Spring means planting season on the farm, and there’s a lot more that goes into it than meets the eye. We’re proud to grow enough forage to feed our cows, and that means we are planting 3,000 acres of hay, alfalfa and corn.
Spring planting is a team effort. There’s me, my partner Bob and his sons John and Erik, plus Ryan and another Bob. I keep everyone focused and on task, making sure we get everything done at the proper time. The soil conditions need to be right and proper, we have to match the seed to the soil, and look at fertilizer needs. Soil condition changes from day to day, and from field to field. We’re constantly adjusting our planting depth to respond to the changes. It’s funny- we’ve been doing it so long that we don’t always think about how many factors go into a successful planting season. Not to mention that all of our equipment must be working properly. That’s a lot of balls in the air.
Our equipment helps us plant accurately and it also gives us reports on how well we’ve done. We want to plant so many thousands of seeds per acre: too many, and we’re wasting resources, too few, there’s not enough yield. So we pay close attention to those results.
The crops we planted this spring will be harvested and fed to our cows.
What’s great about farming is that we’re not just growing crops, we’re growing people. We work to develop our workers as people and as managers, to help them expand their understanding of farming. As our business grows, we need people who are dedicated and cognizant of the impact of what they’re doing.
When we get all the crops in, we might have some extra time to sit back for a bit. We’ll order some pizzas and say to ourselves, “Wow, we did that.” It’s about camaraderie – we all work together, but we’re family, too.
Then, when spring planting is done and we’ve had a moment to regroup, it’s on to the next thing. Farming means long days and early mornings, but we’re in it together.
