What's normal weather?

rrlund · May 29, 2015

Just pondering the thought of "normal weather". Is there such a thing,or is there just average? And is the weather ever average?
Do we tend to romanticize the past and think there weren't such extremes? Or are we just more hypersensitive to extreme events when we put all of our eggs,and more of them,in to one basket? Namely trying to make a living with nothing but summer row crops?
When most folks had cattle and hogs,hay and pasture,wheat,oats,corn and beans,did we just not notice it as much? If it was too wet to plant corn,it was good for the pasture,hay and wheat. If the corn,beans and pastures needed a drink,at least it was good weather for haying and cutting wheat and oats.
While we were waiting for the rain to stop,there were livestock chores to do. We didn't just sit stewing over weather that's "never been like this before".

old · May 29, 2015

With all the experiments that have been done on weather and all the things like pumping water to a desert area etc there is no such thing as normal any more. Back in the 50s and 60s one would pretty much know if you where up north you had snow on the ground from Oct till March but now days who knows when and if you will have any etc.

rrlund · May 29, 2015

I think that's just what I'm talking about when I say romanticizing it though. I've been here in Michigan for 60 years and I've seen it all at different times of the year. Snowed in on Easter,butterflies in the barn while we were milking with the doors open on Christmas day,you name it. There's average,but there's never been "normal".
We only used to need ten days to get spring crops planted,now we need 30 and think something's wrong with the weather because we don't get it. We never did.

4020 electrician · May 29, 2015

Your right rr Lund . It has gotten to commercial and not just feeding the family and a few others. Farms have gone from 240 acre to 2400. I'm not quite forty yet and remember helping on a dairy farm at 9/10 yrs old till I graduated from high school. Now everybody is so concerned about the weather? It hasn't changed. The way of farming has changed a lot in 30 yrs. I changed my focus and now I'm going for the " niche" markets.

LAA · May 29, 2015

My Dad told me that the drouth of 1934 was way worse than the drouth of the 1950's, I remember floods, dry years and all kind of hurricanes in our area but every time the diversified farmers came out ahead of the row crop only people. I doubt anyone living has ever seen just what kind of weather shifts are possible.

Farmall43 · May 30, 2015

I agree with both of you there never was a normal just an average. I also agree how farming has changed. I am 40 and grew up working on the dairy farm across the section since I was 10 until I left for the military. The weather is the weather. I am also going after the "niche" markets. I am going to try and get my organic certification next year once I establish a base line this year for average yield farmed organically. At some point I would like to contract with a, or start my own, heirloom seed company and do that kind of specialty crop.

Dave Sherburne, NY · May 31, 2015

When I went to Wi. in what I thought was an unusual weather year I was talking to an older fella who had moved out there several years before. He said I have lived here 17 years, and every one of them has been an unusual year.

formenwhogrow · Jun 1, 2015

I think you are on to something with the eggs in 1 basket thing. I have a diversified farm with beef, hogs, sheep, pasture, alfalfa, corn, soybeans, oats, wheat, barley, and even a few acres of sorghum-sudan for grazing and baleage. All this on less than 250 acres, there's always something to do. We move cows daily, sheep every few days, and hogs when they need it. All spring planting gets done in a few days, especially since we switched to mostly no-till. For the animals in the barns, there is bedding and manure to be hauled, feed to grind, bales to feed. We sell oats and small squares to horse folk so every few days we have a truck to load. As far as weather goes, with a diverse range of crops/products, there is something that is usually flourishing when another is not. For example, last summer was cool and wet, it was a bugger to get good dry bales made, but the cool season grasses in the pastures loved it. I have a friend who farms 250 acres of mostly row crops, and he was surprised to find my balance sheet is better than his and with these grain prices, its apt to stay better.

What's normal weather?

rrlund

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old

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rrlund

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4020 electrician

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LAA

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Farmall43

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Dave Sherburne, NY

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formenwhogrow

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