Spring on the farm....

It is planting time!


Field corn planting is complete, both for our customers and our own acres.  Now planting soybeans.  Today Hubby is planting soybeans on our acres, but earlier this week and last week, he planted for several customers.  The field corn we planted last month is about 14 inches tall and, because of several fortunate rains, is looking really good!!!

We finished up a few spring silage harvesting jobs for customers in the past 3-4 weeks!  The pic is of hubby driving our CLAAS silage harvester, our truck driver is in the adjacent truck, and a neighbor in his truck behind.  Hubby enjoys this work, so glad I usually don't have to help in the field for these super long, super fast paced days.

We have about 14 cows with calves and right now, they are lovin' grazing on prairie grasses.  The small calves are newborn to 2 months old and are so much fun to watch!  They romp and play in the pasture, chase each other, and try to tease mom, much like human toddlers do.  The cows are very protective of their calves.  They do not like it at all when we or our dogs get near their calf.  They will fight a coyote or other predator, if one dares to get close to their little one. 

Next up is swathing (mowing) hay on waterways, so it can dry and we can bale it for winter feed for our cattle.  We hire another farmer to swathe the hay, then use our own baler when the hay is dry enough to bale.

Then, 10 to 20 days from now, we will be beginning to harvest our winter wheat crop!  The mild winter and spring brought about a very early maturing wheat crop-- 3 to 4 weeks earlier than our normal here in Central Kansas.  Kansas wheat harvest is a memorable experience for anyone who participates with the event!

Very intense...
Very hot...
Very exciting...

Looking forward to it/dreading the longgggggg days!  A typical harvest day (for us) begins around 6:30am and doesn't end until the stalks of the wheat plant are too tough with humidity to efficiently be cut by the combine--between 9pm and 12pm, normally.  Makes for a tired, grumpy family! But we so love working together at it!

We also love playing together!  Especially with our 3 year old.  =)
Hope you are enjoying your Spring!!!