Drought Conditions, Eastern Minnesota
August 9th, 2007 by Good Farmer JohnWe have not had any rain here since about the 20th of June. As I write this, there is none in the forecast.
That said, we are actually in decent shape, all things considered. The pasture is pretty much done, with the exception of the low land area, but that is being consumed quickly.
We are in the process of adding to our fences, and expanding the pasture to include some more woods and another low, swampy area which should stretch our forage for a while. Fencing is hard work, but the joy comes at completion, knowing that the animals are safe and have access to good food. Even so, if the drought persists into September, we’ll be adding another pasture on the other side of the farm, and moving animals over there… Stay tuned!
The open-pollonated corn we are raising for the pigs is doing quite well despite the lack of rain. Three weeks ago, most passers-by were making jokes about the condition of our corn field. Stunted, uneven and weedy, the field often made me think I should have planted it on the “back 40″ where it couldn’t be seen by the road. Now however, everything is caught up and still green for the most part. Ears are coming on and should produce something even with no more rain.
I attribute this to a few things. First, open-pollonated corn, particularly this variety (Wapsie Valley), is typically more tolerant of drought than conventional hybrid corn. Secondly, I planted this field at a very low poplulation of 18,000 plants per acre. This is just over half the population used by commercial grain farmers. With fewer plants out there, each plant is getting more of what little moisture we have. Also, I planted this corn very deep. Normal planting depth would be 1.5 to 2 inches deep. This corn is 3+ inches deep. Yes, it took forever to come up, and when it did, it was very uneven. However, the roots are in moisture and it’s holding during this very dry time. Finally, we must acknowledge the blessings of divine providence and we are thankful for the things we don’t control as well!!
August 10th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Hey John,
Congradulations on your corn holding out. Down here were in a bad bad way. Everthing burnt up. We did like you and expanded pastures and did some hay excavating from ditches etc….
Our reids didn’t make it at all. Second year running on the drought, and this years is a total loss where last year we could salvage some. I need to find an OP strain that can handle the drought better I guess. I like your suggestion of planting deeper. I’ll give that a try. I did plant about the same population as you.
Had to laugh about the “Back 40″, because thats exactly what I did. After last year, I found a place no one could see from the road and planted there. Funny how vanity finds its way into farming
Have a question for all you guys out there. I don’t have a silage chopper on this raggely ol farm and was wondering about letting the stalks finish their burn down and cutting and baling the stuff. Would this work? Gotta find someway to salvage sump’in here.
Thanks,
Brad
August 10th, 2007 at 10:29 am
This is off the topic of your post, but a while back we talked about how there will be attempts to discredit “organic” farming.
Here’s another example:
How Organic Food Contributes to Climate Change. The gist of it is that carbon dioxide must be bad, and living things produce carbon dioxide, and organic farming encourages things (like soil microbes) to live. Therefore, it causes an increase in CO2 emissions. Growing GMO crops chemically, on the other hand, involves less living things, so there’s less CO2.
There are a few wrong-headed assumptions in there, I think. This just might get us a rant from Tom…
Matt
August 10th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Brad,
I always feed out some baled corn stalks. Good stuff for beef cows! You might hear something about nitrates in the stalk, but more likely than not that won’t be a problem. I figure you didn’t use anhydrous on your corn, at least not to heavy if you did. Even if there were some stored up nitrates in the lower stalks if you don’t feed 100% corn stalks you’d be OK in my opinion. One pointer, let the stalks dry down a couple days if you can before baling. You’d be surprised how much moister those stalks might have in em yet when you’d bale, and then they’d start cookin!
Matt,
I’m bombarded with insane ag propaganda every day of the week. It’s getting I don’t even notice it much anymore. Just keep doing what we’re doing!
Oh, I could rant on it alright! They’re so full of it that it’s up to their eyeballs! The one thing I want to point out, and Scott Terry has mentioned the ag propaganda on his blog too, is that big ag is in desperation with their image. And they’re shooting themselves in the foot, over and over again.
