From the Barns: A perfect fall

This edition of From the Barns is called mountain version since I’m writing it in the mountains of New Mexico at above 10,000 feet. My pal Larry Joe and I have been doing this trip for several years and in the last few have added a younger generation hunter from our outfit to the mix.

This year, Jett got tapped to go and once again our plan has paid off. A camp full of 60ish and in at least one case 70ish hunters pretending to be much younger chasing elk around the mountains is somewhat foolish, so having a young buck to help out with packing and skinning duties pays big dividends. Jett has certainly earned his keep this year.

It’s always a relief to me when it’s raining as we leave the cattle and harvest duties to the rest of our crew. I am not pivotal to getting the work done but feel less guilt being gone when it’s too wet to farm anyway. Our silage chopping is all done and was a breeze but recent rains have stopped us cold with earlage harvest.

Even though it’s been raining, the corn continues to mature and may have already slipped past earlage chopping condition. We may well have to shift gears and finish up the rest of our acres just as grain.

We got most of our silage acres seeded to wheat before the rains stopped all field work and we have a jump on manure application. We will be working on both projects as soon as soil conditions permit.

The fat market has rebounded from the summer scare/crash and is staying very stable with bids not hardly moving in the last month. Pasture conditions are super with the extra moisture of late especially this late in the season. Some corn stalks will be grazed when we get the grain harvested and we may even get some fall grazing on the earliest planted wheat.

Our forage sorghum following wheat has really grown and some of the heavy rains have laid some of it down. We plan to chop and ensile that crop as soon as we get a frost to end its growth, but if that becomes impossible due to lodging we will just simply open the gate and let the cows do the work. One added bonus to the forage sorghum is the volunteer wheat growing beneath the canopy. It looks awesome; turnout on those acres will be immediate.

Cows and calves are just cruising through fall with all the new feed available and not requiring much work. Any extra time outside of hunting trips and occasional harvest is being spent at any of several sporting events, be it football or cross country. A perfect fall!