Experience #plant14 via a #GoPro!

On a normal spring day your driving down the highway out in the country, enjoying the scenery of farmstead after farmstead and fields that seem to have no end in sight.  Along the way, you see some dust flying just ahead and begin to wonder what it is.  As you drive closer you notice a farmer in his fields with his tractor and planter, planting perfectly straight row after perfectly straight row.  You begin to wonder what it would be like to be in the fields with him/her, planting the seeds of the future, risking so much just to put his/her future in the unpredictable hands of Mother Nature.  Well, now you have the chance to experience just that!

 

Our Plating Tractor with a GoPro Mounted to the Fender

While planting our first 100 acres, I took out my GoPro and began to make a video showing what its like to be in the fields, planting corn, as well as some close up shots showing how the planter operates.  Check it out by visiting our farms YouTube Channel (BoucherFarmsIL) or by clicking here > Planting Corn 4/25/14.

#plant14 begins!

 

A few weeks ago I posted about how farmers use GPS and VRT technology to plant more efficiently, which can be viewed by clicking here and This past week, we began to use that technology when we began #plant14 on the farm.  So far we have 180 acres of corn planted and are hoping for some nice warm weather to help it get off to a great start.

 

I highly encourage you to follow the #plant14 hashtag on twitter and facebook.  Thousands of farmers from across the nation and beyond are posting their experiences this planting season using that category.  I hope to see you there!

Thank you and God Bless!

 

 

 

What would you like to learn about Farming?

Its no secret, the 2014 planting season is just around the corner.  With our future first day of #plant14 (the hashtag many farmers use to discuss the 2014 planting season on twitter) coming up in a few weeks, I turn to you, my readers, to guide this blogs subject matter until I can post live updates from the field.

That being said,  my question to you is:

I set up a brief poll with a few options for you to choose from, or you can add your own.  Anything goes, and you can pick more than one option, however you can only vote once.  The subject with the highest number of votes will get posted first and so on.

 

 

Thank you for Voting and be sure to check back often for the results!

Country Sunrises

If you have been following me on social media, you may know that I post a few sunrise and sunset pics from time to time. Some are edited to enhance their natural beauty while some are left in their natural state. Either way, these pics have generally been a big hit on my farms Facebook Page as well as Instagram and Twitter. So I thought I would put a few of them up here for everyone to enjoy.

Also, don’t forget, if you would like to follow me on social media please click on the site you prefer on the right of this page.

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Check back for more country sunrise and sunset pics in the future! No two are ever alike, and no two will ever be the same!

Thank you for stopping by and God Bless!

Matt

Scouting Winter Wheat With a UAS (Drone) “The Results”

A few days ago I posted about Scouting our field Winter Wheat that may or may not make it to harvest due to the extreme winter we had this past season.   It can be viewed by clicking here: Scouting Winter Wheat with a UAS (Drone).  To quickly recap, we have two wheat fields on our farm.  One sits up on some higher ground and looks fairly good, while this field is on some lower lying and “tighter” soils.  This field  is usually wetter and requires a bit more attention annually than our other fields do.  So this past Sunday I went out to check out how that field was doing, but the field was too muddy to be conventionally scouted  by foot or ATV.

Healthy Winter Wheat beginning to grow in our field after one of the harshest winters on record

With limited Scouting options at this point, I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring out our latest Crop Scouting tool and put it to good use.  Having purchased this new tool during this fierce winter, the opportunity to use it to its full ability hasn’t presented itself to date, until now.

Our latest and most advanced crop scouting tool to date, a DJI Phantom 2 with a GoPro camera and additional options to crop scout more efficiently.

With the Phantom 2, I was able to fly over my field in minutes, and learn exactly what was going on, from a whole different perspective, all without stepping foot into it.

This picture shows the wetter (darker) and drier (lighter colored) spots in the field. Generally, Wheat prefers drier soils.

Within minutes of flying the field, which only took 10 minutes of flight time, I was able to see the wetter areas in the field where the wheat could have potentially been drowned out by thawing snow and falling spring rains as well as see where some of the greenest areas are in the field.  (at the Wheat’s current height, it is hard to see)

I flew twice that day.  The first time I flew around 350′ high, (a UAS is legal to fly to 400′ high) to determine the extent of potential water damage to the wheat, and then a second time at a much lower altitude to determine how much new green growth there was.

