May 26, 2006

News for the Week:

Hi,

Well, its been an interesting planting season, and it is not over yet. I have heard a lot of comments that this has been one of the worst years for planting no till and conventional till as well. Having done irrigation scheduling for several years, it is apparent that with out getting temperatures into the 80's you do not get much drying. I think our first 80 degree day was last week. We have been spending a lot of time unplugging the gauge wheels of the planter. It seems that unless you have grey soil, you don't get to far down the field. Using the trash cleaners has not been real productive. As soon as you take the residue off, the mud is right there and you will plug up. It did get much better when the wind came up and the temperature hit 80. But then of course it rained again. The spring wheat looks pretty nice, the winter wheat is poor to good. The flax did not freeze off this year and there is a reasonable stand.

Have a good week.

Kelly Cooper- farm manager