Where Did Summer Go? Our Summer in a Picture Update of Sorts.

These past couple of months have been a very busy time on Patterson Family Farms.

We have:

• Finished Wheat Harvest
• Doubled Cropped many fields
• Finished all of our Hay Work
• Helped others Harvest
• Finished Corn Harvest
• Added and Subtracted Things from the Farm
• Lots of Field Work
• And a whole bunch more! 

So where should I begin?

Well this post is going to be a picture update and hopefully a few more blog posts to really explain what all is going on in these pictures later.

Here we go!

Josh overlooking the country 

On our new grain bin we built

Josh and AJ getting combines ready

Checking one of our pastures

We had kittens born! Actually several.. these are just at my house!

We tried new milkers... that is a story for another day... 

Wheat Harvest Came... and went... 

Field Work 

The twins were born.. and then we hit a dry spell...

AJ looking for a new calf and momma not really helping

First Alfalfa Cutting

More Swathing

Remember the Little Corn that Could? Well this is little corn mid summer... 

Double Cropping

Whole Soybean Seeds 

Cracked Soybean Seeds

Still Double Cropping

Our Sunflowers came up in the yard

Hauling Hay Home

AJ got his Dune Buggy running, so they took a break for a ride. 

Hubs and I went to the Kansas Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg

I made my first loaf of bread ever. 

Annabel (my cow) had her 3rd calf.. a little bull this year. 

Josh bought a sweet new tractor. 

We had 17 calves born in August and this was a feisty one. 

We had more twins born! 3 twins in one year! crazy! 

Checking Soybean Fields

Corn Harvest Came

We did get some rain... hoping for more!

More Corn!

And some more!

This is Tiny Tot. He has stolen my heart.
He was born pre-mature and only weighed about 30 pounds. 

Sunflowers to start a Monday morning

Taking a breather in the middle of corn harvest

Corn Harvest is over so why not bake? 

Hubs and I took a trip to the Tanganyika Zoo and fed the Rhino, Henry. 

That is just a brief view of a few of the things that happened over the summer. We worked but we also took some breaks. Everyone went on a small trip even if it was just 2 days and we were blessed to have some good corn fields this year and to be able to get our corn harvest done already. There are still many farmers with corn to harvest in our area and even more still in the North. By time our friends up in the Northern part of the state are ready to begin corn harvest, we will be starting Soybean Harvest and drilling wheat. This will begin next week or the following one for sure.

Sorry there isn't more detail to the pictures or what is really going on but in a farmers world and with more behind the scenes things going on this is the best update for now!

Happy Almost Fall!



The Milkmaid

A Monday Morning Surprise!

This morning, I headed to the farm thinking about the mud, water and unhappy cows. Since it rained last night, I was a little late showing up for work in the first place and dreading the mess I would be after milking. The cows have a love-hate relationship with rain. While it cools them off, they also get messy and bring their little dirty hooves into my milking parlor and like to get me just as messy.

Little did I know my dad would find a nice little surprise when he went out to bring the cows up for milking.


Twins, again!

We usually do not have twins, even though there is a one in seven chance of twins, we haven't had a set in a couple of years. This year we have been blessed so far with two sets. You may remember reading, The Scandalous Cow and Tale of Two Calves, where we had a rare set of twins born from two different sires but from the same dam. Well this may look like the same situation but it is not!

The dam (or mother cow) is a Jersey/Holstein cross and Miss Brownie looks like her. The sire (bull/father) is a pure bred Holstein and Miss Penelope looks like him. They just happen not to be identical twins but sure are cute and fun to play with.

Brownie was born smaller than Penelope, not by much but she is the smaller of the two.After we milked No. 61 (their mother) this morning, I took out a bottle to feed them. They both did a really good job drinking for the first time and then they had their navals sprayed to help not get an infection.

Miss Brownie

Miss Penelope

Both little heifers are doing well and happy in their new little shed and each other.


Happy Monday!



The Milkmaid

Wheat Harvest is coming fast!

Wheat harvest is right around the corner. Therefore, it is really about to get busy around the farm.

Thankfully it has rained in the last week and we got some needed moisture for our corn and soybeans.

Yet, with the moisture we are still not done spraying and planting soybeans but we will not complain as rain is a tick more important!

AJ and Josh washed combines to get them clean again for this years harvest. Then, they cleaned out the cab and greased the circuits. Afterwards, they went through and check all the chains, belts and bolts. Needless to say they will be checking over every little part of each combine multiple times before harvest to make sure they got everything checked thoroughly.

Last week they worked on the headers to get ready to hopefully try to harvest some barley and wheat. They did get the barley harvested and attempted to do a wheat field but it was still too wet. Today, they are going out to try another field and see if it is ready to go. 

This week's plan... harvest wheat, plant soybeans, spray the rest of the fields, harvest some more, plant some more, spray some more, oh and milk! You get the idea, it will be a very busy week needless to say. 

Here are a few pictures of the combines being looked over and getting ready to go. Unfortunately, I still am in a bad habit of not having my camera with me so I take pictures on my phone and well my phone decided to see what water was like the other day. Therefore, I got a shiny new phone and I have not be able to recover my photos from my old phone, so I tried to take a few more of them. 

Working on a header

This is what it looks like under one of the covers 

This is the back end where the stalks come out

Inside one the cab of one of our combines

This is through the back glass of the cab, this is where the grain comes through an auger
and is held until it is unloaded onto the grain cart 

The auger which the grain falls from after being harvested from the plant or cob

Josh working on tightening some bolts on a header

Until next time,

The Milkmaid

Soybean Planting

I am writing from the fields again. It seems this is my only free time to write sometimes and sometimes the only time I get into the writing mood when I am in the action of the farm life.

This week we have a chance of rain! Hallelujah! We are in a pretty rough drought right now and are praying some of the storms bring rain to our fields. Some storms get so close and we watch them go by. It gets rough but we keep our faith and keep praying that we will get some rain too. My brother even got to do an interview with some of our fields about the drought on the local news.

The wheat crop is looking pretty rough this year. Last year we had 60-70 bushel crop where this year we are hoping for 30-35 bushel an acre. Remember we are an all dry land crop farm so we do not irrigate our crops since we don't have any water sources to do so. We wish we had some though!

Since we do have a good chance of rain, we have been trying to get all of our soybean fields planted and the fields sprayed. The other day my dad and I had to unload a semi with seed. The fertilizer truck came and at the same time the tractor needed fuel and was in the way when the feed truck came all while we were trying to clear the driveway so the milk truck could come. To say we were busy on the farm is almost an understatement. Oh and we were filling the sprayer to get back out in the field. We managed as always and I always think this is one of the most fun times because it is almost a thrill running around trying to get everything done.

Here are some pictures from this morning getting ready to start a field. Josh is filling the planter with soybean seed that has been treated. AJ is running the seed tender and adding talc to the soybeans as they exit the tender. I got to drive the truck with the nurse tank full of liquid fertilizer. We had quite the little parade this morning traveling to one of our far fields. Josh was in the tractor with the planter, I was behind him with the fertilizer and AJ last with the seed. Also, this isn't the same corn field but one planted close to the same time and how much the corn has grown since my last blog.

Have a great Memorial Weekend!

The Milkmaid