What I did this week

Saturday I moved down Highway 18 to Willamina Creek road. Far enough out that I think the Pacific Ocean might be just over the next ridge...

I was to plant 45 acres. Then it was 35 and it turned out to be a 14 and a 16. The 14 acre was so long and skinny and with enough corners that it ended up being close to 18 acres so I guess it worked out.

Monday I moved back to the valley, just off Highway 18 again for 30 acres of fescue and timothy. It was very rocky ground. I really don't see the point in farming it. Why brave the most dangerous highway in the state for a field that is too wet to farm on one side and to rocky to farm on the other. I did not offer the farmer my opinion, I just did the best I could.

Moved back home yesterday and got ready to finish up our planting. It poured last night and I thought I was rained out. So I unhooked the drill and hooked up to the strip tiller. 2-155 won't lift the six row strip tiller. 

I got an order for two ton of ground feed so I sent hired man over to get a couple ton of triticale and wheat from the neighbor. He came back with close to six ton. That is a big difference.

I had a plan for planting. We were going to have the ground worked, get a sprout, then kill the sprout and plant 2 rows triticale and one row of fescue. The triticale needs to be watered as it is such a late planting date. But, the field didn't get worked completely so by the time I get a sprout it will be another week behind. I think it needs to be planted tomorrow.

We have 20 acres of triticale, 20 acres of barley, and 40 acres of grass to plant. Plus anther 20 acres of clover seed and 20 acres of Teff. So that is 120 acres of seed... Plus 45 acres of field corn, 2 acres of soybeans, and 1 acre of garbonzo beans.

But, teff ground isn't dry enough, this is OK as Teff needs warmer soil and no frost. Corn can wait a little as soil needs to warm up, same with beans.

The barley needs to be planted but the barley field is too wet to work. I do have a no-till drill but straight no-till into our riverbottom soil at this time of year will not work. If you don't disk and seal up the ground you loose all your moisture through capillary action of the undisturbed soil. The other possiblity is still really too wet and has growing annual ryegrass on it. The ryegrass is a little thin for hay and too many weeds for seed. Plus, there is no hay market this year.

So that leaves a 40 acre patch which has been disked and harrowed but that is closer to the irrigation line so that is the spot for triticale and fescue.

Too many decisions. The problem is nothing can fail. We can't afford to make a mistake. It raises the stress level...

There has got to be a better way to make a living!

Planting Barley with GPS

I have an update to my barley field. Have been off planting a few miles away. Our barley field is on riverbottom and can easily be seen from the road. Of course this is where we always have planting screw ups.
We had disked this field first so it was very hard to see what had been planted. Not to worry, I have GPS! Not the straightest rows I've ever made. Plus there are a few skips...
Note the darker strip down the middle with a two-foot skip beside it. That is my return pass which was supposed to be back down the middle, right over the top of the skip! For some reason my GPS was way off that week. Probably was George Bush's fault. This week it has been right on. Now I don't trust it anymore! Guess, I won't sell my foam marker.

Photos to go with post below

You can just see the barley poking up through the dirt. Lots of clods as we disked it once and then planted with the no-till drill. There should be clover as well. I didn't get a very good seed bed for clover. I do hope the broadleaf you see between the barley is a clover plant. I should have dug up the seed. It looks to be in the row so I'll just choose to believe it is clover.
Second photo is of the oil trail. I could smell hydraulic oil and I just had a bad feeling about the whole thing. I blew the end off a main hose to the pump. Goes to the servo valves. It dumped oil everywhere.
Note the empty buckets in the back of the truck. Each one represents $42. See my Harley Tool box. Not sure what I should pay for that. I offered him $50. He said I could have it. Should pay him something. Probably worth $100? Don't know.
Door to the truck is open so I can hear Lefty telling me that life's like poetry and something about a missing line till he met someone. That is what country music should sound like.

The barley is barely coming up!

