Corn...

Planting season is in full swing around the area. Lots of people are done with corn and waiting to start on soybeans.

Every year, my neighbor has his son come down and plant some "Test Plots" for a company he (the son) works for. There is always leftover seed corn, so he lets me plant it in my field.

This morning was the day to plant his plots, so it was also the day for me to plant mine. I don't have much ground broken (yet), so it doesn't take much seed, but every little bit helps.

I bought a two row John Deere planter (Lister) a few years back (for $7...) and have been using it for corn and milo. This last fall, we plowed the field for the first time to let it fallow over winter. This morning, my neighbor came over and disced it up nice and smooth.

It didn't take me long after that to plant the seeds!

I DID make sure to close the door to the chicken house before I started, though. I managed to catch about 2/3 of the herd in the coop. Last year, they followed me to the field and ate the seeds as fast as I put them down. While not recommended, the treated seeds didn't seem to affect the chickens.

After last year, I wanted to make sure that this year they wouldn't have the opportunity to do it again. Had I known in advance, I would have just not let them out this morning. As it was, I only had a "problem" with one bird.

The Pincushion decided to make the trek over to where I was working when he saw me. Things timed just perfectly so that he was about 15 feet from the edge of the field as I was coming to the end of a row. I pulled the planter out of the ground, dropped the front end loader down almost to the ground, and set a course for Mr Chicken.

He THOUGHT about standing his ground - for a couple seconds - until his nerves cracked. He decided cowardice was the better part of valor......

I followed him for about 40'-50', all the while he was looking over his shoulder at the monster coming after him. One time, I actually touched his tail feathers. This elicited a squawk and a wing-flapping leap, then back to worriedly glancing back and forth over his shoulder.

I finally veered off, but he decided he'd had enough, so he kept going toward the coop. About 30 minutes later he had worked his way back to within about 60' of the field. He stood there, watching until I got to the end of the row, then he high-tailed it to safety. After I finished, nobody wandered over to check things out.

Tonight and tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so I might get lucky this year and they won't find it for awhile.

If they'd pull weeds while they were there, it wouldn't be so bad....

Grinding Corn Video

Here is a video we made a couple years ago. It's me grinding corn with my 1949 8N and my Letz 200x Burr Grinder.

Rotomania

Awhile back I mentioned that a lady called and said she had 8 rolls of woven wire to give away. I managed to bring home 12 rolls from her place - totaling about 3/4 of a mile of wire! She also had 2 of the old Allis-Chalmers Rotobalers sitting there. I asked if she wanted them out of there and she told me I could have them. One was for a spare, but the other was used up until her husband had died 5 years ago. It will need a bit of work, but it should be ok. These balers put out around a 40-60 pound round bale. They are different to work with, but I will use it until I can afford a square baler. The price was right anyhow! I have one (the better one) home now and will get the other in a few days.

I also built a grain bin for the corn I feed my chickens. I used to have a 55 gallon drum in the chicken house for thier feed. They would roost on it and there would be bunches of fresh "chicken do" on the top every morning. I decided it was past time for one on the outside of the coop, with a tube to channel the feed to the inside the chicken house. I used parts I had laying around and a little "MacGverization", but it works great. I built a smaller version to store cat food in that hangs inside my barn. It keeps the cats from trying to get into the food while I'm trying to get it out.

My corn is done for the year! I only had 6 rows, but I got a nice sized pile of ears! I had cut some green for the goats and then waited for the rest to mature. Yesterday, I mowed the patch down with my sicklebar and fed a pile of stalks to the goats. They loved it! They happily munched away for hours - and even stayed up later than usual to eat some! I will probably give them some more tomorrow. I picked up most of the rest with a pitch fork and used the brush hog on the field to shred the stubble down.

The neighbor picked corn Thursday and Friday. I asked him if I could go through and pick up some of the down falls and missed ears. It took me about 20 minutes and I had 2 bucketsful of ears! I could have gotten more, but decided to stop for the day. I also picked up 3/4 of a bucket of shelled corn he had spilled on the ground. I use some of the ear corn to toss to the chickens durring the day. It's fun to watch them run after it and crash into each other over it! They have started to follow me around, looking for it!

