This day is already a stinker…..

I got up at my usual time this morning about 4:20. No I don’t know why….it is an old habit established years ago when I used to have to drive to Maryland to go to work…..it was easier just to get up early every morning….now the dogs are used to it and even if I don’t set the clock they are going to wake me up about that time…..

This morning the clock and Apache both went off at one time…the clock with its beep beep beep, and Apache by bumping me with his front paws…..

So I got up and trundled down stairs….opened the front door and looked out and did not see any evidence of lions tigers or bears or any snakes on the porch….don’t laugh…we have had enough of them over the years that snake checking in the dark is also a long established habit……

So I let the dogs out and they scurried off to their preferred spots to attend to nature….

I stumbled into the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker and the Tee Vee and grabeed a dog bone for the dogs….

Headed back to the front of the house and caught the new and unmistakable essence of Kitty De Woods…….Pepe Le Pew…..a damned skunk…..

Thank goodness I smelled it before I opened the door……I then set off on a quest to find the Natures Miracle Skunk formula….I knew we had some but had no idea where it was….finally found it and a rag and steeled myself to go outside and deal with it…..

Actually it was not too bad….Dee Dee seemed to have not been involved as a nose directly over her head was not offended…Apache was another story….But he was not awful….just a little stinky…. Apparently he did engage Pepe in combat and a little stink sent him on his way….

I recalled some former skunk encounters….My first Aussie, Monte, hated a skunk and he would kill every one he found….He even developed a method of killing them without getting sprayed….I never did figure out how he did that….

Then there was the new years night a while after the turn from the old year to the new year when I let the dogs out and all three of them had battled a skunk….I did not scent it until I opened the door and all three raced in…..that was long night….. now don’t remember the year so I can not testify whether or not the whole year ended up stinking.

One time the Gator Girls Tana and Tee Tee had a tug of war with one right in front of the front porch….the whole house got sprayed…..

Anyhow armed with the Natures miracle I went out and wiped Apache and Dee Dee down with it….that is one good product….nothing will erase the essence de wood kitty but with the natures miracle you can at least make it bearable….I treated Apache twice more and got him pretty thoroughly wet which is the key….

Then when I went out to my van to come to work, I realized that it was in the area of the encounter….Fortunately half our staff is on Vacation because as I sit here in the office I detect that I also have a slight tinge of natures awful essence clinging to me…I am spraying myself with Lysol and hoping no one important stops by to see me today…think I will turn my fan on and share the joy……

below is the link to an excellent article by Curt Pate.

It is powerful and I submit it for your perusal…

It echos so many of the things I have thought and said in the last year or so and does so more coherently than I do.

Shift Age

Sorry no update so far this week…
Friday evening I cut grass until dark and still have not finished.
Saturday I had to go to a meeting in Ruckersville of the Old Dominion Rcoky Mountain Horse Club….
Sunday I wokred on clearing trees off the fence from the storm and trying to fix fence. Every Tree that fell….fell on a fence post…. and they were big trees….one oak was over two feet in diameter……still not finished with that….not finished cutting grass either,,,,and the tractor ran out of fuel in the middle of the driveway…….I had to get out and go get fuel, and then it took an hour to get it started again….

GOOD NEWS…..WE WILL BE STARTING A DISTRICT GRAZING CONTEST AND PROJECT…..IT HAS BEEN APPROVED AND WE HAVE GOTTEN SOME DONATIONS FOR FUNDING…..MORE INFORMATION AS GET SOME THINGS FINALIZED….

Here is this weeks photo log of the cover crop update….

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO SEE IT LARGER AND USE YOUR BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE BLOG.

We have had rain….lots of rain…rain early in the week and then rain Friday as I was trying to take these photos and then the bottom fell out giving us two inches Friday and Saturday and more on Sunday night….

fIRST IS A SHOT OF MY BALE BUTTER BEANS…. they are making good progress. I finally have a row that has come up in the garden as well as some corn….the wire is to keep the birds from pulling them up…the garden did not have benefit of the wire and is one reason I think that crops have not come up well in the garden….I put the wire up there to keep the dogs from jumping on them but it helped with the birds….

