No-Till Annual Ryegrass

It is coming up! I no-tilled annual into our poor-yielding teff field and there are rows already. Now for the weed control. Our tests from this year's crop were not so good. I'm thinking it was the volunteer annual field. The neighbor is worried about slugs so I need to put out some test stations with slug bait. I've seen years when the header on the silage chopper or corn picker are covered in them. Haven't seen any so far.
Today I am starting no-tilling wheat for the neighbors. I'm wishing for 700 to 1000 acres of work, and the weather to get it done. I have 300 acres committed and I've completed just under 100.

My favorite photo of the past two weeks

This was the view out my back window this evening at 7 p.m. I am done with the neighbor's silage and now we have five acres of our own left to chop. I don't know how much I did at this point. I think it would be around 1200-1500 tons. We average 15 acres a day. I think we might have done 20 acres today. Probably not.

I contact my representative

I picked up the mail the other day to find this huge full color postcard campaign advertisement which gave out the personal cell phone number of the Sate Rep from Yamhill County. His name is Jim Weidner and frankly I don't know if I like him or not. I have not really been paying attention to the news. I figure all politicians are either morons or corrupt or both.
But this postcard caught my eye. It was slick and well done. Someone spent a lot of money to accuse Jim Wiedner being behind trespassing and of misrepresenting a vineyard owner's stance on illegal immigration. The vineyard person is Susan Sokol Blosser who was one of the early wine promoters in Oregon.
I don't like vineyards, I don't like vineyard tourism, I don't like short pants wearing, wine swilling, bicycle riding, commies who think they are better than average cause they drink rotten grape juice. (Except for Hauer of The Dauen which is pure entertainment as I know the folks.)
So I dialed the phone number while waiting for a truck so I could start chopping silage again. To my surprise Jim himself answered. I told him I had no idea what he had done to peeve Susan Sokol Blosser but it provided me with a lot of entertainment and he should keep doing. Anyone who annoys a vineyard owner enough to inspire than kind of money has my vote. Assuming I will actually vote...(didn't say that)
I ended up having somewhat of an interesting conversation with him. Susan Sokol Blosser is hooking into some serious progressive funding sources. Perhaps she is not so much an independent as she would have us believe. Not that it matters. Vineyard owners as a rule are not part of the bread and butter ag community. They have more money, more snobbery, and as many or more immigrants with fake ID as anyone else, except for the nursery industry. Susan brought the whole immigration issue onto herself by stating in her book that the family hired immigrants that were most likely illegal.
We discussed the local dump and the Save Grand Island campaign.
He cited environmental restrictions that go so far as to stifle innovations and to force companies to take the more difficult and less effective route to solving problems.
His example was the common sense solution of burning garbage to generate power and reduce the volume of material. I did not argue as I think a modern garbage burning facility could work.
On the other hand why do we need to take Portland's trash? Portland can deal with their own problems.
Or the issue of Baker Rock having a gravel pit on Grand Island. They can't take the rock out of the river anymore so they have to buy land and mine it. Frankly I don't care that much about Baker Rock's problems. I suppose I would care more if they were a local company instead of the company that bought Birch Concrete. So if the folks on Grand Island want to fight it out, good for them. I did point out that those folks on Grand Island are no longer truck farmers and they are renting their ground to big farmers and I thought it was kind of funny they were trying to preserve a lifestyle that hasn't existed for 30 years.
I think I side with Baker Rock as I figure the gravel trucks will scare off the bicyclists which are the bane of local roads.
Anyway, I had a nice chat.
Then I went back to chopping silage.
As an after thought, if you click on the link to Oregon House Democrats you will see that a crowning achievement was a bill banning the use of cartoon characters to advertise tobacco use, oh but that's not all, the evil tobacco companies can't give away free samples either! Wow! What a victory for truth and justice. I bet that Joe Camel was really making a lot of kids smoke. Yes indeed, a cartoon character that looked like a giant limp penis made people want to put burning things in their mouths...At the same time they increased the tax on chew to bring in more tax revenue. You ain't gonna get the tax revenue if kids can't look at giant limp penises cause we all know that's what makes em addicted to nicotine!
The official country color should be purple, the color of wine, or should we say maroon, cause the whole shebang is run by MAROONS!!!

