Corny Analogies

I've found a few of these hitchhikers lurking on the floor of our farm house lately.

Thankfully, most of its buddies ended up in the ground. 

It's corn planting time in Kansas. In the scheme of things, our farm is kind of like that single grain on the kitchen floor. The 294 acres we planted this spring on our dryland farm don't amount to much in the overall statistics of production for Kansas.

However, only five states produced more corn than Kansas in 2020. USDA estimated the 2020 Kansas Corn Crop at 766 million bushels, with a yield of 134 bushels per acre and 5.72 million acres harvested. Last year's crop was the second largest in Kansas history, falling only to the record 2019 crop of 801 million bushels. 

According to the Kansas Corn Commission, a third of our corn stays in Kansas to feed livestock; a third is made into ethanol and dried distillers grain at Kansas ethanol plants; and a third of our corn leaves Kansas to be used in other states or exported overseas, along with corn products. 

Since our primary crop is wheat, we don't contribute much to that total. For us, corn is one of the crops used in our rotational program to keep soil quality good and weeds down. For my brother and parents in a neighboring county, corn is a primary crop.

 

We began planting corn on April 26, a little later than our normal plant date. However, in mid-April, we had fairly chilly weather, so the soil temperature wasn't conducive for growing anyway. Plus, we had some cattle-moving tasks to complete first. (And, it allowed a visit with the granddaughters before we began the new task - bonus!)

Today, many farmers plant RIB corn (refuge in a bag) - whether it's irrigated or dryland.

The green-colored seeds have a different genetic make-up and are treated with a different insecticide than the purple-colored seeds. The purple seeds are a refuge for several different insects in a field, giving them a habitat to satisfy EPA rules. Before RIB technology was available, farmers had to plant so many acres in a field to a corn that wasn't resistant to the bugs and the rest of the field could be resistant. With RIB technology, farmers can plant it all at the same time, without changing seed and figuring acreage requirements. 

 

Randy adds a seed talc - or lubricant - to the planter boxes to facilitate the seed's journey from planter to soil. 

 

He also applies a starter fertilizer to promote early growth. The make-up of the starter fertilizer was determined after Randy did soil testing before planting. 

 

It included nitrogen, phosphate, sulfur and zinc. After planting, the co-op is applying more nitrogen, along with herbicide 

The fertilizer is in the tank pulled by the pickup. First stop is pulling up to the scales at the elevator to weigh the empty pickup and fertilizer trailer and tell the scale operator what kind of fertilizer we want. (There's another stop after the tank is filled for a final weight.) I also let them know how to bill the previous load of fertilizer.

Then, it's off to the fertilizer shed, where an employee fills the tank with the "recipe" Randy has ordered. 

I stand around and take photos of our prairie skyscrapers and the clouds. (What else is new?)

 

This year, we again picked up the seed as we need it at Zenith, so on some trips, we also get the bagged seed from another building. 

Once back to the field, Randy can then use the fertilizer in the trailer to refill the fertilizer tanks on the planter, attaching a hose. 

He starts a motor to pump the fertilizer to the planter.

He runs the motor until the tanks are filled. (You can see it's only about one-third full in this photo.)

 And then he's off to make another round. 

  

As always, we're "keepin'" it rural, just like our ancestors did.

 Corn was a primary crop in this area when it was settled. The 6th Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture of 1888 reported that corn was the main crop for Stafford County, covering 48,030 acres. Oats were grown on 10,849 acres, while the winter wheat crop totaled 8,717 acres. Pasture ground was tallied at 13,446 acres. Other crops in 1888 were millet, spring wheat, rye, Irish and sweet potatoes, sorghum, castor beans, cotton, flax, hemp, tobacco and broom corn. Swine outnumbered cattle in livestock. (Information taken from Stafford County History: 1870-1990.)

We got done planting our 294 acres of corn on Saturday evening. We still have a small food plot to plant as a custom farming job, but we are at a pause because of about 0.60" of rain we've received over the past two nights. We are thankful for the moisture.

April Showers Bring Fall Corn?

If April showers bring May flowers, we hope May showers bring fall corn. (And those May showers sure don't hurt the wheat crop, alfalfa or pastures either!)

Randy started planting corn on April 24 this year, later than normal. I took these photos the afternoon of May 2, the second day when our part of the state had the chance of severe thunderstorms. Thankfully, we got 1.40" of rain, but missed the hail, tornadoes and high winds that other parts of the state experienced. It rained Randy out before he could finish the field, but he got done yesterday afternoon.

The rain certainly gave the newly-planted corn a boost. So does the nitrogen fertilizer Randy applies  to promote germination and early growth.

This year, we planted 280 acres of corn, a little less than last year. I'm sure that seems like small potatoes - or small sprouts - to anybody who has circles of corn. Since we are an all dryland farm, wheat remains our primary crop.

On a walk last Friday, we checked out the newly-emerged corn coming up in fields where he'd first planted.

Our walk also took us past a wheat field, where it was starting to head. The 2018 Wheat Quality Council's Hard Winter Wheat Tour was last week. And the 95 participants who traversed the state along six different routes found what we already knew: The 2018 wheat crop is behind schedule. Because most of wheat country has been in a severe drought since last October, the crop is shorter than normal and head size is smaller. 

