I got a nice start on harvest, several weeks late but the corn yields are good. I have harvested the earliest and latest planted corn now, as well as the best land and the poorest. Corn made 130 on the poor ground, I binned it off of the best land but I guess it at about 150. Remarkably uniform across both soil types, varieties and planting dates. It shows that if we could have temps that stay below 95F and rain all summer, Kansas could be Iowa.
It is raining tonight, as long as it doesn't rain too much it is welcome, as we could use an inch of rain. I have managed to get 65 acres of triticale drilled for grazing(thanks mostly to my dad) and it definitely could use the rain, the forecast highs in the 70s mean it will grow nicely with a good drink. Baled up the last cutting of alfalfa for the summer yesterday just a little too wet because of the forecast rain, it was beautiful hay cut with a nice weather forecast that never really materialized, hopefully it was dry enough to keep.
After a summer filled with rain we put the Sudan grass up for silage, on top of the corn silage. It was the best thing to do I think what I tried to hay I could never get dried even after laying for 13 days, the pit is now the fullest it has been since the days my grandfather filled it. The day after I got done filling I stood atop it one morning just because it felt good to have that much feed under my feet, a cowman can never have too much feed.
I blew a hydraulic line on the combines 4WD unit yesterday afternoon, dumping all the oil instantly and bringing me to an abrupt halt. One of my best friends broke down with his 9500 yesterday as well, we did a joint parts run today since it was raining we didn't hurry home and had a good day except for all the fretting we did over our financial crisis. We talked quite a bit with the John Deere dealer who told us that it was company policy that within 5 years they want all dealers to do $100 million a year in business,or be part of a group that does that many dollars in sales. Once again, John Deere seems intent on driving out the mom and pop dealers that have served our nation so well, for no good reason I can see.
As I am certain you know, our markets once again were a wreck Monday, with no one quoting an actual cash price on grain. Cattle were down the $3 limit straight through as well, with only hogs gaining any ground at all. For us this is approaching crisis level, the bulletin board at the JD dealership was plastered with farmland auction bills for the coming month(not due to financial distress, this is just the time of year much land sells), it will be very telling to see how farmland prices fair with all of this upheavel, I saw one prediction on the internet this morning of a 25% fall in farmland values in 2009. I figure todays markets took $15000 off my income if they do not recover. I had hoped the $700 billion bailout would at least slow the slide, however from what we see now the rest of the world is joining us in the troubles, perhaps from what I read it is time to sell out and head for Australia, we are use to bad weather, fire and drouth, so should feel right at home.
I can't speak for all of America, but in my tiny corner of it there is seething anger against our government. I keep dwelling on this because I think it is important it is understood in the UK just how angry we are, they don't begin to understand it in DC. This anger most certainly will propel Obama into the Whitehouse a month from now, barring divine intervention. Obama is the last thing we need right now, but he is what we are going to get. It is reported on some internet sites now that an army division has been deployed in the US to deal with civil unrest, I do not know how accurate this is, but if it is true, it gives an idea that the government sees just how angry the people are, and the potential for huge problems beyond the economy in the not so distant future. I have heard the terms "civil war" and "revolution" more in the last few days than any other time in my life, I am not suggesting we are on the brink of anything so severe, I am suggesting that people are much more serious in their anger than at anytime in my life, this anger runs deep, and will certainly be felt at the election booth. I think many of us in the middle class feel we have just seen our country sold out from underneath us.