Life on the Farm

[bjrogg]

Planting sugar beets

[bjrogg]

Sugar beets

[bjrogg]

Waiting out the rain shower

[bjrogg]

I did finish up planting sugar beets. I planted into a lot of residue from the still living rye. At times I even thought this is crazy . I can’t plant into this mess, but then I would get off the tractor and scratch the ground like an archeologist looking for my seed. It was always right where I wanted it. I feel pretty good about it and hopefully we get a good stand

We didn’t get the rain they were predicting. I’m glad I planted them deep enough to be in good moisture. Especially the way the wind has been blowing. It can dry down before the beets germinate or worse yet . After  they germinate but before they get a good root system.

I would like to see it warm up a little bit before I plant any corn. Still pretty chilly here.


While I was planting the guys got the six axle frame sandblasted and replaced the poor metal they cut out. Still a few things to do but getting close to ready for paint.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Six axle frame sand blasted

[bjrogg]

Yesterday was very windy.  My brother and nephew worked at painting the six axle frame. They got two coats on it.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

The rest off us worked at changing the wheels on the sprayer. We put short fat tires on for putting fertilizer on the wheat. It carries better and doesn’t make as deep of tracks.

Now we are going to need the skinny tall wheels for spraying crops planted in rows. The skinny tires will fit in between the rows. The fat ones won’t. It’s a little trickier than changing a tractor tire.

We made a special “Jack” to lift the sprayer with a tractor. It takes a couple hours to complete the transformation.

It went pretty good except for the wind blowing and all the dirt in the air.

This is the main reason we started planting cover crops. There many more reasons but this is the main one.

Not sure if you can see it, but the first picture is dirt blowing from neighbors field through the trees in our fence row. You can hardly see our trees. They are going to catch a lot of the neighbors top soil but not all of it

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

This is a picture of our field that I planted in to the heavy rye residue and still alive rye. It is holding the ground in place. Zero dirt blowing. In fact it is catching topsoil from the neighbors.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

I stopped by the beach on my way home. I saw two freighters on the lake. I’m thinking it had to be scary out there in that wind

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

We finished painting six axle frame. Putting everything back together. New slack adjusters, and brake chambers. All the air bags and tanks. New air lines. Might have it ready for wheat harvest yet. Still a long way to go but it’s nice to be putting back together instead of tearing apart.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Putting six axle back together

[chamookman]

Lookin' good Bud. Bet it was a bit "Lumpy" on the Freighters that day too  !  Bob

[bjrogg]

Lookin' good Bud. Bet it was a bit "Lumpy" on the Freighters that day too  !  Bob

Yes you couldn’t have paid me enough to be out there with that wind Bob. It was scary just watching it from the shore.

We got a little shower yesterday. Not much but pretty good timing and I think it will help a lot of beets that were planted earlier. There was a little crust on top they were struggling with. This should help.


Our beets are starting to poke out. Would prefer it was a little warmer, but I’m pretty hopeful that we will have a really good stand of sugar beets.

The ones planted nine days ago are coming up nicely.

Not sure if you can see them in resized pictures but I can see the rows.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

I’m pretty sure our beets will make it.

I wish it was a little warmer to plant corn, but it’s getting to be time to start. I switched planter over to corn.

Fixed a fertilizer pump and several other not very glamorous but necessary jobs.

Bjrogg

[WhistlingBadger]

Always good to see sugar beets going in...makes me miss home.  Do you have a processing plant nearby?  Sugar factory stick is the smell of Worland, Wyoming, my original hometown.  Absolutely awful, but the farmers always called it the smell of money.