Though we try to keep more regular and shorter hours, historically, August seems to be the month to get stuff done. There is a brief lull as irrigation season slows down and before harvest begins.

My list for the near term is to get as many of the ‘want to do’ tasks complete as possible. I know the ‘have to do’ jobs will get done because they have to get done. ‘Want to’ items usually revolve around tidying up the facilities. Unfortunately, it gets cold here after harvest and then as soon as it warms up we are back at it again. The ‘want to’ tend to get pushed off year after year. If we put together a couple of weeks and tackle some of the ‘want to’ it has been a good year.

We’ve got some help in crossing stuff off the list. We have a college student who comes out most days for a couple of hours after he is done with his shift mowing county roads. Some days he wields a shovel in the grain bin, other days he sprays weeds around the buildings, but most days he finds himself with the pressure washer wand in hand. Last week he washed the LP and fuel tanks. As soon as we get a couple of days with lower humidity, we will get them painted. I think the last coat of paint is nearly 15 years ago.

Other ‘want to’ jobs include hauling in the collection of scrap steel, sorting and disposing of some old concrete rip rap that has been piled up since some buildings were taken down and organizing our spare tire collection. The last, but most important item on the list, is getting a drainage pumping station installed so tile can be installed yet this summer or fall.

On the weather front, rain has been very spotty this week. Most everyone has received something, but not what they wanted. It will be interesting to see how the yield guestimate comes out this week. When I was out in corn fields this week, there was significant tip back in dryland fields. There was even some tipping seen in irrigated fields.

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