Last week we had a combined total of 7” of rain. That’s an amount some farmers get in a year. Around here it’s about half of the growing season total in an average year. Thankfully, my dad’s philosophy was to ditch like its never going to stop raining. We still stick with that philosophy as do most of the farmers in the valley. We spend a lot of time and money on our drainage, plants won’t grow if they are under water. To some degree, we are our own worst enemy, the more we ditch, the faster the water leaves the field, the faster it gets to the river and the higher the river rises and floods. But what do you do? We strive to get the most out of every acre, just like any business striving to make the most out of every square foot of retail space.
We’ve spent most of this week on the ATV with the trench wheels. It can be a fun job, tearing through the mud, but the fun is gone. I’ve been stuck twice, both ATV’s have to go to the shop to be fixed, basically its a pain now, but it has to be done. The faster the water leaves the field, the sooner we’ll get back in.
We have heavy black soil. It retains water very well. We don’t need the frequent rains that sandier soils need. As things are now, we need a lot of dry, cool weather for our crops to recover. To much heat now, with the plants already stressed because of excess water, would be very bad. I think we can already count on some yield reduction. The forecast is a 60% chance for rain tomorrow. Hopefully it misses us. I’ll keep posting pictures of what happens.
