April 23 2007

April 23, 2007

The wheat is in! I was lucky enough to get going Wednesday. I got the drill from Dave Hassebroek, got things set, the RTK towers set up, seeded one bulk area and 2 plots before dark. The rain got slowed down and Thursday was a beautiful sunny day with a great drying wind. The seeding went excellent with no plots too wet. I finished with the 1560 disc drill of Dave's about 3:00 and pulled the Concorde out to the plots with the pickup. The sky was turning dark blue in the south by the time I got Dave's drill cleaned out so time was getting short. I got the Concorde hooked up to the tractor, set the GPS and it started to rain. Fortunately, the first blast of rain was light so I was able to get the shank till plots in as well. Rain amounts at the plots 1.14 Thursday and Friday, 0.42 Saturday night. Areas around Forman got more. I hear 3 inches at Milnor, 2.5 southeast and 2.25 southwest. It is looking like the late application of glyphosate took out the foxtail barley on the soybean stubble. One of the 2006 spring plots was heavily infested last year with foxtail barley and there is a whole bunch coming again. That plot will be soys this year so there are weed control options.

Our new MX305 from Titan is a total joy! It was amazing to me to watch the outside drill row running seven inches away from the winter wheat row that was seeded last fall. Dave told me to watch the drill close as there might be some seed tubes plug up. With the tractor on autopilot, instead of glancing briefly at the drill to see if things are working you glance briefly forward to see how close you are to the end of the field. It is really nice to be able to keep a close eye on the seeder.

As it has been the last 15 years, we are hoping for dry weather. At least this year some much need rain has fallen to west. Next on the list, stream bar 28% on the winter wheat.

Have a good week.

Kelly Cooper- farm manager