This is the bull lot that was sown in two parts using the aerator and bushhog….starting to show good MSCC growth….this is cover crop overseeded into pasture.

just a shot of my Kiowa Blackberries….planted last year…first year blooming….berries already as big as my index finger

this is the new area that was broadcast on memorial day. The wet part of the field is showing good growth and the drier part is just now germinating….

another MSCC bucket trial….this one is unmulched and germinating at three days

This is the MSCC test row in my garden….planted memorial day and now growing well….12 days since planting

MSCC test bucket mulched …planted about a week ago

Here are the photos that go with the last post. The photos are in the order that the computer uploaded them so I am just going with the flow. Sorry for the lack of continuity.

This first one is a field where we had some MSCC last fall and then i Broadcast summer mscc this spring….Just broadcasting did not work so I grazed it again and then mowed it….Now it has a wolrd of clover….mostly white dutch, some crimson, some red and even some yellow sweet.

This is the paddock the horses are grazing now….they will get a new paddock today and I will bushog this one and the one previous.

this is the new clearing….I burned brush from it several times during the winter and seeded it to summer MSCC on Memorial day….

This paddock was seeded with the aerator probably two weeks ago and the MSCC is coming up thru the grass.

This is a shot of rye and Lana Vetch that was broadcast on pasture in late November….this is in the near future grazing for the horses….

I passed thru the stable and Perkins was checking me for treats….

Just a shot of Perkins and Star Baby and Jonahs butt as they were cleaning up the round pen lot so that I could mow the weeds…this area used to be vegetable garden but I am gettin too old to do that much tillage work….I no till my garden now and use containers as well…the conatiners I am liking very much.

just did this on Saturday…had a forage bucket with just fescue….pulled the fescue….added a little horse poo stirred it up…dropped in some MSCC summer mix and decided to just mulch it….will try to take regular photos.

Here is some of the new summer MSCC.

this is my MSCC test row in the garden that was planted Memorial day.

this is a shot from the fall MSCC that was not grazed and was bush hogged and broadcast last week….this shows the density of the crimson clover heads that are on the ground there….should be beautiful next spring.

another shot of new crops MSCC that shows a little bit of everything I think.

This shots shows Lana Vetch climbing the fescue….I love this stuff….legume, beautiful, nutritious, and self seeding if allowed.

Star Baby inquires about treats.

this is a closeup of a wet area in the new ground where the summer MSCC has germinated….on the drier parts of the lot there is less germination….but there is a chance of rain tonight…

This is the ungrazed fall MSCC that was just broadcast with summer MSCC and then bush hogged. there is too much grass cover to see any new germination yet

This is some buckwheat that did come up near a fence line from the early failed boradcast attmept…I am discovering that Buckwheat is pretty hardy and easy to grow…have sprouts of it all over where I have dropped seed.

this was a real hotspot in the first field seeded with summer MSCC….don’t know if it was becasue of manure or just a plethora of seed from the feast and famine aerator seeder.

Over the last two weeks I have planted summer species multi species cover crops in four different places on my place. Two plantings were two halves of one field and the third was a piece of new ground that I was buring brush off of during the winter…..

I reported on the first planting in my last post and it has germinated and is showing green…

The second half of that field was planted differently. The bulls had pretty well knocked everything down while they were grazing but they left a lot of biomass. I took my handy broadcast shoulder seeder bag and broadcast the summer cover crop over this part of the field and then I bushogged the field to break up a nd distribute the residue.

Having already discovered that broadcasting this summer seed is at the least risky, I was hopefull that by driving over it and by bush hogging I could cover some seed. This was done on the Saturday before Memorial Day. I was releived last night to seed some new plants germinating…..I still do not know how good the stand is but as I walked by the fence I could see new growth.

On the new area….I planted this on Memorial day….I hooked up my little spike tooth aerator and ran it over the ground as much as I could. This area still has some trees and some stumps so I could not aerate everything.

Next I broke out the handy dandy shoulder seeder bag and broadcast the cover crop seed.

