soybeans (DCB). Maybe we will get to take in a baseball game and see some of the beautiful sights in Indiana before he returns “a la France”.
