Too Hard To Watch

One of my friends on the Cafe forum just talked about the Iowa Public Television viewing of The Farm Crisis.  That era really makes me angry.  I saw good farmers go under for no good reason while the rest of us just watched.  Farm policies flat out failed in that era.

John Mellencamp's song, Rain on the Scarecrow epitomises the movment.  Those three young guys in the front of this video, I would really like to talk to.  They all have on the same seed corn hats but they speak a truth few of my neighbors had back in that day.  I guess that is why they are in the video.  They might be my age now and I know we could share some stories.

With the boom in land prices we have witnessed in the last 10 years or more, you have to wonder, will this repeat itself?  Now if you live northeast Ohio or North Dakota, the fracking we talked about yesterday might make farming more fun!

I think so, in some fashion.  I don't know how it will happen but I think it will.  The will of man is so greedy in the name of making a dollar at any cost, I don't see how human discipline can exceed human greed.  Do you?

The film notes that we lost half our farmers in this country in the 20's and another half in the 80's.  BTO's or Big Time Operators are everywhere.  Can this not repeat again?  $4 corn this fall and many farmers with little crop would take its toll.  Parts of Iowa and Minnesota don't look too good and we didn't see great crops on our 500 mile trip to New York.

Some STO's or Small Time Operators like me have done everything in the world to make a living but just farming alone.  I couldn't do what we've done the last nine years without my pension plus LuAnn's hard work.

Farming is hard again this year with too much water at the wrong time and not enough last year.  Those of us who have a good crop feel pretty lucky compared to all those who don't.

No one ever said it would be easy and it isn't.

Ed Winkle

Fracking

Our Ohio featured an interesting piece how fracking for oil has changed the little town of Carrollton, Ohio, home of the Ohio FFA Camp.  Our son Matthew was there just last week with his students, like I did 30 and 40 years ago.  It showed a guy that reminded me of myself telling how fracking was making local land owners so rich so fast they didn't know how to spend it all.  Can you imagine an extra $5000 or $10,000 per month as a farmer or landowner?

This affects every business and institution, even public schools.  The rough necks who do this work "don't have a pot to pee in."

A search found this data:

•In 2011, the USA produced 8,500,983 million cubic feet of natural gas from shale gas wells - that's a value of about $36 billion.

•According to the EPA, natural gas-fired electricity generates half the carbon dioxide of coal-fired production.

•researchers must refine our thinking of the economic benefits of rapid expansion of energy production.
If an average American heard the word 'fracking' ten years ago, chances are he or she would have worried about the manners of the speaker. Today, however, opinions about fracking are solidifying, and battle lines are being drawn, even if understanding remains sketchy. For many on the American left, fracking connotes something dangerous, unhealthy - even, as in a recent Hollywood production, potentially nefarious. For those on the right, fracking is often regarded as the best hope for a struggling economy.

While the outcome of the policy struggle is impossible to predict, the economic stakes could hardly be higher.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is more commonly called, is a process that's been used to extract oil and natural gas since it was first introduced by Standard Oil in the 1940s. Over the past decade, as other technologies have combined with the use of fracking to make the tapping of shale profitable, it has contributed to a resurgence of oil production in the USA and a dramatic increase in natural gas production. Proponents of fracking have hailed it as a major development in the energy industry, one that has allowed for tapping of reserves of gas and oil that were previously prohibitively difficult to reach. In some parts of the country, most notably in North Dakota, this has lead to massive expansions of energy production, and gold rush level increases in economic activity."

When we drove to New York I was shocked to see gasoline at $3.35 per gallon in Erie, Pennsylvania when Ohio was still at $3.59.  New York has higher gasoline taxes and it was very little higher than what we paid in Ohio.  In 14 years of driving there, I've never seen this happen before.

Whether you believe in hydraulic fracking of oil from shale or not, it is having a big impact in regions close to me.  Our thirst for cheap oil or oil at any price hasn't dwindled in this country.

Ed Winkle

Wildlife

No one can accuse me of not providing an environment for wildlife around here.  I have never heard so many songbirds in my life and today I saw a weasal in my wheat field.  I have never seen that before.

"Whether you call it a weasel, an ermine, or a stoat, you can call the short-tailed weasel an amazing animal. The slinky weasel has sensational moves, a super appetite, and a slick coat that changes color with the seasons!

