Welcome!
For those of you new to Stories from the Farm, I am glad you are here. I am a farmer from southern Minnesota and I love sharing our farming story. With less than 2% of people involved in farming, it’s important that we connect and answer questions others may have about how their food is grown.
I share information here and also on my Minnesota Farm Living Facebook page. Right now, Facebook is not being very kind to me and has limited my activities that I can do. I am not sure what is going on and their tech support can’t tell me either. I can post, but I can’t interact with anyone. I can’t like or comment on any posts. They have me in a “time out” but they keep moving the goal post to a longer time. So, I don’t know when I will be let out. That’s why I love Substack!
Our Farm
We raise corn, soybeans and hogs. It’s extremely busy this time of year. Even though we haven’t officially started harvest, we are busy prepping for the busy weeks ahead. Many people don’t understand just how busy it gets. We work long hours, weekends and hire extra help. We always feel Mother Nature is breathing down our backs.
My main job duties is to run the combine and once the harvest is done, I run tillage equipment. Harvest takes us about 5 weeks, providing no major breakdowns and weather events. Once we finish harvesting the crops, we haul hog manure to our fields. Wonder what that is like? Check out this video from our farm.
Typically, soybeans are the first to be harvested. And they are also the most sensitive. To be honest, I am not a fan of combining soybeans, just because they are a bit harder to harvest. Moisture has to be near perfect. The stalks need to be dry - most days we don’t start until after lunch so the plants are dry from any morning dew.
Along with the crops, we raise hogs. In fact, as I am writing this we are selling a load of hogs. We move them from our barns to a semi-truck that holds about 180 pigs. They weigh about 280 pounds and are 6 months old. When they come to our farm, they weigh about 13-15 pounds. So, yes, they grow fast.
We do raise them in barns as we feel it works the best with Minnesota weather. We can keep them out of snow drifts and warm in the winter and cool in the summer by using misters. I do understand there are different ways to raise pigs and I respect that. I feel we all do what works best for us and it’s okay.
Politics
Even though I hate it, I need to keep on top of what is happening politically. There are politicians who have a direct impact on my farm and many of them do not understand how farms are run. I particularly ate how John Kerry is telling people that agriculture contributes 33% to the adverse effects of climate change and that needs to change.
I can assure you that as farmers, we use the latest technology to improve our farms continually. It scares me with some of the tactics that may be coming down the pipeline. That is why I need to stay on top of what is happening and sharing how decisions may affect our farm.
Harvest Time
I thought I would share with you the inside scoop of a combine tour. Harvest is right around the corner. The video is from a while back, but we still have the same combine so the story is the same. Enjoy!
Non-Farm
Yes, I do have a life outside the farm. In fact, I love live music. Tonight I am going to watch Leonid and Friends, a Chicago Cover band (they play other music too.) They re fantastic. Here is a montage of what they play.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments! Have a wonderful week!
Wanda
Have a safe harvest season. I hope you get back on Facebook, as you do a wonderful job educating your followers on that platform on what you do.