Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

I finished baling the last of the alfalfa on the Sarpy side yesterday. Fifteen hundred and thirty four bales of hay. Just over 2 ton to the acre. I'm very happy about that. You can't really see it all well but there are bales all scattered through this picture as far as you can see. The Hired hand started cutting the grass hay yesterday. If anything it is heavier than any of the alfalfa was. Forge ahead. Taken 7/3/2007.

It's amazing the difference a year can make. Last year I would have given anything to get some rain. This year I am to the point I will give anything to get it to quit raining. It has rained the last 3 days here and we have gotten over 4 inches of rain. Total in the past month we have received over 8 inches of rain. More than all year last year I swear.

On Sunday I was gathering some drys and was riding across a hay field. It hadn't rained for 3 days at that point and the field was so wet the horse was sinking in to his hocks and water was splashing up at every step. It was like a damn swamp, that is for sure. No matter where I rode, a field or grass land, you would be going along fine and then all of a sudden find a soft spot and the horse would almost come to a full stop with his hooves buried in mud. Then this whole week it has been raining more.

WE DON'T NEED TO MAKE UP FOR YEARS OF DROUGHT WITH THIS MUCH RAIN IN ONE MONTH. It's just crazy.

I finally got a hired man hired. We went for a while with no nibbles for the job when all of a sudden there were 3 candidates for the job. I hired the best one I think but as usual I really don't think he will last long. He only took this job because a better paying job fell through elsewhere. I'll see though.

As soon as it dries out I need to get quite a few things done. Normally i would be putting bulls out today but the weather has been preventing me from getting some preliminaries done so they are going to be delayed a few days. Hopefully by the middle of next week i can get them out. I would like to get the rest of the dries out then too. Whether it will be dry enough I am not sure but I will find out.

Last year the alfalfa fields on the Sarpy side had some weevil in them but I let it go because the little bit of hay was not worth spraying. This year the weevil are eating the fields alive. It's too wet to spray right now but as soon as it is clear enough a guy is supposed to spray them. Fourteen dollars and acre to spray for weevil but there is enough hay on them to make it worth spraying so spray I will.

It's amazing the difference from one year to the next. It makes it a challenge all the time. I guess that is not a bad thing but it gets tiring once in a while. Can't things just be easy once in a while?

We don't change what we are, we change what we think what we are. Eric Butterworth

Now that I have the Internet back I see a group of organizations want to ban the use and sale of all seeds and hay from Roundup Ready alfalfa. They claim that the USDA did not do an EIS as required prior to approving it in 2005. If true, the USDA did screw up and a EIS should be done. Should thousands of farmers and ranchers who use this variety be punished for the USDA's incompetence? I don't think so. That doesn't make sense.

Knowing that other Roundup Ready crops are approved for use I would imagine that Roundup Ready alfalfa would be approved with an appropriate EIS so provisional approval should be given while an EIS is done. That would be the only common sense solution. Punishing farmers and ranchers wouldn't be right. They haven't done anything wrong. You might argue that using a genetically modified crop is wrong, but in their opinion it was approved by the USDA and they had every right to use it. Some people think that using such genetically modified crops is cutting edge farming and shows a commitment to feeding the world.

As for my personal opinion on Roundup Ready crops. I don't like to use chemicals. I try to minimize my use of them to the highest degree possible. I would not use Roundup Ready alfalfa because I don't have the equipment to spray chemicals and I don't like dealing with the chemicals. I have an Uncle who was worked with agricultural chemicals for a number of years when he was younger. He now has a number of health problems that we feel are caused by his exposure to these chemicals. I will admit that he did not take proper precautions with the chemicals so in a way it's his own fault, but why take the chance. I don't want to take the chance and I know there are more and more ranchers taking the same tack in my area. I don't care if other people use them though, it's no skin off my nose, just don't expect me to use them. It's not my style,

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer. Dave Barry

Looking down the top of one of the loads of hay we feed on a daily basis. This is year old hay that is still in little squares. Most of the newer stuff is in the big bales but we haven't got into that yet. Taken 12/19/2006.