Feelings of Spring

They say in the spring a young man’s heart turns to thoughts of love. The warm weather this weekend had this farmers heart turn to thoughts of planting.

It is really little too early to think of planting in our area but a couple days in the 60s and 70s has one thinking. Crop insurance won’t cover any corn planted before April 6, and the fields are still well soaked. I have a date of April 13^th in my head to start planting, let’s see if the weather cooperates. The warm weather allowed the girls and I to get out on the 4 wheeler and had a lot of fun scouting the new farm this past week. Given how much bean stubble we had last year (beans erode much easier than corn) I would say that both farms are in very good shape. A few minor eroded spots will be need to be worked closed before planting but nothing major.

I took advantage of the warm weather this weekend and the driveway received a much needed layer of gravel and I borrowed a neighbors scraper to get it really nice and smooth. The planter rebuild project from the winter was wrapped up sooner than expected so I finished putting a new boom on the sprayer as that was problematic last year. And found some time to put a new interior in the lower part of the planter tractor. Hopefully that will quiet it down enough so I don’t have to have the radio blaring to hear it.

Crop insurance deadline for sign up is March 16, I had my appointment last week. Having only been farming 5 years this I am starting to realize how good the last few years have been. I had an older famer once tell me that in every 10 years you will lose money two times, make a lot of money two times, and make a little the other six. This is the first year where my insurance will not cover the cost of production-so in that aspect it is a little scary. The main reason is the high price of fertilizer and seed that I purchased last fall, it sure would have been a lot cheaper had I waited until spring. Grain markets are starting to go up a little the last couple days, and hopefully are finally separating from the downward spiral of the stock market, it that trend continues I know a lot of farmers will be breathing easier and have a lot more fun putting in a crop for which there is a positive payout.

I know in a month things are going to get really busy-so in the next couple weeks I am going to really try to spend some extra time with the Julie and the kids.