Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Now that Easter is in the past, it feels like we should be getting back at it in the fields. It would certainly be good to start the tractors rolling again! But, the chilly nights and cooler days have slowed down the drying process. Another effect of the cool days is the progress of the wheat, which has slowed from what it would have been development-wise in an average year.
We need to inspect the wheat closely again. We had another frost last night, with nighttime low at 34ºF (1C). We don’t expect to find freeze damage, but we must examine it closely to know for sure.
So, instead of field work, we work on stuff at the farmstead. Brandon has been working to sweep out the corn from the last of the storage bins. The new-to-us (NTU) Volvo truck has been fully outfitted for our needs and has been placed into service. John used it to help Brandon deliver corn to market yesterday. That delivery task got completed by the evening, and the trucks got washed. Our grain storage bins are now MT (empty).
The final load of 2021 corn gets loaded yesterday afternoon.
Now that all the 2021 grain has been delivered, the next load to go on this 2013 Volvo VNL 300 will be soybean seed!
Brandon washes the KW. He keeps it pretty shiny.
John replaced the flag. It was getting quite tattered… they seem to last about 6 months up there.
A new crew from Shepard Construction is moving in to our new Leser farm location. They will be installing a drainage tile system, and building 2 WASCoBs.
I’m going out on the Gator this afternoon to search for field dry enough to run the sprayer. I’d like to get 30-40% of the soybean acres sprayed with the ‘burndown’ as the guys are applying anhydrous ammonia. Then, as soon as the NH3 gets applied, I could begin with the soybean planter. Even though the calendar says ‘get going’, the soil temperature makes me feel okay that nothing has yet been planted. That could change quickly, for the forecast has some days in the 80s. Those will certainly be welcome!
After a week or so of good and productive NH3 application days, we should be ready to hook up the planters and get that important phase of #plant22 underway.
Today’s sunshine is helping, even if the temperature is staying in the low 50s.