Click on the picture or the link below to watch the video of Scouting with the UAS over the field.  

Scouting Winter Wheat Video

The video explains much of what my concerns are and what I learned from the images the UAS took.

After the results were downloaded and analyzed, I have determined that this field is indeed under a lot of stress, but with the warmer weather coming, I remain hopeful.  I plan on going back to fly over it again in a week to ten days and reevaluate the field.  At that point, we will either decide to keep the field as is or terminate it and plant corn directly into it.

Check back in a week to see what we decide to do!

 

Thank you and God Bless,

Matt Boucher

Friday Farm Flicks 4/11/14

This week was an eventful one on the farm. As the weather has begun to warm up and so has the activity on the farm.

This past Sunday, my cousins took their Steers to a show and decided to take a #selfie! Only this was no ordinary selfie:

It was a #cowfie!

This weeks good weather also meant it was time to evaluate the health of our winter wheat crop after this brutal winter has passed. So I took out my new crop scouting tool and took to the skies to get a birds eye view of the field.  You can watch the crop scouting video here  http://youtu.be/6OKMBJl8Wzk

 

 

Just like your car or truck, every so often it is time to trade a tractor in for something else that better suits your needs. The “new to us” tractor on the right has a new home here on the farm while the one on the left has a bright future ahead of it on another farm.

This newer model will provide us with a bit more horsepower, better fuel economy and better maneuverability in the fields.

 

 

On a parts run to our local tool store I picked up a battery operated grease gun. This is our 2nd one if this style.

We prefer them over other similar models largely due to their quality and battery life.

 

 

This week has been a busy week for the seed division of Boucher Farms, called Potential Ag. Not only have we been deliver ins quality seed corn and soybeans to other local customers to plant this season, but in addition we have provided a few farmers with waterway mixes as well which will help control soil erosion and general runoffs from their fields!

There are few things better than watching the sunrise from your front porch on a nice spring day!

Lastly, I highly encourage you to follow us and many other farmers through the planting season by searching for #plant14 on FB, Twitter, Google+ and more. I also created a special place for #plant14 posts on this blog. By following #plant14 you will be able to keep up to date on what is going on this planting season with thousands of farmers all across the globe.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Scouting Winter Wheat with a UAS (Drone)

This past Sunday was one of the nicest days we have had to date this spring. That being said, it was time to take advantage of it and check out how our winter wheat crop was doing.

This picture was taken last fall of one of our wheat fields before the winter settled in.

Winter wheat gets planted in the fall right after we harvest our soybeans. The wheat then grows fairly quickly but becomes dormant as soon as the weather turns cold.

As much of the midwest and beyond would agree, this year was an especially hard winter, and it had the potential to be very hard on the wheat as well. That being said, I am not sure if one of our wheat fields will make it through due to damage from the cold.

Whats the best way to determine if it will make it you ask?  The answer is simple, to scout the field.  Basically, we go out into the fields to see how it is coming along, and see how it is beginning to green up. New green growth is good while seeing brown leaves much to be desired. The problem is, the fields are still too muddy to walk, that means we have to use alternate methods to check on the wheat’s health.

Usually this involves a simple and quick method of scouting, which involves driving along the road to get a look at the crop. As you may imagine, you can only see so much from the seat of the truck while driving down the road.

This year, I have a new crop scouting tool to help me more accurately keep an eye on our fields.

You can see the entire UAS kit by clicking here (instagram) http://instagram.com/p/mgYhp5hiys/

So this past Sunday, I flew our wheat field with the hopes of learning how our wheat handled the winter weather and to determine if it will be good enough to keep or to plant into another crop for this growing season. With this UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) aka Drone, I can quickly fly my 80 acre field, download the images it takes and make a decision as to the future of the crop.

Check back soon as I will post what I have found while flying the field!

Meanwhile, check out a few other videos I have taken with my UAS (Drone) on our YouTube Channel by visiting:  http://www.youtube.com/boucherfarmsil

Thank you and God Bless!

