Good Farmer Day

Ed came over while we were milking and started cleaning the steer yard.  It's the last big area to clean and it seemed funny hearing our equipment seemingly running itself.  He managed to get 12 loads hauled before it got too sticky in the field.  This time of year we try to spread on frost.  If we don't, too much of our dirt sticks to the tires and is drug out on the road.  Not only is this messy, its our dirt and it needs to stay in the field. Another reason we have to spread on frost is our soils are very fine textured (heavy clays) and therefore compact easily. Plants need oxygen around their roots to grow properly and if you smash it down its like trying to get them to grow in a black top road.  Historically Bruce has spent a couple nights getting up at 2 a.m. and hauling for a few hours on frost just to get the job done while keeping our fields intact.  From the looks of things so far he will get to sleep in this spring.

Last year Bruce had some medical issues that consumed much of his time with appointments.  Today he had a final appointment to be released from one of the doctors so we turned the day into a medical-farm business-farmer date day.  Recently we have changed some of our corporate structure so we had paperwork to update at the local Farm Service Agency office.  With that paperwork complete we wandered down the hall to the Land Conservation office to discuss having 40 acres of strips remarked before planting.  Our crops are planted in strips approximately 105 feet wide.  We do this width to accommodate our 6 row corn planter but it also makes harvest more efficient.  We plant in strips and alternate crops for both soil erosion control and pest management.  Marking them is a free service but we are glad we went in since Mike already had 500 acres on his "to do" list this spring.  Another farmer stop was to order a step for the tractor that got broken.  Sixty dollars was less than Bruce expected but he still isn't happy about the fact he broke it.  The last stop was for the standard dairy supplies like milking paper towels and such, but we also brought home 5 tennis balls for the dog.  Crazy doesn't come close to how excited he got!   Within all of that was a farmer "date" with dinner out.

Today Bruce had 4 more heifers to breed.  That means there is only 1 left of that group.  Hopefully she will cooperate soon.  After they are all bred we have to watch them closely at about 21 days for return heats (next cycle).  Then at 30 days we can do blood draws for pregnancy checks, so the waiting begins.

Mornings are still a little rough but it's nice to have more daylight later in the day.  It feels more like spring every day....a reminder of the winter list of "to do's" still not done and the spring list sneaking up in importance.  All of that means this year is pretty much normal : )