The puppies are getting so big!
We're on spring break next week. Full week planned. We're hoping to take the kids to the wildlife park in Wichita. I keep hearing it's amazing and nicer than the zoo even and Wichita has a spectacular zoo!
The weather's supposed to take a big dive in temps over the next few days, after we just got over a cold spell it seems though I won't complain, if it brings rain or snow, we welcome it! But snow in March doesn't really sound like something I'll enjoy too much. Snow in any month isn't really something I enjoy but snow in winter and easier to accept than snow in spring!
Jeremiah and I drove up to Junction city which is in the NE part of the state west of Topeka last Saturday. I've been wanting to buy brome seed to throw out in the pastures for the past couple of years. We put some out last fall but the rain did not come as it was predicted and the wind is always so bad here I am sure the majority of it just blew away! Doesn't look like anything is coming up anyway which is a drag!
Jeremiah has been having some issue with the tractor breaking the arm in the back that holds the implements. He'd end up removing the arm, re-welding it only to have it break again and again and again. Two Saturday's ago we were at a farm auction and he was looking at a few of the tractors they had and came up with a pretty good idea to "fix" ours. The arms were homemade by the last owner who, oddly enough, owned a welding and fabrication shop. However, after removing them to fix them, Jeremiah discovered they were not even the same length! Makes ya wonder! So, after some fabrication, Jeremiah put it all back together, got the brush hog out on Monday evening and not so much as a single crack so I would venture to say the fabrication he did worked! FINALLY! I was getting a little annoyed the thing was always out of comission.
Back to the brome though. A little history, brome is cut for hay generally in late May/June. It's a cool season grass and will somewhat go dormant over summer. In the fall it picks back up growth again and some will let it go to seed, others will harvest the seeds and sell it. Brome is like bermuda that will seed itself and sends out underground rhizomes as well so it does not HAVE to reseed itself to come back like rye, wheat, etc.
We have a local place that sells seed as do some of the grain co ops. I bought about 20 lbs. for $2.20 a lb. last year. This year, or rather 2 weeks ago it was $3 a lb!!! That should tell you that people ended up doing a 2nd cutting on their fields in the fall (which almost never happens), to use for haylage because of the drought. At any rate, I called back to order it and it had jumped to $3.50 a lb. plus freight and I thought that was rather obscene! I contacted a few other places and one place was as high as $5.50 a lb.! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
A friend of mine saw an ad on Craigslist for seed that had been lab tested for germination at $1.50 a lb. You can bet we were on the road quick and in a hurry to get up there. It's about a 2 hour drive. We came home with our coffers full of brome seed. YAY! So, like I said, Jeremiah went and finished up the mowing on the "back 40" so we can figure out how to get this seed out. It's best to drill the seed in but we don't have a grass seed drill. It's possible just to broadcast it too but requires more per acre and then there's the chance of it blowing away. We have a harrow, I think I'll broadcast it and then either lightly drag the harrow over to cover some of the seeds or rig up some kinda heavy roller to pound it into the ground. I suppose if nothing else, rig up a "drag" just to get a little dirt to cover it so it doesn't blow away. I have to wonder how the hell farmers survived living in the mid-west. Farming of any type seems to freakin' hard sometimes! If it's not the wishy washy moisture, it's the wind. If it's not the wind, it's heat and if it's not the heat it's the cold and if it's not the cold it's the cheat grass or some other noxious weed. UGH!
Anyway, I am sure we'll get it figured out. If not, live and learn.
This week will be/has busy getting seeds started. Have a few goats who've/will have left by weeks end. Have a few due to kid any day so it's always an exciting and busy time!
Hope all is well with everyone! Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment