September Farm Update
Hi Friend,
Can you believe that September is already over? The mornings and evenings are cool with the crispness of fall. Leaves are turning yellow and slowly falling from the trees. The days are considerably shorter, and the sunsets and sunrises have moved a little south.
Life on the farm has slowed down. The urgency of harvest and seeding has been replaced with the daily busyness of catching up on all those little things that we’ve been putting off during the summer. Fences are being fixed, corrals built, equipment maintenanced, and cows moved to fall pasture.
The fields have a tinge of green as the wheat is starting to emerge and fill in.
The wheat has been slow to emerge from the ground this year. It was a very dry year with only about 5 inches of moisture (we average 8 inches annually), so we had to plant the seeds deeper in the ground to bed them in moist soil. Because of this, it takes longer for the sprout to penetrate the ground. While we wait, we keep an eye on the weather.
On Memorial Day our region was hit with strong winds. We had wind at 55 mph or higher at the home place. This wind actually ripped newly emergent wheat out of one of our fields. A few weeks later we received our first rain in months. It wasn’t much, but it helped. When it rains in the early fall, we have to watch for crusting. Crusting is when the ground hardens enough that the sprout cannot penetrate the ground. Instead it reaches the crust, folds over in the ground, and dies. This is usually caused when we receive a decent rain followed immediately by a couple of days of hot weather. Luckily our rain was followed by a couple of days of mid-60s… perfect!
The smoke from September’s wildfires was thick. We were fortunate that our local Grant County Firefighters stopped the wildfires before they entered our county and threatened our fields and pastures.
Cows! September’s update would not be complete without cows! We have been mending fences for the last month and moving cows to fall pastures. In a couple of weeks the calves will be ready to wean. They are all looking strong and healthy!
The view from my front window. The curious heifers will even come up to the fence to watch our farm boys play.
We now have cows in the pastures in front and behind the house. I love it when we are surrounded by cows. Rarely in a hurry, our cows peacefully graze in the stubble. Something about watching cows makes you want to put all electronic devices away and be still.
As we enter October, things will pick up a little bit with weaning and feeding calves. We will keep you posted!
Best,
The Sieverkropps