Week of 10/27/24
This week started out warm and windy, with it being 70 on Monday and by Tuesday it climbed to 81. One degree from the record of 92 set for October 29th. Wednesday is was 77 and Wednesday night we got 2 inches of rain to break a dry spell of almost two months. Then after that it cooled down to about normal for the rest of the week.
On Monday and Tuesday I went to Ted’s farm and did chisel plowing while Ted did dry tilling. Ted had got the little John Deere dozer back so he hired John to fill in washouts and redo some of the grass waterways that were washing along the sides from this summers heavy rains. On Wednesday John came to my farm to work on the ridge roads that had badly washed. I then got a bag of winter rye and seeded the rye with my little hand spinner to try to keep the roads from washing by getting a cover crop growing.
The harvest and fall field work went really well but at the low prices and very expensive inputs like fertilizer, seed, and machine costs. Lets not forget land rent, which is very high compared to the price of corn and soybeans. I believe like last year it will be a negative return per acre. Historically it has been that the farmer and the land owner get equal returns per acre. That worked from 2020 through 2022 but now with grain prices 25 percent or more lower, and the landowner still wanting over $200 per acre, the farer would have to pay out of his pocket to farm the land. It makes no sense. The sad part is a lot of these landowners are retired farmers or farm heirs and they know better or should.
On Friday here on my farm we weaned the calves and had a total of 44. On Teds farm I am not sure how many there are, maybe around 50. That is the bright spot in farming the last couple of years, as beef prices are good but don’t I don’t know if it is enough to keep it in the black.
I got a new shipment of book Friday, and I have a waiting list for them. They sell well when they are out in the stores unfortunately we don’t have many places handling them yet. We will have to work on that, or the publisher seems to have no intent in getting the books out in the book stores.
Update 11/7/24 - Books in Dodgeville store “Roots & Branches” as well as McNeill Appliance. Books are also in Mineral Point at the “Aspen Ridge Home and Garden Center. There will also be a book signing there on November 16th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Helmuth Krause
