I am disappointed how quickly our days are shortening.
You can really feel fall in the mornings now as well. I hope we have a long, enjoyable fall because spring was long and cold and summer was short.
I am a bit nervous because after our last drought we had one of the wettest falls I can remember. That is something I don’t want to experience again. I know I should be happy if we get rain because our fields really need it.
My friends in Dryden are drier than us, and water for the cattle is becoming a real problem. They have had someone in to dig dugouts, but they are coming up empty.
I am debating selling calves at our first sale because of the lack of pasture and not enough hay to start feeding this early. I just remember in our last drought the advice was “stick to your normal plans if you can.” There is a lot of uncertainty in the beef sector currently, and it makes me nervous thinking about what lies ahead. I guess it is just one day at a time.
I ended up packing up and heading to Dryden last Friday with a bunch of other great people from here. We convoyed up the 502 with our cattle. It was a really great show and a nice weekend with lots of fun and laughs. My truck headed home Saturday night, but I think the rest of the crew had an even better time Saturday evening.
It was a great break for a bunch of people that live very busy lives. The cattle did very well as well. The Dryden crew are always happy to have us and goes out of its way to make us feel welcome.
I am into my last week with my students. I don’t even want to talk about it because I am really going to miss them. We have a busy week planned because we are aiming to have all our cereals harvested before they leave. Monday was incredible! We didn’t have much sunshine, but we managed to get all our wheat plots in.
Normally we weigh straw the following day, but I am currently getting a bunch of weather alerts on my phone, so time will tell if that happens. Our winter wheat ended up averaging 81 bushels per acre, but I am certain the spring wheat won’t make that.
The barley plots seemed quite good, but I haven’t had time to get those numbers into the computer yet. We have some forage plots we grew for our friend Alex that we hope to harvest this week as well. Normally I would be starting to plan for some hops harvest dates, but they are just not having a great year.
My nieces are both gone off to school/hockey now. We are really going to find it lonely with both of them gone. I hope my mom and I will be able to get away sometime to watch them play!
