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Got Rain!

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burnt

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Finally! After getting less than an inch since the snow melted, we got about 1/2" late yesterday and evening. The grass was looking okay but fairly short and that was before we got a hard, solid white frost on Friday night/Saturday morning.

So now we should be set for a little while again.

Very grateful for the rain!
 
Send some our way. We have had less than 1/10th since the snow left. Lots of cold nights but not enough moisture to make frost. High winds and +30C (85F) the last week. Fire ban has been in effect since mid April. Some of our grazing corn went in 11 days ago, but nothing is germinated yet. We have started on our drought plan and have trimmed yearlings and moved some open cows this week. I really feel for those that don't have a plan in place.
 
RSL,what changed to make you try corn again,last time we "talked" you weren't too high on it :wink: Been really dry here as well,with several frosty nights setting the alfalfa back. predicting some showers for this next week,sure hope to get under one.
 
Hayguy said:
t changed to make you try corn again,last time we "talked" you weren't too high on it Been really dry here as well,with several frosty nights setting the alfalfa back. predicting some showers for this next week,sure hope to get under one.
Still not that pleased. I thought it might be worth testing a corn on corn rotation after touring several neighbourhood operations. Apparently the fertilizer requirement goes down over time and organic matter in your soil goes up, etc. And being such a great farmer (sarcasm) I thought perhaps I had done it wrong before.
So far results from one year in and second year planted...
I am not sure I believe any of the math I hear anymore about costs being $0.75 per day. Our costs were around $1.75 per cow day counting labour, seed, spray, fertilizer, etc. for year 1. Based on conversations I pulled as many cow days per acre as my neighbours that are good farmers so I assume I did it properly.
My plan for year 2 corn on corn...
Soil tests showed the same organic matter in the stuff we had swath grazed for 15 years as the corn from last year. Fertilizer requirement for N based on the same crop recommendation - 184 lbs of N where the corn was, 123 where we swath grazed (and hadn't fertilized before...)
On the good side, I like that corn is a C4 and breaks up the plant cycle of swath grazing, I like how much phosphorous it uses as our swath grazing land gets pretty high P, I like the weed control for moving to other things (like seeding grass after), I liked how the cows gained condition. On the down side, the timing for our operation is terrible. We were cultivating in May and seeding mid May. I am still grazing cows on volunteer barley where we swath grazed and with our current dry situation, every day there buys me two to three days more grass later in the year. Total grazing days per acre on swath grazing (counting spring grazing) is more than the corn this year.
If I get 300+ days per acre this year, I may try it again but it is not looking good.
Current ideas include trying to pull 3 cereal crops every two years and doing some seeding of swath grazing directly into early season, high density grazed grass stands and then letting the grass come back afterwards.
Sorry for stealing the weather post...Hayguy set me off. :shock:
 
We are finally getting some good thunder showers in the last 3 days. Close to an inch now since the snow went away. Warmer than average too. We just may be haying in early July like the real world!

Life is great when it rains!
 
Over 5 inches of rain in May!!!!!!! That is so unbelievable it looks crazy to type it! After one of the driest winters on record we have had a miraculous spring to date. Pictures to come in the near future.
 
We didn't have any moisture all winter but since mid April have had just under 10" at our farm. Haven't seen it this green in the whole country for probably 15 years.
 
Glad to hear lots of you folks are getting the rain you need.
 
We had a good soaking rain here over the weekend that gave us 1.1". That's the most we've had in one shot since the snow left. So things are really green and growing now.

However, the temperature dropped to 3C or about 36F early this AM and that's just way too close to frost on the beans in the fields and tomato plants in our garden... Scary. :shock:
 
We finally got a shower last night. We are at 17/100ths for the year. Some of our neighbour's got 7/10ths, but there was hail and wind that blew some bins over.
 
We got the pump primed and now it won't quit. We got over 6" since it started a week ago Saturday with rain in the forecast about every other day for a long way out into June and July. Low spots are staring to pond now

After a slow, dry start, there's a decent hay crop now, although a bit shorter than normal. Never was very good at making hay in the rain or on muddy ground. :?

We mob graze and I think it's safe to say that the ground is getting lots of "hoof action" and the grass is getting a good "tramp". :(
 

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