Little progress was made last week as we only had a day and half to plant before rain on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. However, we are much further ahead of some neighbors to the south who were finally able to turn the first wheel late last week.

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This week didn't get off to any better start. Monday, I rushed out to spray a couple of fields that were turning green with weeds. We held off from planting, hoping for a few hours of sunshine. That didn't happen. An hour and a half after I got done spraying, about 10:30 the sky let loose. Area totals from the weekend I've heard range from .5 inches to more than 3 inches of rain.

So, what do we do when we're idle? Tuesday morning I re-organized and inventoried the seed and chemical inventory. Often, when we get near the end of planting, we run short on product. I ordered some more insecticide, and will be really close on chemicals. I also had to replace some corn. When surveying fields Monday evening, we found one hybrid with sketchy emergence. You could tell to the row where the next hybrid was put in the planter. We will not take the risk of planting any more of that corn seed.

I also had time to complete installation of an Autopilot system which I started last week. We had been looking to lease a spare tractor, but we came across one for sale online which fit the bill. About a month ago we purchased a Versatile 250 on Auctiontime. This is an online auction company with an ag division. Every Wednesday you will find Ag equipment selling.

We had the tractor trucked home, did a complete service on the machine and sent it to the field. We put about 100 hours on it spreading manure and doing some tillage. I have also outfitted it to hook up to the "old" planter.

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Today we will make another trip around the neighborhood. We hope to find some place dry enough to work late Wednesday or Thursday. Rain is in the forecast again Friday.

The opinions of Kyle Stackhouse are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or the Penton Farm Progress Group.