Corn's up!

Corn is emerging. This corn will be used for silage to feed dairy cows.

It's been a busy spring back home for my brother, and everywhere for farmers in general. In what I've started to call Granny's weekly crop update, she was excited to tell me that the corn has been up for a while and looks good in the fields my brother planted. It's always exciting when it comes up properly the first time and you don't have to replant.




He also seeded some orchard grass for hay in other fields. I love the picture updates and hope you enjoy them as well.

Round Up is sprayed onto the fields to kill weeds. Weeds compete for the same nutrients in the soil that the plants need, so it hurts the plant's productivity. Think of it as someone trying to steal food off your plate every time you sit down to eat and someone crowding you all the time. Doesn't sound fun and the plants don't appreciate the weeds either.

As he says, there's not enough hours in the day to get everything done. It's not uncommon for my brother to work until the middle of the night in the fields during planting and hay season. Lots of lights on the tractor are very good!

Disking the fields helps work fertilizer (manure or chemical fertilizer) into the soil so it can be better utilized when seeds are planted.

Planting corn. The weather was good this year in WA and the guys got out into the fields in April. 

Another look at the planter. My brother stopped in Iowa on the way back home from his annual roadtrip to pick this up. He loves it!