Thursday, April 21, 2022
Yes, it’s raining…again… here in Knox County, Indiana.
Looking out this morning, the drizzly rain makes for a gray day.
You can almost feel the ‘damp’ from this picture
We did get a small window of opportunity yesterday to work in the fields. Brandon was able to apply anhydrous ammonia most of the day, and I was able to apply some burndown herbicide on a few soybean fields. The wind got too strong and stopped me from spraying. But it was a nice thing to make some more progress with spring work! I saw a neighbor with his planter out yesterday. So, there are just the faint beginnings of #plant22 happening here in SWIN.
I had planned to start the JD R4044 sprayer on Tuesday evening. However, as we were filling it, the main solution pump sprung a leak! We were able to locate a replacement, and Logan from Alliance Tractor came yesterday morning to install it. We will be refurbishing the old pump so that we will have a ‘spare’ on hand. So, the sprayer start got delayed from Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. The conditions were not perfect; there were some muddy spots in the each field, but the bulk of the day’s spraying went on okay. No, the soils would not be dry enough for planting just yet, but now the weeds and cover-crop rye are stopped… at least on those few fields! I gotta say, it felt good to get some of that done!
Loading the JD R4044 on Tuesday evening
Logan moves the connector fittings from the old to the new replacement solution pump on Wednesday morning.
Spraying at the Tom field yesterday afternoon. There were even occasional moments of sunshine!
View from the sprayer yesterday (Wednesday the 20th) afternoon
Our wheat consultant from Nutrien, Landon Taylor, came by yesterday to formally evaluate the condition of the wheat. He was quite positive about it, and noted the only problem was the bottoms of WASCoBs and other small depressions, where the excess water has delayed the wheat’s development. We are thankful that the wheat crop is still looking pretty good through all the cold and wet days we’ve had. It was a very encouraging report. Thanks, Landon.
Landon took some tissue samples of the wheat to analyze its progress
Also, some significant progress was made yesterday on the Leser farm project. The guys from Shepard Construction got lots of tile installed, and they also ran a ‘comb’ over the areas where there were grapevines to clean up the remaining debris, roots, wires, and broken posts. That device looks like a giant garden rake on the end of the mast of the big Caterpillar 345 excavator. The work progressed even faster than I had imagined, and the place is looking better and better with each step of the clean-up.
Plowing in some runs of drainage tile on the Leser farm yesterday.
Shepards’ Cat 345 with the attached ‘comb’
Progress is being made here at Carnahan & Sons. Bit by bit, step by step… we are trusting our Maker to bring the needed good and dry days to plant our corn and soybeans.
The prediction is for warmer temperatures over the weekend, and we hope some sunshine comes with them! We are eager to get to #plant22.
