Upgrading In The Farm World

Well the busy season is here!

Winter went by quickly and I don't know if I was mentally or physically ready for spring, yet. I got a bit lazy this winter!

A few key notes of some things that have happened over the last several months:

-We had a dry, warm winter. We only got one significant snow and it came in March.
-We made a few new purchases and additions to the farm
-We are so thankful to still be able to do this life and our prayers go out to all the farmer's and ranchers that were affected by wildfires. We only had smoke come through and no fires close to us. It is amazing how many farmers and ranchers (and others) came together to help those in need. It is so tough to hear/see those losses.

Now back to planting time, we recently upgraded our tractor and purchased a much larger planter. It has 24 rows!! That is 24 rows being planted at one time. It is also central fill for the seed! My mind is blown! I am so use to the 12 rows and filling boxes! I am still wrapping my mind around this new equipment!

Times have changed so much from when I was kid and definitely from how my grandpa grew  up! My brothers new tractor is so fancy, you can call from your phone via Bluetooth from the cab of the tractor! Mind blown. I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I, personally, feel as though we (a society) rely too much on technology these days and have lost some of our very basic foundations. But that is another feeling for another day. I understand how important this new technology is that we utilize for many reasons.

-GPS and autosteer help us to use the whole field to the best we can. The more we can get planted and grown in a field the more crop that is produce. This means more food for you- the people. If it isn't a food products, it is something to help us. We have to feed millions of people just here in the United States. Without it we don't use every bit to produce the most we can for YOU. It's not for us or a profit, sure we need that to keep farming but really it is for YOU! People are so far from the farm these days they wouldn't even be able to produce the food they need to survive, that's why you have hard working farmers trying to produce the most for YOU. Some individuals need to realize that just a bit more.

-It doesn't matter if you are a GMO farmer, non-GMO farmer or an organic farmer. We all have the same goal. To help feed the world. We have to find new ways to keep feeding the ever growing world. Thankfully technology has evolved to help us do that. That is larger equipment producing more efficient time management and a greater amount of acres we can produce for... You guessed it... YOU!

-I guess what I am trying to tell you, even if you don't quite understand or even know what exactly a farmer does/is go find one, ask questions and do me a favor. Don't bash one over the other. Respect. Everyone. All farmers. You may have opinions about why I should be an organic farmer, but I have studies and research to show you why we plant GMOs and back them up. To each their own.

We got a much needed rain this past weekend. A blessing for our wheat and corn. That is my update for this month. 

Cheers! 

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