Life Is Sow-Sow

Life is sow-sow.  Sow some wheat in this field. Move to another field and sow some wheat there.

Actually, around here, we call the process "planting wheat," but there are those who refer to it as "sowing wheat."

Randy began planting our 2021 winter wheat crop on September 21. He finished up on October 6. For the 2021 crop year, 1,486 of our acres will be devoted to wheat. That's down from last year, when we harvested 1,575 wheat acres, the most we'd ever planted. In 2019, our wheat acres were down because of prevented planting.

We didn't get off to an auspicious start this year. The first day, we had a major breakdown with the tractor used to disc ahead of the planter. I made three or four trips to the field - which, of course, was the furthest location away from the farmstead.  (Kind of like childbirth, I've forgotten the actual number now.) I made a parts run to Hutchinson. Thankfully, I didn't have to make a parts run to Omaha, where we eventually found the part. 

"We'll be glad to pay overnight shipping," I told the clerk, while trying to keep my frazzled farmer calm after a frustrating by-phone and on-line search from cell phone never-never-land.

Thankfully, the parts - though important - were small. And, as I told Randy, overnight shipping was worth every penny. (I must admit I'm glad the parts weighed ounces, not pounds. But still ...)

As is always the case, there have been frustrating breakdowns along the way. But there have been bright spots, too. Literally.

On the first day of October, I rushed out the door after glimpsing the sky through our tree-lined farmstead. I drove to an unobstructed vantage point for the perfect way to start the day.

It's amazing to me how the sky changes in just the seconds it takes to travel a little further down the road. It's kind of a reminder that life can be like that, too. It can change in seconds, so I'd better appreciate living it - breakdowns and all.

But back to the facts. Here in Central Kansas, we plant winter wheat. It's planted in the fall and then goes dormant during the cold months of winter before coming out of its "hibernation" and growing again next spring, then maturing for a June (or July) harvest. 

We saved some of our 2020 crop in bins on the farm to use as seed wheat. It's binned during harvest, and then we load it into the truck to take to Miller Seed Farms near Partridge for cleaning. They treat it with a fungicide, which helps protect the small wheat plants from disease. It's also treated with an insecticide which helps keep bugs at bay. (Those treatments are what gives the wheat its pink tinge.) Then we auger it back into storage bins until it's time to plant. (Photo above.)

When it's time for planting, we load the binned wheat into a grain truck and deliver it to the field, where Randy uses an auger system to transfer it from the truck to the drill.

 

We also buy some certified seed from Miller Seed Farm to plant for our own seed wheat for the following year. This helps keep the purity in the seed. 

 

This year, Randy bought Bob Dole and Zenda for our certified seed wheat.

Since I'm the one who transported the bagged seed wheat from Miller's to home, I like to joke that I chauffeured Bob Dole.

I also fulfilled another vital job - sack stomping. It's the Kansas farm wife equivalent of grape stomping. That way, we could keep the sacks corralled until we could dispose of them.

Another of my duties was worrying as Randy climbed to the top of the slick wheat truck bed to sweep kernels down to the bottom as we finished up the final field.

OK, worrying wasn't in my job description from Randy. I was supposed to be augering the remaining wheat into the drill as Randy scooped.

Thankfully, we both completed our tasks without incident. 

As with every planting season, I think about the optimism that seems to be part of the fabric of every farmer. They put a seed in the ground and then wait like a kid on Christmas morning. 

 

They slow down as they pass a planted field, just waiting for that first glimmer of green.

And sprinkled in among the breakdowns and the frustrations, there are the beautiful skies that remind us to be thankful for each day and moment.

And we wait for yet another miracle - 9 months in the making.

What Goes Around, Comes Around Again: Wheat 2017

 

As the sun sank into the west and tinged the clouds above with light, God's sunset masterpiece spoke of promise and hope. It's a good thing to remember as we continue planting our 2017 wheat crop.

