Wednesday, June 26, 2024
After last evening’s rain event, it’s much cooler and pleasant outside today (73ºF, 23C). Brandon and John are using this opportunity to clean up the combines. Brandon has pulled out the Thundercreek fuel/service wagon to use compressed air to blow the debris from the older S780. John, on the other hand, took the new S780 directly to the wash pad. It is a good thing to see these important machines getting their post-wheat-harvest attention. It is our hope they will be #Andyclean after today!
Brandon likes to clean the combines with air before washing them. He works here on the older S780
John washes the new S780.
After their thorough cleaning, the two combines fit just right in the back of the new building… just like we hoped when we had the building built.
I’ve been using the JD 6145R tractor and R15 rotary cutter to mow roadsides. I know it does not add anything to the ‘bottom line’, but it makes me feel better to see the roadsides look like somebody is paying attention to detail. The mowed appearance adds to my satisfaction! As I finished yesterday’s mowing along the Cox farm and US 50, a storm blew in from the northwest. As I brought the tractor and cutter home, the wind picked up to a fierce gale, and the temperature dropped. In fact, it went from 95º to 82º in two minutes! As I pulled into the shed, the rain began. It did not last long, but it came in a few waves until after dark. According to Climate.com, we received .4 to .8″ (10 to 20mm), depending on the field location. That was certainly welcome, and it will help both the corn and soybeans.
Mowing along US50 at the Cox farm
As I folded and locked up the wings of the cutter, I could see the storm brewing in the northwest…
…and it just got darker and darker as I drove home, and the wind was really strong!
I noticed yesterday the first tassels emerging from the early-planted corn. I will also go around to all the double-crop soybean (DCB) fields next week to evaluate the ‘stand’ and see if any replanting is needed. I hope that with Sunday’s and yesterday’s rain, that no replanting will be necessary.
Tassels are beginning to emerge! Oh, the sweet aroma that follows!
Summer is moving along, most of the crops look great, and even the replanted ones are perking up.
Bill is out again today, delivering wheat to ADM First Avenue in Evansville. He likes the Volvo truck, and we’re pleased that he is content to do a lot of the trucking this month.
I’ll have some field-edge-roadside spraying of johnsongrass from the seat of the Gator to do the next few days. That will be interspersed among the days of roadside mowing. Once July arrives, I can also mow the riparian strips along the ditches.
Typical summer work.
