Terry finished cutting the last alfalfa cutting of the season. (We get three cuttings here.) 
Gosh, this summer sure has flown by! I guess it went so fast because it was my first full summer without having to go into work everyday. I had worried that I would miss the excitment of registration and then all the students coming back, but I HAVEN’T!!!! I guess I was ready…time to retire and let others take over the reins.
Both grass and alfalfa and mixed ( part grass and alfalfa) hay is leaving our area by the semi-loads. People are coming up from Texas and Arizona to get hay to feed thier critters! It’ really sad. I wish rain would start falling in the south! Days and Days and DAYS of over 100* temperatures without even a cloud in the sky is horrible. Our news here said that Texas has beaten it’s own record for the longest amount of over 100* temps…something set in the 1980s or thereabout.
Unless Terry decides differently we changed the last set of water in one of the corn fields last night, we will finish up the rest of the corn this week.
We are just waiting now, for the ground to be really (bone) dry so the pinto beans can be pulled and rowed. They will dry in the rows until all the stems and leaves are brittle, then we will start combining the beans.
The corn has dented or is in a stage of dent. Once reached that will be then of the irrigation of the corn. After that we wait for the whole stalk to dry down and then we will combine.
The largest field of alfalfa will be plowed up next year so we will be done with the irrigation of it, but the smallest field will still need water. The field must go into winter with enough green leaves to not die over the winter.
So in away the work is ending, but will pick up for several weeks of harvest then the 2011 farming season will be over.
Gosh, that seems to have gone fast!
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
Hi There, Job well done!!!! I know you all are thrilled to get the summer season almost over! Seems to have gone quickly this year –but then again, most all days and seasons go quickly for me these days!!!! ha
Hugs,
Betsy
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Great post! That is great that you got three cuttings. That doesn’t happen around here that often.
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I took a ride on the backroads of the Central Valley this week and saw field corn in several stages. Some had already been harvested, some has turned color and is near harvesting, and some is still green. I don’t know if the green stuff is used for silage or if there’s still time for it to ripen. We used to get 5 cuttings of alfalfa. The first was usually grassy, though. I really feel for the Texans and their animals. We’ve had a very cool summer in Northern California, only 3 days over 100. (So of course we complain about the ones in the 90s.)
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The farmers that supply our hay, a local dairy, about a mile away, they are expecting hay to become scarce around here come late winter/spring. Due to exports to Japan and hay being sent south. That means high prices! Most of our hay comes from eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, we had such a long wet spring that the hay was pretty late this year. I hope it doesnt get to bad. Right now I paid $12.50 a bale for the last orchard grass hay I bought, about 90# bales. Drought, and natural disasters and wet weather, doesnt make for a good hay year!
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We’re in the process of hauling our second cut into the stack yard…..the corn here is mostly silaged and that’s a ways off yet. Glad to see your getting done 🙂
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It sounds as if things are winding down nicely at the farm. You got a real good hay crop. Farmers here were buying hay in Arkansas a couple of years ago, but I haven’t heard that is happening now. It sounds as if you’ve made a great adjustment to retirement.
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I enjoyed your “farm talk” today. I lived on a cotton farm as a child but I’m learning about your kind of farming. Some cattle folks here have gone as far as South Dakota for good hay. Seems FB is listing some for sale but cattlemen are being warned about the quality. Lots of cows have gone to market, more than usual. Some folks will have to retire or start over. Glad you have had some rain. Love the rainbow in your header.
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Beautiful crop! I’m glad Nature let you get all three cuttings without too much stress. Just like not getting ready and going to work takes a lot of stress out of the day.
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So you have retired…I know that is really different for you. I have sort’ve retired myself. I am no longer working anyway, and we have moved to AZ (so we are almost neighbors now!) I don’t plan to get another job, but want to help our daughter and son-in-law with our grandson while they pursue their careers. It’s wonderful being here with them! I haven’
t always had online access but now I do again, and will come by and visit you whenever I can. Hope you will see what I’ve been up to these last three monthgs since our move! Take care! The alphalfa hay looks wonderful! Would love to get up to CO some time.
Marie
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Wait…where is your farm? My husband and I live in CO, about 15 minutes from Boulder, near the Lafayette/Louisville/Erie area. I’d love to have a farm…but I can’t even keep my garden alive…
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