Now if that’s the case, where we need less living things because they emmit carbon dioxide wouldn’t it be a good idea to kill off most unneaded life? How about scorched earth policy, that’d do it! Then just have GMOs to save us. As nuts as that sounds, that’s what they want, to own every living thing, (for profit).
I figure in my backwoods wisdom that there’s too much carbon dioxide being emmitted by the culture of death and especially polititions. Eliminate that and you have a balanced out planet again!
Anyway Matt, thanks for the heads up on this one! Just the so called logic that natural life is our enemy shows how much of a tailspin the big ag earth plunderers are falling into!
August 13th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Say, that cantaloupe you gave us one year ago has come up nicely and we are enjoying wonderful cantaloupe now! I’m saving my seeds!
Thanks, Tom!
August 13th, 2007 at 10:26 am
Ooops my URL was wrong on that last post. Sorry.
August 14th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Glad you enjoy them Todd! Ours are a bit behind but coming up quick. Save them seeds!
News here: Inch and a half rain Friday night and another inch last night.
Plus with our first thunderstorm my internet is knocked out……so….I’m writing this at a friends home this evening. I want to thank folks for the prayers many have said for rain for us, that was a drought buster. I don’t know when I’ll be back online but one of these days, eh!
Tom
August 15th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Tom, GFJ,
The Lord has broken the drought here as well. Last weekend we got just under 2 inches. Just waiting for the pasture to recover enough so that I can start grazing again. As Tom said, we are very thankful to all of you folks for your prayers for rain. It has also been more humid and a little cooler around here so that whatever rain comes is not just immediately evaporating.
GFJ,
Sounds like you are making some good adjustments to deal with the effects of the droughts. After reading that you are fencing in low areas, I have been thinking that those low areas are a good cushion in times of drought. Everybody tends to want those low areas drained so that they can be placed into full production, or sell off the woods for housing. Maybe it makes more sense to leave low areas undrained and not sell off the woods, so that these areas can be used in times of emergency. I spent a few years living in the Middle East. While there, I visited a spot that a local tribe reserved for times of drought. This area was set aside as an area to not be grazed except in emergencies.
Jim V
August 19th, 2007 at 9:43 am
How are you holding out with the heavy rains now? Everybody ok?
August 19th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Just an update…
We have had about 1.5 inches here in the last few days spread over about 3-4 rains. We are not getting heavy rains, but lots of drizzle, cool temps and wind. We need more rain than this to be sure, and the drought continues, but we are all thanking God here for the cool weather, and the rain we do have!!
Right now, I am frantically trying to get up about a mile of 6 strands of barbed wire to hold the sheep!! More later. Thanks to all who commented.
GFJ
August 19th, 2007 at 2:45 pm
My sister-in-law lives just south of La Crosse, WI and called this morning saying they were trapped by floodwaters. I wasn’t sure which part of E. Minn you were in, and just wanted to check in with you.
August 19th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
BH,
I heard about the floods, what a change from what we’ve had. We are actually in East Central MN, North of Twin Cities about 60 mi. Thanks for checking in and we pray all is well in LaCrosse with your family…
GFJ
August 20th, 2007 at 10:04 am
We’ve gotten 1/2 inch of rain over the past two days, the first rain since about the 4th of July! Don’t know if it will save our corn but at least the grass won’t crunch when we walk on it, Praise God!
August 20th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Hey Brent!
Finally got some eh! We picked up an inch or so this weekend and it’s been misting all day. Spent the morning green chopping silage for today’s chores and feeding those hungry cows at home, just got done this afternoon now green chopping for tomorrow’s chores. Got behind yesterday with the rain. I can still drive into the lowest lands without a hint of getting stuck, just a little greasy is all. But the cooler temps are such a blessing after the summer long heat blast we’ve had. The land is greening up fast but it’ll be a couple of weeks before there’s enough grass to release the cattle back out. It’s been a summer to remember!
Tom