C is for Crops

This is the craziest spring for planting crops. I bet you have seen pictures and heard stories from friends, or in the media, about how difficult it is for farmers to get their crops planted this year. Too much rain equals muddy fields which means waiting until they are dry enough to plant. If planted too early the seeds don't sprout properly and planting in wet ground can cause the seeds to rot. We finished planting our final crops on June 1st, about 2 weeks later than usual. We now have to hope that Fall doesn't come early so the corn has enough time to mature.

Our farm consists of nearly 300 acres.  Each year, before Spring planting begins, we determine how much of each crop to plant. The decision is based on what we need for our herd, the weather conditions, and how much, if any feed we have left from the previous season. Because we have so few acres, we feed everything we grow to our animals. 

Fall corn harvest

The bulk of our acreage, about 200 acres, is planted into corn. Some is planted and later picked to feed as corn mixed with other grains. The stalks are then baled to use as bedding. The remaining corn is chopped in the fall for silage to feed to the cows.

Silage

Nearly 30 acres of our cropland is planted into grains, primarily oats. 

Oats

The oat kernel is fed, while the plant stalk is baled for bedding, called straw.

Straw bales ready for bedding 

 Finally, about 50 acres of our cropland is alfalfa hay. We feed a lot of hay, since every animal on our farm is treated to hay each day. Hay must be cut and dried before it can be made into bales. If we baled wet hay, it would mold, and we only serve our animals top quality feed. Just like your lawn, alfalfa can be cut several times each season. Typically we can cut and bale hay from each field four times each summer. Hay can also be blown into a feed wagon, to be fed immediately to the cows.

Alfalfa hay cut, ready to bale

Two thirds of our cropland is irrigated land, allowing us to be assured of a good crop even if we do not receive adequate rainfall. Since we have to pay for the electricity to power our irrigation, we pray that Mother Nature will provide the rain we need!

One of 3 irrigators on Bremer Farms