Post by gmauch on Jun 16, 2013 13:54:53 GMT -5
Well its been a pretty disappointing year so far. Our extreme drought continues with no relief in sight. Thankfully the mountains got a decent snow pack this year so we have got a little water in our canals, for now. Year to date we have received .51in of moisture, and no that's not a typo, we have gotten less than an inch. We are trying to farm in a drought that is worse than the dust bowl in every way measurable. These are some pics of dust storms that roll into town at least 3 or 4 times a week now.
When it come to farming we have had to make some changes in our practices. Small grains like: oats, wheat, triticale, millet, and barley along with forage sorghum are becoming very important because they can make a crop with little water and work great for ground cover. So we needed to upgrade our grain drill. We wound up getting a 1999 Sunflower 9432, 30' wide, 7.5" spacing, and in great shape.
Here is the dealer dropping it off.
Hooked up to the MX180. Pretty underpowered.
Planting forage sorghum in failed wheat from last fall and failed oats from this spring.
Planting more forage sorghum right in front of a sprinkler.
Our silage cutters have been having to travel more this year than ever before looking for crops to cut. We went to cut wheatlage for a couple dairies in SW Kansas. Spent a little over a week there then slowly worked our way home chopping as we moved. Now we are chopping alot of alfalfa in our area for the large JBS feedlot. With crops being thin we knew we needed a way to put several rows together to save from racking up hours on the cutters. So we wound up buying a Kuhn Merge Maxx 900, 30' wide. So far its working great. There have been fields where an entire sprinkler span is put into one row.
Getting ready.
Our trucks ready to go.
Chopping!
Big windrow.
Chopping in 40mph winds.
With a couple round to go in Kansas the transition tube broke on my cutter. Not a fun fix.
We have been having manure spread on all our open ground to keep it from blowing.
We also built our fuel containment system. Lots of money and work went into this containment but very happy with the results.
Building the walls.
Walls done, ready for the floor.
Floor and tank pads poured, ready for the tanks.
Had to use an excavator to set the tanks.
Done!
Started baling first cutting about a week ago and its not looking good.
Went to pick up some chemical from a local applicator.
Their plane about to take off.
And away he goes!
Had to have them spray some of our hay for weavil.
Can you find the plane?
Here he comes!
Our irrigation water is mostly from canals and the way it works is they call you and tell you when and where to turn on your water and then you get it for the next 48hrs, no matter the weather conditions, or you lose out on that run. Our first 48hrs of water the weather got extremely cold, below zero cold with 60mph winds. There was alot of ice on everything the next morning. We even had a pivot freeze solid and it took 2 days to thaw out.
This pond is frozen over. Hard to tell in this pic.
This is a riser where the water comes out of a pipeline and goes into an open ditch.
The next time we had water the temps were alot nicer so I took my dogs for a swim.
This last winter we put up a new pivot. Here it is showing up on a semi.
The usual stuff is going on around the farm.
Feeding steers.
Grinding hay for several local producers.
Hauling gravel.
Lighting fires.
Santa peeing off the roof.
That's all for this time.
Questions and comments welcome.
When it come to farming we have had to make some changes in our practices. Small grains like: oats, wheat, triticale, millet, and barley along with forage sorghum are becoming very important because they can make a crop with little water and work great for ground cover. So we needed to upgrade our grain drill. We wound up getting a 1999 Sunflower 9432, 30' wide, 7.5" spacing, and in great shape.
Here is the dealer dropping it off.
Hooked up to the MX180. Pretty underpowered.
Planting forage sorghum in failed wheat from last fall and failed oats from this spring.
Planting more forage sorghum right in front of a sprinkler.
Our silage cutters have been having to travel more this year than ever before looking for crops to cut. We went to cut wheatlage for a couple dairies in SW Kansas. Spent a little over a week there then slowly worked our way home chopping as we moved. Now we are chopping alot of alfalfa in our area for the large JBS feedlot. With crops being thin we knew we needed a way to put several rows together to save from racking up hours on the cutters. So we wound up buying a Kuhn Merge Maxx 900, 30' wide. So far its working great. There have been fields where an entire sprinkler span is put into one row.
Getting ready.
Our trucks ready to go.
Chopping!
Big windrow.
Chopping in 40mph winds.
With a couple round to go in Kansas the transition tube broke on my cutter. Not a fun fix.
We have been having manure spread on all our open ground to keep it from blowing.
We also built our fuel containment system. Lots of money and work went into this containment but very happy with the results.
Building the walls.
Walls done, ready for the floor.
Floor and tank pads poured, ready for the tanks.
Had to use an excavator to set the tanks.
Done!
Started baling first cutting about a week ago and its not looking good.
Went to pick up some chemical from a local applicator.
Their plane about to take off.
And away he goes!
Had to have them spray some of our hay for weavil.
Can you find the plane?
Here he comes!
Our irrigation water is mostly from canals and the way it works is they call you and tell you when and where to turn on your water and then you get it for the next 48hrs, no matter the weather conditions, or you lose out on that run. Our first 48hrs of water the weather got extremely cold, below zero cold with 60mph winds. There was alot of ice on everything the next morning. We even had a pivot freeze solid and it took 2 days to thaw out.
This pond is frozen over. Hard to tell in this pic.
This is a riser where the water comes out of a pipeline and goes into an open ditch.
The next time we had water the temps were alot nicer so I took my dogs for a swim.
This last winter we put up a new pivot. Here it is showing up on a semi.
The usual stuff is going on around the farm.
Feeding steers.
Grinding hay for several local producers.
Hauling gravel.
Lighting fires.
Santa peeing off the roof.
That's all for this time.
Questions and comments welcome.
