The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The flag has been dropped, the lights have changed from red to green and the race is on! In one day the atmosphere in our area has become charged with energy, excitement and anxiety as we rush to the fields to start planting.
We are finally finished with our warm-up laps of spreading manure and digging up big rocks.
Al took to the fields this morning to seed in a new alfalfa field before rain showers move in this evening.
Mark is waiting for things to warm up a bit before he starts planting corn. He hates to plant too early and have expensive seed sitting in the cold wet ground doing nothing.
The calendar may say we are behind schedule, but the weather says we’re right on time.
For the past couple of years, we have been planting corn by the end of April and finished by the 10th of May.
We may not even be started by then this year. The calendar says we should be done, but the cold ground temperatures and lack of leaf buds on the oak trees remind us that everything has its season and timing. It just hasn’t been warm enough or dry enough to get going for many farmers before now.
A neighbor said that he did start planting last week. He planted his spreader and tractor in the middle of the field as the bottom fell out and he fell in. He says he will be waiting a little bit longer before he tries planting again.
There appears to be some hidden pockets of frost in the heavier soils over by Holdingford.
The hay fields even seem to be behind with the lack of sunshine and warm temperatures.
This winter when we were picking a date for Michael’s graduation party, we assumed it would be a “normal” year and we would be done with first cutting hay by Memorial Day and we could have his party in early June.
At the slow pace the hay is waking up, we may have to see how many people bring their chore gloves to the party. We could make it a hay stacking/graduation party.
The hay fields may also seem to be slow because of winter kill. The rains in February and the freezing temperatures that followed appear to have damaged some stands.
There are small pockets of green scattered throughout the dormant hay fields making it difficult to determine if it is dead or just slow to wake up. The crop adjusters will be here later this week to assess the damage.
We aren’t the only ones waiting to get in the fields.
My brother in Illinois is still waiting for things to dry out before he can start planting too.
At least there is some consolation in knowing that we’re still ahead of him for a brief moment but once he starts planting, he can cover quite a bit of land in a day. After Barry feeds his feeder cattle for the day, he fuels up the tractor, fills up his thermos and takes a seat for the next 12 hours.
We on the other hand have a few other responsibilities to take care of every day before the planter moves to the fields.
We have to find time to plant corn between chores, vet calls for DA’s, cows calving, picking rocks, prepping fields to plant and anything else that comes up needing immediate attention.
It may seem crazy and chaotic, but when things settle down and the planter is running at a steady pace, it seems to be a great time to unwind and enjoy the view.
I hope to start planting my garden this weekend as well. What a great way to spend Mother’s Day, in the garden with my “little” helpers planting potatoes, peas, lettuce and other spring vegetables. That is my time to unwind and enjoy the view.
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Column from - 5/4/2011
As their 4 children pursue dairy careers off the farm, Natalie and Mark are starting a new adventure of milking registered Holsteins just because they like good cows on their Minnesota farm. Natalie grew up in Stronghurst, daughter of Becky and the late Larry Dowell.
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