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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I got stuck!

Ah, my first stuck of the season! I knew I was going to bury it. The field was so soft I could only run with 100 gallons of fertilizer and five acres worth of grain. (100 gallons of fertilizer does 10 acres and it weighs around 11lbs per gallon.)
I really hope this field works as it is planted next to a neighbor who is a one of those perfect farmers. The fellow I am planting for has pretty good ground. It is pretty well tiled. There were solid strips and then there were soft strips. I think it had to do with his drainage tiles. We have had steady light rain all winter and the soil is saturated. Then we go over an inch last week.
I'm planting Merrill wheat. It is a soft white spring wheat. I think it is either experimental or proprietary this is all I could find out about it. I think I will call the seed company. I planted it last year for this same farmer. It was into very wet and cold conditions and he said it yielded very well. This is not good no-till conditions. There is very little soil crumbling, most of the time it just makes a slot and drops the seed at the bottom of the v. It will rain enough to close the slot so I think it will be fine. Plus, we planted at 140lbs per acre so there is some leeway in the population.

I got off to a late start as daughter did not want to go to school. She had problems going to sleep Sunday night. I checked on her at 10:30 p.m. and she was awake and crying. We let her sleep in till around 9 a.m. Then she was in tears and was very upset. Wife was gone and I was busy getting ready to plant. First we had a discussion, is there something specific wrong? Then we said a prayer. Then we practiced deep breathing and how to relax. Then we had a lecture about putting one foot in front of the other. Then another inquiry as to what specific was wrong-bullies, school work, teacher.
Then she was told to get ready and go or.... there would be something to cry about. I have no idea what I would do... We have not got that far in a couple years. About the time she was ready for school L. called and talked to her. On the way to school we talked about ways to deal with school stress. I discussed the advantages of imaginary worlds and developing a "happy" spot. Then it was another lecture about putting one foot in front of the other, doing what you need to do one step at a time. Then we had a prayer. Then we went into the school.
So I got off to a late start.
I really did not get started until noon but I did 42 acres. If only I could do 40 acres a day for 30 days straight! That is $1000 a day!

2 comments:

  1. Wow, that is some muddy ground there. Looks to be a lot of weight on the tractor hitch the way it went down. Stil a while before we get to that stage here.

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  2. When you spin you sink. It has a lot of clay in it. Seems to turn to jello under stress. There is quite a bit of tongue weight with this drill hitch. One reason it looks so heavy on the back is that the front wheels are on dryer ground. I almost made it through. I think the drill is what sunk and then I spun the rear wheels and they went down.
    It is really too wet to no-till. Just left slots with seed at the bottom. Not the best.
    People here tend to use my services when there is not enough time or good enough weather to plant... Often it works!

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