Monday, April 28, 2014

Corn planting season...

Corn planting began for us on April 10th and by the 26th we had all our corn planted. The ground worked up as nice as it ever has providing for a very good seed bed; almost like a garden.  After three days of planting we were knocked out of the fields by cold rains which eventually switched over to snow showers.  Having 600 acres of corn planted as you watch it snow outside can be nerve racking.  But the weather quickly warmed again and temperatures and the humidity elevated quickly.  We left our plantings in Logan and Morgan counties towards the end and finished up with them this past Saturday.  It was getting very dry in our immediate area and many local farmers had already switched over to planting their 2014 soybean crop.  Luckily, rains fell over this past weekend and again this afternoon to give the corn seedlings a much needed drink.  In fact, the corn we planted the first three days of the season is already emerged and looks quite good despite the stretch of colder weather.  We feel very fortunate to have our corn planted in this window compared to other farmers we hear about in Northern Illinois who may have just gotten started.  Last year we finished planting our corn on June 8th due to the extremely wet planting season.  This year we struggled to find wet soils; even in the low lying areas that are typically wet.  The corn planting season wasn't without struggles; from broken tillage equipment, to a $350 cable that tells the tractor the planter is behind it, to a bad fuse that shut off the bulk seed handling system.  But everything was repairable and we were able to finish in good time.  Recent rain falls have totaled between 1.1 and 2.0" so the next time we are able to get in the fields we will begin planting our soybean crop. 

Thank you to all our employees and suppliers who put in long hours to make corn planting go so smoothly.

We can cover a lot of acres in a day with the 60' planter

Bob planting his first field of corn - 2014

The boys out for a weekend tractor ride with Dad.
They like to push any and all buttons.

Corn planted in 20" rows following a fall pass with a 20" strip-tillage bar and anhydrous ammonia.  Looks good!

Broken wing weld on our field cultivator.  Things like this just happen during the spring.

Owen and Max dressed up for Easter church service

Our first corn planted on April 10th has emerged

Monday, April 7, 2014

Spring planting gets closer...

The weather has started to change and signs of spring are near.  We have been busy completing spring projects and we even had a day of tillage on April 1st before storms brought 2.5" of much needed rainfall.  Surprisingly, the ground absorbed the heavy rains much quicker than we anticipated and the forecast looks promising for a window to plant a few acres of corn later in the week. We are staying with our winter plans for "x" number of corn and soybean acres. Although, this year we will again be planting some nonGMO/Hard Endosperm corn along with roughly 450 acres of nonGMO soybeans.  Stay tuned to our blog as I hope to update it more frequently now that we are busy once again.

If you are in the market for a used Kenworth semi, we are selling one of our trucks.  You can see it listed below along with a link to NewAgTalk.com where it is listed with more details.

Working down corn stalks on a field that was tiled last fall - April 1st

Sewing grass on a waterway where we installed a new tile

Cutting brush back on tree lines

Trimming trees on the Arnold Home farm

Draining the backed up water off before we fixed the tile riser

New tile riser installed on the Arnold 100 after we fixed the broken clay tile

Loading the dry fertilizer cart on Huppe Trucking's semi headed to it's new home in Elsie, Michigan

2000 Kenworth T800 for sale - 639,000 miles
http://talk.newagtalk.com/classifieds/Classified.aspx?id=9844