Martin Family Farms

Nice Rain...

After a excellent stretch of planting we have received about 1.6" of rain spread out over a three day period. This is just what the doctor ordered for what was done the past three weeks in our area. There have been some places receive some heavier rain, but what we have gotten has been almost perfect. Now if we can just dry up this week so we can finish up with the corn planting and move to soybeans.  Until then we will be doing some much needed equipment maintenance, and gearing up for the next round. We will also be keeping a close eye on emerging corn making sure there will not be any problems that we have to deal with. I do not think it rained hard enough to form a crust. The first planted corn is emerging nicely and with a good day of sun think we will have a lot of corn out of the ground. Now it will be time for a little turkey hunting in the mornings.

Whew......

We are getting a little light rain this morning which is allowing us to slow down a gear or two. I think we have just been through one of the best stretches of corn planting in a long time. As of today we are about 80% done with our corn. We still have some chemicals to put on and nitrogen to apply, but we are very happy with the position we are in. A nice rain will be welcome by all the farmers in this area. It will help soften the soil up plus give us a little break. Since the first week of April we have been working 18 hour days. With the auto-steer technology it allows us to work a lot more at night and not feel as tired. We have planted into about every condition possible this week from chiseled ground, no-till stalks, spring NH3 and a few others.  Below is a picture of the I Guide receiver on the planter. This sends a signal to the receiver on the tractor telling it where to steer. It eliminates a lot of the implement drift and keeps the distance between the guess rows at 30".

What a week...

Wow!! What a good stretch of weather we are having in our area. After today is over we will be about half done with our corn planting. This has been the longest stretch of work we have had in the spring in more than two years. There is lots of activity this past week ranging from soybean harvest, anhydrous application, corn planting and lots of ground being worked. The soil is not in very good shape. It seems to be hard and cloddy form all of the moisture the past two years.  We have some ground that could use a little rain and some that is still too wet to work on. With all of the warm dry weather you would think that it would dry out, but with all of the compaction last year the ground is having a hard time doing that. Some people in our area are almost done planting and some have not started yet. It all depends on how much work they had to do from last fall. With a lot of anhydrous being applied in the spring a lot of guys like to wait 5-10 days before they plant into that to reduce root burn.

This week we have another good forecast up to Friday. We have been working ground with two tractors, running two corn planters, spraying and planting trees. It looks like another busy week, but we are loving every minute of it.

The wheels are turning...

By Thursday we will have had a full week of work in for the first time in about two years.  We should finish up with anhydrous application this week. We have been planting a little bit and will have about 20%  done by the end of the week. The ground conditions are a little different this year. Usually in the spring the soil is nice and mellow, but this year it seems that a lot of the ground is hard and tight and not drying out as it normally would. I guess with all of the rain and compaction from last year that is to be expected. After a week of warm windy weather we still have places that are too wet to work in. So far the best field conditions that I have planted in have been fall strip-till and no-till bean stubble. I am so use to planting into the nice strips that it is hard to get adjusted to planting in worked ground with dirt clods and wheel tracks. Hopefully next fall will allow us to get our strips made. The big question around here is how long should we wait to plant behind anhydrous? I have heard 3-10 days. We are waiting 5-7 days on all of our ground. The forecast looks good for another week with only a small chance of rain Thursday night. I hate to say it, but a 1/4"-1/2" rain is what some of this ground needs.

We were lucky enough to miss the rain on some of the farms the other day and started putting on anhydrous last night. We should be able to get the planters going this weekend and keep going into next week with the forecast for good weather. We are ready to go!!!

Almost there...

Last week we did manage to get some anhydrous applied, and some of ground leveled off, but it was still just a little to wet to start planting. We did get the planter out and make a few rounds to make sure everything was working. I was not happy with the ground conditions so we took it back to the shed. Even though it is tempting to get going (after the last two springs) I still do not want to plant in wet conditions yet. Hopefully we will have some drier days ahead. If we would have missed the rain this past weekend we could have planted the first of the week. For the weekend we had a little over a half inch of rain with more predicted this week. We need to have 10 days of warm windy weather to really dry out the ground enough to get some work done. There are still a lot of fields (ecspecially with all of the residue from last fall) that are not drying out very fast because of all of the subsoil moisture. 

On a brighter note this past week Erin and I found out that child #4 will be a girl. This will be the first girl in our family and first grandaughter on both sides. Due date is September 3. 

Check out the Beyond the Rows blog interview.

I was asked this week to make some comments on the Monsanto blog called Beyond the Rows. They were reviewing the recent USDA report and the unofficial start to planting season.

http://blog.monsantoblog.com/2010/03/31/2010-plantings-report/

April Fools....

Wow, who would have thought that we would have mid 80's and windy on April 1st this year. This was a day to remember in our area as we had people starting to plant corn, putting on nitrogen, leveling ground, and finishing up bean harvest. Yes that is what I said. If you were in our area you could see all of those things happening today. A lot of our ground is still a little to wet to plant, but there are some dry fields, and there was a few people out trying to work in those dry fields. We started with anhydrous, and leveling ground and then proceeded to make a couple of rounds with the new corn planter to make sure everything worked. I usually do not like the first day we are in the field because we are wanting to get something done, but usually spend all day setting up  and fine tuning  equipment. Today we managed to do all of those things and still cover a little ground. At the end of the day I would say it was a good start!