kansasfarmer's blog

August 2007 - Posts

• Praying for rain

  Here I am on Wednesday morning,our last chance for rain for at least a week is today and tonight.  Our soybean crop has been hurt, there isn't much doubt about that, but an inch of rain would still make a bunch of bushels difference.  A line of storms is one county west creeping toward us, big question is will they get here???  That is what we do in July and August in Kansas, we pray for rain.  Then in October, we pray for it to stop.  Posted Aug 29 2007, 02:24 PM by kansasfarmer with no comments

• No rain.

  No rain for us today.  Oklahoma got flooded, we got nothing, putting yours truly in a bad mood. Posted Aug 20 2007, 02:26 AM by kansasfarmer with 5 comment(s)

• Crossed fingers

  The National Weather Service this morning is giving us a 60% chance of rain today, accompanied by severe weather along and south of the Kansas Turnpike, right where I live.  The remains of the tropical storm that has been sitting in Oklahoma these last few days is suppose to lift through southeast Kansas today.  The NWS is saying we are going to have alot of wind shear this afternoon, which will lead to a few tornadoes.  I am crossing my fingers that we will get the heavy rain that is promised, 3 inches would be great, 2 would be just as good, and inch would be fine, and even a half would make me feel better.  I am also crossing my fingers that we don't get hail or a tornado, a constant threat with these kinds of storms.  The extra moisture we had 2 weeks ago is gone, 100F saps things very quickly.  Our soybean crop is at a critical stage, the plant looks great,but without rain the pods will stay flat, and we will be faced with making a decision as to whether or not to hay them.  A good 2 or 3 inch rain would go a long way toward finishing the plants, and we would have a really good crop, IF we don't get rust, hail, podworms, or more 100F temps.  About the middle of September you will start reading posts that say my fingers are crossed hoping it doesn't rain, but for now, we REALLY need a rain.  Another reason is to freshen up our grass.  It is so dusty that I have about 15 cases of pinkeye in the cattle to deal with, and anyone with hay fever is really miserable.  Posted Aug 19 2007, 03:35 PM by kansasfarmer with no comments

• Saturday night in Kansas.

  Spent my day trying to salvage a neighbors spring planted alfalfa by redrilling drowned out spots in it, and hauling my 2nd cutting of alfalfa off the field.  This should have been the third cutting, but the same freeze that ruined our wheat took our first cutting of alfalfa as well.  We had a "dry drizzle" today, the remnants of a tropical storm have moved up here, the best rain is in Oklahoma, we are praying it will get to Kansas.  It did cool us down to about 85F, that alone was enough to put smiles on most faces.   Since my UK trip is fresh on my mind, I tend to compare things I see here now to what I saw over there.  I have to smile a bit that the impression the Brits have of the USA is that we are all rich, which would lead I would think to better infrastructure.  I ruined 2 tires today hauling hay on our unpaved gravel roads, that made me think of all the narrow, but very good blacktop roads in the UK.  I wonder what it would cost our government to pave all of ours?  Posted Aug 19 2007, 05:55 AM by kansasfarmer with no comments

• Dry weather worries

  Our dry weather seems to have set in to stay.  The weathermen give us slight chances for hit and miss rains.  Today was the first day I have seen the soybeans start to show stress, the leaves curl in the tight spots in the field.  The long range forecast promises a cool down to the lower 90s by the middle of next week.  With the hot dry weather, the number of fires has increased, generally small in nature and involving hay balers.  Our corn is pretty much made, this weather will ding the yields a little on the later planted and longer maturity corn as the kernels will be a little smaller. A few are starting to chop silage, my corn is still green enough I doubt I will be chopping for a week or two at least.  The soybeans are another matter.  A week ago we had the best prospects we have ever had, today I noticed a few pods being aborted.  In another week things will really start to deteriorate.  But, this is typical August weather for Kansas. The pastures are also starting to show some stress, the grass will lose protein and palatability quickly in this weather.  My fall calves will go to auction tomorrow unless I have trouble gathering them.  The market is good for feeders now because the $5 corn promised in the spring has not materialized and is not likely to.  The fall calving cows have started dropping a few calves this last week, should be in high gear in another 10 days.  We will have to start feeding supplement to anything calving or that we are trying to grow soon, as the grass will be little more than filler in a week or two, unless we can get a stray shower. Posted Aug 16 2007, 02:43 AM by kansasfarmer with no comments

• Here in Kansas

  Thought I'd give writing a blog a try, see if anyone reads it.  As Ally said, what a difference a week makes.  This time last week I was in Somerset enjoying some really fine weather in the afternoon, then glued to the TV that evening, actually this time more or less horrified by the foot and mouth.  Today I am stifled by the heat.  97F at the moment, our meteorologists developed something called the heat index to add in the humidity to tell you you actually feel more miserable than that(the actual temp was 84F last night at 10:30pm).  I think at the moment it is about 105.  Our crops look good as we had 4 inches of rain  while I was gone, but in about a week or less with no rain they will start to show stress.  The corn is really about made, but a rain wouldn't hurt, the kernels wouldn't shrink as much.  The beans are much more critical.  Most everyone is haying, we remember too well last winter when many of us ran out of hay, everything that can be baled is being baled.  Most of the cattle from the double stock grass have gone, the remainder will probably be shipped next week(including mine).  Posted Aug 10 2007, 10:51 PM by kansasfarmer with 3 comment(s)