Snow???!

The weatherman was right! Snow on the valley floor by morning! Sure enough... Daughter coughed all night. She has problems with congestion frequently. We had her tested for allergies. Spent a lot of money and no real results.
Congestion started when her and her mom spent weekend with aunt who has a dusty house. Then got worse when she went to my brother's house after school. Brother and family live with Dad in the big old farmhouse. The fireplace was smoking pretty bad. Then at church on Sunday we had the same problem. Have a fireplace at church. (We meet in the activity center of a rest home) I think it was Tuesday that she had a stomach ache and missed morning of school. Did make it in time for the chicken nugget lunch.
So today she has a bad cough. Last night none of us got much sleep because of it. Not sure what I am going to do. I've got another feed order! As the Jeffersons used to say, "Movin on Up!"

Cool old truck

The seed truck for last weeks planting was a very well kept Mac. I like old stuff...

No-Till no longer saves Carbon!

I just found out I've been promoting old science. I found this in an article in Grist online. (Click on Grist to go to article). This article brings up a number of things that bug me and have not so much to do with no-till farming.
1. The religion of science.
It is a wonderful new belief system, because you can never be wrong. If you are the right person, (more holy than the rest or perhaps more approved than the rest) you just say, "well I have new scientific information which has recently been discovered which outdates the previous science. So, DDT can be good (1940's science) DDT is evil, (Rachel Carson's science). Or we can have global cooling when I was in highschool, but now have global warming, due to the evils of capitalism.
There is no forgiveness of sin or shall we say redemption, instead we have "re-education."
Oh, just go read "Animal Farm." I'm not feeling real profound....
2. Selling carbon credits is selling the right to sin. While I won't turn down the money because I don't belong to their religion and thus it means nothing to me, I think it is a joke to make folks like Al Gore rich.
3. Environmental groups exist for these reasons. First to make money for those people running the groups. Second, to support the bureaucracy (is that spelled correctly) of the environmental group. Third redistrubution of wealth on a national and global scale. Fourth, a place get rid of white guilt without actually changing your life or reconnecting with your faith-i.e. finding God. Fifth, a concern for taking care of the earth.
4. Those in the environmental movement want a fundemental conflict with traditional farmers. They don't like us, they promote misconceptions about us which suit their mythology (back to relegion there) and they will not actually come out and talk to us in a non-confrontational manner.
5. Never reveal any information other than what is directly and absolutely needed should you ever talk with a government official or environmentalist. True it promotes the misunderstanding in 4. but you can't trust them. They don't like you.... But, always be polite.

Now to answer the article in Grist. No-till may or may not promote carbon sequestering. I have never seen a dime from carbon credits and it is not that much money anyway. But, no-till does not mean a huge increase in herbicide use.
In general my customers use three quarts of Glyphospate before I plant. Then what ever chemical program they would normally use. Most people I plant for would also use Glyphospate before they did conventional tillage.
My old and ineffecient tractor with it's diesel sucking Hercules 471 uses just under a gallon of diesel per acre planted. My friends modern JD uses around 1/2 gallon per acre.
No-tilling into fescue sod (which is mostly what I do) saves 8 trips across the field. Half of those trips would be heavy tillage and I'm thinking you would use a lot more than a gallon per acre. Don't have the figures in front of me now. So, no-till is saving a huge amount of fuel.
The other issue is soil health. We are trying to promote residue, cut erosion, control weeds with rotations INSTEAD of herbicides, and generally improve soil health.
Finally, we really don't give a rip what Grist magazine says. We are doing it for our own reasons, to promote our own soils, to take charge of our own lives. I think that is what annoys the enviormental groups and the government groups the most. It is all just the annoying Yankee type protestantism that has to tell everyone what is best for them. Only without the benefit of finding the one true God. What ever happened to just mind your own business?
I got to go to work...

Latest No-till effort

Planted oats into wheat stubble Saturday. I was never so happy to hear the low population alarm go off in my life. Actually that is not usually a really happy experience as it mostly means something is wrong. Finished up at 9:35 in a light rain. Was very happy for my FarmerGPS program. Lets me run guidance on a $60 ebay special, Fujitsu 3400 tablet computer. Oh and how I do hate Windows... but that is another story, one full of violence and broken screen digitizers...and need for self help books on tape!
Anyway here are some photos and them I'm going to bed. It poured down rain today. Think we got like an inch or so in last two days. It is unbelievable how much I have to do and how little I am getting done. Can't sleep at night and can't get out of bed in the morning.
Farming is getting more interesting. Fundumental shifts locally. Grass seed is not moving and farmers are quickly moving to commodity crops, wheat, oats, perhaps barley. Price is terrible. We are going to grow some. Have some very wet ground and I plant on planting the barley when soil temp gets close to 50 degrees. Not sure if I will no-till or not. Hope to get some radish contracts. This would work good in a no-till rotation. Goal is, grass (for hay or seed), wheat or oats, or barley, then radish, then back to grass, or might be able to plant clover with the radish. This is what I would do if we didn't have all wet riverbottom ground.
So back to the no-till. Planted oats into wheat stubble. Did two fields 10 miles apart. First was prennial ryegrass, lots of sprout and very green still, just sprayed out. Planted spring wheat, don't know variety. Next was Montezuma oats into wheat stubble. Fairly tall, some a foot hight. Very wet heavy clay ground. Kind of iffy. Was in a hurry to beat the rain so planted at 7 mph. Looks like it was disked. Hope the heavy rain does not uncover the seed. Applied 10 gallons of 10-34 fertilizer per acre. Goal was 1 inch depth for oats. 120lbs per acre or 1.1-1.4 million seeds per acre. (according to monitor don't know how this applies to actual seed per bushel/lb count)
Have had wide variation in population count with oats. So if you have really heavy oats and you go by lbs per acre you actually have a lower population than if you have little light oats. What does this mean? Obviously you have a lower plant population from what one would think of as better seed. I don't know, I have a liberal arts degree...
Ok, photos are all mixed up. First pictures with the green field are of wheat into recently sprayed prennial ryegrass. Planted 3/4 to 1" deep. Pretty good sod, didn't work the ground very much. More of a silty clay soil. Should have paid more attention. Rate was 120lbs seed, 10 gallons fert. Fertilzer was mix of 10-34 plus some 32. Not sure exact mix used. Was in a hurry must take better notes. Planted at 6.5 mph. Does a pretty good job at that speed.
Photo in the cab is planting oats into wheat stubble 10 miles down the road. Did 75 acres Saturday. Not too bad a production rate for having to drive a long ways to fill the drill, with 50lb bags. Usually 28 bags to the fill. I didn't push it much past the point when the low bin alarm goes off. Have a couple more acres after that but running out sometimes leaves a pattern.
Planting at 8 mph pretty much worked the ground. I really, really hope it comes up good. Could be a lot of problems with this field, too wet, too cold, too many slugs, mice, probably low pH. Time will tell. Good night.

