Taking some time...
Loyal reader Kevin asks about what's going on here in IL. The posts have been sparse for a variety of reasons: some distant family health issues, lack of motivation, competition from my woodshop, and The Paywall Problem (about which I will post soon).
As for the crops, we thought we would have a three-day window beginning 5/15 so the two families now working together on our adjacent farms decided to hit it as hard as possible. Running almost 24/7 we put the whole crop in in 8 days - 4100 acres. The three day window expanded just enough to get it done, and the crop has emerged very well. However, it took the older generation some time to recover. (We were counting on some interruptions that never happened, I think)
I think this type of season - with narrow windows - may be more likely in the future for our part of the world. It what climatologists told us would happen. The expensive tile we installed finally generated some payback, but also illuminated the need for yet more.
Since then, the corn is showing variability - not unusual, but more than expected. Still, I wouldn't trade ours for any fields I have seen in my travels. All in all - absolutely no complaints.
We are working to get spraying done in between showers, but have not had the big rains experienced both north and south of us.
I appreciate all who read, and have been feeling guilty for not posting, but not quite guilty enough, I guess.
More soon.
2 comments:
Just remember John when you praise your new field tiles. They may drain your farm faster but they put others at risk with increased flow and those tiles also move a lot of nitrate downstream. Solving your problem causes harm for someone else. There is no free lunch someone always pays. Perhaps you should just start sending checks to Louisiana as compensation. Its time for ag to face up to its drainage impacts.
I suspect John has clay loam soils like ours and tiles remove excess water at a controlled rate compared too surface drainage. Having a 2" rain Monday and 3 3/4" Wednesday night our municipal drains where at capacity for 12-24 hrs. from run off whereas now that tile outlets are visible and ditches have receded the tile flows would be less than 10% of drainage system capacity - regards-kevin
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