Once the scurs pried the Weather Eye loose from the frozen tundra to thaw out for another forecast. Will it get washed off or buried in the snow? Starting Wednesday, cloudy with a good chance of rain. Highs in the mid- 40’s with lows in the low 30’s. Thursday, cloudy with a good chance of forenoon snow and rain. Temperatures falling throughout the day to an overnight low in the upper teens. Sunny on Friday with highs in the low 30’s and lows in the mid-20’s. Saturday, mostly sunny with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly sunny Sunday with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Monday, partly sunny with highs in the upper 30’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly cloudy for Tuesday with highs in the mid-30’s and lows in the low 20’s. On the 20th we slip below 9 hours and 30 minutes of daylight. The normal high for November 20th is 38 and the normal low is 22. A sneak peek ahead to Thanksgiving indicates a high in the mid-30’s with lows in the low 20’s. The scurs have their larder full for Thanksgiving Day with special emphasis on pumpkin pie and whipped cream.
Fall tillage largely came to a screeching halt as the ground froze down to about 5” on the 11th at the SROC. This was confirmed by tiling operations in the area. It was reinforced by lows in the low single digits on the 12th & 13th. Even though the ground was frozen making it solid underfoot, the cold temperatures kept most from running their dryers to finish off the last of the corn they were picking. Temperatures remained below freezing until the weekend.
Once temps got above freezing then the soil surface became greasy and mud collected between the combine duals. That mud wound up on roads and had to be scraped off in many cases. Here and there tillage was being attempted although most were reporting less than ideal conditions or results. Several said it was depending on the area of the field. The upland areas would go while the lower ground would require the implement to be raised to get enough traction. On the north sides of groves soils remained frozen so tillage wasn’t an option.
Anhydrous ammonia applications were also not possible. The greasy soil surface if you could get the knives in the ground wasn’t sealing and again, there were more tales of applicators performing less than ideally. While the old adage that poor fall primary tillage is better than good spring primary tillage may be true, the same cannot be said of poor fall anhydrous ammonia application. If the primary goal of the application is just to cross tasks off the list, it’s probably OK. However, using that kind of logic might require some additional thought given the tight or nonexistent margins. While I’ve seldom heard anyone say their fall anhydrous went on poorly I’ve heard plenty say their crop ran out of nitrogen the next summer in such cases. Hmmm…
Neighbor Jon got the tractor ready to go so it’s ready for winter. A spin on oil filter conversion kit was installed as was another set of hydraulic outlets with an electric switch in the cab. This will allow me to turn the tilt on the bucket off and run the directional spout on the snow blower, all without leaving the cab. In addition he did some surgery modifying the snow blower that also made me happy. It will be nice to back up to the blower and pick it up with the quick hitch as opposed to making several attempts to get it lined up with the three point. Somehow as I get older the notion of getting in and out of a warm cab in the winter is overrated.
At the ranch, the weather has also put some of our operations on hold. I’d waited for the kindly neighbor to start up his corn dryer again following the cold temperatures so I could finish getting the screenings picked up there. Saturday morning arrived and I was able to complete that task while the ground was mostly frozen. I was informed by a former but not as yet retired pygmy goat farmer that he had some screenings to be cleaned up under the dryer so we scraped those up Sunday a.m. By the time the Vikings game was over I’d decided it was a good time to back the wagon in the shed. It also allowed the skidsteer to warm up while backing the wagon in so the oil could be changed for the winter.
The skidsteer provides a wonderful method for backing wagons into tight spots. Backing the wagon down the hill into the shed can be interesting though especially when traction is limiting. Sunday was no exception. While the surface soil on the north facing slope was thawed, there was still frost in the ground. Getting the wagon moving was a challenge although once I did, there was no stopping it until the wagon made the level. It was a helpless feeling as the skidsteer slid down the hill with wagon attached. Luckily the wagon didn’t jackknife and the skidsteer remained upright. When it reached the inch and quarter rock I was home free and stuck the wagon right where I wanted it. Another crisis narrowly averted.
A major hold up keeping me from hauling manure has been the same soil surface issues. I’d best not spread manure on the field going into soybeans around our buildings since the cornstalks we used as bedding contained clopyralid. Seeing what happens to soybeans after the fact isn’t worth the risk especially when it’s close to the road where everyone can see it! I can however haul down the road a quarter mile to the Dubya’s field that will be going into corn. It’ll add some time to the hauling but at least it won’t kill anything it shouldn’t next year. Cool temperatures won’t allow much soil surface drying to occur however. The ground needs to freeze solid enough so it’ll pull the spreader without tracking a lot of mud. Better than winding up buried in the cold ground where everyone can see it I reckon.
See you next week…real good then