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| Spring 2006 - Fairfax, Iowa | |||||||
| 2006-8-6 This isn't your typical family reunion. This is 41,000,000 BTUs of fun.    2006-7-29 We got a couple inches of rain this past week, which should hold the crops over for a while now. Temperatures have been in the 80s, but we have high humidity too. I don't really like it, but it does help the crops. 2006-7-15 Today was the hottest day so far this year, and tomorrow will be a couple degrees hotter yet. We're at about 95 degrees in the afternoon hours, and it cools of to about 75 to 80 overnight. However, the humidity is high and we keep getting a very heavy dew each morning. That alone will probably keep the crops going through this heat wave. We are probably 50% done with pollination, and the humidity keeps the silks from drying out. 2006-7-10 We haven't seen rain in what seems like a very long time. We've got a chance for rain tonight and tomorrow, and the crops could really use it. The corn is just starting that pollination stage, where moisture and cool weather can be critical. 2006-7-9 Just a few loads of hay go into the barn this year. We don't use many "idiot cubes" anymore, but sometimes they are handy. The old farmall 300 keeps working, and the elevator it runs is quite old too. They do work good though. It's like a step back in time. I can only imagine the massive quantity of Belgium draft horses that once were popular around here.         2006-7-8 The soybeans are looking pretty good, but they want some rain. The japanese beetles are here, but they really seem to like smart weed this year. In a few places, they have moved into the edges of some soybean fields, but we haven't see the massive populations yet this year that we've seen in the past.     2006-7-1 The local town parade. We borrowed a MX285 from our local dealer, Quad County Implement, to pull the bank's float.         2006-6-27 Things are looking great here, although you don't have to travel too far to find some dry ground. We are probably a week away from pollination on the corn. The weather lately has been in the 70s and 80s, which is just perfect for corn. If we can get a few more inches of rain this season, things will be looking good this fall. 2006-5-27 Most of the soybeans are up, and things are looking great so far. We aren't hurting for moisture, but we could use some more rain. This weekend the temperatures are into the 90s, which should accelerate growth on the crops.       2006-5-22 Today marks the end of the planting season for us. The soybeans are done. The planter will be going right into the shed, since nothing should need to be replanted this season. Temperatures are expected to be into the 90s by the end of this week, which should really get the crops growing. The highlight of the past few days was a flat tire on the planter tractor. We noticed it two days ago, it won't hold air for more than a hour, and the sidewall is already shot. The tread was pretty worn down too, so we just ignored it and kept on planting. Today it finally came off the bead, but it's still on the rim. It does look a little ackward though. If we had more mud, it would have been a problem.          
2006-5-20                                     2006-5-18 As of yesterday afternoon, the planter is moving again. Hopefully we'll get to run for a few days before we get any more rain. 2006-5-12 It started raining early morning on the 9th. Nobody around here has been in the fields since. Temps are down in the 40s, but frost hasn't been a concern. Most of the corn is up and you can see rows in a lot of fields. More rain on the way for tonight and tomorrow. 2006-5-8 More soybeans...    
2006-5-7 We about 1/3 of way done planting the soybeans. Most of what we have left is no-till, so we are almost done with the great plains field finisher. We replaced 15 of the shovels on it this morning. It is no surprise that they wear out when they are 2 inches deep and hitting countless rocks at 8.5 MPH for hours on end. As for the planter, well, no news is good news. It just keeps moving and knocking off acres. Rain is in the forecast, so we'll probably be shut down for part of this week.                                                           
2006-5-6 We started planting soybeans a few days ago, and certainly have a way to go yet. In these pictures and video, we're tilling ground that we have incorporated treflan into earlier this season. We will plant soybeans into this within a couple days.  
2006-5-2 Big Red and the Blue 'Ru. One has a 300 HP 4-cyl, the other has a 375 HP 6-cyl. Technically, they both have all-wheel-drive, but big red has 4 more wheels, 10x the weight, and a zero-to-60 time of, um, never. They both have some issues with traction in loose surfaces, and red sometimes struggles with massive wheel hop. They are obviously very different machines, but one thing they do have in common, they are both more fun to drive than a Dodge Neon.    2006-4-28 As of today, we are finished planting corn. It has all been sprayed and we need a little rain to activate the herbicide. That will work out alright since rain is in the forecast for the next two days. 2006-4-23 A truly beautiful day today, but an interesting one. The coulters on the great plains field finisher have hydraulic adjustments this year, but the darn things won't stay timed. Some always go deeper than the others. We also had an alternator start to fail on the 8950 that we pull the planter with. Fortunately we have more than one magnum, so we had a spare alternator. The real interesting thing today is the sprayer though. Somehow the 800 gallon tank now only holds 783 gallons. We aren't really sure where the 17 gallons of space went, but it isn't there anymore. It held 800 last week. We had a little time this afternoon, so we picked up some rocks in one field. I lost my cell phone somewhere during that, but 12 phone calls later, we located it again. It did get sprayed though, so it shouldn't have any weed problems for a while.                 2006-4-22 We've got over 500 acres of corn in the ground now. The weather is beautiful and the forecast is for more of the same.                               
2006-4-20 We started planting corn here today. We have a chance of rain tonight, but the rest of the week looks like great weather for planting.     2006-4-15 Working with Treflan again today, spraying what acres we could before the wind picked up this afternoon. We also had to make sure we could immediately till all the acres we sprayed, since it is going to rain tonight. The forecast for most of this week is rain too. Treflan needs to be incorporated into the soil for it to work. Simply spraying it onto the ground, without any tillage to folow it, is pretty much useless. The instructions say to till it in withing 24-48 hours, but since there is a time limit, obviously the sooner, the better. Only one break-down for the day - a flat tire on the great plains tillage machine. This time it was a corn stalk that caused it, which is a fairly common thing. It is amazing how hard corn stalks can be on tires. This is the second flat tire on that machine this season. The first time was a rather large screw driver that caused the problem. We always seem to find odd stuff in the fields, and have no idea how it got there. Yesterday I picked up an old fence pliers with one of the shovels on the great plains machine.        
2006-4-14 We've been getting into the Treflan here on days when we can get in the field. Between the rain storms and the wind, it is a balancing act. We should have a pretty good run today as well, as long as the wind doesn't get too strong to spray.                         2006-4-2 The spring rains have arrived and brought the usual storms too. Just after dark tonight, these pictures show a slight clearing to the south.   2006-3-25 Not much happening around the acres lately. Just preping the equipment for spring. The planter has been through the shop to get some new coulters that were worn down. The Great Plains field cultivator is in the shop now getting fitted with hydraulics to adjust the coulters. That machine now has 23 hydraulic cylinders on it. In the 7th picture here, you can see our new tender truck with a 1600 gallon water tank. We're also going to be running a different sprayer this season, which I'll have some pictures of eventually. There is some anhydrous to apply yet this spring, so that rig is out too (the blue thing in the pictures).         2006-2-27 We had a pretty red sky this evening, which really highlighted the jet trails. The temperature today was above 50 degrees, and we're expecting 60 degrees tomorrow.     2006-2-18 It was a balmy -8 degrees this morning and my low-compression japanese 4 cylinder was not happy about that. Earlier this winter I once saw -12 on the thermometer, but alas, this is all I have a picture of.  2006-2-14 I caught up with 4 trucks of green machinery heading north. I suspect the destination was Canada, since that is what was on the trucks. Two new 9860s and two more trailers of headers.     2006-2-9 A light mix of snow and ice made for a fun drive home.  2006-2-4 Another overcast winter day in Iowa, but the sun was almost out.   |
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