Friday, May 4, 2018

The Wheat Quality Council's estimate for the 2018 Kansas wheat crop is 37 bushels an acre. Kansas Wheat reports that total production of wheat to be harvested in Kansas is 243.3 million bushels. If realized, this would be about 90 million bushels less than last year's crop and the lowest production in Kansas since 1989.

Monday, May 7, 2018

By Monday afternoon, many more heads were unfurled in the wheat fields.

My eternal optimist reports that the rains late in April and early in May should help some,  especially if we don't plunge right into summer temperatures. However, these days with 85-degree-plus temperatures won't do the crop any favors.

Corn 2017: The Journey Begins

The corn seed in the middle of the photo was at the end of the row, where Randy turned. Most of the seeds end up underground, where they are supposed to be, but I still liked the photo.

God says, "Leave the miracle part to me. 

I've got the seed, the soil, the sunshine, the rain and the seasons.

I'm God, and all this miracles stuff is easy for me. 

I have reserved something very special for you 

and that is to plant the seed."

--Jim Rohn, Author & Motivational Speaker

Two weeks ago, Randy started planting corn. He finished the last field on Friday, right before we got 2.20 inches of rain over the weekend. 

 

On the day I took the photos, it was one of those times when the blue sky was dusted with cotton-candy wisps of clouds, which beautifully offset the brown earth.

I wasn't Randy's only audience. Our cows in a catty-corner pasture came to watch the proceedings. I'm always amused by cow's curiosity. Thankfully, they didn't get any closer to the action.

Last Friday, we were in the corn field again. At the field where he had first planted, the green corn sprouts lined up like soldiers down rows of brown earth.

It looks like a good stand.

This year, we planted 310 acres of corn, a little more than last year. I'm sure that seems like small potatoes - or small sprouts - to anybody who has circles of corn. Since we are an all dryland farm, wheat remains our primary crop.

Randy says these photos make the corn look bigger than it is. Yes, it does, but I liked it anyway.

However, corn was a primary crop in this area when it was settled. The 6th Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture of 1888 reported that corn was the main crop for Stafford County, covering 48,030 acres. Oats were grown on 10,849 acres, while the winter wheat crop totaled 8,717 acres. Pasture ground was tallied at 13,446 acres. (Information taken from Stafford County History: 1870-1990.)

 

To give the corn a boost right from the start, Randy applies a nitrogen fertilizer to promote germination and early growth.

He also had the co-op spray a combination of herbicide and fertilizer. The herbicide will help control broadleaf weeds and some grasses, and the fertilizer was applied at the rate indicated by soil testing, so it varied from location to location.

 

Our planter was set at 18,800 corn seeds per acre. Each $200 bag has 80,000 seeds and plants 4.3 acres. By comparison, one bag of certified wheat seed costs $15 and plants about half an acre. A bag of milo seed costs $119 and plants 14 acres.

At another field, Randy did a little digging to uncover the seeds. They had sprouted, but they hadn't yet emerged through the soil. 

And now we'll leave the miracle part to God

A Corny Post

It's the crop that almost wasn't.

Before last week's 2.80" of rain, Randy wasn't going to plant corn on the 200 acres he'd planned. He'd ordered seed from our friendly neighborhood salesman. But without moisture, it would have been a lesson in futility to plant the expensive seed.

Who knows? It may still be a lesson in futility. Since we are dryland farmers, we need the rain to fall at the right time and moderate temperatures during pollination later this summer.  But the much-needed moisture was the "green light" to start planting the green seed.

God says, "Leave the miracle part to me. 

I've got the seed, the soil, the sunshine, the rain and the seasons.

I'm God and all this miracles stuff is easy for me. 

I have reserved something very special for you 

and that is to plant the seed."

--Jim Rohn, Author & Motivational Speaker

Randy just might have jinxed himself the night before the planting began by saying something like this: "I think we are caught up on repairs at the moment."

At the time that declaration came out of his mouth, I looked at him and shook my head. "You are tempting fate!" I told him.

So guess who was off for parts the next day? I picked up two fertilizer tanks to replace the ones that had cracked during the winter. And $1,200-plus later, I was back from my whirlwind trip to Hutchinson, and the guys got the tanks installed. Randy started planting last Friday (April 22) afternoon.

We got one field planted, but then had another breakdown. (It's just one other variation of the Farmer's Law: "If you're in a hurry to get something done, there will inevitably be breakdowns."

The parts didn't come in until Tuesday morning. Once they were in place, he was off to the field to try and get more planted before the forecasted severe weather came in. (It never did, by the way.)

Randy also applies fertilizer to give the seed a boost of energy for germination and early growth.

Our planter was set at 18,800 corn seeds per acre. Each $205 bag has 80,000 seeds and plants 4.3 acres. By comparison, one bag of certified wheat seed costs $15 and plants a little more than 1/2 an acre. A bag of milo seed costs $100 and plants 14 acres.

And now we'll leave the miracle part to God. We may need some more miracles in the repair department, too. I'm off to Hutchinson again today to pick up more parts. (Farm wife hint: NEVER say you are caught up on repairs.)