Now we are getting into a part of the year many of you have been asking me about. What do we do once harvest is over and we are waiting for spring planting season to come back around. Over the next few months that is exactly what you’ll see, so let’s take a look at what we are doing our first full week post-harvest.
I pulled the monitor and guidance system out of the combine to store in the office where it’s nice and warm.
We’ve started a drainage tile project this week. It’s been rough going with the ditcher having trouble with his machine. This tile system is going under some very good soil that tends to take a yield hit when it gets too wet. This year was the exception, but normally we are worried about too much water instead of not enough.
Right of the bat we found a big slab of concrete right where the tile needed to going into the drainage ditch. You never know what you’ll find when you start digging!
These are rolls of 12″ tile that will be our main line. Smaller tile will branch off this main to drain the field.
I’ll have a full post on cover crops coming soon. On Friday I went to a cover crop field day to learn more about them from some experts. We have a couple hundred acres in cover for the first time this fall. I’m pretty excited to see the benefits.
This is the machine that feeds the tile into the ground. This particular machine uses lasers to hold the proper grade for drainage. It’s basically a giant chainsaw that feeds tile through a boot behind it.
Yes. We have a sleigh.
That drainage ” tile” looks like plastic tubing to me. Does it have holes in it?
The main line isn’t perforated. The smaller diameter lines that will feed it are, but they are much closer to the surface and out of the sand in the subsoil.