When the Wife was a child she could not have thought that as an adult seeding a hay field would be something she would be concerned about. But she is finding that seeding this particular hay field is an "angst" in her wonderful world of agriculture. This hay field has lain fallow for a year, so it first had to be disc-d, rock picked, disc-d again, rock picked, seeded, and then dragged. This is what the Wife has learned this year:
Disc-ing has nothing to do with dancing, mathematics, or an Olympic event. Disc-ing is where a tractor hooks up to an implement that looks to have dozens of round metal discs on end. This implement in lowered to the ground and run over the ground. It is not plowing, it is taking the ground and breaking it up, pulverizing the dirt, and preparing the dirt for seed.
Disc-ing the ground brings rocks to the surface. No seed grows on rocks. Rocks damage farm equipment and possibly Dear Farmer. Rocks need to be removed. They are best removed by a rock picker of some-sort. There are rock pickers that you connect to a tractor, another in a long line of farm implements, and rock pickers can be people. Manual labor tends to be more thorough and more testy. The question here has to be answered, "Do I want to deal with people whining while picking rocks, or spend the money on a rock picker?"
The ground must be disc-d so many times because after the rocks are removed(each time) new ground is uncovered that must be broken and pulverized for planting.
Seeding is the act of planting seed. There is forty pounds of seed needed per acre...the seed must be present before you can begin seeding. Mice like to eat the seeds, so do other rodents, birds, and deer. To order seed years in advance is not wise. It's like storing ice-cream in your freezer the day your baby is born for their third birthday...not only is it tempting for someone to eat it, but it will be no good in three years.
Seed must be ordered and delivered in a timely manner to get the seed planted. Planting can only happen when the conditions are perfect. Dry, but not too dry. Warm, but not too warm. Sun-shining, but not too sunshiny. Not too early, and not too late in the year. And the planting will take time. One full day, nothing else will get done.
After planting the field will need to be "dragged". This is not something that is done with drugs, and it does not mean the work is boring. A "drag" is a massive angry looking farm implement that is flat with spikes poking out of the bottom and possibly chains. It looks more like a medieval torture device, being pulled behind a tractor. It's heavy and nasty to delicately push the seed into the ground and dust the top over with dirt. Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Once the dragging is done...the name of the game is "Wait and Hope". Wait for nature to do what it will with the seed. And Hope it comes up and the field can grow into an amazing and lush hay mix.
This is what has happened to cause this particular field to be an "angst" in the Wife's life:
Dear Farmer went to disc...the disc broke down. Three different times this happened! It consumed three days of fussing with a broken implement for it to accomplish next-to-nothing! FINALLY Dear Farmer fixed everything to disc, job finally done. Dear Farmer has had to cut other fields, care for other chores, and bale hay...while that was happening someone was to have picked the field. Someone didn't, and didn't and finally did, and did it badly. So Dear Farmer went to disc again, and broke the disc on rocks, and had rocks pelted at him...and sent people back to do a better job. When they were finally done, it was late in the year. The weather was not perfect...Dear Farmer waited...and waited....and then he disc-d as quickly as he could. Then he sent people out to pick rocks...and they did an okay job. And it rained. And the rain destroyed the job Dear Farmer had done of discing...and he had to disc again. The disc was tired, and it did not want to work. But Dear Farmer pushed it, eventually-in October-the job got done. October is too late for planting, but Dear Farmer really had no choice. He cannot keep the seed, which was ordered early in the year, through the winter. So he planted the seed. Then he called the help to drag the field...but the help decided to go home early that day(ARGH!). So Dear Farmer went to bed...wondering...will the seed get wet before the help comes tomorrow to drag??? The help came to drag the field...and it's late in the year...it's cold and dry, blowing and overcast, and Dear Farmer really doesn't want to have to plant this field again. The Wife really doesn't want to have to live through another year of planting this same field. So...we are Waiting and Hoping that next year we will have a hay field with hay growing in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment