Wheat

Wheat has been mans staff of life.

From Wiki:

"Wheat (Triticum spp.)[1] is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize (784 million tons) and rice (651 million tons).[2] Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads; biscuits, cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, juice, noodles, and couscous;[3] and for fermentation to make beer,[4] alcohol, vodka,[5] or biofuel.[6] Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a forage crop for livestock, and the straw can be used as fodder for livestock or as a construction material for roofing thatch.[7][8]

Although wheat supplies much of the world's dietary protein and food supply, as many as one in every 100 to 200 people has Celiac disease, a condition which results from an immune system response to a protein found in wheat: gluten (based on figures for the United States).[

I planned on a big wheat crop for next year but I can't get it planted. The ground is saturated and I don't see how I can get it planted in this record year of weather. Rain all summer, record cool July here.

The world has a glut of wheat in storage now so the price is low but I really wanted to plant wheat, protect rolling hills from erosion and "compost" the straw to build the soil for future years.

So now we go to plan B, preventive planting with Crop Insurance.

I think most of the soft red winter wheat region is in the same boat. Literally, it is almost a boat as it is that wet through the belt.

We are all focusing on harvesting what we already have in the fields, corn and soybeans. Practically no corn has been harvested and not many soybeans.

Moving Day

Anyone who has moved more than once dreads moving day.

Today we helped one of the children, now young man, move into his new home.

He has worked so hard for this, as they all have, he was so excited.

I am not the help I used to be so my old arms and moral support was all I could give.

It is such a blessing to see your kids do well and achieve their dreams.

You find out who your true friends are, some of his didn't return his favor. I had to because moving here May 31, 2004 was a huge job and I couldn't have done it without him and the rest of the kids who were able to help. They did a yeoman's job after 4o years accumlation of stuff that had to be moved.

It is so exciting to move into your next move up but so strenuous and tiring, too.

Our pastor said you give the first ten percent of you spendable income to your church, you put the next ten percent into your investment and you ought to be able to live off the 80% left.

If you can't, something is wrong, you are living above your means. I agree.

I wish more would have taught and learned that!

Maybe our country wouldn't be in the financial mess it is in.

Ed Winkle

To My Friend

Daniel Earl Ehlerding

"Daniel Earl Ehlerding, 59, of Port William, died Wednesday (Oct. 7, 2009) on Stone Road, Clinton County, as a result of a farming accident. He is survived by his wife, Mary Winke Ehlerding. They were married June 30, 1973.

Mr. Ehlerding was born Feb. 13, 1950, in Jamestown, son of Rosemary Moeller Ehlerding of Port William and the late Dr. Howard “Doc” Ehlerding. He was a farmer. In addition to farming, he had a passion for blacksmithing, antique tractors and tractor restoration. He collected rare and unusual tractors, trucks and machine tools. He always was on the go, traveling across the country in search of old iron piles and finding steel wheels, engines or rare tractor parts. In the tractor community, he was known across the country as an expert in pre-1930 tractors.

He was a member of St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Wilmington, Clinton County Antique Power Club and Ohio Corn Growers Association. He graduated in 1968 from Wilmington High School and in 1972 from The Ohio State University with a bachelor’s degree in business production.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son, Shawn W. (Joy) Ehlerding of Port William; a daughter, Lisa-Marie (Justin) Reinhart of Columbus; a brother, Fred (Judy) Ehlerding of Hilliard; three sisters, Mary (Brian) Davenport of Vienna, Va., Greta (Joe) Miller of Vienna, Va., and Sylvia (Steve) Myers of Sabina; and several nieces and nephews.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Columbkille Catholic Church, 73 N. Mulberry St., Wilmington, the Rev. James Wedig officiating, with burial in Maple Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday at REYNOLDS-SMITH FUNERAL HOME, 327 N. South St., Wilmington. Memorial contributions may be made to the Edward Huber Memorial Association Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 6010, Marion, 43301-6010. For more information or to sign the funeral home’s online registry of condolences, visit www.smithandsonfuneralhomes.com."

I have so many friends. Dan was one of those. He really knew tractors and iron and I respect him for that. More than that he was just a good person and a really good farmer.

If you google his name you can see what I mean, especially the one steam engine group.

I feel for the family. It will seem to some he didn't live long enough.

Believe me he did, one farmer called him 100 MPH Dan. That is the way he lived his life in a good way. He did things most of us couldn't do.

I am down to 40 MPH or so I think.

Dan was a good guy and I hope they can say that about me.

