Field Maintenance on the Farm

After the winter wheat has been seeded (if you listen closely enough I am sure you can still hear the collective sigh of relief not only from us, but other area farmers as well), we try to get as much field maintenance work done and often have to work around the Fall rains.  Sometimes we don't get very much accomplished due to the wet weather. 

Believe it or not, fields like anything else, require continued maintenance every year.  Each Fall we try to put in drain tile so excessive ground water can be carried out of the field and keep it from getting swampy. By not having these mud holes in the spring when we are trying to seed can speed up the time frame of getting the crop planted sometimes by a week or more. Timing is everything when it comes to getting the crop in the ground. 

Here are pictures and  videos of the actual process for putting in the tile.   On this particular field, it is rented ground and we are incurring the expense of putting in the tile. We own this tiler so this helps bring the cost down by not having to hire a company to do this task.  Some landlords will pay for the upgrade, some will not, so we feel incurring the cost of this project is worthwhile.  By installing tile it will improve the ground and allows for better crop yields and of course, this makes the landlord happy (so come lease renewal time, they are willing to renew the leases).




The roles of tile on the trailer



Jay & Cody unrolling the tile

Tile being laid in the ground

Tile being laid in the field, this is a labor intensive process

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Life on the Farm, February 6, 2010

As my husband, Joe and I were driving to Pullman today around 3pm, the sun was out and it was truly feeling like an early Spring day. You could see a glimmer of green in the fields, which are the little blades of winter wheat peeking out of the ground. I think it is going to be an early spring for us as we have not gotten any snow, the temps are in the 40s and it is expected to stay that way throughout February.

This picture (above) is from spring work last year. The silver tanks on the tractor and the small silver container at the very end are ammonia, which is nitrogen fertilizer. The implement right behind the tractor contains a dry blend of phosphate, nitrogen & sulfur in one of the yellow tanks and seed in the other yellow tank.

The next implement is the tool that puts the dry fertilizer and seed into the ground. In this picture (below) it shows the part of the machine called "openers" that go into the ground (to plant the seeds along with the fertilizer). I'll make short video clips that will explain this process more, so keep watching.

The reason Joe and I were heading to Pullman is that we were invited for dinner with one other farmer couple to enjoy a casual dinner with our friends who also are part owners of chemical company whom we do business with. Dinner and conversation was great and it was fun to get to know the other couple.

As I had mentioned before in other blogs, the winter season is a time for farmers to attend meetings and the day before, Joe had attended a continuing education meeting hosted by a few chemical companies that were promoting their newest products. In these meetings, they often will serve as way to help educate the farmers in the proper application of chemicals. Many farmers hold certifications to apply certain herbicides on the crops and must maintain current educational credits to keep their license.