Next Up: Corn

The wheat and barley have been seeded and the guys are working hard (including using two tractors to seed some low spots with canola - one tractor to pull the drill and one tractor to pull the tractor pulling the drill, if you follow that!) to finish the canola before the rain moves in.

They'll be waiting a bit to plant the corn as we have some temperatures in the 30s being forecasted for the coming days. If the corn is planted and then freezes there is potential for the kernel to crack which can make it less resilient when it emerges from the ground.

From Google Images

Seeding Barley

The guys are finishing up barley and will soon move on to getting the canola seeded. I caught up with Cole yesterday as he was moving into a field that he had already seeded and was revisiting it to seed some wet spots.

I told Cole when he was pulling into the field I couldn't even get the entire rig into the frame of my camera!

There we go.

Cole said despite the length of the equipment, it has been hugely positive to be able to add the liquid fertilizer application on to the unit, eliminating the need to apply that separately.

Lowering the drill.

And off he goes.

Spring Update

We had some really nice rain fall late last week and over the weekend (with the exception of Saturday, which was clear and a beautiful day). The wheat has all been seeded, and the guys have started on barley with about two days left to finish that up. Wheat and barley together will total about 30% of our acres this year.

The guys are deciding whether or not to put canola in as well. In a couple weeks, they will be on to corn and soybeans. It looks like this week will be cool and then much higher temps next week - into the 80s!

Checking out the puddles from the rain.

Getting Ready for the Field

The guys will be heading out to start in the field tomorrow. They've been readying the equipment and will be heading out with this rig:

At over 120 feet and 160,000 pounds, this one-pass seeding rig will be able to seed and allow for variable rate application of NH3 and liquid fertilizer. In a dry year like we are starting out with, making one pass through the field instead of multiple passes will help preserve soil moisture.