Once I won a tractor pull in Hamilton , Ohio with my Oliver 88 and got lucky and beat everyone on a wet sand track. You good really balance the old 88 with 100 HP. I beat everyone in the class including Dan's V-8. I remember Dan telling me you can't beat a good 6 cylinder on a track like this with a big V-8.

I have never seen so many pickup trucks and cars on South Street, US 68 in Wilmington for his visitation tonight. What a tribute to a good man who raised good children, took care of his wife and helped others.

Ed Winkle

Farmers Lung

"Farmers lung has always concerned me. I am subject to it so I try to be very aware of it.
Farmer's lung, not to be confused with silo-filler's disease, is a hypersensitivity pneumonitis induced by the inhalation of biologic dusts coming from mouldy hay or other agricultural products.[1] The immune response is most often initiated by exposure to thermophilic actinomycetes, which generates IgG-type antibodies that circulate in the bloodstream. Following a subsequent exposure, IgG antibodies combine with the inhaled allergen and form immune complexes. These complexes are deposited in the lung and generate an inflammatory response typical of a type III hypersensitivity response."

The question came up on the Crop Forum of NewAgTalk and I thought that should be my subject today.

Here is what I replied to one farmer.

"That is the problem Ken. We don't know how badly crop mold affects the farmers lungs.

All molds scare me but don't keep me from farming or eating. My cousin married a lung doctor but he is too busy helping those already infected to give much advice.

I don't know how you farm unless you live under a mask and none of us are willing to do it until we get really sick. Then some won't do it.

I have done a good job protecting my workers when they will listen to me. Most figure something is going to kill me so they keep on doing the wrong thing or they are less subject to mold etc. That should be the subject of my next blog."

Grain dust and farm allergens have always been a problem and I think they always will.

I remember getting cortisone shots as a young man when my lungs would plug tight and you would think you were dying.

Still, I love farming so much I can't quit. Some day I may have to.

You can't run to the city or Arizona to run away from your problems.

People have to eat and someone will supply the food.

I love supplying that food.



Ed Winkle

Hedge Apples

A farmer asked about planting hedge apples for a pasture fence row.

"Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1880's, many thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting young Osage Orange trees closely together in a line. The saplings were aggressively pruned to promote bushy growth. "Horse high, bull strong and hog tight." Those were the criteria for a good hedge made with Osage Orange. Tall enough that a horse would not jump it, stout enough that a bull would not push through it and woven so tightly that even a hog could not find its way through! After barbed wire made hedge fences obsolete, the trees still found use as a source of unbeatable fence posts. The wood is strong and so dense that it will neither rot nor succumb to the attacks of termites or other insects for decades. The trees also found use as an effective component of windbreaks and shelterbelts."

I don't know if grandpa or someone before him planted them but they grew like wildfire on the farm I was raised on. They became a pest like multiflora rose.

They make a fast windbreak but the thorns on them are really bad and many an old cow has died with a hedgeapple lodged in her throat. They make great firewood too but those thorns!

I guess if you have track vehicles they wouldn't be so bad but most of us run rubber tires that pop at any suggestion.

The fruit is kind of pretty but I just pointed out the pitfalls of the tree that produces them.

I have taken out a few around here and don't miss them.

I will miss the ash tree though.

Ed

Beautiful Fall Day

Sable and I enjoyed a beautiful fall day today.

LuAnn is doing well on her training of Sable.

It is like I have to learn to be her trusted owner, dog training is so time consuming.

No wonder so many let dogs rule the roost.

The combines were running hard today in this region, I hope we can again tomorrow.

So little time left for planting cereal grains and cover crops.

Farmers are over their eyebrows right not.

I need my ghost writers to come forth, not enough time for me to do this right.

I like blogging to share ideas but I have other things to do right now!

I saw that picture of snow in Oregon on NewAgTalk. We were just there a month ago!

Buddeshepperd, need your help right now, the wife and I are covered.

Neighbor Ralph, someone come forth and keep this little blog going!

Ed

Harvesting

I mean NO harvesting. Very little at this point and it is harvest month.

The very few fields harvested here are yielding really well.



How about 64 bushels for a farm average? That is what one local farm made.


Last years national soybean yield was only 39 bushels. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of poor fields around here and across the country and I am talking about one of the best fields in the county and in this area.



The farmers problem is usually not enough rain, not enough water.



This year we have a little too much couple with a very cool year that made these good crops too wet to harvest. If another person asks me why farmers haven't combined their crop...



You know where that is going. Many nonfarm people look to me as the source of their information on farming. That puts a big responsibility on me to give them correct information, a role I am usually up to.



Right now I just want to say didn't you almost get stuck mowing your yard?



Let us get the crop out and then ask us the hard questions.



Ed