Then back on the tractor and I both bush hogged what weeds and grass was there and ran the aerator over it again….

I have not been up there yet to see check on progress….but that same day just as a check , I performed a little experiment.

I took a simple garden hoe and scratched a small row in the grass in my garden…..I do not till my garden but plant no till and mow between the rows with a push mower. Anyhow I opened a small row about ten feet long and dropped a handful of cover crop seed in the row and covered it up…..Last night I had new growth coming out of the row….mostly grasses yet but a couple of broadleafs…..

Now this row is near my new sweet potato plants and I have been watering them nightly so I have watered the MSCC row as well….The new area is damp anyway so I suspect I have germination up there too….will walk it good this weekend. I will try to remember to take some photos and post them.

The fourth area is the field where I planted MSCC this past fall and did not graze or anything…..this field was one of my weaker pastures and I decided to concentrate on building soil in this field…..The fall cover was marginal until spring and then the legumes put on a show with crimson clover and winter peas climbing up what small grain survived. This field is a little wet and the rain and cold weather limited the brassicas and othe broadleafs somewhat. By late spring I had a good stand and some decent biomass….I again broadcast seed and then bushogged….the good news is there is certainly plenty of new crimson clover seed out there….it had finished blooming and I checked a few seed heads and I think there was viable seed in them….I will check on this field this weekend and report back as well…..There was certainly plenty of biomass to cover the seed.

My grass in the horse area is getting so tall that Perkins and the donkeys don’t like to go out there to eat..most of the front paddocks have some cereal rye in them and it is tall..Once Star Baby walks it down a little they will follow her out there….Star Baby is not afraid of much…..

Sorry no photos this time…..

Just some scribblings from a beat up old cowboy…..

The last few days we have been involved in mixing and distributing some summer multi species cover crop seed. I have also been trying to get some seeded on my home place.

A few weeks back I seeded some home made cover crop seed which I broadcast into standing winter cover crop that had been grazed. I am here to tell you that was pretty much a failure. I think the birds and small animals were the biggest reason….In walking through the field to look for germination I found lot of hulls of all sorts and very little new plants….even the millet and sorghum did not seem to fare very well….

Just as an experiment, about the same time, I planted a handfull in a short row scratched in the dirt with a hoe in a pasture….last night I remembered to go check that . That row was up nearly a foot tall with good species diversity…..

I later broadcast another small lot with the same homemade mix and it was in a wet field which had been pretty well pucked when grazed by the bulls…I do have some germination and growth in that field but it is not overwhelming.

My conclusion is that these summer cover crops must have some soil to seed contact in order to germinate and flourish….

I have also been in contact with Green Cover Seed, our fall mix supplier….I specifically asked about the near failure of most of the cover crops broadcast over soybeans last fall….those cover crops were not a failure but they did not do anything until this spring…..unfortunately the crop behind beans was usually early corn…..this year we were blessed with a late and wet spring so a lot of those cover crops did have an opportunity to express themselves. In a more normal year they would have been sprayed and the fields planted in March. Corn here is 10 to 15 inches tall now. At this time last year corn was trying to tassel and it had quit raining and the drought had begun……. so every year is different in the challnges presented.

Alos last year we did not have frost until November….couple this with some fall rains ….which means soy beans still had a canopy cover and were still green and vibrant up until frost. So cover crop seed broadcast over beans laid where they landed without benefit of sunlight and competing with the beans. Below is what Kieth from Green Cover responded to me.

“As far as flying on to a growing crop – not much will work until the canopy opens up  – some years better than others.  It really comes down to sunlight hitting the growing plant – without that, not much will work.  The later it gets, the better cereal rye will work over wheat, oats, or barley.  Crimson clover and hairy vetch are the best legumes”.