A Natural Athlete:  The short-tailed weasel's slinky body is slim enough to follow mice into their burrows, and its spine is flexible enough to turn around inside a tunnel! Above ground, this speedy weasel can travel through long grass at amazing speeds, take sudden leaps and bounds, and change direction altogether in an instant! At 7 to 13 inches long when full grown, the short tailed weasel is small, but mighty!

The short-tailed weasel can also climb trees like a squirrel, and swim like a champion. It’s not unusual for a short tailed weasel to swim across a large river or lake.  With all this activity and a heart rate of 500 beats per minute, weasels burn up a great deal of energy, so they need to eat plenty.

Snack Time:  The short-tailed weasel is an important predator that helps keep rodent populations in check. It is so fast, it can easily catch a young rabbit or chipmunk. It is so agile, it can slither into small burrows and nab mice, voles and shrews. By feasting on some pesky rodents, these weasels help protect agricultural crops and reduce the spread of diseases carried by rodents.

Like other weasels, the short-tailed weasel roams a variety of habitats, including open woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, and farmlands. They hunt and patrol their territory between dusk and dawn, and can cover up to 10 miles a night. "

A friend trapped mink across the road from me but I am pretty sure this was his cousin, the weasal.  They must be feeding on my famous notill voles!  LuAnn saw three "massive" coyotes in the south field on the way to work, they were working that field, too.

Ed Winkle

Nine Month Baby

We just finished up cutting our nine month old baby today, July 3, 2013.  That is what I am calling my soft red winter wheat, a nine month old baby.  We started planting this crop into corn stalks the last day of September and finished up a couple of days later.  The decision to be made was plant something, plant anything to protect the soil.  So, buy the wheat seed for $50 an acre or buy rye for $20?.  Since it was record early for me to plant a winter crop, I chose the wheat.

It was an easy baby to tend to though I took really good care of it.  It got hundreds of pounds of nutrients and over a thousand pounds of calcium applied to it.  It came up thick and strong, never looked back, even though most of it was in corn stalks.  You shouldn't do that around here but my friend from Oakland City, Indiana showed me you can sure do it.  It didn't get enough weed killer but it got enough insecticide to knock down an aphid population that carries Barley Yellow Dwarf virus.  It had some scab but disease overall was not a problem.

Many times I wished I had planted it to corn especially or maybe beans in a corn soybean rotation but the weather was perfect at planting and I chose wheat.  I guess it was a good choice.  It yielded 93 bushels per acre, my best since 1985 when I broke 100 bushels for the first time.

Wheat is a precarious baby, it gets conceived and you have to nurture it along.  This baby turned out pretty well but I really wonder if corn would have made more money this year.  Any corn around here just looks fantastic but this soil will now raise about anything, especially a nine month baby.

Lots of guys have given up on wheat and I can see why.  But it fits my rotation so nicely.  It really brought the Marestail back, that stuff peppered the field.  I hope I can smoke it with my burn down pre-emerge  combo on Friday.  Since I don't spray my own, I have to rely on the man.  The man is not always available, I might not be either if I was in his shoes.  Today is the fourth of July and most people want to celebrate Independence Day with their family.

Yes that is John Deere in my fields again, my AGCO friends.  A man does what he has to do.  Grandpa said poor people have poor ways.

Ed Winkle

Fall Applied Nitrogen

"Here is a pic of one of my fields v the neighbor. I topdressed 100# urea and 50# AMS. He put down 180# of fall NH3 + broadcast 18-46-0 this spring and some AMS. Both fields were soy last year. I have 175 total units of N and planted 2 days after him. My corn is about 6" taller and WAY greener. The pics don't do it justice. I take all of his water and mine still looks better. I am sure he has some DK number. Mine is Croplan 3899 double pro.

Mine is on the left, his is on the right.

I am a huge believer on IN SEASON N and no more fall stuff ever.( my advice is watch the never say never stuff, that has come back to haunt me LOL but I think this one is good advice.)   Gonna increase the in-season rate next year. AMS is an absolute must.

I wont show you pics of the rest of the field. Hoping for 140 BPA. Should make 180+ here. Lots of zero on the other side of the field (see emergence forum)

***Almost forgot. Almost no leaf burn. Used full rate of Agrotain on the Urea***"

If you read the thread, you can tell those who use this practice don't really want to talk about these results!  It takes a really open mind to change practices after 30-40 years of doing things one way.

Fall applied nitrogen was big in Iowa but never worked in Ohio.  We get too much leaching of nitrogen in our soils and the fall applied thing is dying a slow death like moldboard plowing did.

My friend John Haggard is making a good living helping farmers grow corn like that on the left or even better.  John uses Albrecht principles similar to those Neal Kinsey uses, the author of Hands On Agronomy.  That manual is a good read for any farmer or agriculturist.

John and Doug and Bill and I and whoever else might be interested in conversing about these topics comprise "the bunch," as Bill calls it.  They have all been to our farm which helps develop our pursuing of topics.

Yesterday I cut some wet wheat, talked to my neighbors and they said the heck with it, let's get it out.  It isn't going to dry down properly.  We don't have the equipment to dry it properly either.  Maybe I will get a picture posted tomorrow.

Ed Winkle

98 Years

Our dad was born 98 years ago today!  That seems like a " long, long time ago, but I can still remember" 50 years ago like it was today.  I was 13, I earned my amateur radio license, WN8RQQ and I was off to the races.  I couldn't get enough radio time at that age so I would sneak out to the radio shack/corn sales shed dad built and operate all night.  S-38 Hallicrafters receiver and Ameco AC-1 15 watter connect to big dipole antennas.  That was OK as long as I could work properly the day after.

Our local amateur radio club had it's nationally known ARRL Field Day at a friends farm in New Vienna.  That farm recently received the Ohio Century Farm designation.  My family has lived on the same farm for 96 years but we won't get the designation because we didn't own it until 1990.

In 3 more years, after tons of nagging by me, dad took me to Mr. Wamsley's auto sales where we bought my first automobile, an ugly 1959 yellow, rusted out Chevy sedan with a big six cylinder and "three on the tree" for gears.  This was American Pie long before the song.

It might take me 98 years to control all the weeds around here.  Weeds and wildlife have just went crazy this year with the regular moisture and we are all talking about Marestail popping up in rows in and out of rows.  We thought we had it under control for awhile but you never really do.

My friend Paul Butler of Macon, Illinois got everyone's attention on Crop Talk with his hoeing crew.  A hoeing crew of people who like to drive pickups and tractors out hoeing soybeans?  Why?  Because we have weeds now that are easier to eradicate with a hoe than a herbicide!

Have to admit it was pretty shocking to see the post but we have been inching our way here each year.  We refuse to do the work it requires to keep really good weed control because the RR system was so darned easy to use.  People farm now who wasn't raised on a farm because of RoundUp Ready.  They are having a rude awakening right now of the power of Mother Nature.  No wonder farm margins of profit never went much about 5% as an average before and during my lifetime.

I am going to have to really stay on top of these weeds or they are going to stay on top of my profit.  I have driven my spray man crazy trying to figure out what to spray on our non GMO soybeans and our wheat going to double crop soybeans if they ever come off.

It is so foggy here on the hill at 8 AM that I can't see the tree borderline 1000 or so feet away.  Tara just reminded me that we are going to eat like Porkopolis watching the Cincinnati Reds the day after tomorrow.

You just watch, that will be the day I should be cutting wheat and planting double crop soys!

Ed Winkle

Geocache

Lots of visitors are at our farm and the 32 or so Quilt Barn Trail Geocaching hunt here in Clinton County Ohio this weekend.  We have met very nice people already!  One visitor said we were the first family to come out and greet him and he is half done!  People are busy and I understand why some would not greet the visitors, they just don't have time to.  I take the time to do it.

I like to visit and welcome people and I like to talk about modern farming and my German Dutch Scotch Irish heritage.  It's been fun.

I also like to buy local and I like to see small business and small farms do well.  This is a good way to build business for many of our various types of farm markets in Clinton County.

I asked the first lady here what she was using to find the geo referenced points and she showed me a $550 receiver with maps and all kinds of capability!  See what happens when you sign up for a simple project?

The group had breakfast at Frisch's then met at the fairgrounds to launch the hunt.  250 tokens were handed out and some of the people I talked to here only had a couple more barns to visit and they would have all 32 tokens.

The farthest away person I met was from Massillon, Ohio, the home of football in America.  That's a good 4 hour drive from here so obviously the project brought people into Clinton County.  I asked one fellow here he was from and he said Cedarville.  I said my brother lives on Gravel Pit Road.  He said I live right around the corner from him on Trumbull.

I would love to do something like this in Iowa and get to see some of the covered bridges.  Or maybe a Dutch heritage tour in Pennsylvania, though we have been in almost every Pa county over the last 8 years.  We don't have to look for Amish in Pennsylvania because their sons and daughters moved to Ohio!

I wonder what the economic impact is for our county on this little project?

Ed Winkle