A Kernel of the Process: Cleaning Seed Wheat

 

"On the road again
Can't wait to get on the road again ..."

With all due respect to Willie Nelson, I have lost track of the trips we made to Miller Seed Farms in the last couple of weeks. (One of my trips was when Randy left his phone in a truck, but who's counting?)

You can't beat the scenery along the way. Rains have made the pastures a vibrant green. Blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds made it absolutely "necessary" to make a brief stop for a photo op.

And, yes, I still arrived on time.

I'm not the only one around here who likes to plan ahead. Randy is already looking toward planting our 2017 wheat crop. Before planting this fall, we take the wheat we stored in on-farm bins during harvest time to get cleaned and treated before wheat planting.

Randy uses an auger to move the wheat from the bin into the truck. The tractor's PTO runs the auger.  After the truck is full, he tarps it and takes it to Miller Seed Farms. As seems to be a recurring theme this summer, we had a breakdown during the process. But, thankfully, the shaft on the auger held together until most of the seed wheat had been taken out of the bin. (This morning, before the temperature soars to the 100-degree mark, the guys are going to work on taking apart the auger. Hopefully, it will be an easy fix.)

We had a different kind of wheat stored in another bin (but I wasn't there to take photos at that time).

Once at the seed farms, the first stop is the scales. Just like at the local co-op, we need to know - and the seed farm needs to know - how much grain was trucked in.

We brought wheat in both the tandem truck and the semi.

Farmers may store their own wheat and plant it for their next crop, but only for their own use.

This year, Randy saved two varieties at harvest time, KanMark (a K-State release) and WB 4458 (a WestBred variety) to plant for seed wheat for our 2017 crop.

 

We have our wheat treated with an insecticide - Cruiser - and a fungicide - Vibrance Extreme. This is an extra expense, but we believe it will get the 2017 wheat crop off to a good start. 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 wheat is cleaned and treated, it's loaded back into our trucks for the trip back to the on-farm storage bin.

This fall, we'll also pick up some certified seed from Miller Seed Farms. This year, Randy reserved more KanMark and WB 4458 to plant for the 2018 seed wheat. At wheat planting time, we'll pick it up in sacks. The journey toward another wheat harvest has already begun! (I started the blog post with a Willie Nelson tune. Cue The Lion King's "Circle of Life" to end it!)

Planting a Seed of Appreciation

Dolores Wagler, Photo from http://millerseedfarms.com

Sometimes, customer service is as simple as a bright purple clipboard.

Let's face it: I'm not cashing a paycheck every two weeks from my job as "office manager" on the County Line. So when Dolores, the office manager at Miller Seed Farms, chased me down and gave me a purple clipboard, I felt like I had just gotten a prize.

Randy had taken photos with his phone of our struggling alfalfa crop so he could get a replant rate on the seed cost. But I was the one that got them texted to owner LaVerne Miller's phone. Randy made a comment about being glad he brought his office manager and communications specialist to run the technology. And I joked that I hoped Dolores got paid more than I did for her office management duties.

We all laughed. But, after we left the office, Dolores brought me that purple clipboard while we were waiting on the guys to load the alfalfa seed. I wouldn't have liked a dozen roses any better.  Don't get me wrong:  My farmer definitely makes me feel valued (and I know I'm fortunate because of that. Not every farm wife feels that way). But it was still nice to have someone else acknowledge my contribution to the cause.

 

It's not like we see the folks at Miller Seed Farms all that often, though they always make us feel like old friends. They are part of our annual pilgrimage toward wheat planting. We take the wheat we stored in on-farm bins during harvest time to get cleaned and treated before wheat planting starts in September.

Farmers may store their own wheat and plant it for their next crop, but only for their own use.

This year, Randy saved two varieties at harvest time, 1863 (a K-State Wheat Alliance release) and Cedar (a WestBred wheat variety). He and Jake loaded the saved wheat from our bins into our trucks. I went to Miller Seed Farms to pick them up so they could get some other work done while Miller's cleaned and treated the seed.

Just like at the local elevator, the first stop is the scales. Test weight on the Cedar was 59.6 bushels per acre as it came across the scales.