The Laughable Save Grand Island Campaign

I have been seeing these signs all over the neighborhood which read "Save Grand Island." Those of you from the midwest may wonder what is being proposed that will destroy part of Nebraska, do not fear, Grand Island is an island in the Willamette River just a few mile from my home in scenic Oregon.
Now back in the "olden days" it was the spot for fresh produce. My mom would go "to the island" for any vegetable that we did not grow in our garden. The produce stand  that used to be just before the bridge to the island was where she got fresh peaches and watermelons and apples and such.
Now here's the deal.
I think it is a shame that Baker Rock company wants to haul off half of the island to gravel roads in Yamhill country. I am not completely sure that is what will happen but I figure if the folks that live there don't want it to happen then they should be able to stop it.
But... here is what I think is funny. There are no more "truck gardens," or small farms on Grand Island. Sure Heizer Farms is there and they are probably behind the whole Save Grand Island campaign because they have a tourist attraction pumpkin patch kind of thing going on. The farm is not how they started out making their living. I think they are doctors or something.
There are probably only like three or four farmers that are doing anything substantial on the whole island and they are big operations with huge tractors and they don't even live on the island. There is one serious farmer who still has apples and makes his living from farming but the old days of row crop farming are long gone. It is all grass seed and wheat now. Perhaps a big field of sweet corn but that is not fresh market.
As far as the whole pristine beauty of the place, sure there are deer. There are deer everywhere. I've heard the stories of the old days of produce growing-when they would dump toxic chemicals down the wells and pump it out through the sprinkler lines onto the fields for pest and weed controls. The one story noted that birds flying under the sprinklers would die from the chemicals. I would not drink the water from any well on Grand Island, although I suppose it has all been tested and is ok.
I've baled and stacked and planted on the island and it is a beautiful place. I certainly don't want to dodge rock trucks when I move wide equipment across the bridge but then again, I would a lot rather meet a rock truck than I would attempt to circumvent a horde of bicyclists.
I guess I kind of look at the whole thing with some amusement. It is national politics on a local scale. The "feel good" crowd, motivated by a "sustainable" and "feel good" business, which doesn't actually do anything but bring hordes of tourists to block the roads, has taken on a resource based industry. So-called grass roots vs the evil Capitalists, of course the grass roots/sustainable folks are fighting for their own capitalistic interests but they don't call it that. Frankly I don't have much in common with either side, and neither do most of the folks who make their living actually farming in the neighborhood.
Just the same, I suppose I would have to grudgingly side with the Save Grand Island crowd because I have my own similar cause. I hate Riverbend Landfill and Waste Management Corporation with a passion. This is the 21st century, we have had science for a couple hundred years now. What sort of dumbass would build a giant landfill on both sides of a river. AND then advertise being green on their website! I've baled and planted all around the monstrosity and it stinks. Sometimes it catches on fire. Waste Management Corp has so much money they just bought off all the local politicians, who are such morons they didn't even know they were being bought off. What a joke... No wonder we have all the rabid environmentalists running around.
I have absolutely no problem whatsoever about being inconsistent...
Have a nice evening!
Edit-Click Here for a link to the Waste Not of Yamhill County which opposes trash mountain ski resort and environmental oasis. I wish I could find my photo of snow on the peak of Trash Mountain. That was funny...

Rainy Sunday

I opened the Lazy Farmer to see what I was doing this time last year. Then I thought that it is really not that relevant as it is a different year. Check out the post, "Why My Head May Explode," and you will see that it is exactly the same every year, perhaps worse each year...
At this point last year I think we were done with silage and planting at home and I was well into planting for other people.
Right now I have another two or three days of silage and two days of planting for a neighbor.
I need to plant another 50 or 80 acres of ryegrass for us and 60 or 70 acres of wheat. Plus, I need to finish the neighbor's 60 acres of disked ground and I have do something about the additional 80 acres I was attempting to rent and I need to plant 20 of timothy acres at Gopher Valley and 20 acres here at home. Now this does not seem so much to those of you folks with 30ft equipment and good help but the logistics of it all gets me down.
I think I should disk at least part if not all of the wheat ground. I am very hesitant about no-tilling annual the ryegrass ground. I need to find a cover crop disk and a heavy roller and finish the neighbor's field and it is a long drive to Gopher Valley. I also need to get Yamhill wheat from Corvallis Seed and Timothy from Carlton. I have to get a fertilizer tank and the rest of the wheat seed. I have to argue with Wilco about where the wheat seed is coming from. The morons at Wilco are not buying wheat seed from my neighbor (where they have got it for 15 years) but they are using his bags.
I really need to get the other chopper fixed and try it out but I guess that is not so important. I need to chop our five acres of silage. The clover seed needs to be taken to Carlton. I have to readjust the blower fan on the 890 silage chopper. Everything on the farm needs to be cleaned and put away. And I need to plant for three other people to make some cash to live on. Oh, and I left the stacker at the last stacking job I did. (I got rained out...)
And I need to finish putting the siding on the back of our sort of shop before it really starts raining. My employee says he will really work hard and help and I am positive that he really intends to do so.
But he won't...
Here is a video of sharpening the knives on the old silage chopper.Yes, I realize I could drop that wrench in the knives and I should have had the lid down. I have heard of those who would light a smoke off the sparks from the sharpener. I think the guy is an idiot...
My wife bought me a little flipvideo camera. Sadie says they didn't pay list price for it. It came from a closeout sale.
Please tell me if you can't see or watch the video. I'm not sure I can make them smaller but I will try. I suppose it will not work with dial-up.

