It's that time of year.

As Summer leaves it's warm, dry conditions, we enter into a beautiful season called Fall.  The trees are turning many colors and the temperature is dropping but still no rain.  With corn harvest complete, its now time for beans.  We started with cutting some former CRP no-till ground with the BPA not the greatest but given the year, not bad.  We then headed over to harvest our Tu-Fu beans next with improvement over the other fields.  The yield wasn't the best but average for this year so far.  With most first-crop beans cut, we have a short window of time before we begin cutting double-crop beans.

We have recently made two purchases to aid in land clearing!  We have have also been doing some custom jobs as we find the time to offset the purchase costs. 

Purchase number one: 2008 John Deere 325 skid loader with 507 hours.

Purchase number two was is a brand new Brush Monster Brush Cutter.  This cuts and shreds brush and trees under 4" which saves time and money for the land-owner rather than using the Marshall Tree Saw.

We have also updated our grain bin to a new pad and installed a new floor, unloading augers, and installed roof vents. Soon we will be building another pad and constructing another grain bin left of the new site.  This adds safety and security along with more efficient ways to monitor and keep grain in great condition.    

We also have 90% of winter wheat planted on bean ground.

As if all that wasn't enough for just a handful of people, we have been clearing more CRP and former CRP land using the skid loaders. We have cleared roughly 150 acres since our last posting with several more hundred more to go next year.

Before

After

 In our next blog, we will finish up bean harvest and show more land clearing along with more pictures of the grain bin.  Please check out our new YouTube page at: www.youtube.com/morrisfarmmo

Fall Harvest.

It's now officially Fall 2011 and time for harvest.  The corn didn't look like much of anything till late July when some much needed rain arrived and gave a big boost.  Since we had hot, dry weather all Summer, corn harvest came early this year and while the corn looked good, the yields didn't. The corn yields were down a lot.  In most cases, down 50% or more.
Here are some pictures of corn harvest:

As we mentioned in our last post, we have some new and improved things happening on the farm.  One of those is a grain bin project which was started this week.  We brought in a bulldozer and pushed out 2 small bins and leveled the area.  Why? Because in a few weeks, we will be lifting the bigger bin up and setting it on a new pad where the 2 small bins sat and will be building a newer, bigger bin soon in the place of the old one.

In our next blog, we will look at 2 new pieces of equipment recently purchased along with continue to show improvement on the bin projects and hopefully show soy-bean harvest assuming we get some rain.

Summer time!

It's summer time on the farm and the hot temperatures have not slowed us down...okay, maybe a little. 

First, let's talk wheat harvest.  Despite a late start due to late planting last fall, the wheat didn't do to bad.  Yields were down a little but it was a harsh season up to this point.  A big thanks to Mid-West Fertilizer in Deerfield for letting us use their semi to aid in delivery of wheat.  We had one break-down which took several hours to fix and that was breaking the feeder house chain. We were able to start early/run late so harvest was done in just 3 days. Of course, after wheat harvest, it's time to drill double-crop soybeans.  As questions were raised about rain the ground moisture in the future, we planted anyways.  The ground is still dry but our timing was great because the day after we finished, we received just over an inch of rain.  Will it be enough to start?

Set-up complete and ready to cut wheat.

 

 

 

 

80 acre field of wheat.

Loading one of the semis.

Drilling double-crop soybeans.

We are still working to clear several hundred acres of trees and brush this year.  Though some break-downs have slowed us down and set us back by several weeks, we are pressing on and working every moment to finish on time.  We completed a 40 acre field the other day and started a 5 acre patch but didn't get that done yesterday due to making a creek crossing.  After that field is done, we move to another 40 acre field then off to a 200 acre field. 

Before we began clearing the 40 acre field.

After.  Quite a difference.

The crossing we made. 

In our next post, we will highlight a new project on the farm just in time for fall and harvest time. 

Spring 2011

Starting off 2011 came with many changes to the farm from past years.  Bigger equipment, part-time help, more acreage, and to top it all of, crazy weather.

The field work got started on March 13th after heavy rains pelted the area for weeks causing major delays.  With having only 150 acres of wheat planted, many acres for Corn, Soy-Beans, and Tu-fu beans became ready within just a moments time.  Working around the clock many days were Jerry, Janet, and Michael trying to accomplish jobs in record time.  With just a few break-downs, field work moved quickly but was slowed by more rain. 

Corn planting started on May 13th using the newer planter for only the second time on corn.  The results have been outstanding though some re-planting did take place due to heavy rain.

Spring has also brought a new shop to the farm.  This small shop will be home to general farm storage, seed, and repairs to the smaller equipment.

 
As of now, 100% Corn is up and looking great, 95% of Soy-Beans are done with 90% up, and  100% of Tu-Fu beans are up.

Morris Farms also is working to clear over 200 acres of land this year that is coming out of the "CRP" program.

As 2011 continues on, the Wheat is 90% turned and nearly ready for harvest.  Our next post we will highlight the harvest, shop, crops, and will also include more information about the land clearing.