The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to ever one in Western Illinois and all readers of The Quill, young and older alike.
It is good to be with youn's agin this week and ta pause fer a spell, relax, and share some one-sided conversation.
July and Small Grain Harvest
Here it is, already with just about one week left fer the month of July 2014. Second cutt'n of hay is mostly put up, wheat is mostly harvested, along with Rye raised fer seed fer cover crops. Won't be long till the oat harvest is completely finished and most fellers have already baled or are maken plans fer bale'n straw fer their winter needs.
Fly'n Machines
I kinda feels sorry fer those cash grain folk that have no livestock and raise noth'n but corn and soybeans along with a spurt or two of excitement at the coffee shop.
One thing about it is, they do provide plenty of excitement by engage'n those yeller fly'n machines to apply fungicides with a good deal of arial acrobatic.
Earlier, they was a fly'n on added nitrogen fer their corn crop. I don't envy them fellers in the plane one bit. They's got a very tight time frame ta get a highly dangerous job accomplished with weather and wind sometimes complicate'n things.
If'n ya applies those fungicides to early, relative ta corn tassel'n, ya hurts the yield. Applied to late after brown silk and ya've wasted your money.
With corn prices as low as they are, along with soybean prices, some fellers is a calculaten in their heads and on the back of a seed sack as ta whether they can justify the extra expense or not.
The yield gain from spray'n fungicides, they figure, might be less than the cost of the spray application.
Most farmers are optimists however, and they shoot fer the best they can do. They is a hope'n prices will get better later on. Hope is eternal!
Other folk sees them planes a buzz'n around and look at the corn prices fall'n ever week. They figures those fellers incurr'n that extra expense on top of a crop what at these prices, already is a looser, don't make much cents." They figure the feller spend'n that-a-way has an elevator what don't go all th' way ta th' top!"
However ya looks at it, I figure I'm side'n in, along with the boys, ta the idea of try'n your best and keep'n them planes in business. They gots ta make a live'n also and they've got a lot of money tied up in just one plane, fer the farmers benefit.
Exaggerations
Last Saturday morn'n as I was a listen'n ta the early farm reports I heard a feller talk'n on this years crop and a speal'in over the air waves about how good the crop looked to him.
Then he highly emphasized the statement that this years crop looked better than he has seen in a long, long, long, time.
Now, long, long, long, time is one of them remarks which falls in the "relative" category. It's relative ta what you are compare'n to or compare'n with. Maybe ta him a long, long, long time covers a time frame of three or four months.
If'n ya is a mosquito with a short life span, I suppose three or four months is a long, long, long time.
But, neither him, or the speculators he was a talk'n to, or the farmer, is a mosquito. In fact his reference point implied he meant many many years in his statement.
Well, as a feller dwells on his flamboyant statement fer a spell he wonders where he was last year. Many farmers reported yields as the "best they ever had," oft times 220 ta 240 bpa.
Apparently, either that radio feller was not around last fall at harvest time, or he has a short memory on record crops, or last fall is longer than a long, long, long time.
It is possible, one might suppose, that the feller talk'n on the radio, who runs a number of elevators, what buys corn from the farmer, might calculate his smooth talk ta beat prices down even further.
Then there's the larger farmer what is tell'n around he has a 40,000 corn population per acre and in check'n his field the ear has 18 rows around on the average and is filled out clear to the tip.
The boys did some quick calculate'n on the back of a napkin and figures that would be a yield of over 260 bpa.
Well, one of the boys sez he's never seen a full field of corn what averages 18 rows around and besides it's to early ta be filled out clear to the tip of the ear.
Another one of the fellers at the Henderson County Fair last week, and is a large landowner who rents his land out, sez "with them kind of yields, I'm raise'n the cash rent fer next year."
Ya wouldn't believe how quickly them braggers clammed up. Silence and apparent deep think'n fell on the group. Even those fellers "what always tell th' truth, even if'n they hafta lie ta do it," remained silent.
One of the fellers at the fair, "who lies so much he hasta' have his wife call th' dog," spoke up eventually and told the landlord, who talked of raise'n the rent, "actually there is a lot of fields off in his part of the township what don't look so good, now that he reflects on the matter." But then Bill Jones sez, "the only way that feller cud' become a bigger liar is if'n he'd put on more weight!"
I suppose ever one gots an angle and perspective ta things. As fer me, I'm satisfied ta be patient ta wait and see what the actual results will be. Not gonna borrow trouble from the future, me thinks.
John Adair
The boys and I give their condolences ta another good livestock man up North, John Adair, who passed away last Sunday. He had a long hard struggle, was a mighty good man, and will be sorely missed.
Hope'n ta see ya in church this week.
Wherever ya is, what ever ya be a do'n BE A GOOD ONE!!
Keep on Smile'n
Catch ya Later
BARNYARD BRUKE