Sunday, February 9, 2014

February 9th...

What a long winter it is becoming.  Rather than bore you with the usual activities of us hauling corn and moving snow, I thought I would include photos from years ago. Also, my father is a well-disciplined historian and he gave me some interesting factoids looking back on the "4" years.

10 yrs ago....2004

  • Corn price was $2.60 per bushel
  • Soybean price was $8.19 per bushel
  • Across our farm the corn yielded 205 bpa while soybeans were 61.5 bpa
20 yrs ago...1994
  • Corn price was $2.50 per bushel
  • Soybean price was $6.70 per bushel
  • Farm yield averages; corn 187 bpa & soybeans 55 bpa
  • Operating note interest rates were around 8-9%
30 yrs ago...1984
  • Corn price was $3.17 per bushel
  • Soybean price was $7.50 per bushel
  • Farm yield averages; corn 164 bpa & soybeans 46 bpa
  • We also had 22 acres of wheat that yielded 76 bpa on flat, black ground
  • In 1984 we had 10% of our corn base acres in set aside growing alfalfa
  • Operating note interest rates were around 12.5%
31 yrs ago...1983
  • very large and wide-spread drought in our area
  • corn yields were 111 bpa and soybeans only 37 bpa


The new 4320 tractor arrives on the farm.


4630 outfitted for fall tillage

March 1976 - our 4630 tractor with mounted tanks so we could apply herbicides while we ran the field cultivator in the spring.

January 1977 - snow drift taller than the pickup.  This drift was out in the middle of the prairie...

Playing in the snow this past weekend.