Hi, everyone I am reporting back from my first farm adventure to Southeast Kansas on the Small Family's Farm. The farm I visited grows corn, wheat, soybeans, milo, and cattle. I found out that at this time of the year, chores begin with cattle every morning. During the summer, the cattle are out in the pastures and the grass fulfills all their nutritional needs, but when winter starts to set in, they need more to eat. The sunrise the morning I was there was absolutely amazing!
I had to meet the crew that helps with the cattle. Their names are Zimi, Zeke and Zane. Zimi and Zane are Border Collie and Zeke is an Australian Shepherd. They work hard to get the cattle to go where we want them to.
I have always heard how flat Kansas is and Southeast Kansas is not flat. There are plenty of hills and river valleys here.
These calves were recently weaned from their mothers and get a little bit of grain fed to them each morning, but mainly they eat lots of grass. These calves are raised for beef like hamburgers and steaks that are full of protein, iron, and B-vitamins.
The feeder they are all gathered around contains their vitamins and minerals they need in addition to what they get in the grass. Instead of their mom's giving them a Flintstones vitamin in the morning, they go lick what is in this feeder.
After we were sure all the calves were healthy, it was off to the soybean field. I was surprised at how much we had to do to the combine before we could start harvesting. When we pulled up to the combine, the first thing we saw was a deer antler sticking out of the tire. I soon learned that deer shed their antlers every year and they can ruin a tire very easily. We were lucky that the antler didn't go all the way into the tire!
First, we used the pickup truck to haul fuel to the combine. It takes a lot of diesel fuel to keep that big combine going everyday! Did you know they can actually make diesel fuel from the very soybeans we harvested?
We also checked the oil in the motor and fixed a few things that were broken the night before.
I felt really small up in the cab of the combine.
We were trying to get done with this field before it rained, so there was no time to stop for lunch.
In fact, this farm seldom stops for lunch during harvest. I sure did enjoy my sandwich and carrot sticks and I am thankful for the wheat, pig, carrot and corn farmers that made my lunch possible.
It was such a good feeling to get done with the field and they got ready to move to the next one. I said I didn't think I had ever eaten a soybean and my farmer laughed. She told me that nearly 70% of the items found in the grocery store have soybeans in them! Vegetable oil is almost always soybean oil and many of our snacks have soy lecithen in them to keep them fresh. Wow! I was surprised are you?! I found out that there are lots of uses for soybeans other than livestock feed.
My farmers did a videos of soybean harvest a few years back and thought you might like to watch it.
While at Commodity Classic 2015, there were lots of opportunities to learn from others in the farming business. I was very excited to sit in on a session sponsored by the Ohio Corn and Soybean Farmers where they have been working to help 60 high school teachers understand more about farming.
While teachers are intellectually curious,
science teachers are admittedly 5 years behind what is going on with research.
Ohio corn and soybean farmers have asked the question:
"How do we help them catch up?"
While there are many educational sites on the internet for science lessons, the teachers insist that the best part of the program in Ohio was the summer session with lots of educational ideas AND time with real life farmers. Teachers get to ask all kinds of questions of the farmers, industry professionals and university scientists. These discussions and conversations leave the teachers with resources (farmers) they can call on when they need help.
I loved seeing these teachers in the trade show. How did I know who they were? They were the ones wearing the tie dyed lab coats everywhere they went. They were also asking the tough questions about biotechnology in all the technology company booths.
Online Resources
There are some great curriculum ideas on the site Ohio Corn Education like the stream sampling activity that we did. Not only do the students analyze whether the stream is in good shape or not, but they also brainstorm for reasons why it is in the condition it is and how to improve it. The following are categories found for curriculum on their site.
Biotechnology
Energy and Ethanol
Feeding the World
Growing Ohio
Soil and Sustainability
Water Quality
There are even more curriculum ideas on the page GrowNextGen. On this site, the lessons are broke down into the following groups:
Agriscience
Biology/Biotech
Chemistry
Informal Education
Environmental Science
Career Videos
eLearning Courses
The Coolest Teaching Idea?
I thought the most innovative idea I heard about was the science teacher that cleared a parcel of land close to the school, so the kids could grow their own corn test plot. The students had to harvest by hand, count the number of rows and seeds per row to estimate yield. They learned what husking and shucking and shelling meant. What the teacher did next was what took this idea to the next level. The students took the corn into the lab and produced ethanol with the corn that they had raised. How cool is that?!?!
The best quote I heard from this program was, we are:
"Giving the message of good science, so they are smarter with their decisions and not followers of the messengers of bad information."
The 60 science teachers that are participating in the program are impacting 12,120 students per year.
How can you help a science teacher in your local school?
Do they need someone to ask questions of?
We have been getting rain everyday for the last week, so it has made visiting the corn field a little hard some days. While we have had rain every day, but today, the rain totals have not been that impressive. It has been enough to keep us from working in the fields, but not enough to get the creeks running. The rains are coming nice and slow for the most part, which is great from the young growing crops.
When it isn't raining we feel we should be doing some work and checking cows instead of visiting the corn that is loving the rain and warm temperatures.
You can see that it is really starting to grow quickly compared to last week.
Did you know that a corn plant has "leaf collars"? Neither did I. The Farmer showed the little farmer in the making how to count them.
They also counted the leaves on the corn plant. I was told that the corn plant will only get 3-5 more leaves. I can't believe it almost has all the leaves it needs to have when it will be over 6 feet tall (*fingers crossed*).
Rain drops on corn leaves is a wonderful sight after the years of drought we have endured.
I realized I hadn't taken a picture looking down on the corn "whirl."
The Farmer was trying to convince me it was time for a new pair of boots as we left the field. An inch worm was making his way around his boot. My Grandma used to tell me if I had an inch worm on me that he was measuring me for new clothes.
Love this sight every time we leave the field. Just makes my heart smile.
I thought you might also be interested in the wheat progress. There is still a lot of green in it, but when the rain stops and the Kansas temperatures rise and the wind blows it won't take long for the fields to be ready to harvest.
While I was at the +Alltech Symposium, the guys planted quite a few soybeans. They are growing fast in the warm temperatures and moist soil.
That's all for this week's update. What would you like to see in the corn field next week?
Average Temperature for mid-October: High 66, Low 39
Average Annual Precipitation: about 30”
Soil Type: Ranges from sandy to sandy-loam to clay-loam
In the past couple weeks, we have enjoyed showing Flat
Aggie our farm operation and the surrounding area. Our farm is located in
eastern Nebraska near a small town named Mead about 45 miles north of Lincoln,
NE, which is the state’s capital. Here, we grow corn and soybeans. Most farmers
in Nebraska grow rotation crops.(Rotation crops involve growing a different crop than the previous year
on the same piece of land.) For example, a common rotation crop in eastern
Nebraska is corn followed by soybeans the next year. Did you know there are
different types of corn plants? Some corn is raised specifically to use as
popcorn, while other corn is grown to feed cattle, pigs and chickens. The corn
your mom or dad buys at the grocery store is called sweet corn and is picked
when the stalks are still green.
Flat Aggie arrived at an excellent time, just as we were
beginning to harvest corn and soybeans. It’s a good thing he wore some good
work boots because we had a lot of work to do in the fields. Every morning work
begins around 7:30 when the sun comes up and usually ends well after dark. The
guys stay in the field all day until they decide to rest for the night.
We start
harvesting soybeans first.
Once we combine the soybeans we transfer them to the
semi.
Next we take the
soybeans to our local coop.The big
silver cylinder is called a grain bin and can hold over 500,000 bushels of soybeans
(or corn). With each truckload, we deliver about 1,000 bushels of soybeans.
Many farmers will bring truckload after truckload of grain to fill up these
grain bins. Later, the coop will move the grain onto a train and send it out
for delivery.
At the coop we
empty our semi and then head back to the field.
We just started
harvesting corn.
Here is a video of how we store the corn on our farm.
In the last few
weeks, we have had to take some days off because of rain.When it rains we need to wait for the soil to
dry out for a few days so we won’t compact the soil.The tractors and the combine that we drive in
the field are so heavy, if we drive in the field when it is wet, the soil will
begin to be very hard almost like cement.When the soil gets compacted, the plant’s roots won’t grow through it.
Another job that we are doing on the farm right now is planting
cover crops.
We plant the cover crop as soon as the field gets harvested so
that the seeds can germinate and grow as much as possible before the weather
gets too cold that the plants stop growing. (Some of the cover crop will start
growing again in the spring after the ground warms up a bit.)
Here is a picture of some of the seeds that we are
planting this year.
The cover crop we planted this year is a mix
of several types of plants. Each type has a “job” or “task” to accomplish.
All of the plants that grow will help improve our soils
so that we can do a better job growing our rotation crop next year. Cover crops
work together to produce more nutrients in the soil, create more beneficial
microorganisms, encourage earth worms, reduce soil erosion and improve water
infiltration. Sometimes we can fence in cattle to eat some of the cover too.
Eventually, we will have to kill the cover crop so that we can plant the corn
or soybeans in the field.
Here is a picture of our cover crop that has had the most
time to grow - about one month now.
Sometimes we break down
and have to spend some time fixing our equipment.
The crops in our area are
very slow to be harvested this year due to the weather.Since we plant our wheat after we harvest our
corn and soybeans, our wheat has been slow to get planted.Our wheat hasn’t sprouted out of the ground yet,
so we included a picture of some wheat from one of our farmer friends in Southwest
Nebraska, about a 5 hour drive west of us. The wheat is beginning to
poke through the ground. This wheat was planted into the corn that was harvested
last year. (Photo courtesy of Julie, www.smalltownnebraska.wordpress.com)
We had a great time showing Flat Aggie around our farm and we have to say we are very excited about the next farm he went to from here.
Thanks for letting us show Flat Aggie around,
Aaron and Liz
Farmer Math:
1. Flat Aggie helped harvest 2 fields of soybeans and 3 fields of corn. How many fields did they harvest in all during the visit?
2. If they harvest 2 fields in one day each 40 acres, how many acres did they harvest?
3. If we have an 80 acre field and we have harvested 62 acres, how many acres are left to harvest.
4. If a semi truck can carry 56000 pounds of soybeans and a bushel of soybeans weighs 60 pounds, how many bushels of soybeans are on a semi truck?
5. Flat Aggie is helping cut soybeans. The combine is harvesting 10 acres per hour. Assuming the combine does not stop of break down, how long will it take to harvest a 130 acre field?
6. Flat Aggie helped harvest a 100 acre field. It produced 5,600 bushels.
Can you figure the average yield of the field in bushels per acre?
This week I would like to share with you a video we did of our Soybean Harvest. We completed it for a contest, but for some reason I had trouble uploading it to the contest site. You all get to view the video instead! The Farmer and I enjoyed doing this project together and our youngest son can tell you every one of the pictures that he took!
A few weeks ago I mentioned I would like to do something to celebrate that all of you have been so wonderful to share my blog and I reached 10000 pageviews and 350 followers on Facebook. Here is the giveaway I came up with. It isn't very original, but I will try to be more creative for my next milestone!
Enter here to win one of 2 Walmart gift cards for $25.00!! Leave me comment on what your favorite post has been or what you would like to see me write about in the coming months AND you must follow me on Facebook. I will put all the names into a hat and let the boys each draw a name.
Good Luck! The winners will be notified on Facebook on December 11, 2012.
Last week, Dairy Carrie made a list of her favorite gift ideas.I have 2 farm boys, I mean they live and breathe farm life, so shopping
for them is not going out to buy the latest Nintendo game.They own more (toy) cows than I
have real ones.I also like to support
the small businesses of America.You
will have to follow me a long time before you will find me in a Walmart, so yes
my Gift ideas are similar to Dairy Carrie’s, but different, too.
Picture taken from the Decatur Dairy Site.
I am so excited that Dairy Carrie introduced me to Decatur Dairy.I placed my order on Friday.I have tried their Pepper Havarti which I
used in my Taco Bites Recipe.The prices
for Decatur Dairy are really reasonable.In fact, the cheese is less per pound than the cheese at our local
grocery store.
Picture taken from the soynuts.com Site.
My boys love the Rainbow Beans from Lee Seeds.The Kansas Soybean Commission gives these to
me when I do Ag in the Classroom presentations.They taste and look a lot like your other candy coated chocolates, but
have a roasted soybean in the middle.
Picture taken from the BeanPod Candle Site.
I love to give gifts that are related to what we produce on
our farm.I recommend the Bean Pod Candles made from soybeans.They are
cleaner burning and totally renewable. I buy them at our local florist Blessed Blossoms if you are in the area.
Picture copyright Legacy Livestock Imaging
Recently, I was introduced to Legacy Livestock Imaging.If you or someone you know loves cows, they
have some amazing pictures taken at ranches.One of the ranches is one of my favorite to buy bulls from, Mill Brae Ranch. This ranch has great cattle and even better people to work with. If you live in Kansas, they will deliver your order to the Kansas Beef Expo in a few weeks and will have prints available for sale there as well.
Picture taken from the Happy Toy Maker Site.
If your kids have been REALLY, REALLY good this year AND
they LOVE being little ranchers, you have to see the toys made by the Happy Toy Maker.These toys are amazing!I think they would be sure to last through
several generations.I caught my boys
with the advertisement and the telephone one day.Luckily, I stopped them before they made a
phone call.
Picture taken from the Chimeara Site.
One of my favorite gifts of all time was from my
brother.If you are looking for jewelry
for the animal lover in your family, check out Chimeara.The crystal laser etched jewelry can be breed
specific and I am not just talking cattle breeds either, they have dogs, pigs,
rabbits, horses and who knows what else you can find on their site.
Picture taken from the Kansas City Steaks Site.
I can’t do a gift post without
suggesting that you give the gift of BEEF!One of my sister-in-laws worked for Kansas City Steaks when she lived
in K.C.They have some great steaks and
burgers if you don’t have a local supply of beef. When my brother was transferred to Connecticut, they left Kansas City with their car packed with steaks. LOL My brother and his wife
highly recommend the Beef Wellingtons or really anything on the list is great. They had no complaints at all.
I would be in trouble with my brother in law if I didn't suggest that you buy new tires for your classic car. Rusted Tires can order Goodyear tires for your classic car (1920-1980) that look just like the original tires! Check out his Facebook page that I set up for him. He is still trying to get the hang of a Facebook page, but he will be posting pictures of cool cars in the near future. He loves to talk cars and would love to help you out if you are in the market for tires. :)
One place that is on my Christmas list is The Silver Steer. I love the look of their cattle charms. If anyone is wondering what to get me, here is the link to their site.
Picture taken from The Silver Steer Site.
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday. Let me know if you try any of my gift ideas and be sure to check back for more holiday gift ideas of the homemade kind.
-A Kansas Farm Mom
UPDATE: CountryLinked has posted her favorite places to shop which happen to be a lot of where I shop too! Check out her Gift Giving Ideas.
A week or so ago on my Facebook page, I asked what you my
followers wanted to see a blog post about.The first response made me a little was uneasy.After talking to my friend Janice Person, she
told me to tell you why it made me feel uneasy.
Sharon said, “I'd love to know the size of your farm and
your harvest volume. Do you use any of your home-grown wheat and soybeans?
Grind your own flour? etc.”
Why would this make anyone uncomfortable?Because no matter what I answer, I am going
to make you jump to conclusions.Some
people might think our farm is really large and others will think it is
small.I look at it as close to average
for our area with 2 full time farmers and no off farm jobs.
This is the only picture I can find with the whole family crew in it. I love it...I am much skinnier in it. LOL
91% of the ground The Farmer and I care for we do not own,
but care for other families.45% of the
ground we farm is owned by our families, and some of this ground we are the 5th
generation to farm.The balance of the farmable land is rented from other families most of which we are the third generation to take care of this land for them. Our farm is a
business and like any business if it is not growing, it is going
backwards.The Farmer and I are both the
5th generation to farm and ranch in the same county in Kansas.
I would never ask my friends who have a
business in town what kind of sales they had this year, but I also want you to
understand how many acres it takes to justify the large (and expensive)
equipment that is needed to plant and harvest timely and to provide a clean
wholesome product for you the consumer. Also, please realize that my husband
and I work full time on the farm.We
have no other job to provide our insurance, retirement, or other benefits. We also do not get paid vacation...well I guess we do, we pay someone else to watch over things so we can go on vacation.
This year we planted about 1700 acres of soybeans, 700 acres
of corn and 1100 acres of wheat. We have 2500 acres of crop land, but we plant soybeans after the wheat and often let the cattle graze the wheat in the fall. One thing I have learned about the size an operation needs
to be to be sustainable is greatly dependent on where the farm is located and
what the average production is for the area.I know I have friends in the “Corn Belt” that can make a living off of
fewer acres, but their soil and climate make their area much more productive
than ours.
We also
have our cow herd that has been shrinking over the past couple of years due to
the drought situation.If we don’t get
rain –mainly water for the cows- it may shrink some more.Currently, we have about 300 cows.43 of them calve this fall and the rest
should start calving in late January.
We have one high school student that works part time in the
summer and after school.My father in
law retired in 2007, but still helps where and when he wants to.My parents retired from crop farming last
year.They help a lot with child care,
taxiing to fields and even go on supply runs for us.
We always use our home grown beef that is fed the corn, a few soybeans and oats that we raise.I have not been as forward thinking with our grains;
however, I am going to try grinding my own wheat for whole wheat flour this
fall.I did make my own corn nuts once and they were pretty good.
I am also planning to make some
soynuts.One of the boy’s schools is nut
free.Soynuts are a great tree/peanut
substitute and are pretty good in these chocolate chip cookies.
Hope this answers you questions and I don't lose too many of you for thinking we are too big or too small, but I do want to be open and honest with you.
Now I will go take a deep breath and hope too many of you don't think that our farm is too big to be interesting and unfollow me!
