Martin Family Farms

More of the same this

More of the same this week around the farm. We have been working with
our local implement dealer to get our planters ready for spring and getting in
more seed. This is a good sign that spring is around the corner. It is
hard to believe but in nearly a month we could be planting corn if the weather
is similar to how it was last year. That being said it is time to get the
winter list done and start to make sure we are prepared for spring. Every year
this time it starts to get exciting to prepare for the upcoming growing season
and think about what challenges we are going to have. We are supposed to
get some more snow this week so lets keep our fingers crossed, any precipitation
is welcome. We have also been busy going to basketball games for the kids
and our high school girls team which will be playing in the state tournament
this weekend. They have really been fun to watch and a good experience for
the whole community. In the picture below Drew is finally big enough
to reach the clutch this year. I had him pull a tractor out of the shed to get
some seed the other day and it was the first time he got to drive it “by
himself”. 

This is the time of

This is the time of year that we usually start to get the winter blahs, but
this past week we have tried hard to overcome it. On the farm we have
started getting the planters in shape for spring and fine tuning our herbicide
program for 2013. We also were able to welcome some baby goats to the farm
this week. They cam from Drews 4-H scramble goat he caught two years
ago. It was pretty exciting to have that happen for the first time. Erin
and I were also able to get away for a few days in Cancun for a couple of days.
We have received some more rain this week which is very welcome and slowly we
are beginning to get some moisture back in the ground.

We are posting the link

We are posting the link to the best super bowl commercial. 

 

http://youtu.be/AMpZ0TGjbWE

Wow! What a week of

Wow! What a week of extreme weather changes in our area. As I write
this now it is 60+ degrees and we are waiting on the big rain to move in. 
In 48 hours it is supposed to be 4 degrees and maybe snowing. We really
need the rain so hopefully it will soak in. This week we are
finalizing our 2013 chemical program and fine tuning our marketing
program. It appears this is going to be a very volatile year with the
markets and I think we have a lot of potential to go up or down. On one
hand we are coming off of a short crop and a lot of end users are going to have
a hard time finding enough corn to operate until next fall, and a lot of the
country is still in a drought. This would lead us to be somewhat bullish,
but we have also raised three below trend line crops in a row which would mean
in the next year or two we are due to have a bin buster which would drive prices
lower. Many of our export buyers are in a buy it as we need it mode and
probably waiting to see how 2013 develops. We are also waiting on the
delivery of our first baby goats this week. Drews 4-H scramble goat is ready to
kid any time now so we are hoping for the best. 

 

What a good week to

What a good week to have some cold weather, because we had plenty to do
inside to keep busy. With all of the basketball and baseball every weekend
the boys and I managed to sneak down to St. Louis for one day of the Cardinal
winter warm up. This is always a good time and the boys got to meet
several of the players and had a good time. It was also a sad weekend though as
we mourned the loss of Stan “The Man” Musial. It was a great time for the
boys to learn more about the history of Stan Musial and the cardinals. It
was really a touching moment when we stopped by the statue outside of the
ballpark.  

    We also spent a day at the winter meetings hosted by
Precision Planting this week. Every time I come away from one of their
meetings amazed at how we can use technology on the farm and this week was no
exception. Probably the most exciting thing for me yesterday was the
adoption of the cloud technology. This spring we will be able to monitor
our corn planters almost in real time no matter where we are at. We will
have an IPAD in each planter tractor and every 10 minutes information will be
sent into the cloud and then back down to our mobile devices so I can see what
any corn planter is doing at any given time or from any place that had internet
access. We will also be looking at adding this technology to our combines
this fall so we can split screen maps and observe data at our fingertips. Some
of the prescription technology that will be coming in the next few years also
looks like it has promise as we will be able to farm by the inch instead of the
acre.

This time of year we

This time of year we are usually busy emptying grain bins and hauling corn
to Decatur, but this winter is an exception because there is not any corn in our
bins just like most of the farmers in the area. It has been somewhat of a
slow winter for most farmers with no grain to haul. This is allowing us to
go to a few more meetings and catch up on a few things around the house and the
farm. This week we are focusing on what our chemical program will be for
the upcoming growing season. Products change from year to year and the
weed spectrum is becoming more of a challenge each year. Last year was a tough
year to make decisions with the lack of rain which is needed to activate the
chemical. We have been trying to change the products we use based in there mode
of action. The mode of action is how the specific herbicide kills the unwanted
plants and weeds. If the same chemical is used too many years in row it
could build up resistance to the chemical making it harder to kill in the
future. By switching products we are hoping to reduce resistance as much as
possible. We have also been attending a few meetings and fine tuning the
marketing plans for 2013. Next week we will be attending the winter
meetings for Precision Planting and will be looking forward to the new products
and opportunities they have to offer for next year. Check back next week for any
new developments that we learn from the meetings.

Well, the new year is

Well, the new year is off to a pretty good start on the farm. The
bookwork is caught up, and we are paying bills and putting the finishing touches
on the 2013 cropping plans. We are still in need of moisture with some nice
rains predicted the next couple of days so we will keep our fingers
crossed. This seems like kind of a slow winter with no grain to haul or
bins to clean out. We have been doing some odd jobs on some of the farms
like cutting brush and cleaning up where needed. It is also the meeting
season which keeps us busy for a day or two every week. It seems like we
are always trying to do something new or find a way to improve what we are doing
from year to year. Farmland sales have been pretty quiet in our area with
very few sales occurring. The class A farms that are selling are still in the
$10,000-$13,000 per acre range. It is hard to believe that prices have
stayed strong but it appears that they are going to stay strong for a
while. The grain markets are still a compelling question as we enter
2013. Fall cash prices are decent but a lot of people are going to be
scared to sell ahead because of last year and the low moisture conditions that
we are facing now. Time will tell but I am guessing if we have a good crop
$6 corn will look like a pretty good price next fall. This also brings on
basketball season and this year all three of the boys are playing which is
great. We also spent 4 days over Christmas break going to camps for both
baseball and basketball which kept me and the kids busy but we wouldn’t have it
any other way.

Here is the you tube

Here is the you tube link to our 2012 Family Farm Video

 

Check out our 2013Family Farm

Check out our 2013Family Farm Video

 

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=11cfbf4d0270a5c79ad1b62&skin_id=1603&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Merry Christmas from all of

Merry Christmas from all of us at Martin Family
Farms