April 11th I planted barley. It is out of the ground. That is pretty amazing. Came up this weekend. We had rain and drizzle since then. Sunday was pretty warm. Friday was rainy.
I tried to plant more barley today.
First I blew out a hydraulic hose. There went 10 gallons of oil at $8 dollars a gallon. Not to mention a $175 hose.
I hate AGCO. AGCO has decided to raise their parts prices. I mean these parts have been sitting on the shelf since probably 1975. Every White tractor since then has used this stinking hose. It is pretty clever thinking to figure that if you rape the customer on parts he will buy a new tractor from you. Of course if you own all the brands what are you going to do. I love my White 2-155 but I think if I make enough money to buy a new tractor it will be a Case-IH 7140. Screw you AGCO and your stupid saving the family farm AGCO website. Oh, yeah I also priced a ball joint for my front wheel assist White 2-155. It is $375. Once again let me tell you how I feel about AGCO.
The thing is, I've always wanted to buy a new tractor. I thought I'd buy a Cat Challenger, I actually looked at a good used one. But, guess what-it is a @#$%^^&**ing AGCO. No way....
I once watched a poor sap try to order a part for his Oliver from our local AGCO dealer. There was no way they could handle it. I was able to order a part for my Minneapolis-Moline only because I had a manual. Once again- I hate AGCO... They have ruined more good brands than any other company I know of. Sort of the American Motors of farm equipment...
But, I digress.
The barley is coming up and I blew out a hydraulic hose. I got that fixed by going to town and getting a hose made and NOT buying a hose from AGCO. (Did I mention how I dislike AGCO?) I got four wire hose and it was under $90. About half...
So I get the hose fixed and start the tractor. Then I look across the field where my brother is spraying Round-Up, the sprayer broke off the three point of his tractor. Oops! So I drive my pickup over and encourage him, then go back to planting. In the mean time his son who is like 10 or 11 is rolling the field. (We disked it once and then planted with the no-till drill. Worked up very nice. Plus it evened out the rought strip-tilled corn rows) J. had covered up my last pass so I had to depend on the GPS. Who knows where the skip will be.
I start the next section of the field. I'm watching the population monitor and the speed and trying to get the fertilizer to build up pressure. I turn the dial to speed up the pump and I only get 10lbs. I look back about the same time I realize what has gone wrong... I blew out the hose that goes to the spray boom. There is liquid fertilizer spraying all over the drill. I lost 50 gallons of $6 per gallon fertilizer. Ouch!
Thats what I get for saying mean things to people with Obama bumper stickers.
Have not been able to post pictures or do much online as my iBook is in the repair shop. I'm reduced to using the Fujitsu tablet I use for GPS. Kind of hard to type with a touch screen and a stylus.
I didn't work that late tonight. I went up to the shop and washed the fertilizer off the drill and ate supper. Wife and child were in bed. I went back and planted till 9:45 but I was kind of nervous about things going wrong so I quit. I sprayed 10-34 all over the wire harness connectors for the drill monitor and my population count is not working. Perhaps I'll get up early in the morning.

Up all night?

I'm feeling a little tense. It is 11:00 and I'm wide awake. Daughter is having a sleep over tomorrow for her 8th birthday. I've been enlisted to show movies on the side of the big white barn across the road. Can't decide between "Revenge of the Pagans," or Gene Autry in, "Melody Trail." Think I'll go for Gene for the season opener.
Wanted to take S. to the antique tractor day at the Yamhill Country Historical Society. I even have a tractor to drive in the parade. Her friends are arriving at noon tomorrow and leaving Sunday. Sunday is the Gem and Mineral show. We like that show. Especially the people who dress up like wizards and are looking for crystals. That and the fossilized poop. That is pretty cool. Probably won't do any of that this year...
That is not why I'm tense. Probably the feeling of hopelessness that comes from not having my work done, knowing we will probably not make any money this year, thinking I won't have the cash for my $10,000 drill payment, and life in general.
I've been trying to help a young fellow who works for me at times. He has rented some ground and bought a baler and tractor. He is in way over his head. I've been trying to find him some farming jobs and some hay jobs for next year. Have not been having much luck. Will probably bale as much as I can in small two-tie bales so I can give him work baling. Wish he would not have bought a $32,000 tractor to pull his baler with. That is a hard payment for him to make.
Today my brother and I went south to get an engine for my White 3-135. Took us 2 hours to pull the engine. It turns over and doesn't have water in the old. The tractor did sit outside for a few years but it was running good when parked. Have a notion just to drop it in.
Hauled the six cylinder Hercules and the three-speed hydra-shift all in one piece. Made the pickup squat a bit.
Got in big discussion about POLITICS with my neighbor.
I'm laying under my drill working on the fertilizer tubes. Liquid fertilizer is dripping on my head. The v-openers are razor sharp. I've hurt myself.
"Whatcha doing? Can I get you a pepsi?"
"What the @#$%^ does it look like I'm doing?"
"You seem a little tense, come over to my house and have a beer."
I think: "Yes you guessed it. I am just killing time so you will invite me to your house for a beer. I have nothing else to do. I just like to lay under large pieces of farm equipment and slice myself with sharp objects. A beer! Whoopie! Now just that offer will make my day complete!"
So, somehow he got onto politics. As a committed democrat he has the whole line down pretty well. He knows he has suffered persecution do to his Obama sticker on the bumper of his VW."
I listened to this all for a while and then opined...
"The reason people out in the countyr don't like people who have Obama stickers on their cars is because they know if you see someone with that sticker, that person is going to annoy you."
Neighbor: "Bushes falt, blah, blah, blah. Intollerant hicks, blah blah balh.."
Me: "Well, if you really want to know it is because people with Obama stickers on their cars generally don't know when to shut the f... up!"
Neighbor: "You seem a little grumpy today."
And you know he didn't shut up. We discussed politics untill I finally crawled out from under the drill.
The thing is this, I'm not all that "conservative." I just want to be left alone.
I resent the ideological manipulation of the left. For example: we are all forced into arguing the wrong arguments-If you are against illegal immigration then you are against Mexicans. I generally like Mexicans. I generally don't care if they are legal are illegal as long as they are hard working and friendly and don't steal from me I'm fine. I treat Jose with respect because he deserves respect. It is true that I did fire him but I found him another job and he did break two axles in a row through stupidity...
But, I don't like unrestricted illegal immigration and exploitation of Mexicans so big companies and nurserys can make money, and so they can vote for Obama.
I think it is funny that guns are going back across the border. So now the Mexican goverment knows how it feels. We get drugs, they get guns.
I'm not opposed to gun regulations in theory. I think people should have to take a safety course before owning something that you can kill someone with. And I am opposed to killing anyone for any reason. I'm not sure I could even do it in self defense. However, I oppose any effort by the goverment to regulate guns in any way because I don't trust the government. Why should I?
Then he went off on the tea parties. He had to make the tea-bag joke. I think my dad is the only person who doesn't get that joke. Pretty funny, hah, hah. (You should hear the jokes we make about your new messiah...) I think the recent anti-tax protests are amazing. I can't believe that these regular sorts of very moderate people are out holding signs.
Of course the neighbor says it is all a put-up by the republican party. After all it was Bush's fault we are in this mess. I pointed out that McCain didn't get elected either. Of course that was Sarah P's fault and that McCain is an old guy.
So what if Fox sponsored a few of those protests? I don't think the main stream republican party has a clue what to do with those people. They really don't fit the activist stereotype.
So do all democrats think those of us who dissent. Who live out here in the country and just want to be left alone are a bunch of idiots? I've been to college. I've read 60's literature. I understand the "one step forward, two steps back" Leninst crap. I can tell when I'm being marginalized, pandered to, talked down to and generally screwed. No, I'm not going to dig into the box of ammo and join some silly group, I'll just keep putting one foot in front of the other, I'll be polite. Somehow I'll resist.
I had a book as a child. Was about a little old lady who lived in a little cottage and grew roses. They wanted to put a highway through her house but she wouldn't move. They had to move the highway. She is my hero.
Of course into day's world they would condemn her house and put her in an old folks home.
Perhaps that is why I'm in a funk...
Whatever... I'm going to bed.

