Life on the Farm

[Pappy]

That mac is looking good BJ, and yep it looks like you are staying busy, hope you can make it over to ElmHall, love to see ya, never hear for any of the others that usually come, hope they make it and things are going well with them.
 Pappy

[chamookman]

Glad to hear, that things are going along well ! Truck is lookin' good * would like to take Her down the road (retired Truck Driver) .  Bob.

[bjrogg]

I hope you get to visit them Ben. I have a lot of cousins. I think it’s something like 162 first cousins. I see most of them every couple years.

Bjrogg

[Pappy]

Dang BJ I thought I had a bunch of first cousins at 38, momma had 13 brothers and sisters and dad just 1 brother. Pappy

[bjrogg]

Thanks pappy. I think we maybe got a little carried away for an old farm truck, but dang she is going to be a very nice truck and should be a worker for many years after I’m done.

I hope to make it to Elm Hall but fair week usually keeps me busy. I’ll try to sneak out for a visit if I can. Will look you up if I do

Yeah it took me a long time to find a girl I wasn’t related to in our neighborhood.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Thanks Bob. I’d love to see you take her for a trip. She really does look like new.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We did finish wheat yesterday. It is such a relief. It was all good quality and our yields were very respectable.

Today I hauled beet lime for our fields. We use limestone in the process of refining sugar. The limestone is dissolved and broken down into a fine powder that is a bi product. It is very well suited for use on our fields for keeping our ph levels correct.

Out of the wheat line and in the lime line. Went pretty good. I got two loads today. Be hauling more tomorrow

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

The beans are growing like crazy. Here’s some of our black beans. A few “pin beans” just starting to grow.

Bjrogg

[Pat B]

Brian, is there anything different about the corn market this year? I noticed our farmers are mostly growing soybeans instead of their usual corn. Just from road observations looks like about 75% soy to corn instead of the other way around.

[bjrogg]

Brian, is there anything different about the corn market this year? I noticed our farmers are mostly growing soybeans instead of their usual corn. Just from road observations looks like about 75% soy to corn instead of the other way around.

I can’t say anything for certain Pat. I’m afraid the price for both is pretty sad. We sold Pioneer Seed corn for 50 years. We haven’t grown corn in the past three years now. The only corn I plant is sweet corn in my garden and about 150 acres for my son which feeds his cattle.

Since we reduced acres we don’t really plant many of the conventional crops. We do plant wheat, but it’s kinda a special wheat that is mostly grown just in this area. We do plant a few soybeans , but mostly just on headlands and wedge rows in our sugar beet fields.

It’s hard saying what the reason is for the switch to soybeans in your area. Maybe a new crushing plant in the area? Maybe they didn’t have inputs bought and were afraid tariffs might make inputs hard to buy? Corn is more expensive to grow. Especially in our area were it doesn’t generally dry down naturally and needs to be dried at bin setup (which we don’t have). The best way to get money from our corn is to harvest it as silage and high moisture corn, put it in a bunker silo and feed it to cattle. Cattle like our cooler climate and generally do well here.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Man I have been crazy busy. Between hauling lime, spreading fertilizer, prepping ground for the seeding of our cover crops, the fair birthdays and family gatherings. I’m starting to feel a little tired. It’s good to get the work done though and our crops so far are looking good. That’s good. At least if the prices are poor I can look at nice crops and that’s what the farmer in me really enjoys.

The fair was good to my favorite granddaughter. It’s her last year and she has been showing at the fair for 13 years.

She was crowned the Bean Queen this year and I know she will make a very good queen. She is a smart lady and she will represent our growers and commodity well.

She also had reserve champion fat steer.

She also took first place as the small animal show person

It’s so hard to believe she’s all grown up . It seems like just a few years ago I was changing her diaper. ( I m sure she wouldn’t want me to say that so don’t tell her)
She might be my favorite granddaughter because I only have one, but I have a feeling that she would still be if I had more.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Our crops are looking good. The sugar beets that I planted into the rye are looking amazing. Hopefully they get made into sugar and not disposed of because we can’t get them processed.
Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

The temperature has been just about perfect for our black beans. Cool enough that it doesn’t dry up the blossoms before they pollinate, yet hot enough at times to keep the white mold in check.

The rows are full and it looks like they set the earlier pods good

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

I’ve been so busy that my dog is really missing me. She looks out the window hoping I will be home before it bedtime. She’s so happy when I am.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Oh almost forgot. The Mack made it out of the shop. Was a huge job, but I think it was worth it. She looks shiny new and has lots of new parts. Should be pretty trouble free and dependable for many years.

Bjrogg