Farm Update: Replanting Soybeans + Birds in the Yard + Sickle Mower

The first planting of beans, about a month ago, didn't take, so we'll do about 38 acres again.  First dad (76 yrs old and works like crazy) re-tilled with the field cultivator, then we planted them with the drill.  Crop insurance will cover a percentage of the loss, not sure of the numbers.  Towards the end of the video we go a little off topic, but I don't really know how to edit these things. I'm also not interested in spending the time to learn.

Here's a short video of the birds as they move around outside. At about 8 weeks old they roam around looking for, and I'm hoping, eating ticks. There is a big problem up here with Lyme disease; I check myself constantly for ticks. I can occasionally feel them crawling on me but more often than not I lift up my shirt or pant leg to find nothing. Which is good, but it starts to play with my head after a while.

I got the sickle mower that I bought at auction hooked to the tractor and so far it's working. In a week or so I'll pull it 10 miles down Highway 63 and mow the 65 acres that are in clover. It's a slow process but given the equipment we have, the best option for getting rid of weeds ahead of next years corn.

Since I shot the pics, we took off the duals (the outside tires). They're good for added traction when you want to till, but when they're off its easier to mow. (They don't trample the grass ahead of part of the mower.)


Click on either of the images to make them bigger.

Moving the Birds Outside

My nephew George and my dad came to the farm to help move the birds from the brooder to the outdoor coop. Now that their feathers are in they can manage the cold nights. After getting acclimated to their new home they'll start wandering around the farm eating, I hope, ticks!

For some reason, to see a clearer image of any of the pictures below, you'll need to click on it --

Auction Buys

I bought a New Idea model 255 sickle bar mower and a 300 gallon diesel fuel tank.  After putting a new hydraulic cylinder on it and giving it a "tune up", I'll use the mower to cut weeds on the 65 acres that's in clover.  By cutting them before they go to seed, I'm hoping to reduce the amount of tillage I'll need to do next spring/summer.

The tank will get a coat of rust converter paint, a couple of new fuel filters, and a final coat of John Deere green.

Kind of amazing what you can move with ropes and chains.

Planting Corn

We hire out the corn planting, as right now we don't have a planter!

He is using a John Deere 12 row model 1770.

This has a been a very cold, wet spring and the corn is going in late. We'll see how that affects the yield.

Trying to Dry Out a Field

We try to plant our corn by May 1st. This year has been wet and cold, but there was a small window last week and we missed it.  So, in between the rain, my dad (Gramps), is hoping that by running the field cultivator over this ground the wind will dry it out so we can plant it tomorrow.   The ground is sandy and well drained. It's supposed to rain in the afternoon, so we'll see. 

I had tilled this piece (roughly 30 acres) with the field cultivator almost three weeks ago. The soybean residue on it from last years crop was incorporated fairly easily into the soil.

Heavy Weather

The neighbor's rain gauge says we got 5" of rain.

I like the distorted images.

Baby Birds in Brooder

The birds - guinea fowl, chickens, ducks, geese and a lone turkey - are about a month old. In a week or two they'll have enough feathers to stay warm at night and I'll move them outside for the summer.  I'm counting on the guineas to eat enough ticks to spare me from Lyme disease.  I find myself checking twice a day for ticks; at this point I've only found 3, but I think there will be more as it warms up.