It's about time!

Well - it's been over a MONTH since my last entry (Sorry!)! It's been one HOT July around this part of Nebraska! We had 18 days straight over 90 (and a few over 100). We even had a reading of 109! WAY to hot! Not much rain to speak of, either. It's only been in the last 24 hours that it has cooled off again - it is a nice "cool" 82 right now.

I spent a good portion of the month working with hay. The neighbors around have needed help, so I gave them what I could! I drove the tractor and baled for one neighbor for about 2 hours on his alfalfa. He didn't get great yields, but it was bottom ground so it was better than hillside. He was baleing small squares. He gave us 4 pounds of hamburger, and some sweet corn, for helping!

The other neighbor I helped was on two separate places. The first was praire hay on a terraced hillside. It was 40 acres and he got 420 bales off of it - not very good at all! This was his worst year he could ever remember - he usually gets 1500+ off of the same field! The other field was 10 acres of CRP bottom ground with native grasses (a mixture) on it. His yeild was 65 bales an acre from it. He saved 30 acres - 10 for next year, 10 for the year after that - so he would have a back up plan for the next couple of years.

All I did was drive the tractor and pickup for him. He gave me 100 bales for helping! I told him I didn't need that many, but he insisted I take it!

My wife's dad came over the weekend of 8 July 06. He brought 4 Boer cross goats with him. 1 Nanny, her daughter, a "Nannette" (doeling) and a "fainting goat". All are really loving the "jungle" that I fenced off! All that nice lucsious, browse and brush to work over! We sold our two young bil;lys because they were related. I don't think that they were happy to leave! The Fainting Goat is adorable and follows me around like a puppy. We are planning to take her to a Fainting Goat show in Arlington Nebraska next weekend (13 August) and hope to sell her there to someone for a pet. She's real laidback and friendly, so she will make a good one.

We also bought a Boer Billy from a local producer near town. The man obviously knows NOTHING about caring for goats. His ONLY purpose is to fatten them up for slaughter as quickly as he can. I didn't know it until it was to late, but he has been feeding them silage AND dumping it right on the ground! What a MORON! That is a good way to get your animals sick as our Billy can atest to. He developed Listeriosis as a result of the silage and the change to a healthy diet. He lost weight and was so far down, we feared he was lost. We gave him a one time injection of an anti-imflamitory and three shots of Penicillin, twice a day for 5 days. He is now back out with the herd and doing great! The Veteranarian said he'd be better than before IF he pulls through the first 72 hours. I guess he was right, Billy is fatter and much better looking than before,but doesn't like to see my wife! I think he equates her with needles, since she held him while I injected him. He won't even come near ME when he sees her! This is another example of why cattle ranchers should stay away from goats (or vice-versa). The man we bought him from runs the Tecumseh (NE) Livestock Market and treats his goats like small cattle. I've learned a lot from this insident and can see the deasease in his herd now. He, of course, being the idiot he is, cannot see it! I feel sorry for the goats, but there's not a whole lot I can do for them.

The same neighbor that is giving me the 100 bales of hay is also letting me chop down his sweet corn to give to the goats. He lives about a half mile up the road and I go over there every other day or so to chop some. I have been using the trailer for this, so the goats have figured it out! They see the trailer coming down the drive and come running to the fence! They are disapointed when it isn't corn, though! Most of the good ears are gone, but a few small or older, dry ones, still remain. It's pretty funny to watch an adult goat put a 6" ear of corn into a 3" wide mouth and start chewing! It reminds me of a baseball player with a mouthful of "chaw". They sure enjoy it, anyway!

I also got the new FarmShow Magazine. I have a couple of things in there again this issue. I can't afford much, so I have to modify or build my own implements. It is a wonderful magazine - if you don't get it, I might suggest you subscribe!

I also have to build a rabbit hutch in the NEAR future! We are going to "inherit" three Angora Bunnies this weekend. Don't know what I'm gonna do with them, but if it don't pan out, there might be some bunnies for sale in SE Nebraska!

Well - I'm about out of info for this time!