Here in Central Kansas, we plant winter wheat. The hard red winter wheat is planted in the fall and comes up looking like tender green grass. As cold weather arrives, it goes dormant during the cold months of winter before coming out of its "hibernation" and growing again next spring before maturing for a June harvest. Wheat is far and away our biggest crop here on the County Line. Randy is not quite halfway done planting 1,283 acres to wheat.

For the past week, Ricky has been working ground with a disc and packers before Randy plants the wheat using a drill. 

Some of the wheat is being planted on ground where we harvested the corn crop in August. You can see the residue left behind, even after the ground is worked.

Kansas is classified as drought free, which is great news after so much of the state suffered from drought for more than three years. (In 2013, 104 of Kansas' 105 counties were classified as federal disaster areas because of drought.)

However, while we have good sub-soil moisture, Randy would have preferred about an inch of rain before planting. We didn't get it, but he went ahead anyway. Sometimes, you have to do the job because it's "time."

We saved some of our 2016 crop in bins on the farm to use as seed wheat. It was binned during harvest this summer, and then we load it into the truck to take to Miller Seed Farms near Partridge for cleaning. They treat it with a fungicide, which helps protect the small wheat plants from disease. It's also treated with an insecticide which helps keep bugs at bay. (Those treatments are what gives the wheat its pink tinge.) Detractors worry about the amount of chemicals that go into the mix. However, only 0.48 ounce per bushel of Cruiser is used, while 1.68 ounce per bushel of the Vibrance product is used. Think about a little bottle of eye drops (usually about 0.5 ounces). Adding slightly more than 2 ounces to a whole bushel of grain is really not much!

Once the truck is full, he takes it to the field, where he uses the auger on the grain truck to load the wheat into the drills. He sure thinks it beats shoveling, which he did for a lot of years!

Today, I'll be making a trip to Miller Seed Farms to pick up our certified seed wheat. Our reserved bags of KanMark (a K-State release) and WB 4458 (a WestBred variety) will be used to plant for seed wheat. When we harvest the certified seed next June, it will go in the on-farm bins to be used for seed wheat the next year. And so it goes ...

During those seed stops, Randy also has to fill up the tank with fertilizer.

 

The starter fertilizer is a combination of nitrogen and phosphate laid down right beside the planted seed. As the seed germinates, its roots seek out the nutrients, establishing a strong root system.

The fertilizer gets transferred from the 1,000-gallon "nurse" tank pulled by the pickup to this tank on the drill. Then it goes into tubes ...

and is squirted out of small holes in the drill.

As a board member, Randy gets a weekly update from Kansas Wheat. Last Friday, CEO Justin Gilpin concluded with some thoughts about this process that struck home with me and went perfectly with a sunset photo I took of Randy planting.

Peaks and valleys: It’s part of all aspects of life.  I encourage my kids to participate as much as possible in sports so that they learn life lessons like dealing with adversity, being a teammate, being accountable, and picking yourself up when you’ve been knocked down.

Being a wheat farmer, you guys know all about that.  The courage it takes to spend 12-14 hour days, drilling wheat when you know cash price is less than $3 dollars.  Sowing seeds when the rewards are 9 months and good fortune away from harvesting.  Putting all of your hopes into the weather and “generations of how-best-to” knowledge that has been passed down and learned through past failures.  Wheat farming is something special.  I hope you all know that the world watches with admiration, and I’m proud of you guys...

As Randy worked his way toward me one night last week, he turned on his lights. He knows how I like light shining from a tractor or combine as the light fades during a sunset.

So even with a challenging price and no crystal ball for what the weather will bring, the lights are on ... the optimism continues on the County Line. This week, Pastor Nate's sermon was based on Luke 17 and having the faith of a "mustard seed." I think it goes for wheat kernels, too.

The Journey Begins: Wheat 2016

As the leaves and grasses begin their fall wardrobe change to yellows and browns, it seems counter intuitive that a blanket of green begins to cover Kansas fields.

