Excavation Begins.

All the kids and animals seem to standing the heat. It has been several days since a drop of rain. This is the first year I can remember being able to get a substantial amount of the hay done so early. The hay has cost me though. I dropped the wheel of the old IH square baler into a hole causing the needles to come up into the bale chamber and bend one. I had high hopes of getting a bunch of square bales, but just my luck. Seems if the weather cooperates the equipment doesn’t. I’m hoping to find a needle used and save the old baler. Wouldn’t make a lot of sense to put much money in the old baler given it’s value. Gonna have to buy some blades for the disc mower too. I’ve got one broken and a couple more bent. I guess it could be a lot worse, but it sure gets me down having to work on this stuff. We got a lot accomplished around the farm in addition to the hay. I replaced the hinges that were broken on the doors to the barn. It’s so much easier with the pallet forks and the 6000. I used to have to block and jack the doors up, but with the 6000 4wd I can just get the forks under the door and lift it into place. Then I just put the bolts back in the new hinges.
I’m not crazy about this heat, but at least the garden is starting to produce. We’ve gotten several pickings of brocolli, onions, and lettuce. I’m sure there are some small potatoes there, but we haven’t gotten any yet. We finally got the corn and beans out this week too. It won’t be long until we’ll be able to have a “find me” dinner. We started calling a dinner completely from the garden a “find me” about 3 years ago after I got hurt at Kingsford. Some people working about 15 ft above me dropped a pry bar on my back. We literally lived out of the garden for about a month. That’s when I figured out just how badly folks who work for Clorox/Kingsford need a union. I was out of work for over a month and the company treated me really badly. In fact the HR Manager tried to tell me it wasn’t workers compensation. No one from the company called to check on me, but the union called at least weekly and stood up to the company to get things right. On a sad note I noticed a press release from Clorox last week saying they will be closing 2 plants. Both the Jackson Mississippi plant and the Cleveland Ohio plants will close. As usual with Clorox, both these plants are union as was the Glad plant they closed last year. Seems they have a track record of closing the union plants and moving the production to non union locations.

Planter-applied nitrogen

It was largely a process of elimination that led Dan Wilson to start applying anhydrous ammonia (NH3) with a corn planter last year. Previously, he applied NH3 in the fall. But that typically took an extra 30 to 40 pounds of nitrogen. Plus, it required an extra trip during a busy time of the year.
"We actually have more time available in the spring than in the fall," says the Prairie City, Iowa, farmer. "About 70% of our crop labor requirements are between September 10 and December 10."
Another possibility was to apply NH3 before planting. Wilson ruled that out because, in his experience, "spring-applied NH3 that crosses rows causes ammonia burn."
Sidedressing is a viable option for some farmers but not for Wilson. That's because he farms a lot of contoured fields. "We cannot sidedress all of the land we farm," he says. "Planter-applied nitrogen is the contour farmer's answer to sidedressing."

Fired up for farming

Loren Van Wyk grew up in his dad's shadow in a farm shop near Pella, Iowa. "When Dad wasn't in the field, he was in the shop," Loren says. "He was always modifying equipment. He'd buy something new and take a torch to it. As a kid, it would frustrate me. Later on, I understood he was using his own vision to make it better." During those years, his dad, Dan, rented ground from the founder of Pella-based Vermeer Manufacturing. "Gary Vermeer loaned one of the first prototype round balers to me when I was 16, told me to run it until it broke and bring it back," Loren says. "I used to hang around Vermeer's R&D department. Gary was a farmer at heart and never put himself on a pedestal. I learned that I could figure out how to do things." Today a third generation of Van Wyks is building on a solid farm foundation, using new tools to create a more diversified base. Loren and his wife, Jean, are joined by sons Luke, 26, and Chad, 24. A third son, Lance, 22, graduates from college this year. Modifying equipment for no-till Loren was eager to spring from the starting blocks into farming. "When I got out of high school, all I wanted to do was farm," he says. He began by farming with his dad.
Jean grew up on a nearby dairy farm. She and Loren married in 1978, renting 100 acres and raising hogs and feeder cattle. Loren converted to no-till in 1979.
"I had to sell no-till to my landlords," he says. "Then I did FSA seminars on it. It involved constant experimentation on our equipment because seed placement is critical. No-till is the basis of our operation."
In the early years, Jean and Loren moved from one rental farm to the next to grow their operation. Their family also grew, with the birth of a fourth son, Chess, 15. Ten years later, they adopted daughter, Chanae, now 11, from Russia.

Shop and office complex serves as the headquarters for this operation.

Jim Cormany's first office was typical of any farm -- it was way too small.
Offices are like that. Similar to shops, offices seem to shrink in size over time, leaving farmers to ponder why they didn't build larger areas in the first place.
"That certainly was on my mind when designing my shop and office," the Columbia City, Indiana, farmer recalls. "I came from a 10 x 14-foot office with no windows or air conditioning. So I wanted plenty of room and better comforts."
Cormany had considered placing the office inside his new shop. "But I was concerned that this would consume work space on the shop floor," he remembers. "Also, what would happen if I wanted the office to grow in the future? That's a bit difficult to do inside a shop."
Then, too, he needed a break room and work clothes storage for his part-time employees. His solution was to add the office and break room onto the side of the shop. This keeps the rooms separate but adjoining the shop.
"The shop is the hub of many farming operations," Cormany notes. "So it only made sense that the office/break room and shop be kept together."
Cormany's approach to creating a shop-office complex earned him first-place honors in the Best Shop Office category of the Top Shops Contest. Strategic use of space as well as a provision for future growth allowed Cormany's entry to rise to the top of the competition.