Thursday, March 31, 2016

It rained overnight, and it continues off-and-on today.  We received about .6″ (15mm) so far.  This will effectively delay field work into next week.  We were getting quite close to having soil conditions dry enough to apply our nitrogen for the corn crop.  We will use the next available day to do so.  And, when the fields firm again– and the wind dies down–we will return to applying the burndown herbicide application for soybean acres.  Once the NH3 is down, we will switch over the sprayer and apply the initial herbicide for the corn acres.  Then, the corn planter can run!  The soybean acres that have had the herbicide applied will be a candidate for the planter, as the soil conditions merit.  We typically run our corn and soybean planters simultaneously.

Rainy day at the farm…

From this point on, the fields will tell us what we can do!  We will no longer be held back by the calendar.

As we consider April’s arrival tomorrow, it will begin to feel more ‘urgent’ to get into the fields.  The weather forecast is for some chilly and wet days.  We have a pretty big window to get the corn and soybeans planted, so it’s far from time to fret about it.  We can feel good about planting until May 10, and yet, everything will go better throughout the summer and fall if we can get planting complete in April!   There are some big days of tractor work coming soon.  It’s a good thing we enjoy that part!

I think we are prepared for the new FieldView Cab system of recording the planting work.   In each planter tractor, the CIH MX290 and the JD 9330, the iPad is programmed, the Bluetooth interface pod is installed and synced.  This will add an additional layer of setup, but should go quickly and easily.  We are eager to see just how this will work for us!

Have a good last day of March….