Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

Enough said.  Or is it?

Here’s the back story.  Nov. 15 & 16th I was doing a little plowing for Farmer Mike.  He rents some organic ground just a few miles from here.  More times than not, when he has some work that I can help with, he gives me a call.  Plowing corn ground is no exception.  With the weather ready to turn any day (maybe any hour) Mike wanted to get this plowing behind him.  I was happy to help and 9 times out of 10, I learn something new.  Yesterday I learned how to make the end-rows of the field nice and neat without wasting time and fuel or having a dead-furrow where you don’t want it.

We finished his field yesterday, in the late afternoon… so when I got the tractor and plow back home, I decided to plow our corn ground.  I was going to leave the plowing for the spring, but after talking to another farmer, he mentioned that he doesn’t like the plowing too much, but corn ground is good to have done in the fall.  It’s a way to take care of the loose corn kernels that fell on the ground during harvest.  Fall plowing helps prevent the corn from sprouting in the spring when something else is suppose to be growing there.  The farmer I talked to says he usually put hogs (or hogs and cattle) on his corn trash.  Pigs have the ability to find the individual kernels and eat them.  For that reason, he’s waiting for spring to plow, otherwise fall plowing would be a good solution to the corn problem… but why feed your critters when they can feed themselves?!  Smart man.

Anyway, I was able to spend a couple of hours plowing yesterday.  I had to quit, due to a flat tire on the plow.  When looking at the flat tire, I noticed a heavy duty bracket was broken.  The bracket is made of  ¾” thick steel.  I’m not sure how or when it broke, but the break was rusty, so I figure it must have broke last spring… or before.

This morning I changed the tire of the plow.  I grabbed one off of the disk.  It wasn’t the correct size, but it worked.  I finished the 20 acres around 6pm.  It was dark, but a few of the lights on the tractor work.  Without them, I could not have finished.  All of the farm’s other fields are either alfalfa/grass mix fields or have a small-grain and grass cover crop on them.  And most of those plant-covered areas are fenced for the cattle to graze during the winter.  If we don’t get too much snow, I’m hoping I won’t need to feed the cattle hay until January or February.

Keeping the fields covered as pasture or leaving it unworked for the winter, helps prevent erosion and helps conserve moisture.  Anytime you expose the soil you are risking high erosion.  Wind and water erosion removes vital nutrients from where they are needed.  That’s why I was going to leave the plowing of the 20 acres until spring… conservation baby, conservation.

Related posts:

1. Spring Plowing… Done!
2. Starting Projects