Multiple-task Monday

We were all over the farm today. After we finished with a few basic duties (milking, feeding, cleaning, etc.) we started gearing up to attack the day on multiple fronts. With no morning dew and no rain in the forecast for the next several days, I was able to get an early start in the hayfield to mow our first bermudagrass of the summer. I cut about 16 acres today, and might have cut a few more if not for a nagging hydraulic problem that was slowing me down. I'll fluff the cut hay tomorrow and it will probably be ready to bale on Wednesday afternoon, Thursday at the latest.

Meanwhile, the local co-op delivered a fertilizer buggy for us to pull across our creek bottom fields. Our thought was to have one of our employees spread while a second followed behind with a disk to incorporate it into the soil. Unfortunately the fertilizer kept bridging up and wouldn't spread consistently, so they lost a good bit of time trying to fix that problem. They ultimately worked between 18-19 acres, leaving roughly another 25 to go. My dad moved the planter down to the bottom and planted 7 acres after all of the afternoon milking and feeding chores were finished. We'll have the co-op send in a spreader truck to finish the fertilizing tomorrow morning, and barring any problems the disking should be completed by early afternoon and all of the corn should be in the ground by the end of the day.

We may not have covered as much ground or moved as quickly as we would have liked today, but we made progress towards harvesting hay and planting corn. All-in-all, I guess I'd have to say it was a pretty good day.