Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Well, I am completely done, done, done, as my son says, baling first cutting hay. A thunderstorm Saturday night kept me from finishing the last little bit Sunday but I managed to get it yesterday. I got around 1350 tons of hay off around 750 acres. Pretty good for dryland hay. I left a little over 200 acres go to seed because the amount of hay I got was almost enough for two winters instead of one so enough is enough.

I won't say I am done haying yet though. The haying isn't done until the bales are stacked which hasn't quite happened yet. Earlier I had talked to the guy that stacked the bales last year and he said he would come stack them this year. I called him a few days ago to tell him we were ready and he informed me he sold his machines and isn't custom stacking anymore. Damn that left me in a lurch. I finally found someone to do it. They will be here by the end of the week to stack the bales.

We didn't get enough rain around here after taking the first cutting off to really make a good second cutting. There was enough moisture in the ground that the alfalfa is growing back good but mostly it will only make good grazing down the road. I am going to go over some of it for hay since having a few small square bales of second cutting is nice, but it won't be a major thing since it didn't come back well.

All I know is it's nice to be done. That damn tractor I was using for baling did a number on my back and I am half crippled up. I need to go see the Chiropractor when I get a chance. I hate spending the money on him but i guess he needs to make a living to.

Let's get it done. Let's get it done right. Natalie Wood

It's one of those damn things that nothing works out the way you want. All the rain this spring was great, nut the thing I feared is coming true. It is turning hot and dry and the fire danger is going up very fast around here. I know I am still haying but a rainstorm would sure be nice to wet things down. Nothing in the forecast though. Just more hot, dry weather to make things worse. [sarcasm]How lucky I am.[/sarcasm]

Speaking of haying, things are going good on that front. All the alfalfa is down now and I am trying to get it baled up. Should be done with that by Monday afternoon or Tuesday. The fields on the Tullock side went about 1 and a third tons to the acre and the Sarpy fields are going about 2 tons to the acre. Pretty good yield for me. We are going to start cutting some grass hay this next week. We have about 250 acres that I plan to cut and another 200 acres I might cut if I feel we need the hay. If we don't need it for hay it will make good grazing for the cattle and I will leave it alone. That's the nice thing about these grass stands, they give me some options, as long as it doesn't burn up in a fire.

I was looking at the sales receipt for the drys I sold a week ago or so and got a real surprise. One bunch of 4 cows sold together that really surprised me. The sale yard will sort the cows for age and condition so that they can get the maximum price for a bunch of cattle. Hell, they get a commission on it so they want to see the highest price they can for cattle that go through the ring. Anyway, I recognized these 4 cows and couldn't figure out why they sold together,. There was a two year old and two three year olds cows together, which makes sense, and then of all damn things, a twelve year old cow. Now why in tarnation they mixed a twelve year old cow with these nice young cows is beyond me. The real surprising thing about this, the whole bunch brought .72 cents a pound. They brought more per pound than anything else I sold. A twelve year old dry cow bringing 72 cents a pound is unbelievable. She was in good shape, but not that good of shape. Somebody screwed up here but I won't complain. More money in my pocket.

I opened it up so the cows could move into a new pasture here a few days ago. They were chewing the grass down where they were and there was lots of grass in the nest pasture so it was time. Boy they found the gate and were really enjoying the fresh grass. It works out good too because I will start grazing that grass off and reducing the fire danger in that pasture. Less grass, less chance of a fire. Gotta be thinking ahead all the time.

I payed attention to the debate this last week over the immigration bill but never really commented on it here. I just wanted to say a couple of things about it. If people come across the border illegally, they are criminals and need to be shipped home, not given amnesty. Rewarding such behavior is not in the best interests of this country. The Government at all levels, fed, state and local should enforce the existing laws on illegal aliens and deport them. Now we need to address the question of why there are so many of these types of people here. That's simple, there are jobs here that pay better than the jobs where they come from. So we either need to raise the wages where they come from or offer a safe, easy, legal way for them to come here and work temporarily before they go back home. How to do this I don't know but that is what we need. We need more legal immigration and less illegal immigration. This country was founded and built by legal immigrants and legal ones aren't going to hurt us now. This illegal shit needs to stop though.

