After the last few days, it sure feels like spring has sprung here in northern Indiana. Temperatures have been 15-20 degrees above normal. It’s easy to forget last weekend we had 3-4 inches of fresh snow on the ground. The forecast is for temperatures to continue to moderate, but the 7-10 day forecast looks WET!

Not much is happening in fields yet. I have seen a few guys running on light ground spreading manure, but that is about the extent of it. I checked fields again tonight to see if it is fit to top dress wheat before the next rain -- it is not. I’d say we would be looking at Monday if good weather continues. Conditions have not been favorable for wheat work, so not much has been done.

I think we’re pretty well caught up on running equipment through the shop. I’m sure we’ll find more to do, but it is nice to get outside for a while.

We started using the belt trailer to haul corn to the ethanol plant so that we can haul back limestone. Dad is using it to put a new layer on the driveway. I also volunteered to bring some infield mix back to the park for a refurbish on the softball diamond. Just in the last few days has that sand and clay mix become suitable to haul.

Tuesday, I was able to make some overdue repairs to the grain system at my house so we could continue to load out soybeans. We lost a wood bearing in the cross-auger and the metal-on-metal action of the auger against the u-trough wore the flighting down as well as wore a hole in the bottom of the u-trough. It was not a good situation. We had some sheet metal rolled to make a liner. Then we ordered a new bearing and some flighting. It’s almost as good as new!

Seed continues to trickle in at a snail’s pace. We are supposed to get another load next week, but since we haven’t received the confirmation call, I doubt it is going to happen. We are having the most trouble getting products from the national companies. The smaller regional companies have done a good job meeting our needs. As long as the products perform this year, we will likely shift our orders in that direction going forward.

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.