Week ending March 26th...

Bob leveling the newly installed tile lines on the Daubard Farm

Bob applying Anhydrous Ammonia on the Atwood Farm

A view at the plow on the tile machine as it's lowered into the start of a 4" lateral

The 6" main on the Emerald Acres West 20 - we had water running through it within an hour after it was installed

Russell Maul multi-tasking while digging starts for the laterals with the excavator

What a week for working on jobs prior to planting. On Monday Bob disked down the newly installed tile lines on the Daubard 80 and by Tuesday the 75 degree weather allowed the soils to dry enough to begin applying anhydrous ammonia. Precision Drainage completed all our jobs around the Ashland area and moved to Greenfield to begin work on another project for us. They pattern-tiled what we call "Emerald Acres West 20" on 50 foot centers and in the wet spots we narrowed them up to 25 feet centers. An hour after they had ran the main, it was one-third full and draining water out of the field.

A few farmers in the area worked ground with their field cultivators this past week, but with the mid 30's temperatures towards the end of the week it seems as though it will be a while before any planters start.

Week ending March 19th....

Tile, tile, and more tile was the name of the game this week. Precision Drainage was able to resume work again on our Daubard farm on Monday. By Thursday they had it completed and were moving on to our Martin farm to install a couple short runs of tile. While Bob and Dad were working with Precision Drainage, David made quick work of getting the seed tender trailer and chemical spray trailer all re-assembled and ready for use. The weather towards the end of the week has been amazingly warm and the soils have dried nicely. Some field work did occur this past week, however it was northwest of us near Macomb where a few farmers were putting on anhydrous ammonia. We are trying to not get too excited as the forecast is calling for snow showers and temperatures in the low 40's late this upcoming week. Go ILLINI beat those Jayhawks!

Week ending March 12th...

This past week we finished hauling soybeans, took delivery of much of our 2011 seed corn, and worked on shop projects. We also took advantage of the warmer weather on Saturday and trimmed trees and burnt brush-piles down on our Greene County farms.

Rainfall for the week was 0.21" at the Williamsville farm up to 0.56" at the Greenfield farms. While the soil is still saturated, the forecasted warmer and sunny days this week will do wonders to help dry the soil out. Maybe we will even get some more tile laid on the Daubard farm.... We'll see.

If you are in the market for a used pull-behind sprayer, we are selling our's. Check out more details at: http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=6169194.

Week ending March 5th...

Hauling corn from the bin at the University of Illinois Farm

Loading the truck with soybeans from the Aggertt bins

Owen investigating the Ashland Volunteer Fire Department's truck

This past week we continued to haul grain from our bins to the river and rail terminals. The warmer weather was a welcomed change, but as the frost has left the ground it presents a new set of challenges trying to move 80,000 lbs of grain and trucks down soft gravel driveways. However, we did manage to work around the soft driveways and get a lot of grain hauled. Just as the sunshine was starting to dry out our soils, we received another 3/4's of an inch of rain on Friday evening. Our soils are now completely saturated and it sure doesn't feel like we will be having an early spring - but time will tell.

Today we attended the Ashland Volunteer Fire Department's annual pancake and sausage fundraiser. Owen had a blast running through their training course and climbing all over the fire engines outside.

This week we will wrap up hauling the remaining contracted soybeans, begin taking seed corn delivery and finalize crop insurance decisions for the 2011 crop.

Week ending February 26th...

This week I had the opportunity to present to Owen's preschool class about farming and agriculture. It was quite interesting to present to a group of two and three year olds. We visited about corn and soybeans and how those grow throughout the year. We also discussed what foods the kids eat that contain bi-products of corn and soybeans. I also took in some of Owen's tractors, combines, and semi's which Owen gladly demonstrated; the combine dumping on the go, the grain cart into the semi, and he also planted a few acres of corn on the rug. At the end of our presentation we gave each child a grab bag that contained balloons, cow pencil erasers, and coloring books courtesy of the Illinois Beef Association. It was a great experience and I highly encourage those in agriculture to take advantage of every opportunity to speak to groups outside our industry; including preschoolers...

Week ending February 12th...

Since we launched our website and blog we have had many people contact us about our business. The most recent and interesting was Ant Bowker from South Africa. Ant is a 36 year old, 4th generation, 4,000 acre corn and soybean farmer in Standerton, South Africa. South Africa is Africa's largest corn producing area and has a climate similar to ours, but they have dry winters instead of what we've had the last couple of months. Ant contacted us to see if we could visit from time to time and share ideas on corn production. In a sense, we have become modern-day "pen-pals." He has given me permission to show some of his farm's pictures and I intend to do that from time to time depending on what we have to share. I thought you all might like to see pictures of green crops this time of year since until today we have lived in an over-cast grey skyed world. The growing season in South Africa is exactly opposite as we have - i.e., when we are planting in early April they will be beginning harvest. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Week ending February 5th...

David clearing the snow on dad's driveway.

Owen enjoying the fresh snow.

The majority of our week was spent inside staying out of the blizzard and extremely cold weather. We received approximately 11-14" of snow along with 40 mph winds which made for complete "white-out" conditions. It was the first time in a long time where the snow drifts actually rivaled those in the late 70's and early 80's at least in our general area.

We continue to perform general maintenance in the shop and haul corn to the river as the weather allows, but this week little was accomplished due to the weather. Despite the cold and snowy conditions, Owen was able to get outside and climb all over the snow drifts and take in a little sledding. I have learned that as long as he is having fun, he will never admit that he's cold...