Movie Night at the Great White barn

We have only lived here at the family farm for a year. There was an old house here which had been hit by a tree. It took a while to get rid of it. So we put our manufactured home where there was room. The problem was that two years ago the neighbor put up a huge straw barn right across the road. So, the view out the back door is a huge white barn.
So, I bought a 16mm projector and started showing movies on the side of the barn. I was looking for more movies this morning. My daughter is sick and home from school. I found Fritz Lang's Metropolis on ebay. Now I never pay more than $50 for a movie as I don't have a lot of free $$$ floating around. In fact most of my movies are $10 ebay finds that no one bids on. Films we have seen, Using fire extinguishers the correct way, Mr. Magoo, Woody Woodpecker, (My favorites) Farmer Alfalfa and the Mechanical Cow, and various surplus school films. I did splurge on a Gene Autry- The man from Music Mountain. And an old TV show, "Surfside Six."
But, Metropolis! Now that would be pretty cool on the side of a barn. I was outbid at $120. It sold for $350!!!!
I think I bought "Fury of the Pagans", (oops) and "WC Fields THe Dentist."
It is pretty funny when cars drive by and see the movie on the barn. Barn is across the road from the house. Sometimes they stop and watch... But, we always get brake lights.

Little things go wrong

It is amazing. I can't get anything done. Almost new drill and finally have a good tractor. But, still the little things go wrong. This morning I was ready to go but developed a hydraulic leak on the valve that runs the fertilizer pump. Thought it would be a simple O ring but that didn't help.
I have four customers to plant for. I follow a first come first served schedule unless there are too many miles between jobs.
Yesterday I checked fields. The first on the list field was too wet. Second on the list didn't have seed. Third on the list is 20 acres 20 miles away. Fourth on the list is on the way to third on the list and he has 50 acres that is ready. But, his seed company did not bring him the seed. So, I called second on the list. He said he would be ready and he is close.
But, then I when I tested the fertilizer pump and boom on the drill, it started leaking. I put one of the sections together wrong. Of course it took me a while to figure out... Then I found a broken bolt that keeps the hydraulic cylinders in line on the drill. Then the electric shut off valve started leaking. Then, there was a hydraulic leak. So, I didn't get to the field until 11:30 today. Then I forgot to top off the diesel tank and since White tractors have pathetically small fuel tanks I had to go after fuel.
I did almost 50 acres. I would have gotten done tonight but I developed a major hydraulic leak-under the cab! Glad it was not hot weather as there is nothing like vaporized hydraulic oil to start a fire! I thought the fog of hydraulic oil in the lights was just fog coming off the field. I even got off and looked. Finally I stopped with the tractor running at high rpm, and I found the leak.
I didn't feel like ripping out the cab floor tonight.
I could take the 2-135 over. It is not 4wd though. Main problem is that now I have GPS, a seed monitor, automatic electric valve that shuts off when you lift drill, I need an extra valve for the fertilizer pump, so by the time I wire it, and plumb in my "add-a-valve" I might as well just fix the 2-155. If everything would work I might be able to get this 150 acres, made up of 50 acre fields 10 miles apart, done by Saturday? Don't think so...

Planting pictures

I Planted along the Yamhill River last week. Red silty clay dirt. Started out pretty slimy but dried out over the course of the day. Planted Kanota Oats at 120lbs per acre. 3/4" deep, some more like an inch. No fertilizer.
Silver thing is cell phone thrown in for scale. It is a bit wet but seed is covered. Side walls of trench are crumbling and it is not just making a slot through the mud.
Today I worked on putting fertilizer tubes on the drill. I have the scars to prove it. Nothing like busted knuckles and dirt falling in your eyes and ears.
I also installed air design scrapers, they are a spring loaded scraper with a tungsten blade. Very aggressive, they peel the mud off the inside of the disks so it drops out. The standard v-scrapers just bunch the mud up so it plugs up the small seed tubes. Too many brackets on one bolt. Kind of expensive. I think it cost me $17 per row. I think I paid less then $10 per row to put them on my first drill.
Scrapers and fertilizer tubes are shown below. Seems like there is a lot of wear inside the v openers for only 3500 acres on the drill. The v-openers have a design where one disk leads the other by say 1/8" or so. The leading edge has curled slightly which may explain why the drill doesn't go in. Looks like those tungsten edged scrapers will keep the disk blades pretty sharp. They did on the old drill!