I’ve been busy going from farm to farm all week feeding our growing corn crop. The rest of the crew have been helping me out shuttling around wagons and leaving my truck somewhere close so I can get to lunch and home in the evening. Enjoy the photos!
Hungry Corn
This is a fun shot I grabbed on the move while my GoPro rode on the applicator courtesy of a magnet mount. I’ve been running this rig for about two weeks applying Nitrogen to corn and popcorn, and this was shot on one of my final passes.
My MegaCab shuttled around a lot of anhydrous ammonia wagons. Our fertilizer dealer brings the wagons to the field or the shop at our request, and then I pull them up close to the applicator to hook on. Moving them around with the truck keeps the tractor and applicator from smashing more corn than necessary. Feeding the corn N after emergence should lead to less loss of N than applying only in the early spring and in the fall after harvest.
Coworkers hanging out on the grass ditchbank.
Head on with the tractor and applicator. I always get questions about smashing the corn crop. As you can see it’s all designed to stay between the rows except when I turn on the ends.
An NH3 wagon hooked on to the applicator. Look for a full post on this topic in the near future. I’ll get into the details of how and why we do this.
Wonderful Wheat
Planting corn, popcorn, and soybeans isn’t that far behind us, but the wheat is starting to turn now. In the next three or four weeks it will begin to mature and the grain will dry down. Harvest won’t be too far away. If we can harvest in the first few days of July, and the weather cooperates, we’ll plant soybeans immediately after harvest. We’ve had pretty good luck double cropping in the past. The winter wheat is sown after fall harvest and harvested in summer.
Bottoms Up
It’s a somewhat steep and narrow trip down the the river bottom, and what goes down must come up! Here I’m ready to make the climb back up to the top.
Corn Calamity
This would be the second time Bin 2 has plugged up in two truckloads of corn. A few months ago this bin had some issues on the top layer with some hot corn. We hauled some out to take care of the problem but we must not have got it all. Corn seems to flow from the bin (for now), but that greenish crud is sticking to the auger and plugging it up. We’ll get it moving again. I’ve been thinking of investing in grain monitoring systems for our storage. With temperature and moisture sensors in the bins we would have caught an issue like this earlier.
First Tractor Pull
He loved it!
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Whoa, look at that sky in the grass ditch photo. Looks like you are hiding from a tornado! Love the color in the hungry corn picture, and the composition. And putting ear protectors on your son at the tractor pull, smart move. Lou
We tried those on him right before the Belmont Stakes that night. As soon as we put them on he said, “I can’t hear the TV!”
Where in Idaville was that tractor pull?Green!
Right behind the fire department.
Looks like he’s hooked. You will have to build him one in about 15 years.