Why I have not posted for a week, silage chopping...

 

It has been a busy week. I have a 200 acre planting job and I need to chop corn silage. Suddenly the corn got ready... Instead of mid-week start we started Tuesday.
I got off to a good start.
The first day I turned too short and busted the tongue on the chopper. Now, you understand the chopper is a couple years old. It is a 890 New Holland that we bought at a farm auction for $125 and it turned out to be better than the 892 we were using.
Then the smooth roll kind of destructed which I should have seen coming but I only have 30 acres to chop and we just put new bearings in it, um, well a couple years ago... Like five years ago and we did not pull the header at the end of last season.
That took a day...
But, I got to plant. I did 60 acres of very loose dirt. The no-till drill doesn't work so well in loose dirt. It tends to plant a little on the deep side unless you lower the gauge wheels on the drill quite a bit.
The farmer wanted me to plant 140lbs of wheat per acre. It seems a touch hight to me. He asked me what I had the drill set at. I said 135 as I figured that is what he wanted to hear. He asked me if I could bump it up to 140. I said "sure." When you are running 140lbs of wheat per acre through your drill 5lbs is not much of a difference. I have found that the seed rate can vary 10lbs per acre from morning to evening with the temperature changes. I have my planter alarm set to go off when seed level gets to the point where I have two or three acres left to plant at 100lbs of wheat per acre. (it is not adjustable) At 140lbs I don't have time to get back to the truck when the alarm goes off!
But, I did it...
My brother and Bill got the chopper going and chopped four loads Wednesday.
Thursday I went back to chopping.
Then the reverser quit on the header. The A/C fan failed on the trusty 2-135, a bolt came loose in the blower on the chopper... (The one bolt that didn't get loc-tite on it!)
The field I'm chopping is for our neighbor who doesn't have a chopper. He didn't leave wide enough headlands to turn around so we have to back up a lot.
I move to the field by his house.
He is a really good farmer and he works really hard so I have to do a better job working for him.
The hose going to the hydraulic oil cooler blows pumping five gallons of hydraulic oil out the grill of the tractor.
He got a little off on the strip tilling/planting line up and the four rows through a 3 row header thing is not working so well.
More, no headland/short rows.
No A/C and the sun is out...
Then, I'm trying to open the last gun alley and my truck can't find me.
I was sitting there watching the electronic tach and I noticed the numbers...

It is a little late for me to start now but perhaps it does have some medicinal value?

Here we are nearing the end of that row. I really didn't think we would make it to the end. Right here we still have 100 feet to go..

And here is the load. I could have got a little more in the right rear corner!

And this is the whole set up, in case anyone wanted to know what I am doing...

I take my daughter to work and we see a rhino and a giraffe

You never know what you will find when you get to a planting job. Yesterday I planted a pasture for a fellow who has a ranch for retired zoo animals. I took daughter with me at 7 a.m. and she got a tour.
The photo below is what we saw after going through the gate. Look closely in the trees!

It thought it was all pretty cool but kind of like five minutes worth of cool and then I went back to work. But... when you are 9 years old being five foot away from a 6,000lb rhino or looking at a giraffe out the window of dad's pickup is pretty freakin' awesome.
Here is the giraffe up close. I think this is the male. There are two, Allan and Wenzie (sp?). The girl came from the San Diego zoo. The owner showed us the special modified trailer he used to haul a 16 ft giraffe. He has a special tall barn that they live in. They eat alfalfa and the tops of trees. I guess it is a bit of a challenge to winter a giraffe in Oregon. In the cold weather they burn up a lot of fat. If they have no fat reserves they can get sick very easily.

The rhino was pretty cool. I can't remember his name. There are two of them. Both males. The one pictured likes to have his head scratched. They are incredibly strong, but they don't like electric fences. Their pen is built from 3" square tubing.

The rhinos followed me along the fence line while planting. I think they may have mistaken the silver White for another White Rhino. I had to distract them while getting through the gates. Sometimes they charge vehicles.
Best of all they fellow was happy that I came and planted for him and he paid me the full rate even though I give all my returning customers a substantial discount due to the economic crisis.