A Good Week

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It has been a good week in the field - we are at 90% completion with the corn planting. We pulled the planter in the shed last night at 10:30 and rain started at 1 am. It was a perfect 1"+ which should get everything in the ground up and going well. The weather has still been cool; very few days up to 80 degrees yet. Our neighbors have just a few fields slowly coming up that have been planted for over two weeks.

We have also been completing spraying all the corn fields. It's a good feeling to be done with that project for now. The new sprayer and update to the tender system have really helped with efficiency and speed of the process. I am so enjoying being able to fully participate in planting season. We are experimenting with some different nitrogen methods and hope to fine tune the corn and bean production even more this season.

Celebrated Abbott Bruer Hess's one year birthday on Wednesday. Stopped planting long enough for some burgers and delicious cake. Actually scheduled a planter service call while we ate so wouldn't miss any planting time.

Crop prices continue to deteriorate with the mostly excellent planting weather across the midwest.

Fall prices:

Corn 3.58

Soybeans 9.03

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A Good Beginning

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Partners,

Got a good day in today after major planter frustrations yesterday. It got dry enough to officially start planting Tuesday afternoon, but we couldn't get the planter to "talk" to the monitor--totally unable to go! We were on phone with Precision Planting tech support till 10pm. We finally gave up, went to bed, and this morning the software we needed to install loaded in less than a minute! By tonight will have over 200 acres in the ground. 

Finished spraying bean ground Monday and started with the corn burndown for the no-till fields. We should be caught up with the planter by early next week.

Still leveling and moving dirt to help heal some of the scars from the last three years' heavy rainfalls. Seeding more wider, longer waterways to try to stem the erosion possibilities.

Weather forecast does not look very wet or warm for the next ten days.

Ready for the Race

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Partners, 

We are just about ready to start planting in earnest. We have been using the dry weather these past few weeks to finish fertilizer application, tear out no longer used fences, cut trees, seed waterways reworked last fall, repair erosion issues from the last two years, repair tile holes, and ready our planting equipment. We also delivered our winter crop contracted grain. All of our soybeans are now delivered and we still have about half of our stored corn which will be delivered this summer to take advantage of stronger basis. 

The only updated equipment for planting is a used sprayer purchased this winter. Our older pull type was just not strong enough or fast enough to handle the spraying chores on the amount of acres we cover. The newer self-propelled will give us the ability to be more timely and cover more acres with less labor involved. 

The weather is a bit of a concern. We have not had significant rainfall the past month. Ground conditions are good with adequate subsoil moisture but we have missed precipitation several times with chances of 80-90%.

Families are doing well. Celebrating one year birthday of Abbott this month and I (Steve) am so thankful to be fully functioning and able to help get this crop in the ground. 

There is lots of concern in the ag economy about commodity prices and where farm income is headed. We are usually enjoying a bit of a spring planting rally this time of year but prices have been flat to down-trending the last couple of months.

Fall prices:
Corn $3.57
Soybeans $9.93

Enjoy the beauty and renewal of springtime!