I know broadcasting can work as I broadcast everything that was planted on my place last year….but I was not broadcasting over beans….I was broadcasting behind grazing…..On many fields I also might have mowed after broadcasting or run a drag (an old tractor Tire) over the field….but on many I simply broadcast after grazing….in my last post you can see in the photos that I had decent results….
this week I have put seed down on two parts of one field….I cut the field in half and reseeded each half after grazing with the bulls….I wish I had the time to have taken a photo but I did not. This is the field where I had a fall cover crop and it had gotten about six feet tall….The Rape and Turnips had created a sea of yellow blossoms and hidden the clover and small grain and grasses. So I grazed it….The bulls left a lot of biomass which is good but they grazed in there for quite a few days as well.

I do not have any type of planting equipment….The day I wanted to do the first half of the field I did not even have my broadcast seed bag. I do have and old spike tooth aerator and it has a distribution box on it but it never seeded properly and the seed rate adjustment had been stuck for years. I fooled with it until I got the adjusment to at least move….then I hooked this contraption behind my Bush hog and mowed…seeded and aerated in one pass….

update here….on 5/24/2013 I have multiple species seed germination….it is too early to identify but I have single shoot grasses and dicot leaves germinating…planted on Sunday and shoots up to an inch tall on Friday….I am tickled…

The second half of the field I had my broadcast seeder so I broadcast and then mowed and pulled the aerator over it….I hope some of it will come up….I really need to find some type of seeder that I can afford for small acerage. Anyhow we will keep on putting out seed and seeing what happens.
Also in terms of fall cover….at my place Kieths statement above is correct….the ceral rye and the Lana vetch and the crimson clover were the stars of my cover crops….and I put out a lot more wheat than I did rye because it was easier to find and pay for….but the rye was superior….
I have rye and vetch that is so tall the horses do not want to go into it….but they will…and they are trampling down as much as they are eating which is good for the soil….I will move them and mow that paddock this weekend.

I have winter peas that have not yet been grazed….It is a Multi Species Planted field where the Rape and Turnips did not take over…..The Crimson Clover and the peas have been a spring delight….The winter peas are now providing the show….they are beautiful when they bloom….

One more thing….these cover crops are excellent for wildlife….I have quail on my little place and have not had any quail for over 25 years. I have had a covey of eight all spring until they broke up into pairs for nesting….Also had a turkey nest within 100 feet of the house….the dogs flushed her about two weeks ago….unfortunately Apache proudly brought me a dead turkey poult…..I hope some of them survived….

you can click on any photo and see it in large size…..use your back arrow to return to the blog.

I was doing cover crop checks this afternoon to asure compliance with cost share regulations….

Most of the producers has already sparyed to kill the cover crops and planted corn. Some corn was up and seemed to have survived yesterdays frost.

Two farms put on a brilliant display shown in the photos below.

Jim Clay has the only stand of Blooming tillage radishes that I know of. I know that mine winter killed as well as the oats. Jim does not have any oats apparent but he has loads of radishes that are blooming like crazy. In this first photo I tracked the flowers down to the radish root to be sure that is what was blooming….

This was just a shot of the small grain and grasses at the Isbells Keenbell Farm.

Jim planted both the 4 way mix and the nine way mix….in the nine way mix the rape has overtopped everything else just as it has at my house..

The blooming heads of the rape are nearly four feet tall..

here is a closer shot of the Clay Radish and crimson clover and triticale….

KeenBell are intensive grazers and move the cattle daily. In the strip you can see yesterdays grazing , todayd s grazing and the future days grazing….CJ said it is 18 inches tall.

intersection of the 4 way mix and the nine way mix at Jim Clays…

Five acres of the nine way mix.

At Keenbell the Crimson Clover and the Triticale seem to have dominated the stand. not sure why as this is the only place I saw this happen.

fifty acres of the 4 way mix

some snapshots from around the farm yesterday and today….no sequence and no continuity but I will try to explain what is up. I have been grazing the bulls in strips through a small field in front of the house. this is a field where I had planted some multispecies cover crop seed along with some oats that I had last fall…..I only had a smattering of MSCC cover crops seed when I did this field so it was just poured in with the oats. The oats and the tillage radishes all winter killed but I had a good stand of clover and turnips and rape along with some wheat and tritcale. I decided to graze it this week and the bulls were in there in four strips for about five days total.