Farmer John Says Yipee!

As of April 21st, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that only four percent of the corn crop was planted. This compares to 26% planted at this time last year and a five-year average of 16%. On April 21st, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin all had virtually no corn planted. Based on this statistic, it is no wonder that Farmer John is saying Yipee. Thanks to the temperature increase and the snow no longer falling, today is the beginning of spring field work! 

Farmer John and Grandpa Roy are working up the soil using a chisel plow.
Chisel plowing in the spring breaks up the soil, incorporates crop residue from last years crop, aerates the land and kills early sprouting weeds.The field they are working on today is 40 acres and will be planted with oats and alfalfa (hay) to feed to our cattle. It will take about 4 hours to plant this 40 acres after the chisel plowing is done.

So even though our fieldwork has gotten off to a late start, we are all excited for the beginning of a new growing season. Yipee!