Monday, March 23, 2025
The sun is shining brilliantly this morning, but the temperature is not getting much past 50ºF (10C). We received a full inch (25mm) of rain yesterday morning, and that will stop all the field work for the next few days.
Brandon was making some progress on applying anhydrous ammonia to the 2025 corn fields. Over parts of 3 days, he applied NH3 to 5 1/2 fields. The soil seemed a bit harder than typical for this time of year; the toolbar applicator pulled harder, but soil surface was dry, and the gas sealed into the soil flawlessly.
Brandon puts down ‘gas’ at the Steen Farm, Bill Long field, on the east edge of Wheatland on Saturday. This JD 8R340 tractor is his favorite.
The very strong winds of the past weeks died down enough on Saturday for John to use the JD R4044 sprayer to spray some wheat. He was able to get over almost all the wheat acres before dark. He was applying a tank mix of a herbicide, an insecticide, a fungicide, some copper, and a growth regulator. Along with these active ingredients were others that enhance the effectiveness, so that in total there were 9 different ingredients in his application. When the field and weather conditions allow, John can finish off the remaining acres of wheat in a couple hours. Next, at the flag leaf stage of growth, another application of fungicide will be made, and a separate pass will be made by Nutrien to apply the final amount of liquid nitrogen to this wheat crop. It looks pretty good right now, healthy and green, and we are hopeful for a decent-yielding wheat crop. Of course, it is far from being “made”, but so far, so good. Once the spraying is ‘caught up’, John will take our JD 9520R tractor and Unverferth Renegade applicator and join Brandon in applying NH3.
John is an excellent sprayer operator. The application will be made accurately and safely.
We are happy that our Purdue Boilermakers have made the “Sweet Sixteen” of the NCAA March Madness. Last weekend, they defeated a couple opponents that the ‘talking heads’ predicted they could not defeat. The competition at the Midwest Regional in Indianapolis this coming weekend will be even tougher–the other 3 teams, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Houston are seeded higher! So their work will be cut out for them to repeat a trip to Final Four in San Antonio. We’ll hope for the best!
Polishing the Pete wrapped up today. Looks nice.
For 20 yeas old, doesn’t look bad!
More rain is predicted for this week, but we will wait and see what actually happens. One highlight of the forecast is the 76ºF (24C) predicted for Friday! That’ll feel good.