The sun came out and I'm not ready...

I have a planting job. 35 acres half-way to heck and back... Beautiful area. Not sure what farm in the area I'm planting but this one is for sale. I may have planted the field that you can see through the gate. I did about 300 acres in this area last year. To get there involves a long painful journey on HWY 18, a trip through Sheridan which involves a very narrow bridge. Not sure it is really worth it. The drill is 15 foot wide. Have a hard time saying "no" to this fellow. The hardest working man I have ever met.

So, I'm getting the drill ready to plant fescue. Have to plug off two rows, leave one open. Planting on 23" rows with fertilizer. So I have to plug off the fertilizer as well.

Have instead been helping a fellow from Antique Powerland who wants to borrow a MM U for some plowing demonstrations, and shooting rats in the barn. I am such a wastrel...

Crazy Traffic Day

Perhaps I don't get off the farm enough...
Today I went to the dentist for my once every couple years checkup and cleaning. We have a nice dentist. She understands that if you stick dental instruments halfway down my throat I will gag... She understands that I am afraid of dentists. I always remember the scene from "Marathon Man" when I'm setting in the waiting room but she makes me feel fine by the end of the visit. I figure she pipes laughing gas into the room while I'm setting there waiting for the x-rays to be developed.
I had to take the farm irrigation pump into be repaired so I had that in the back of the truck. Have a pretty heavy duty pickup so it handled the pump ok. Made me a bit nervous as to any sudden stops.
Had quite a discussion with the pump repair fellow. Seems like everyone who lives out in the country and works for their living has a bad feeling about the future.
Headed home to work. Neighbor stopped by at 11:30. He talked for a couple hours. Didn't offer to buy me lunch.
Took a couple checks into the bank. They were made out wrong. Had my last name on the checks. Shall we say they were made out to "Shepherd Bros." instead of "Buddeshepherd." Bank wouldn't cash them. So I called the main office and complained. "I've had my account for 40 years. The reason I use a hometown bank is because they all know me blah, blah, blah.
Nice lady explained to me that there has been a lot of fraud and identity theft and they now need to be more careful. Then she asked me the teller's name. I couldn't remember it. She has been there for like 5 years. So much for me paying attention to my local bank people.
So I went into the main office to cash my checks. They said they would make an exception for me if I deposited them in my account and had my brother sign them as well. So I did.
I had to go to the FSA office to sign papers.
By then it was "rush" hour. This used to be a small town. Rush hour in Mac means silly people in little cars dart out in front of you, or try to cross streets when they should go down two blocks to a light.
One fellow backed out in front of me. A girl in a very nice car cut me off while talking on the phone and a girl with her baby on board zoomed in front of me, ripped around the block and then had to slam on her brakes to let me finish my turn in front of her.
Kind of amazing, was just a touch jumpy by the time I got home. My wife laughs at me for driving 45 mph. If only I could explain...