Planting is underway! From now until whenever it's done - Brad will eat, drink, breathe, live, (not) sleep, planting. Ahhhhh...here we go again...
The kitties came out to hang with me while I sat in the swing & watched B-rad.
In my expert farmer opinion, it's a tad early to be planting. I just think the weather here is WAY too unpredictible until after Derby. But alas, they did not ask my opinion. But see, here's what happens - all it takes is some farmer driving down the road with his planter & the hysteria begins. With all farmers...not just mine...
They had sown some grass around the edges of the field so B-rad had to get out & look to see where the line was so he didn't plant over it. Again, I think it's some government program we're in that they did that for... Also - I should add - these are things we sign up for. The government doesn't make us do them. However, when we agree to do them, they give us the guidelines we have to abide by. We have to pay for the fuel & supplies & of course, the boys do the work - then the government gives us money for it. Psssh, like we do it for free?!
B-rad is an extremely smart guy. He is SO good at electronic stuff. So of course, he's the guy in charge of all the fancy schmancy electrical stuff we have in the machines. This is the new toy for the planter. I don't know what all this crap means, but he does & that's all that matters! (This is the thing that I had to download software upgrades for...)
And did you think for one second that I could be out in the field talking to Brad & the cats wouldn't come over? Tsk, tsk...
Brad was ready to go, so I had to walk around to the back of the planter & tell him, "C'mon, Sonny - daddy is ready to go!" And like any good child, he ignored me...
then I said, "Sonny, he will run US over if we don't get outta the way!!!" And he still just stood there. Then Brad made the planter move & bit & that got his attention!
The kitties came out to hang with me while I sat in the swing & watched B-rad.
In my expert farmer opinion, it's a tad early to be planting. I just think the weather here is WAY too unpredictible until after Derby. But alas, they did not ask my opinion. But see, here's what happens - all it takes is some farmer driving down the road with his planter & the hysteria begins. With all farmers...not just mine...
They had sown some grass around the edges of the field so B-rad had to get out & look to see where the line was so he didn't plant over it. Again, I think it's some government program we're in that they did that for... Also - I should add - these are things we sign up for. The government doesn't make us do them. However, when we agree to do them, they give us the guidelines we have to abide by. We have to pay for the fuel & supplies & of course, the boys do the work - then the government gives us money for it. Psssh, like we do it for free?!
B-rad is an extremely smart guy. He is SO good at electronic stuff. So of course, he's the guy in charge of all the fancy schmancy electrical stuff we have in the machines. This is the new toy for the planter. I don't know what all this crap means, but he does & that's all that matters! (This is the thing that I had to download software upgrades for...)
And did you think for one second that I could be out in the field talking to Brad & the cats wouldn't come over? Tsk, tsk...
Brad was ready to go, so I had to walk around to the back of the planter & tell him, "C'mon, Sonny - daddy is ready to go!" And like any good child, he ignored me...
then I said, "Sonny, he will run US over if we don't get outta the way!!!" And he still just stood there. Then Brad made the planter move & bit & that got his attention!
4 comments:
OK, I love that once one farmer sees another farmer out there, then they gotta get busy!!! Typical male behavior. So, are you now gonna be a widow until winter?? I guess you have your cats. I do find this all pretty interesting, I always thought of farming, like "Little House on The Prarie" when in fact it's pretty advanced stuff!! Very cool ;)
It is interesting to read like Gretchen said. I'm with you though, weather is way too unpredictable till after the first of May. We were going to plant flowers this weekend but are putting it off another week b/c it's going to be way too cold tonight and tomorrow.
I'm glad you guys find this farming 'thang' interesting. ;) I like to educate ppl on what farming is really like. I just think there are SO many mis-conceptions. We don't have livestock (thank GOD)! It is way more time consuming. You have to tend to the animals everyday. We just plant our stuff, pray it rains & watch it grow!
Ginmommy, I will be a farm widow until prob till the end of June. After he plants, he has to go back over & put down nitrogen on the corn. That's why I got me a hobby of selling jewelry! To give me something to do. :)
Jami Leigh Lee - I never plant flowers or anything until after Derby either. Just too risky & those are only $2 plants! The corn they're planting is LOTS more expensive than that. It would just be really, really bad if it started to come outta the ground & there was a frost. The corn would be burnt, turn black & die. But, that's the risk they take when they don't listen to me! Hmph! We shall see... :)
Any corn planted after May 5th has a loss of 1 Bushel per acre of final yield for everyday after that date. May 6th -1 bushel per acre May 7th -2 bushel per acre, and so on, follow me. This is about the exact same time we start every year, usually we start on Thunder for some reason just happens that way not planned. Corn is pretty tough. It takes a hard freeze to really kill it. Frost will stunt it but very rarely kill it. The earlier you plant it the better you are. Gives the corn time to grow in the cooler part of the year versus trying to grow when it is super duper hot. Corn should be tasseled be July 4th. Anything tasseled after that will suffer some yield lose.
We don't alway make it by those dates every year and those fields usually do worse than the earlier planted. Also the main factor on planting corn is the ground tempature has to be above 52 degrees or the seed will rot. This year ground temp has been up since early April and we know that it will more than likely stay above 52 degrees now. Takes multiple day of cold temps to drop the ground temp once it comes up. 2 days of a cold rain will increase that time, but that is a risk you take.
Farming is a gamble period. The only things farmers can control is seed placement, planting time, and weed control. Mother Nature is in charge after that, and she is not always nice to farmers. Like right now we are way dry!! We should be worrying about not being able to plant because of being to wet, but we are now worried about it being to dry and to hard to get the seed in deep enough. There are many factors to go by when planting. Although we do say such and such are planting. That doesn't make us want to start, we where more than likely already wanting to start just parts or seed or ground temp held us up. Some people jump the gun and some times it pays off, and sometimes they get kick in the Ass by Mother Nature. There is way more to it than that I just wanted to clarify a few things.
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