Dawn to Dark Season

 Spring field work is in full swing.  All four of us are operating some sort of equipment, sometimes two or three tractors in one field at a time!  Matthew is seeding at his place near Odessa.  I have been cultivating the re-crop spring wheat ground and now the winter wheat fields that we destroyed due to the drought.  Alicia is fertilizing the re-crop acres and Reynald is hauling product for her.  We're all putting in long hours but we can see the fruits of our labor at the end of each day.  It's very satisfying.

Sunrise and Arthur!

For some reason I really love shadows.  If you look closely you can see me in the tractor seat in the shadow, the cultivator in the rearview mirror and my satellite guidance screen.  This is on the re-crop ground.

Then on to the winter wheat ground that we destroyed.  It's along story......the short version is that because of the drought we got a very poor germination rate on our winter wheat crop last fall.  However, the cheat grass sprouted and thrived after a sprinkle of rain came through while we were seeding.  It wasn't enough to help the terribly dry soil conditions for the wheat seeds, but the cheat grass was super happy!  We have never seen cheat grass germination like we're seeing this year.  We theorize that with the extreme heat last summer, the protective coating on the seed enabled it sprout with only a tiny bit of moisture.  The bad news is that we have destroyed a couple thousand acres of winter wheat.  The good news is that we have also destroyed an amazing amount of cheat grass and goat grass.  Federal Crop Insurance will help pay the bills and and aid to tillage rate of Round-up, followed by me and the cultivator, will take care of the cheat grass and goat grass!  We will plant spring wheat on all the destroyed winter wheat acres and hope and hope and hope for rain.

This photo shows how thick the cheat grass is between the rows of wheat.  It's not supposed to look like a lawn!  There should be some soil showing between the rows of wheat.   It also shows just how small the wheat plants are and the failure to thrive, due to the drought.  

Cheat grass growing on top of cheat grass!  The wider leaf and darker green plants are winter wheat.  It's so much smaller than it should be at this point in the season.

Another view of the wheat and cheat grass growing between the rows.  The cheat grass is turning red from the round-up that was applied a little over a week ago.  

More thick cheat grass but you can also see how heavy the straw residue is which is what we strive for.

And, to continue to drive the point home, more cheat grass growing on top of cheat grass!  This is actually very discouraging in a way, and at the same time encouraging, because we have successfully eliminated a huge problem that has plagued us for years, and will no doubt continue to do so, but we've made what we hope is a dent.

Cultivated ground on the right and more to do on the left.  You can see here that the wheat crop is not what it should be.

This image shows just how dismal the winter wheat crop is and what poor germination we had last fall.  This is a different field that the above images.

This image shows how poor the stand is and while the cheat grass isn't quite as thick in this particular photo, it's still significant and much worse than this in other places in the field.  

And the sun goes down on another day.  Tomorrow we start all over again.  Even with the frustrations, it's a really good life.