Too wet

We got all excited with the one day of warm weather, after working a little, found out it is really too cold and wet to do much, just hoping to get the alfalfa and grass seed in now.

A neighbor who always plants this one field by the road before everyone is even thinking about going out had a stuck fertilizer truck in that field this afternoon. He ruined that part of the field for the rest of the season just so he could be first. Jim

We had a neighbor that always had to be first. He worked really hard at things and went broke.

He worked hard, but didn't work smart.

Was disking in a field yesterday. Cutting up a sod so I could get in and plow. Got too close to a pond in the middle that shouldn't be there. Embarrasing to have to get the wife out to pull you out with another tractor.

Soil temperature is still 46 here.

I had a wet farm that I always planted last. If my timing was right to go plant corn, one neighbor was starting to plant beans and another was still plowing. Then in later years, another "want to be first" was planting corn and another, 1/2 mile away was combining the last years corn crop. He was a no tiller. I told everyone to be a true no tiller, he should have pulled a planter behind his combine! This old farm had one pond that didn"t drown out last year, the third time since 1970.

Spread lime 4 weeks ago. Haven't been able to get in the fields since. Nine inches of rain since then and 24.87 inches since January 26th. The creeks are full and the ground is spongy. No one around here is anxious to get out there and get stuck....

I don't know about the soil temp but yesterday was the first day the air temperatures got up over 45 degrees. Snow is really starting to disappear now. Might be safe to take the dozer off the tractor and change to #30 engine oil for the warm weather.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCPh95G0ZFE

Much the same here....

Just today Dad signed the dotted line to rent another 40 acres which for most isn't much, but for us that more than doubles our normal spring workload. 1/2 of it hasn't been cropped in atleast 5 years, so it's covered in weeds and needs to be clipped down before we can work it. The other feild has a bad washout by the creek crossing, so the land owner is gonna have some concrete chunks and such hauled in to fix it so we can get to it.

I started cutting some of the 1st field with the green chopper, and boy is it wet. Still carries in most spots, but being unfamiliar with the lay of the land I almost got stuck a couple times finding the outside edges of the field, and where the waterways are. I was going for about 30-45 minutes when the steering got bad on the tractor (massey 285). I shut it down, opened the plug and the oil was really foamy. Start it up and it was good for another few minutes. I eventually gave up and let it sit for 5 minutes before driving home.

Tomorrow I gotta take the reservoir off the power steering pump and see if it's got more crap in it, or if I can tell anything.

The radiator is still out of our 1855, should've been done today but no phone call. The 1600 is working, and so is our 165, but it's a rough start. Gonna cost a few $$$ to fix the steering on the 285...

Donovan from Wisconsin

It's been two weeks since I last tried to plow (see attached photo), and I only made two passes before I decided it was a bit too wet... And now it's rained pretty much solid the whole time inbetween. At this rate I won't get the garden plowed until mid-May!

Still snow on the ground UP here although its melting quickly at 65 degrees outside, but calling for more snow later this week. I just went snowmobiling yesterday, and saw pickup trucks parked out on some inland lakes still. Probably another 3 weeks before things thaw out and dry out enough UP here to get any field work done.