Sept 30 2007

September 30, 2007

Greetings,

Row crop Harvest began this week in the area. Beans are coming off fast, weather permitting and even some corn. The corn is over 20 percent so I hear, but it is nice to get the crop in the bin or turned to cash, Especially if you made some good marketing decisions. I have not heard anything on yields yet.

How about that wheat price! I hate to sound like a spoil sport, but she has a ways to go before it gets to comparable price to the 70's. I was just thinking this week how having a rotation may not be such a bad idea after all. Here we were all thinking corn on corn last winter, but it appears the other crops will have to "buy acres", so why not maximize production with a rotation, spread harvest out, and not have all your eggs in one basket. Speaking of wheat, our winter wheat came up nicely with the rains coming right after planting, so she is off to a good start. I was just looking through some of the research data on spring wheat and it looks like Howard did well in the Ransom County tests as well. We just happened to pick Howard last year to try out a newer variety. Half a dozen other varieties in the test looked to be just as good. It looks like there is real fusarium head blight resistance in the newer wheats.

Titan Machinery has donated the use of a strip till machine which is due to arrive shortly. Our many thanks to them for their contribution. Our plan is to put fertilizer on with the strip till unit this fall. In the past we have not. We wanted to see if there was an advantage to just having the "black strip" to plant in. After 3 years, we are convinced both by yield and planting observations. I am hoping to modify a small sprayer with a honda motor that we can pull behind the machine to supply the fertilizer.

Have a good week.

Kelly Cooper- farm manager