Vacation

Aloha...

Yes, we went to Hawai'i for a beautiful relaxing vacation. We timed our trip with the annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Convention, so we did mix in some work related activity in.

Our trip started by flying to Hilo, HI. Hilo is on the east coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. It is the wettest city in the United States averaging rain over 240 days a year. We were lucky right off the bat. The trade winds moved in the night we landed and we had three gorgeous sunny days in Hilo. The locals said it had been raining since Halloween.

With that much rain Hilo is very green and beautiful. Flowers and waterfalls everywhere. Just some examples.

We also traveled to the ranching country around Waimea and then west. The rainfall kept going down until we were in a drought area. Amazing changes in only a few miles.

The major attraction for me on the Big Island was Volcanoes National Park. All I can say is WOW!

Next blog will be on Oahu.

Recap of 2011

At the start of 2012, it is time to look back on 2011. What went right, and what needs changing. All in all 2011 was a good year for us at Batie Cattle. Co. The bottom line showed a profit so count that as a win.

First the good...
The corn and soybean planting went well, once we started. It was too wet at first and we had to waaaait. And I an not good at waiting. The herbicides we applied as a burndown earlier in the spring to kill any winter annuals worked very well, the fields were clean. Crop emergence was great and the stands were very regular.

We were able to cultivate in a timely fashion, although we did have a few bearings go out on the cultivators. Post emergent herbicides went on when they were supposed to and also did a great job. We had very few weed skips this year. This was the second year to use our GPS system with our sprayer to turn the sprayer on and off and regulate the amount of spray being applied. Much better than doing it manually.

Ridging the corn was a little exciting this year, as it always seems to be. Some wet weather and warm temperatures got the corn shooting up. We had to hurry across the fields, but we got them all done this year. The last two years we had to leave some fields because the corn was too tall.

Then the bad...
We had a couple of hailstorms this summer. Both came fairly early and didn't cause much yield loss across the board, but a couple of fields were hammered. The crop insurance adjuster rated our fields at 5-20% hail loss, but told us it would be worse at harvest on a couple. He was right. The stalks were bruised by the hailstones and fell over before the combine could get there.

And then the ugly!!!
July 6 we had a very strong wind storm come through and break a lot of corn off. We call this greensnap and the broken corn plants are now dead. It can happen if we get a high wind when corn is rapidly elongating, or growing taller. This was a bad year. It is also hybrid dependent. Some are tougher than others, although all will break some. This year we had one hybrid have 50-70% greensnap. Even out best hybrids had 10-15% greensnap. This really showed up at harvest.

Given these issues it is not surprising that our yields were about 40 bushels per acre below our long term average. I didn't even have enough corn to fill all the contracts with the elevator. Luckily the prices were high this year and we still made a profit on the corn.

Soybeans, on the other hand were excellent this year. They were not bothered by the high wind and the hail did not hurt them at all. Yields were great, around 70 bushels per acre. Alfalfa was also great. We had very little rain issues getting the alfalfa baled and the tonnage was high. Prices for both of these crops were very high and profits were large.

What was new this year? We installed subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) on 80 acres this spring. This is a very new and fairly expensive type of irrigation in Nebraska. We installed it because this field is not conducive to a pivot and is fairly steep on the upper side. Gravity irrigation was not very efficient. After one year I am satisfied, but we had some bugs to be worked out. I think 2012 will go better.

We installed row clutches on our planter tied to our GPS system. This turns the rows on and off. The advantage comes on fields that have a slanted end and we used to double plant a lot of the ground, wasting seed. This worked great.

At harvest the soybean flex head tore itself up and we got to demo a draper head. It didn't get to leave. We bought it. What a wonderfully designed piece of equipment.

So what is on the horizon for 2012. After harvest we purchased and installed two center pivot irrigation systems. These will be my first two "circles." I have always been a gravity irrigator. We have also agreed to purchase a tile plow. We will use this tool to bury drain tile on some of our wet ground. The ground water table has been rising and hurting yields on several fields. We hope this will give us better growing conditions. There is very little tiled ground in central Nebraska, but a lot of interest. We hope to install several miles of tile this spring and a lot more this fall.

Crop prices look good for 2012, but not yet great. Cash rents went up this year. I had to renew several term leases this year. Fertilizer and chemicals also went up. I think everyone wants a piece of the higher grain prices. The cash flow for the bank looks pretty good.

I am starting to get very nervous for the future. I have seen booms and busts before. It wouldn't take much to knock corn back to $3.00 or lower and soybeans back to $7.00. I have protected all of 2012's crop with puts or contracts. Who knows about 2013.

Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas

No, I am not confused on the date, I know it is almost Christmas and I am writing about Thanksgiving? It is just that Christmas is the holiday season when I really am thankful for so many things.

We need to acknowledge that all we have is a gift from our Heavenly Father. And this is the time of year that we celebrate the best gift of all, the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross because of my and your sins.

So here is a partial list of things I am thankful for, and I know you will be puzzled by some of them, read on:

My rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, bad back, cold snowy weather, being married to my best friend, two beautiful and loving daughters (we already opened our gifts so I an not buttering them up), our church has a pastoral vacancy, growing up and living in Lexington, Nebraska, my job and hobby are the same thing and so on.

Let me explain a few of these. I know that being thankful for rheumatoid arthritis is very strange, but I can't change the fact that I have had it for 26 years. I understand why senior citizens move the way they do, I can empathize with them for the aches and pains. Do I wish it would away? You bet, but God set it in my path for a reason. I might as well look on the bright side.

Much the same for the bad back and allergies that I have been plagued with for most of my life. For all three of these maladies I am thankful to be living in this day and age with modern medicines.

The cold snowy weather? Without the winter in Nebraska, how would we enjoy the spring, summer and fall in God's country?

Wife and daughters should be easily understood, especially if you know them.

I have some friends and family that don't understand why I enjoy living in Lexington. For those who don't live around here, Lexington underwent a major change around 22 years ago. IBP, a major beef processor, bought a closed manufacturing building and converted it into a beef processing plant. Tyson bought out IBP and now employs somewhere around 5,000 workers, most of them fairly new immigrants to this country. After a few years at the plant many workers move onto other jobs, but they stay in Lexington.

Lexington is now about 75% Hispanic, 5% African, and 20% Anglo. This has obviously changed much in town, from schools to churches to doctors and hospitals. The short answer is growth is better than death, which many small towns are facing. Our daughters have some amazing friends of many cultural backgrounds.

This is still a rural town as well. If there is a crisis in the area, people jump in and help however they can. Need a new library, pool, auditorium, gymnasium, etc. no problem. We'll just raise the money mostly from donations and build it.

Vacancy at church? I do miss our last pastor whom retired this summer. We do have a wonderful vacancy pastor. But people have been stepping up to help, with little prodding.

I am lucky to be able live and farm the ground that my great-grandfather homesteaded on and/or purchased soon after immigrating from England in 1872. It is a great feeling growing food for people around the world as well as here at home. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and remember that I didn't do this all by myself. I am building on what my grandfather and father started. I have a great employee and a family that helps however they can. And of course God is in control.

So in this Christmas season be thankful for all you have, even if it is unpleasant.

On the road, again

   Last week was a blur for us. I spent a total of one day at home and most of that was in town running errands and working at church.
   It all started with a very snowy trip to Lincoln on December 3. Our youngest daughter plays volleyball for Nebraska Wesleyan they had their annual banquet at noon. We drove down in heavy snowfall, yes we are crazy. We had a good time visiting with the other parents who are also crazy and watched our daughter get her first collegiate letter. And then we drove back home, on ice. We saw plenty of cars and trucks in the ditch, some of whom had just passed us a little bit earlier.
   The next day we went to Kearney after church for the start of the Nebraska Farm Bureau convention. Barb served on the credentials committee and I was a voting delegate and judged one round of the discussion meet. The roads were great by Sunday afternoon.
   NFBF convention ended on Tuesday evening and we came home. Wednesday was catch up day. After doing paperwork in the morning, we went to town in the afternoon so Barb could cook a meal at church and I could train a replacement on the church computer. That evening I was a reader at our advent service and Barb streamed the service on internet, a new experience.
  Thursday I drove to Lincoln again. This trip was to attend the Lincoln Power Farm Show, a very large indoor farm show. I met with a couple of vendors I had been trying to talk to and then drove home again. And it was snowing Thursday as well. Again many cars and trucks in the ditch.
   Friday Barb & I went back to Lincoln, yes we already established we are crazy. This trip was to watch our oldest daughter. She is a senior at UNL and is on the marching band. They had their final concert Friday night. We met with Barb's brother and family for the concert and had our family Christmas that evening and the next morning.
  Saturday noon we packed up and headed for Norfolk. Barb nephew attends Northeast Community College and is in the choir and their Christmas concert was Sunday afternoon. After the concert we headed home again, at least this time on good roads.
  While many think we are out of our minds to be on the road so much, we feel fortunate to be able to catch as many of our kid's activities as possible. We know these activities are limited and don't want to miss them. This week, however, we are staying as close to home as possible.

