Harvesting more than just corn

     Here on out family farm this time of year is always busy. Its harvest season. During these 3 weeks we put up enough corn silage (about 5000 tons) to last us the entire year. This requires alot of hard work and it requires everyone to step up and go above and beyond what they normally do. The window for us to put up our corn crop the right way is very small.
     First the corn has to freeze to harden the kernel and make the moisture an optimal level to turn the product to silage. We play the waiting game, until the first frost, and then its game on! We start chopping around 7 every morning, but that's not until after we have already completed our other normal duties for the day.
     In our case my neighbor and friends at M&K ranch grow corn for us, they also chop the corn that we grow. This year they had two New Holland choppers and up to 9 trucks delivering corn to us. We have at least 2 tractors and sometimes up to 4 working what we call the silage pit. We form a mountain that is 100 feet from one side to the next. The tractors on the pit are required to push the silage to form this mountain and pack the silage as tight as possible. The tighter we can pack the silage the better the product will be. At times when we feel extremely busy my uncle will pull his young son out of school to come and help us. He is only 12 but he is an excellent tractor driver. It makes him feel important to be here and it teaches him a good work ethic. We are "harvesting" a young farmer in the making.
     The final step in the harvest process is perhaps the most un liked part of the process. We have to cover our put & put tires on top of the plastic. It takes 30 sidewalls tied together to go over the entire pile and they are touching each other all the way up and down. This takes a group effort from all of our available employees. We all come togrthernatbthe end of the afternoon to complete this process. I feel that this "harvests" a cloaeness and friendship that we feel with our employees. Its not a fun part of the job, but if we all work together ot goes smoothly and we all share in the sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.
      Our harvest season is about more than just putting up a good crop of corn. Its about teaching our next generation how important they are and how important a good work ethic is. Its about every employee on our operation knowing that they are always needed and that it takes all of us working together to end up with a good end result.

What happens when I try to do yardwork!

     Ok just when I was gonna lay off the the blog for a day or two something happened that I just have to share.
     We are remodeling our front yard &house we had a huge tree that was dying. So we thought we'd tear it out before we poured our new sidewalk. Sounds easy enough right? I brought in my backhoe in and dug around the tree a little bit, then proceeded to shove it over. It took all my cat 420 backhoe had to push it over. What I wasn't expecting was the roots to be bigger than I was. They tore up the propane line to my house, as well as our phone & internet line going to our barn & offices.
     This is usually what happens when I try to do lil projects around our house or family farm. They take on a life of their own & take me considerably longer than I anticipated. It's Murphy's law I suppose. That's what I get for trying to help out in the yard, a 2 or more day fixup project. I wonder what will happen when I try to move our giant swingset.....

Farmers love the rain!

We had ourselves a nice little rainstorm this afternoon. Not only is the rain great for our crops, (in moderation of course) but it usually gives us a lil time to relax or spend with our families. I came in at 5:30 this afternoon. That's unheard of! Now we dont always get to do this but on the rare occasion that we do it sure is nice!  Like that Luke Bryan song says, "rain is a good thing!"

I know this is just a quick short post, I'm working on a nice big one for later in the week.

Jumping in head first!

     Well let me first say that I never thought Id be a blogger. Of course I never thought that my tweets would earn me a trip to Nashville either! That's where this blogging idea really grabbed on. The agchat foundation conference (ACFC11) on social media in agriculture inspired me to tell my story.
   I'm a lifelong farmer! This farm has been in our family for 5 generations and the dairy for 4.  I guess you could say that farming is in my blood, its all Ive ever known.  My earliest memories on the dairy are of carrying grain and milk buckets to young calves. We had wild turkeys that would chase me around and add to the excitement.  As i grew older my responsibilities grew also. I usually learned by jumping in head first. One particular memory is when were short handed chopping hay. I was too small to drive truck, so my uncle stuck me in the chopper, rode one round with then said "you'll figure it out". Learning by doing, thats how we do it down here on the farm.
     Originally my social Media adventures started as @bowndairyman on twitter, and now enough of you have asked, so I'm no longer limiting myself to 140 characters! I cant guarantee how often or regular I'll keep this updated (probably more frequently during winter months) but Ive got a few good ideas for some hopefully intriguing posts and pics. Let me know if there is anything pertaining to the dairy, farming, or any other areas of the Ag industry that you would like me to ramble on about.