Matt Boucher

Friday Farm Flicks 4/19/13

Due to all the rain we have experiencing recently, our farm has been in slow gear. Usually we are done planting corn and finishing up planting soybeans at this time of the year but this year we have yet to turn a fleck of soil due to the cold and rain.
Rain is a good thing, and I won’t complain about getting a good shower now and again after experiencing the effects of #drought11 and #drought12, but this week was a little much.

Locally, roads have been closed and or washed out, our local hospital has had to be evacuated due to flood waters and many houses in town have had flooding issues, not to mention our farm fields are flooded as well. Not so locally, Chris Neimann, a farmer friend of mine in Nebraska, has been fighting continued snowfall and cold temps as he cares for his cattle. Indiana has been no different. Farmer, Brian Scott’s (The Farmers Life)) local water levels have been rising as well, giving his newly installed field tile a workout.

Flooding? Heavy Rainfall? Barn cat don’t care, Barn Cat don’t give a sh**! He is out cold on our comfy forklift seat.

This week has been largely marked by flooding, here’s a few pics of our farm fields:

Under this whirlpool is a surface drain for our field tile. It’s clearly working overtime today.

One may correctly assume #drought12 is over for IL and IN, however Nebraska is still under the effects of the drought.

Sadly this weeks post cannot go by without sending prayers out to those affected by the Texas fertilizer plant explosion. The factual details are still pouring in but many people lost their lives and countless others were injured. Watch the video of the explosion here, but I must warn you, it is shocking and breathtaking to say the least.

In the weeks to come, we hope to get going in the fields and begin to get our #farmerstan on but maybe not quite like this guy:

Have a great weekend everyone!

Just What Do Farmers Do in the Winter Anyhow?

We’ve all been there.  Your on a warm weathered road trip, a vacation or just out to see a distant relative.  Along the way you see a grain farmer (like myself) out in his fields, working the ground, tending to his crops, or harvesting.  Basically doing what farmers do.  While you are watching that farmer for that small moment of time, the thought runs through your head,  What do they do in the winter?

 

“What do you do in the winter?” is the number one question I, as a farmer, have ever been asked over the years.  It’s usually followed by the joking assumption that we sit in the house and watch Oprah, Springer and Maury all day.  However, Nothing can be further from the truth.

Yes,  we work hard in the warmer months of the year, but what about the winter?  What exactly does a farmer who cant be in his fields and cant tend to crops due to the freezing cold conditions do all winter?

 A lot!

  Alright, so you may have saw that general response coming.  So let me be more specific.    In the winter, a grain farmer usually:

1.Hauls away the previous years crop from his grain bins to be sold at the elevator..

2. Works tirelessly on paperwork, closing out the year before and beginning the new year.

3. Attends meetings offered by Agricultural based companies in efforts to learn to be better at his/her job.

4.  Completes all of the maintenance needed on his/her equipment to make sure its ready for the following year.

The list can go on and on.

For the moment, lets talk about  #4 Maintenance.  Why?  Because its something we can all relate to.

If you own a vehicle, there is no doubt that at one time or another you may have had a breakdown or a flat tire.  Things happen, but a general maintenance plan can help with that.  Every 3000 miles or so, your car will need an Oil Change and maybe a new air filter.  Every 50,000 or so miles it may need new tires, brakes or something else. If this maintenance isn’t completed in a timely manner chances are the vehicle wont last too long without having mechanical issues when you need it the most.   Farm equipment is no different   They need the same type of maintenance that your vehicle does, just on a larger scale.  While a late model car may need its 4 quarts of oil changed every 3000 miles (for around $25-$45 at your local dealer).  A tractor can run over 100-500 hours (depending on the model) before its 5-15 gallons of oil need to be changed (for $200 or more in the farmers shop).  A cars tires may last 50,000 miles and cost $150 each while a tractors tires may last 4000 hours and cost upwards of $1500 each to replace (often having 6-8 tires).  As you can imagine, this takes time.  Especially if you have to do this type of maintenance when you need the vehicle or tractor the most.