Office season

Harvest is over and now it is office and meeting season. I like to be inside on cold snowy days, but with the beautiful weather outside, I would like to be doing something more physical. I tend to procrastinate on keeping up with the paperwork involved in farming and the piles get quite deep on my desk. The goal is to get everything entered in the computer and filed. It never gets all done, but is a good goal.

Harvest was so-so this year. Soybean yields were good and prices were great. Corn was well below average, but prices again were great. We had hail and greensnap losses on all our fields. some were minor, others were horrible. It is not good when the soybeans yield as much as the corn.

Today I am finishing with the harvest records and getting the proper reports to the crop adjusters for the hail and greensnap losses we had this summer. Next is printing off yield maps and starting to analyze the good and bad from this summer. I also need to get our personal accounts caught up. I can keep the farming account straight since I use the computer for printing checks, but it is easy to put the bank statements aside for a rainy day. Now is the time, even though it is not raining.

Meeting season has already started with the Farm Bureau Policy Development meeting in Kearney a couple of weeks ago. Next is the Nebraska Farm Bureau state convention, again in Kearney. This are always fun seeing friends from all around the state. I have attended every NFBF convention since I was first elected to the Dawson County board in 1985.

Well enough time off, back to the piles of paperwork.

Harvest

So much for keeping up with this blog. Now we are into harvest. I totally skipped writing about irrigation this year. Will try to do better next year.

We are rained out of harvest now, so I will try to get started on this again. This last weekend we received 2.75-3.25 inches of rain. It is very muddy everywhere now. We hope to get started again Wednesday, but today is foggy and cool, not what we needed. We will be loading trucks on the road for the next week or so, this is lots of fun for both the harvest crews and anyone who is traveling the country roads.

We did start harvest on high moisture corn last Monday, 10/3/11. This was delivered to a cattle feedlot to be ground and packed into a bunker silo for storage. High moisture corn is a great feed for cattle in a feedlot and it allows harvest to start sooner. They want corn with a moisture content of 25-30%, much wetter than dry corn which is stored at 13-15% moisture. The wet corn is ground and packed tight to get as much air out as possible. The pile is covered with plastic and will ferment (like beer) and will keep for the next year.

We have one day of wet corn to go before we can start on soybeans. The soybeans were also ready last week, but wet corn has a higher priority. It is tough to time the wet corn harvest since in normal weather corn can dry out 1-2% of moisture a day. So corn that is 30% today will be 25% in 3 days normally. This year it went from 26% to 22% in one day.

Yields of our wet corn is about what was expected. No record yields this year. We had some hail damage early,  ranging from 5-15% loss, and some greensnap, ranging from 10-50% broken. Greensnap is a nasty loss. It happens when we get a very strong wind at exactly the wrong time. Corn can be very brittle just before the tassel comes out if it has been growing rapidly, which it did this year. Then we got 70-90 mph winds one night. Snap. One hybrid had greensnap of 50%, others were 10-15%. It really hurts the yields, and there is not much you can do. While some hybrids are tougher than others, all could greensnap if they get wind at the wrong day.

We are exited to get into the soybeans. We have been hearing yields that are way above record yields from our neighbors. I hope ours are there as well.

Let the sun shine.

Time Flies in the Summer!

Wow, a month has gone by and I finally got back to put up another post.

The corn is growing FAST now. The last half of June was, and always is, a very busy time period. During those two weeks we cultivated all the corn with our rolling cultivators, fertilized all the corn with liquid nitrogen using our coulter applicator, and ridged all the corn to prepare it for irrigation.

One step at a time. We use two 8-row cultivators that are adaptations of the Lilliston cultivator. they have curved spider wheels that run in the dirt, loosening the soil and throwing some soil onto the row, covering up small weeds next to the corn plants. They work best when you can travel about 6-7 mph. This is a picture of one of 16 gangs per cultivator.

The picture to the left is one of our ridgers. We run two like this and can convert one of the cultivators to ridging if needed. This year we needed it.

This is looking back while ridging with the adapted cultivator. The picture below is looking ahead over the hood. The corn has almost shaded the entire row now. It would have already shaded the row except we received some hail in June which slowed the corn down.

This is the corn today. As you can see the corn is growing rapidly. This is only one week after ridging. Now the corn is adding a leaf per day and 4-6 inches of height.

We normally would be irrigating like crazy by July 4, but we are much wetter than normal. The soil is fully saturated and we will wait for a week or two before starting to irrigate. The more we can keep the pumps turned off the lower the expenses will be.