What's Going On In Our Fields Right Now?

We are planting corn.  No, not sweet corn; we are planting field corn.  Field corn has many different uses including animal feed, and is also in several processed foods such as cereal.

Different farmers do things differently.  There are many “right” ways.  This is just how we do things. 

What happens when we plant corn?  First the weather has to cooperate. Corn planting can begin when the weather is right, which for us typically anytime between the end of April and beginning of May. It needs to be fairly warm so the ground isn’t too cold for the seed.  It also needs to be fairly dry when planting corn.  When I started dating Brad I remember thinking that the soil looked too dry, but that is the way they like it.  Nice and dry when the corn is planted and then it can rain.

Claire checking the field.
You can see how dry it is.

When the field is dry enough, someone goes out to pick rocks.  Now this isn’t the rock picking that I remember doing when I was young which involved a 5 gallon bucket and walking around the fields.  This rock picking involves tractor with a bucket on the front and a rock picker implement hooked behind.  When the rock picker or bucket is full the rocks get dumped in a fence row.  Picking rocks is important so more delicate equipment, like the planter, isn’t damaged by the rocks.  It’s also important since rocks don’t grow crops, ha-ha.

                                          

                                                          Tractor pulling the rock picker.

 

When the field is rock free someone can go in to “fit” the field.  This is done by a tractor pulling a field cultivator and a crumbler.  The field cultivator rips up the ground which was plowed the fall before.  The crumbler, which follows the field cultivator, does exactly what you may think it does; crumbles the ground.  The ground needs to be dry, and fine for corn planting.  


Tractor pulling the field cultivator and crumbler.

You can see how nice the ground is;
dry and fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then the planter goes in to plant the corn.  A tractor pulling a corn planter plants the corn seed and also applies fertilizer simultaneously. There are several different sizes of corn planters, depending on the farmer’s wants and needs.  In just a few short days we should be able to see little green corn sprouts starting to poke through the dirt.  It will continue to grow through the summer, before it dries down in the fall and is harvested.

Planting corn.