Another corn cap

Our boys have all taken a liking to seed corn caps. Here Simon shows the latest style from Golden Harvest. Do they have a fashion show, complete with runway, for these things?

New sweatshirt break in.

My in laws gave me a new sweatshirt for Christmas so I thought it's time to break it in, and the best way is with some mud. So our neighbor and local Dekalb salesman Mr. Kingdon (plug) brought his CAT and tile plow over. End of December is an odd time to tile but we will take it. As you can see farmers don't buy big tractors just for fun, sometimes you need horsepower and traction, it took all the traction of the CAT and 8470 to get it done. The end goal of this project will be a grass  waterway to control some erosion issues. Hopefully we don't need the big horsepower to move snow in a few weeks.

Run to freedom

We worked our fall calves this week. After being worked they go back to mama for a couple weeks to reduce stress. Here they are running to freedom, you might run too if somebody gave you a couple shots and put a tight rubberband around your boy parts.... Yikes!

Sale barn culture

The chief, Owen, and I hooked the Dodge up to the old stock trailer and had a great time at the Edgewood  sale barn recently at a feeder calf and bred cow auction. Owen got to experience the food, walk the pens before the sale, and try to understand the auctioneer. Sale barn culture is a unique aspect of rural America. Most folks are wearing work suit (thermal bibs, mucked up boots, etc.) as they squeeze the sale into a busy day. Be assured these buyers have amazing abilities to tell a sick or poor performing calf or cow verses an average or good performer, more than once I had to consult with the chief to figure out why a calf was bring little money. We picked up a handful of 550 lb heifers that fit in well in the feed lot as well as 3 older bred cows and 1 bred heifer all at prices we seemed happy with. Check out your local auction but be careful, those auction workers are pretty observant and in all the excitement you could drop $15,000 pretty fast at today prices.

Rogers Ag Education Day

For lunch we enjoyed a trip to a local grain handling system vendor in Aurora, Rogers Ag Service. The Sukop folks were there sharing the latest developments in their product line up. The whole family came along. You might notice the two smaller farmers in the picture, they listened intently to the presentation. When we left I said "what did you learn fellas?" Harrison said "Well, I know about everything they sell." Owen said "We need a tower dryer dad! The fan is inside". That kid should join the Sukop sales team. When I told him we could dry our entire corn harvest in less than 2 days with a big tower dryer he was not deterred in his desire, he needs a logistics lesson.

Thank you to Rogers Ag salesmen Joe for the invite.

Hard work pays...

If you save your birthday money for a long time, walk a lot of beans, and collect dozens and dozens of eggs you to can save up enough $ to purchase your first .22lr. The sweet rewards of diligence.