But it comes with problems.
Terry only disks the corn and old alfalfa fields. Disking over once only shreds about 40-70% of the stalks, most of the time it takes two passes to get the stalks small enough.
A common problem, but one a farmer really wants to avoid, is the ground is too wet. Disking wet soil results in non-uniform shredding, creates clods, leaves compacted soil, and wads up in the disks. The only thing to do then is…
Dig the mud out with a bar! Terry has scrapers on some of the disks, but of course the one in the middle (which never wads up) packed in tight.
Cleaned and ready to go.
Here is what a disked field looks like. Tomorrow he will plow. There again he will only plow last year’s corn field and any alfalfa fields he wants to take out of production.
Alfalfa gets old after several years so to keep the vigor of the crop and to keep weeds from taking over a ‘hay’ field has to be disked and plowed up.
All crops are rotated, so this hay field will become a corn field for the 2010 year. And the corn fields will become pinto bean fields. We have a newly seeded alfalfa field coming into production this year and another older field which should last a couple of more years.
Good crop management is about healthy soil, crop rotation, and good irrigation practices.
But you know all that from raising gardens.
Another storm is heading our way…let’s hope it swings around us again!
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
Tilling the soil-what a wonderful smell of freshly worked fields. And, I love that green tractor! The best kind to me. So what do I have? A Kubota!! I needed a smaller one for smaller spaces and this was way cheaper than the small John Deere’s. I know Terry is happy to be in the fields–a happy farmer and happy homemaker has a happy household!
Blessings to you!
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I remember those pinto beans and boy were they tasty! I just came in from setting out bellpepper and brussel sprouts plants. I have been raking,burning and cleaning up the yard where junk was piled so am ready for a nice hot shower before cooking supper. Don’t ya just love spring on a farm!
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Good morning Linda
Well, I don’t think you missed out on any aspect of how to prepare a field for planting and how and why crops are rotated. Great work and HARD YAKKA!!!!
Then after the harvesting you put the cattle back to clean up the left-overs and to cheaply fertilise. Farm life is really hard work (yakka), but the rewards are worth the effort. Great reporting as always.
Cheers
Colin (HB)
ps: Brisbane weather, last night, I think that the previous blog report on your pending storm hit here. It poured for about 2 plus hours in bucket loads, thankfully no swirly winds so windows could remain open. Today (7.30am) again clear skies, sunny and very high clouds ( not the rain variety) – but will it stay that way?
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I love reading this, Linda…. I am learning so much!!! For a city gal (who knows nothing about farming) like me, I am definitely getting an education. Glad you got that one field disked.
Hugs,
Betsy
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Those fields are beautiful, NOT A ROCK IN SIGHT~! The glaciers deposited EVERY rock here in Vermont! Thanks for that wonderful field education. Much appreciated. Calves are starting to be born here.
http://www.tailgait.blogspot.com
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Looking good.
Uhhhh….I’ve run out of beans. *wink*wink*
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It’s wonderful to get a field turned and to smell that great earth smell! Have a fun time and don’t work too hard! blessings,Kathleen
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Nothing happening in the farming department in this neck of the woods yet. Maybe by the end of April.
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I love the smell of fresh turned earth. I’m hoping to get some seeds started tomorrow. Let the spring games begin!
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I agree with Cotton Lady – nothing like the fresh smell of plowed fields. I love it. Lots work there in Colorado and I like your tutorial about crop rotation and cleaning out the disks – that looks like a pain to get it packed in there like that!
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Yay! Yay! Finally some good farm weather. Okay there is that mud stuck in the disks. Bleh. I enjoyed disking. Sun, spring, birds fighting over whatever was unearthed: loved it. Farmers around here are spending their time crawling in and out of heavy equipment to prepare it for the big planting season. The grain and spuds won’t go in until late April or early May.
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Hi Linda I’m trying to encourage Colin to be a blogger. Here is the blog we have made for him with his email content jazzed up a bit
https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/
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Hard work for you guys. I never realized how the dampness in the ground affected discing. A young friend is discing my mom’s place Saturday and he said he had to wait until it was drier. Now I know why!
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It looks warm there..Terry is in a T shirt..but then I noticed a cab on his tractor! The fields are looking good! 🙂
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