While the rest of the world is preparing for winter, a new crop is beginning a 9-month journey from planting to harvest. Tender wheat blades erupt from brown soil, like soldiers in a row.

We started planting our 2016 wheat crop on September 24. We got a  total of 1,559 acres completed last Tuesday evening, October 6. We planted 200 more acres for 2016 than we harvested this year.

All but the latest planted fields are coming up, despite dry conditions. But it desperately needs a big drink of water. A nice, gentle, soaking rain over several days would be ideal. (We started putting our final cutting of hay down on Friday, so we've done all we can to entice it to rain!)

During the planting "marathon," we added 600 miles to the white pickup's odometer. By "we," I mean mostly "me" as I hauled fertilizer tanks and fuel to fields (and saw my fair share of sunrises and sunsets in the meantime.)

 There will likely be many twists and turns before harvest in June 2016 - whether we're talking weather conditions or market volatility. That's just part of farming.

Only when we look in the rearview mirror after next year's harvest will be know whether we've made the right decisions - to plant or to wait on rain, how many acres to devote to the crop, what wheat varieties to plant ...

 

Right now, there are more questions than answers. But I suppose that questions are as much a part of life as the seasons and the mystery of a fledgling green crop emerging as the rest of the world gets dressed for fall.

Just Sow-Sow

Life around here has been "sow-sow" for the past week and a half. We are planting our 2016 wheat crop. Some people would say we are "sowing" the wheat crop. No matter the semantics, we've been at it since September 24 and still have several days to go.

Wheat is the primary crop here on the County Line, with a little more than 1,400 of the acres we farm planted to winter wheat. It's planted in the fall and then goes dormant during the cold months of winter before coming out of its "hibernation" and growing again next spring, then maturing for a June harvest.

So why is wheat our primary crop? First, we don't irrigate. Wheat is more drought tolerant than corn or soybeans. While the seed genetics are getting better and helping make dryland corn and soybeans a more viable crop in this part of the state, wheat is a proven performer in less-than-ideal conditions. (Of course, we would love to have ideal conditions, but that rarely happens.)

Case in point: We could definitely use some rain. Randy is having to plant the wheat seeds about 2 inches into the ground in an attempt to find some sub-soil moisture.

This was a graphic I created in 2012, after reading the quote in The Hutchinson News.

But he's planting anyway because it's that time of year. And my farmer is optimist, a good trait in a farmer and a husband, as I've said before.

Earlier in September, we had the co-op topdress the wheat ground with dry fertilizer. Using information from soil tests, varying amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were added to the fields.

Jake is disking the ground ahead of the planter. (There have been some spectacular skies - just no rain!)

As we plant the wheat, we add a liquid fertilizer.  One of my jobs is hauling fertilizer tanks to the field and then returning to Zenith to get more fertilizer.

 

The starter fertilizer is a combination of nitrogen and phosphorus laid down right beside the planted seed. As the seed germinates, its roots seek out the nutrients, establishing a strong root system.

The fertilizer gets transferred from the 1,000-gallon "nurse" tank pulled by the pickup to this tank on the drill. Then it goes into tubes ...

and is squirted out of small holes in the drill.

While he's stopped, Randy also fills the drill with seed wheat.

The wheat in the back of the truck is seed wheat saved from the 2015 harvest.

Having the auger is a lot easier than scooping, which we did back in the "olden days."

We have our wheat treated with an insecticide - Cruiser - and a fungicide - Vibrance Extreme.That's why it's that color instead of "golden."

Randy still has to add the certified seed by hand, or rather, sackful. I also made a trip to Miller Seed Farm to pick up our certified seed - KanMark and WB4458.

We plant that seed fairly near the farm headquarters so that we can bin it during harvest and start the whole process over again.

"Sow," there you have it ... wheat planting on a Central Kansas farm. About 9 months from now, we'll hope and pray for a bountiful harvest.