Maybe Spring Is Going to Arrive

It's still chilly outside this morning but signs of spring are starting to come through the long purgatory between winter and spring.



  

Thunder and Lightning are a week old. They
were born within hours of each other as a
low front went through. I love how
new borns are so shiny!

Derk helped me to get safety equipment installed
in the seed treating room.



The chicks are now in that teenage/awkward stage. 



The feather peonies and day lilies are
starting to slowly peek out.

 

 

 

 

 




Check This Out

Hi!

Today, please click over to Confessions of a Farm Wife.  It's real easy to do - look to the right side of the screen and scroll done to My Blog List - it's just below Links I Like.  My Blog List has several kindred agricultural bloggers listed that I enjoy reading. 

Emily, the author of Confessions of a Farm Wife, shares her thoughts on GMOs and our food.  I agree with her take on this subject matter that is near and dear to my heart.

You can also click on the big Common Ground box to the right of this entry.  This will take you to the Common Ground website that will give you more factual information on GMOs and a plethora of ag related topics.

Best regards,
Suzanne

Wordless Wednesday

Staying warm at last night's track meet.

 

They're just running fast so they can get
their clothes back on.



 

Crop Progress Report

Yesterday I mentioned that we are behind schedule as far as field work and planting goes.   I know we are behind schedule because I live it and remember the weather and corn crop from year to year just like every other farmer out there.  But, a chicken farmer in Arkansas who needs to purchase corn for his birds feed may want to know how the Midwest corn crop is progressing so he can decide if he should start contracting corn early in case there is a short corn crop due to delayed planting. 



So, today I thought I would enlighten you on one of the many reports that our United States government releases each week to keep all citizens abreast to the progress of our nations food supply.  (Doesn't that sound very official?  I just made it up.)  That sounds much more daunting than it really is but if you're curious about US Ag's progress through out the year and you like numbers the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) website is worth checking out.



This is the link to the USDA's April 22, 2013 Crop Progress Report:  http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-04-22-2013.pdf

This report includes crops from corn to sugar beets to cotton and the major states that grow these crops.  The report comes out every Monday at 4:00pm during the growing season which is designated to be between April 1st and November 30th.  I know, I know, farmers in Texas have been planting corn since February, but this is one of the few times that Iowa gets to beat Texas at something. 

This is the summarized version of the info on the corn progress report that came out yesterday. 

Today’s USDA Crop Progress Report indicates the U.S. corn crop is 4% planted compared with 26% this week 2012 and 16% 5-year average. 

 

IA – 0% done; last yr=  8%; 5-yr= 14%
IL – 1% done; last yr= 56%; 5-yr= 24%
IN – 1% done; last yr= 43%; 5-yr= 16%
MN – 0% done; last yr= 10%; 5-yr= 11%
NE – 0% done; last yr= 13%; 5-yr=  8%
US – 4% done; last yr= 26%; 5-yr= 16%

I really don't know what the % accuracy is on this report.  But I do know that this info makes me nervous and Joe grumpy.  (It just reminds us that we have a whole lot of work to get done really soon to get caught up to where we should be.)  Grain merchandisers follow this information right along with the growing season weather outlooks.  This report does influence of the price of commodities and this does effect the price of your food, fuel and clothing ever so slightly.  BUT REMEMBER:  For every dollar you spend on food the US farmer get about $.11 of that.

If you go to the USDA's Report Page: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=AGENCY_REPORTS
you will see a plethora of reports available there again being the statistics kind of girl I like reading the Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin.  It goes back into the 1970's.  I see that during the week in October 1971, when my sister was born, Iowa and Illinois corn farmers had great weather for harvesting.  Hmmm, I'm wondering if Dad stuck around at the hospital and waited for the delivery or if he dropped Mom off and went back to combining? 

No Progress

A year ago we had all of our anhydrous ammonia applied to our corn ground and we had been planting corn for four days straight already. 

Planting corn spring 2012

Well, this isn't the case this year. 

 

What a difference a year can make!  Here is the same field as of this morning.  We have not been able to start our anhydrous application yet so needless to say we haven't started planting yet. 

 

We like to plant corn when the soil conditions are ideal and the soil temperature is pushing 50 F.  But the ground is so saturated that I haven't made an attempt to even slop my way out into the field to take a temp reading.  But considering we have skiffs of snow on the ground yesterday morning I don't think the soil temps are much above 40F. 

 

This is an intake pipe that

we use to help remove excess water from one of our fields.  This intake pipe is attached to a tile line about six feet under ground.  Tile used in conjunction with terraces is a great soil conservation practice as this tool helps hold and slowing release water from a slope.  Otherwise gravity will wash soil away with fast moving water.  But this week this intake pipe is working as a pressure release valve as the tile lines are full of water.  So, we now have a Roman water fountain!



 

There is always a silver lining to situations like this.  The soils in much of Iowa had been depleted last year due to the drought so the subsoils are being recharged for the 2013 growing season.  We have been able to calibrated and real calibrate monitors and computers used in the anhydrous applicator tractor, the corn planter tractors, the soil finisher tractor, the Hagie sprayer and a few other monitors that I'm not sure we will even be using this spring.  Plus, we have been able to do inventory checks on pretty much all of the seed in the warehouse.  I have also been keeping up on laundry and book work because once spring does break there will only be time for spring planting responsibilities.

 

 

Things are a little more tolerable considering that this delayed spring is effecting the entire Midwest.  Misery loves company you could say.  But knowing that we aren't the only ones dealing with this weather does make the situation easier to handle. 

 

So, what are you doing with your rainy, cold, wet days? 



Saturday Video

Enjoy!

Saturday Video

Once again the Texas  A&M student advocacy group Farmers Fight have a great video to share.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Spring in Iowa

 

                  MUD

Yesterday, Sunday, was the best day of the year so far.  The sun shined most of the day and everyone was outside with only a light jacket.  It made me think that maybe spring will come this year.  A year ago we were done applying anhydrous ammonia (our nitrogen source for our corn crop) and preparing to start planting corn.

Today we are in our shirt sleeves.  We started delivering soybean seed treatment products to other Pioneer seed dealers in the area, making sure the seed tenders are ready for the spring hauling season, and going over the seed treater.  We use seed treatments on our soybean seed to protect the soybean seedlings from diseases and insects in the spring.

Todd from Independent Inputs working on our
seed treater computer programs making sure all is up to snuff
before "the season" gets started.   By calibrating our seed
treater we don't over apply or under apply the protection
products to the soybean seed.  This is good for the
pocket book and great for the environment.

Travis working on a seed tender.

Chuck helping the snow melt away a little faster.
 

Joe helping me with inventory in the seed warehouse.
 

Travis and Derk still working on the seed

tender.  Looks like Gary and Judy will be make a parts run today.



 

 



 

Video Saturday

Here is a video from Americas Farmers - a web site sponsored by Monsanto - that gives insight into what Joe Public thinks about farmers.  I found it good food for thought (pun intended).

Have a great weekend!
Suzanne