plowin' pictures as promised

[allen in texas]

Ok all, 'bout my Dad. He began having heart troubles a few years back. After a couple of stents he had open heart surgery, a triple bypass. Then a bit later he had another stent, then still another later. then on top of all that he got the shingles. The shingles have been with him nearly 18 months now and he has had an electrical stimulator surgically implanted to help control the pain. it worked to a point but the rest of the pain was handled by drugs. The drugs and everything else has really messed him up but at least he is still alive even though his quality of life is not the best. I go to his house every morning and have coffee with him and my mother. I never know if that morning will be the last time I see him alive but so far so good. He has his good days and his bad but the bad days far outnumber the good. He is 83. Thanks to all of you for caring. Oh yeah, I forgot about his knee replacement that he has never fully recovered from.

edit to add...
I bought my first tractor so Dad would have something to work his watermelon patch with.

 

[Creamer]

I always hated plowing - way to slow. Started with a 5-16", then upgraded to a 6-16" then a 7-18". I will bet that last one doesn't have a 1000 acres on it total before it got parked and it is still sitting at my now brother's farm - hasn't moved for I will bet 25 years. They obviously don't use a plow and last year pulled their chisel plow out for the 1st time in 11 years. their disc gets used a little almost annually where somebody got stuck or a few washouts. Otherwise it is all no till. A great way to farm!

 

[Creamer]

Wow - your Dad has been through it. No fun. Keep enjoying him and letting him enjoy you while you can.

 

[allen in texas]

I always hated plowing - way to slow. Started with a 5-16", then upgraded to a 6-16" then a 7-18". I will bet that last one doesn't have a 1000 acres on it total before it got parked and it is still sitting at my now brother's farm - hasn't moved for I will bet 25 years. They obviously don't use a plow and last year pulled their chisel plow out for the 1st time in 11 years. their disc gets used a little almost annually where somebody got stuck or a few washouts. Otherwise it is all no till. A great way to farm!

What are your crops?

 

[AGRIMAN]

I always hated plowing - way to slow. Started with a 5-16", then upgraded to a 6-16" then a 7-18". I will bet that last one doesn't have a 1000 acres on it total before it got parked and it is still sitting at my now brother's farm - hasn't moved for I will bet 25 years. They obviously don't use a plow and last year pulled their chisel plow out for the 1st time in 11 years. their disc gets used a little almost annually where somebody got stuck or a few washouts. Otherwise it is all no till. A great way to farm!

Around here we call it breaking land not plowing, but it's always been one of favorite things to do. This is peanut country so we were raised breaking land every year. I have spent many hours turning dirt. We still break peanut land but strip till soybeans, cotton and corn.

In the last few years i have gone back to breaking more. Turning the land over does it good and will bury a lot of weeds which also helps, especially with all the resistance issues these days.

Things have changed as today we run the switch plows which are nice and does speed things up.

 

[bindian]

Enjoy those mornings with Your Mom and Dad. Start thinking of things to ask them........like his military service and odd things that only your parents can answer. Stuff like contact information for all your relatives. About every 2-3 months something pops up about family and their history and I don't know the answer to it........or where to get it.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Creamer]

What are your crops?

They grow pretty standard crops - wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, sunflowers. Last summer I was there during the wheat harvest and was riding in the combine with my nephew. As we headed into a low spot he said "watch this, the yield is going to drop big time". I asked why and he responded "Because we got struck here last year and had to level this out. it will take 5 years to get it back to where we had it." Sure enough the yield monitor which was running a solid 90+ dropped into the low 60's for about 60 ft or so and then popped right back up to well above 90. He went on to say just stirring the ground up causes big problems and you have to let nature get it resettled again. I was shocked - I just know the yields they get are more than double what we got when I was growing up. And they do it consistently. Last year was not a wet year or particularly good year. But when I was growing up 30 was a good wheat crop.

 

[Daver1963]

.
Your plowing looks good, Nice and even. And deep too. What are you going to do to it next, tiller, Disk? I was plowing about 9 inches.

I reckon I'll stay with my 2X12 Ferguson plow. Besides the initial price I put money into it to replace the coulters as the original (according to the book) 15" ones had been used down to 11". It has made a world of difference in terms of plowing depth by having new coulters on it.
Going to hit it with the tiller when I get the results back from the soil test. I moved the garden to a new location because the other location was in a area that got a lot of wash action when it rained hard. Half of it was yard and the other half was a field at one time.

 

[leonz]

I keep hoping that ridge tillage becomes the normal way to do things.

When I used it to grow sweet corn and sunflowers in test plots the weeds
were no where to be seen as the crop canopy choked out the weeds as
they had no sunlight to take advantage of after building the beds and first
cultivating as the row crops grew quickly preventing weeds from taking hold.

 

[bindian]

They grow pretty standard crops - wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, sunflowers. Last summer I was there during the wheat harvest and was riding in the combine with my nephew. As we headed into a low spot he said "watch this, the yield is going to drop big time". I asked why and he responded "Because we got struck here last year and had to level this out. it will take 5 years to get it back to where we had it." Sure enough the yield monitor which was running a solid 90+ dropped into the low 60's for about 60 ft or so and then popped right back up to well above 90. He went on to say just stirring the ground up causes big problems and you have to let nature get it resettled again. I was shocked - I just know the yields they get are more than double what we got when I was growing up. And they do it consistently. Last year was not a wet year or particularly good year. But when I was growing up 30 was a good wheat crop.

Wow, now that is impressive to see yields come up like that. Back when Dad came home from his first year at Texas A&M..........he told Grandpa that terrances was the new "big" thing. I think the folks that still plow either love doing it (like me) or are small operators and can't see buying no-till equipment. But might if their yields could be increased like Y'alls. Down here, no till is still catching on.
hugs, Brandi