Planting Progress 2017

#Plant2017 is officially here! 

I’m struggling to keep up on posting anything on social media because I’ve needed both of my hands for most of my tasks this spring!  We got into the field on Saturday night (4/22).  AJ put the planter in the ground at around 8 pm.  I don’t think I would start as it is getting dark, but I’m not a gung-ho farmer like my husband.  I was also attempting to get the kids fed and in bed around that time (part of my spring role on the farm!).

Part of planting is the prepping the ground for the planter, so we’ve been ‘in the field’ since around the second week of April.  We’ve been spraying our cover crops, spraying some areas where we have extra weed pressure, strip-tilling, and field cultivating. 

So far we’ve gotten about half of our corn in the ground!  Last year we got started about a week earlier (4/14/16) and were done with corn by April 26th of last year.  So comparing this year to last, we are behind, but we still have time!  Ideally (in Iowa) our window to plant corn is from April 20 – May 5. 

We also don’t calve earlier in the year like a lot of cattle farmers, so as the planter has hit the ground, the baby calves are starting to come, too!

It’s been busy so far, but the ‘end’ of spring is still far off!  I’ll try to keep you updated as we continue #plant2017!

Earlage Chopping Highlights

We chopped earlage last week (9/8) and it went really well. 

Normally when you harvest corn you just harvest the corn: the cobs, husks, and stalks are thrown out the back of the combine. Earlage you harvest the corn, husk, and cob (we use for cattle feed). Silage you harvest the majority of the plant: corn, cob, husk, and stalk (for feed, also).

The decision to feed earlage for our cattle is basically for the ration we feed to the cattle. Earlage has more roughage than straight corn, but less roughage than silage. So, if we feed corn we'd need to add more roughage (like hay), and if we feed silage we'd need to feed more corn to balance out the ration needed. Earlage is an in-between and works for our rations and feed options.

Here are some of the "highlights" from the day as taken through Snapchat.  I didn't get the end of the day because I ran out of battery!

I was in charge of a wagon like the one ahead of me.

2014 Corn Crop is In!

We finished up corn yesterday afternoon!  It's a really good feeling to know that A.J. got it in.  He had spent the last three days getting very little sleep, and now it's on to beans!  I'm somewhat happy that he got rained out yesterday evening with his first field of beans, because that meant that he was able to come in at a decent time, see the kids, and get to bed early.  This also meant that I got to go to bed early too! :-)

One crop is done and one to go.  There is still a lot to do this spring.  Day by day we will get it done!