Wednesday, June 12, 2013
This afternoon it’s 94F and 30 mph winds (35C and 45 km/hr). It’s kind of like living in a hair dryer.
Well, we’ve made some replanting progress this week. Monday was too damp for replanting, but Tuesday we did a little replanting at the Burke farm. There was also more good news on Tuesday, for the Shepard brothers moved back into the Burke farm to do some more construction of drainage. The two heavy rain events of May have demonstrated that additional surface drainage is needed there. The beans were already dead from the flooding, so we said, “Why not fix the problem now?” The other good news from Tuesday was that the replanting done on May 30 at the Shake and Cox farms will not need to be replanted–saving us about 100 acres of work and expense!
Here you see the new 15″ drainage tile going into the ground at Burke. This will help tremendously to remove the surface water that can collect there after a big rain.
John observes as Tyler Shepard drills “portholes” into the large 15″ riser. This will be the new inlet for surface water drainage at the Burke farm.
Today, we put in 77.9 acres of replanting on the Huey farm. Our french visitor, Yvertin Jaquet (pronounced eve-ur-TAHn zhak-A) did most of the planting there today. He caught on very quickly to the decision-making process concerning where to stop and start the planter for replanting. He seemed to enjoy this work very much. He took pictures, and even some video from atop the air cart. We moved the machine back to the Burke farm in anticipation of the completion of the drainage construction there this evening or Thursday morning. We found another approximately 40 acres of beans needing replanted on the Freddie farm, and we decided to go there tomorrow afternoon. If all goes as hoped, the replanting could be completed by tomorrow night! It’s none too soon, for the calendar is slipping away rapidly. And we expect the wheat to be ripe for harvest in 7-10 days.
Yvertin operates the JD 9330 tractor and the air drill to replant soybeans at the Huey farm today. He put in about 77 acres (31 ha). It went well, and he likes the AutoTrac.
Our french visitor, Yvertin, is a good operator.
We had a new employee begin work this week. Ross’ granddaughter, Haley Kelley, started here to help out around the farm. Ben has been training her to operate the ‘suntan machine’– our name for the old AC D-15 tractor with a small trailer sprayer. Haley will use this to spray sprouts in some ditches to control the woody growth. She seems to be catching on very quickly, and brings a very cooperative spirit. Welcome, Haley.
It is hoped that the construction at Burke will be completed tonight or tomorrow. That would allow us to complete the replanting of soybeans Thursday (probably). One location, the Steimel farm, still seems pretty wet, and needs this hot and windy weather to continue to dry out. Once the surface of the soil there is dry, hopefully tomorrow, those replant beans can go in.
The sky is a bright, clear blue. The rain predictions have been moved back from tonight to Sunday. By then, we’ll probably be asking for some rain. Does it seem that we farmers are rather fickle?
