Biding Our Time
Early April soil conditions have been suitable for fieldwork. This is a little unusual, but not unheard of.
A handful of farmers in the area have started planting. Pinicon Farm has not.
We are not saying this is a bad idea for them, but we are confident it would not be a good idea for us.
Our yield data is unambiguous. Fields planted prior to the last week of April have a low probability of producing top yields.
The opportunity we see in this earlier than normal start to spring fieldwork is one of my favorite obsessions, farm improvement.
Every year we identify and rank potential farm improvement projects based on urgency, cost, benefit, and exposure.
That's right, visibility is a factor. All other considerations equal, the farm on Highway 9 has a greater community impact than the one at the end of the unimproved, dead end road.
To the extent we are able to complete any if not all of a given year's projects depends completely on the weather.
We cannot assume we will have weather that permits timely planting and care of the crop, let alone discretionary land repairs.
Crop sales pay the bills. Controlling erosion and enhancing the appearance of a field does not directly impact the bottom line.
However, we have always made these investments a priority, regardless of weather or grain prices.
This year's Spring Project list included a dozen new waterways to be seeded, about half that many needing touch up repairs, and a collection of more extensive projects requiring heavy equipment.
Mayer's Digging finished the last two jobs on their list this weekend, leveling the ridge along the ditch at Iverson East and building a headland berm on North Cattle.
Donavan seeded waterways Friday and Saturday with the combination oat drill/Brillion seeder rig we use for waterway establishment.
Alex and his crew worked on repairing damaged waterways where the speed and volume of water make grass establishment difficult.
As the frequency of high rainfall events has increased, we have been forced to adopt waterway maintenance methods that would have been excessive a generation ago.
For the largest area and steepest grade watersheds, we staple 16' wide straw mat the length of the waterway and follow up with 6" X 25' silt sock spaced every 100' perpendicular across the flow line. (see video)
On waterways with less slope and smaller area, we get acceptable results with a single pass of the oat drill, Brillion rig.
Later this week when we start planting, we'll have the peace of mind that our patience will be rewarded with higher yields next fall, and the time we spent maintaining the network of waterways on our farms will preserve their productivity in the future.
Jim