After it was cleaned, it raised the test weight to 61.2 pounds per bushel since they clean out any foreign matter and smaller or broken kernels.

Test weight on the 1863 wheat was 60.5 pounds per bushel. After cleaning, it was 62.3.

 

We also have our wheat treated with an insecticide - Cruiser - and a fungicide - Vibrance Extreme. This is an extra expense, but we believe it will get the 2016 wheat crop off to a good start. 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!

The clipboard wasn't the only customer appreciation freebie. Alongside the jars of wheat, customers can help themselves to a Lifesaver candy or a snack mix.

We've reserved KanMark (a K-State release) and WB 4458 (a WestBred variety) to plant for seed wheat this year. We'll go back to our friends at Miller Seed Farms at planting time to pick it up. Maybe I'll take my clipboard to keep track of the paperwork!

Next up:  The cleaned and treated wheat goes back in the on-farm bins until we're ready to begin wheat planting in late September/early October.

On the Road Again

I think in my next farm wife contract, I will negotiate a bonus for miles traveled.

Over-the-road truckers have to log the amount of time they spend behind the wheel and the miles they travel. When we began planting wheat on September 25, I should have started a log book in all the different vehicles I've driven.

I realize a true trucker wouldn't be terribly impressed with the number of miles I've traveled. But I've definitely spent a good portion of the day in one vehicle or another or waiting to be available to my farmer's every beck and call.

And that's OK. It's all part of the unwritten job description.

There are definitely perks. On one early morning trip to the co-op, the sun rose and cast its golden hue over the day.


I had two jobs that morning. I was supposed to fill the fuel barrel in the back of the pickup with diesel.

On the same trip, I was to get a new load of fertilizer for wheat planting.

After I got the fuel, I pulled the pickup and fertilizer trailer onto the scale at the co-op office where they get an "empty" weight ... the pickup and the tank (not me, thank goodness!)

Then I pulled around into a building where they blend nitrogen- and phosphorus-based fertilizers to make the blend we're using as we plant wheat.

After the fertilizer tank was full, I pulled back onto the scales to get weighed. That's how the co-op knows how much to charge your account. (I like to avoid the co-op bill this time of year. It's way more frightening than Halloween spooks when we use about 10,000 gallons of the stuff during the fall planting season. But it doesn't work for long. I do eventually have to write the check.)

On that particular morning, I took the diesel back to the field, where Randy filled up the tractor he was using to drill wheat.

I then went back to Zenith and filled the 100-gallon fuel barrel again (I make an effort to avoid looking at the price total as the fuel counter spins 'round and 'round. That's why I brought my book to read while it filled.)

I took that load of diesel back to the field, where Jake used it to fill the tractor pulling the disk.

About that time, I was singing Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" to myself.

And that was just one morning. I've had plenty of other outings to get diesel and fertilizer at the co-op.

I've been on the road to help ferry personnel and vehicles to the next field to be worked and planted. (Just last night, I tallied another four back and forth trips helping to get vehicles to the next planting destination.)

I've been on the road to deliver noon meals to both Randy and Jake and then evening meals to Randy.

I've been on the road to Miller Seed Farms, where they know me on a first-name basis.

The upside of visiting them? I can choose a "free" pen.

Or I can grab a "free" piece of candy ...


... while they load the pickup with more bags of seed wheat.



I've also driven on errands to pick up Randy when he's delivered wheat to be cleaned at both Miller Seed Farms and at Greenbush Seed in Stafford. And then I've taken him to retrieve the wheat trucks after the grain is cleaned and ready to be planted.

Somehow I missed the the trip to Keesling Seed Farms near Chase this year. Randy made that run himself.

I've been trying to come up with the perfect theme song. "Red Dirt Road" might work in Barber County. My roads are dirt, but they aren't red. John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads" might apply. But this isn't West Virginia and I sure don't see any mountains. "Life is a Highway" doesn't work because most of my miles are on dirt roads and I'm not sure 4th Street Road qualifies as a highway.

So ... any suggestions?

Until then, I'll be the one driving the white pickup ... or the red pickup ... or the red car ... or the wheat truck ... or ...