So what do farmers do in the winter?  A large part of it is maintenance, especially preventative maintenance.  Every winter, at one time or another, virtually every piece of farm equipment we have is brought into our farm shop to be checked over.  First we start just outside the shop door, blowing all of the dust and crop debris off of the machine with an air hose.  Next, as in the case of this tractor, its brought into the shop for an oil change.

Hoods up, lets get to work!  (When you see it…comment as to what it is)

Under our John Deere 6310. Getting ready to drain the oil into a bucket for it to be recycled.

Throughout my tractor maintenance ritual, I treat the tractor much like a mechanic would your car.  Like, checking air pressure in the tires, checking the antifreeze and other fluid levels and so on.  After the oil is changed, fluids checked, air pressures checked, and more, its time to for a wash, some touch up paint and a wax before it leaves the shop. (Look for a future post explaining more about what we do)

All of this is done to maintain our farm equipment so it can be the best it can be.  We hope the machines we use have long and breakdown free lives, just as you do your vehicle.  This type of preventative maintenance along with many other responsibilities are what keeps many farmers like me busy throughout the year, especially in the winter months.   So if you ever wonder what farmers do in the winter, simply stop by and knock on the farm shop door.  Chances are, you’ll find a farmer inside.

The Sweet Taste of #Ethanol?

It’s going to be beautiful day in late July. The morning is cool and dewey, but we know it’s going to heat up and get humid. So we get up early, get out a bunch of bowls, 1 quart ziplock bags, my Moms newly sharpened paring knives, a few 5 gallon buckets, a turkey fryer filled with water and a pick up truck. It’s Sweet Corn freezing day on the farm.
It’s been a tradition for as far as I can remember. Getting up early, picking a pick-up bed full of sweet corn, cleaning it, cooking it (boiling it in the turkey fryer if you were wondering), cooling it, cutting it off the cob, filling the bags, taste testing (for quality reasons of course 😉 ) and finally freezing it for future meals throughout the year. It’s a lot of work but it’s so worth it. The funny thing is, I’ve never had one bite of sweet corn taste like Gas, well Ethanol anyway.

Wait what? There is Ethanol in the Sweet Corn we eat?
No, there is no type of Corn that tastes like any fuel product either, but here’s a fact you may not know.

Ethanol is not made from Sweet Corn

This cartoon came across my FB feed yesterday.

At first sight, I chuckled, but after reading a few comments below it. I felt compelled to address it. The Mom in the cartoon is relating sweet corn consumption and hunger to Ethanol use. The fact is, Ethanol is NOT made from Sweet Corn at all. It is NOT made from the same Corn you buy in your produce isle or farmers market to have at your next meal.

Ethanol is in fact made from #2 yellow dent corn. Never heard of it? Sure you have, if you have ever seen a field of corn while driving down the interstate, more than likely it’s a field of #2 Yellow Dent Corn, more commonly known as field corn. In fact there was about 90million acres of it planted across our nations heartland this past spring. However, you won’t find any of it in your local produce section. Why? Let’s just say that although very few people actually like it, it really does’t taste very good.

While Sweet Corn is largely grown for direct human consumption, Field Corn (#2 yellow dent) is mainly grown for some food production, livestock feed, and to be turned into countless other things, including Ethanol, which gets mixed into our nations gasoline supplies. It can be argued that Ethanol helps reduce our nations dependence on foreign oil and increases the octane level of our gasoline all while making each gallon of gas about 20 cents cheaper than straight gas. But that’s not my point.

What does this all mean? It means that the kid in this cartoon can feel free to eat his ear of Sweet Corn without guilt. It means the price you pay for Sweet Corn at the store and the supply there of are not affected directly by Ethanol because it doesn’t come from Sweet Corn at all. It means that my family and I can go to the gas station, purchase E10, E15, or E85 mixed gasoline and still be able to freeze our pick-up load of Sweet Corn every year.

Why? Because Ethanol Does Not Come From Sweet Corn

Want to learn more about Ethanol? Click here for some Ethanol Facts.

Want to know if your vehicle can run on E85? ( Flex Fuel Vehicle). Click here.

#Harvest12 turns into #plant13. Wordless Wednesday