WI Farm Life: Rain, Pictures & Jason's Corn

Farmers are forever optimistic. For that reason we had Jim cut a couple strips of hay yesterday. They also live in reality, and also for that reason we didn't have him cut the rest of it. When we went to bed last night there was nothing on the radar to indicate that our optimism was flawed. Over night we heard lots of thunder and lightening around us and we still thought maybe optimism was on track. Then it started to rain and we had hopes that most of it would go someplace else. We woke up this morning to the reality that we had gotten 1.9 inches over night. No making hay for a couple days anyway, and when we manage to get out there we will probably be chopping small loads to minimize ruts and soil compaction in our fields. I like to chop. I also like to make BIG loads. Hmmmm This abundance of rain takes its tole on the pasture. 1500# cows with 4 pegged legs can make pretty deep holes wherever they walk. I am glad they are traveling to the pasture on the lane that is already improved or they would be wading through mud in their travels. On the positive side of all of this, our garden is in! The nice thing about the rain is it actually gave us a day off so we had a picnic dinner with family. Before milking tonight I did bed the hutches again. It is impossible to keep them dry with this much rain.

Our yard looks pretty darned funny. I had started mowing on the upper yard when the mower started causing trouble. When the guys were diagnosing its problems they made a few loops around in another area of that yard. After they put the part on they hoped would fix it Jim made a few passes on our yard, again leaving patches that he didn't get to while he continued to figure out what the problem is. We now have patches and stripes of mowed and unmowed lawn all over the place. Pretty cute.