Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Farm Update from Dusty


 So once again it has been awhile since I have written a blog entry, but I (Dusty) am here to give a mid June farm update. June has always been a month associated with the first cutting of hay, and this year is no different. We are looking at starting to cut Monday, June 18th, weather permitting of course.  Given the cool weather this spring I expect it to take 7 to 10 days to dry before we start baling hay.  The farm bought another Freeman 200 baler this year (Well, My Dad, Tim, actually bought two. He went to Baker City Oregon to look at one, but they were both in really good shape and were a good deal, so he bought both, but only set one up to bale this year.) For the last several years Dad has baled about 1200 ton of hay with one baler, this year we will be running two balers which should mean less hours on each baler to get first cutting in the barn.


As I think back over spring it amazes me how fast things grow. It seems Erin and I were just at the hospital on Jayney’s birthday, then I was just fertilizing the winter wheat, and Dad and I just finished seeding the spring crops. Now, as I look around I see Jayney growing up and changing every day. I see what is looking like a good winter wheat crop starting to head out in the fields. And I see pretty decent spring wheat and barley stands filling in and turning green. We do have a few acres here and there that were seeded too wet or have some other problems, but we are pretty happy with the crops overall.  The second sprayer that Dad and I built last winter has definitely made spraying go much faster, which has been a real blessing since good spray days have been few and far between.  With both sprayers running Dad and I were able to spray all the spring wheat and 100 acres of barley on Monday, which would have previously taken at least two days without breakdowns. Spring is a time of great hope and optimism for me, I love the potential that it holds. 
 
As the crops turn green so do the pastures and that means it is time to turn the cows out for the summer. One of our hired guys, Kyle, and I hauled cows down to their summer pasture on May 15th. This year I took the cows to one set of pastures, and decided to take the heifers to another set, leaving just steers and the bull at home for the summer.  It is really nice to have a break from feeding cows. I really do love the way farming works, it seems like just about the time you are sick of something (like feeding cows everyday) you get a break and move on to the next thing.





The pictures throughout this post were from the other day when Erin and I went to visit the cows, look at a couple fields, and just capture some of the beauty that we live in here in Eastern Washington. Hope you enjoy them, but even if you don’t, we enjoyed taking them.


1 comment:

  1. Beautiful pictures Dusty! I love springtime as well.

    ReplyDelete