One of my regular readers, Genevieve, has bestowed upon me a 'Thinking Blogger Award.' Wow, thanks Genevieve, I appreciate it. I really don't do memes so I will just thank Genevieve for the honor and say that most blogs I read make me think and would honor all if I could but that's not the way things work.

The Fourth of July is coming up with all the fireworks and fun to be had by all. Remember it is getting dry out there so be careful with the fireworks. Don't want any problems, let's be safe and sane out there.

I would really like WildBlue Internet service explain to me how my bandwidth usage could be going up with my internet shut off. I have complained about this frequently and all they tell me is that it isn't there problem. I wish I had another option for Internet other than Satellite. I've heard Starband has gotten worse than they were before I dropped them for WildBlue so they no longer are an option. What a pain it is. Be glad if you live in a more populated area and have options. When your stuck like this to a certain service they can screw you coming and going.

Bounced around enough today. I know I haven't been posting much lately but I've been busy and not much has been catching my eye so thats the way it is.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Epicurus

I have been real busy lately, but productive. We have wrapped strings around about 400 tons of hay so far and we're not quite half done yet. Going to have to take the morning today to overhaul the swather. I noticed a broken frame member when we started but decided to keep going till it got worse. Well, it's worse now so it's time to fix it. Luckily I ordered a new piece and have it on hand to slip in. Then we will be going like mad again.

Like I said earlier, it's kind of fun to hay when you are getting a good crop.

To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth. Pearl S. Buck

After I had finished haying I turned in my production numbers to the Insurance agent for our crop production records. I never gave much thought to the situation. I had other things I was doing. Yesterday an Insurance adjuster came out to settle with me on the hay loss.

I had enough of a loss for insurance to kick in? I had no idea. I knew my production was way down but with the year old hay I am carrying I wasn't to concerned about it. Like I said , the only reason I turned in the production figures was for the crop production records in case I would ever have a claim to file.

I went with the Insurance adjuster and she looked the situation over and informed me with the buy up I had I was short 265 tons of hay and would be receiving an insurance payment. You could have floored me. I guess insurance does pay out once in a while. now that I say that I should point out the past 5 out of 6 years I have received an insurance payout of some kind on my hay so in a way until the weather cycle changes, getting the insurance is a no-brainer.

The politics of surprise leads through the Gates of Astonishment into the Kingdom of Hope. Max Lerner

Here is the hay stacking machine standing up a stack. The bales are 3x3x8 and they make a very impressive stack when done. Taken 7/1/2006.

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Over the weekend the guys I hired to do the stacking showed up and got the hay stacked for us. Pretty impressive machines they used. Taken 7/1/2006.

Some crops showing signs of too-dry soil

Soil moisture took a dive last week and crops in parts of the state were showing signs of stress, as warm, dry conditions were felt across the state, a federal agriculture report shows.

I won't argue with any of this one bit, it's damn dry out there and looking at the weather forecast it's only going to get hotter and drier. Damn the bad luck.

The hay crop this year was lower than I expected. Less than one ton to the acre. I consider normal about one and a quarter ton to the acre so I am not looking at as much hay as normal. Lucky I have over 500 ton of year old hay from last year to make up the difference.

I should finish putting the hay up today. I have never finished haying in June before and have never taken less time to get my haying done. That big new baler made a big difference. It can bale so much faster than the little baler it isn't even funny. The biggest problem I had this year was keeping the swather moving to keep enough hay down to keep the baler busy.

There is a little alfalfa growing back but I don't know if it will be enough for a second cutting. Only time will tell but with the lack of moisture I doubt it. There is a little barley hay left to do but it isn't ripe enough yet to cut. Give it a couple of weeks and I will be able to do that to.

Lets all think good thoughts and pray for some rain, not thunderstorms, rain. Maybe it will do some good.

I was drained dry. Freddie Bartholomew

Finally was able to bale again after the big storm. These big bales laying out in the field are a really strange sight to me when I am used to seeing small ones. It takes some getting used to. Otherwise the new baler is working great. It takes under half the time to bale that I am used to. Taken 6/12/2006.