Provider: Ryan & Hope
Pjesky
Profession: Farmers/Ranchers
Hometown: Goltry, Oklahoma
Summer 2009
June 2009
June is the month that we harvest wheat in Oklahoma. The process
begins about two weeks prior to beginning harvest. We get our equipment
out of the sheds and get them ready. The trucks are checked. Brakes,
lights, hydraulic hoists and tires are checked. We change oil and filters. Then
we service the combines. We change the oil and filters, install new
air filters and change the hydraulic oil and filters. For one combine
alone oil and filters cost over $800.
We make necessary repairs and do a lot of preventative maintenance. We
replaced a feeder conveyor chain on one combine to get it ready. On
the other combine I replaced an auger, auger bed boot and two bearings. I
also replaced the header drive shaft and two bearings. After this we
then pressure wash the radiators and clean the cabs. Then we are ready
for harvest.
Wheat is ready for harvest when it turns a golden color and the moisture
content is less than 14% in the seed. We started harvest on a Monday
and finished 12 days later, with two rains days in the middle. We had
a pretty average harvest this year. Our fields all yielded well and
we had only a couple of minor breakdowns during harvest. The most important
thing is – it was a safe harvest.
July 2009
It was definitely a typical July here in Oklahoma, very, very hot at the
beginning with several days in a row over 100 degrees – a couple over
110. This made it very miserable to be outside much after noon so we
were lucky that we had air conditioned cabs on our tractors while we were
tilling the soil.
During July we spent a lot of time on the tractor doing primary and deep
tillage. Primary tillage involves a tool called a disk. This
tool chops up the straw left from harvest and incorporates it with dirt so
that it can begin to break down. After we finish with that we then
do deep tillage. Narrow, sharp “spikes” are used to drag
through the ground at 8 or 9 inches deep to aerate the soil and break up
compaction to allow rains to soak in and stay.
Early in July, we also had our seed wheat cleaned. A man brings a
machine to our farm and runs the wheat through it. The wheat goes through
a series of shaking screens as air blows over them. This separates
all of the remaining chaff, small kernels and broken kernels out leaving
only the good, most viable seed.
August 2009
August in Oklahoma started out really hot and ended with rain and some
of the mildest temperatures I can remember for this time of year. We
were quite busy. The middle part of the month we applied nitrogen fertilizer
to our cropland. We were lucky as this year it cost one-third less
than it did a year ago. Of course wheat prices are about half what
they were last year. Farming, like much of life, is all about balance.
We bought several sets of cattle this month. August is also the month
where we sell a lot of cattle. During a two-week stretch we sold 350
calves. It is really fun to sell cattle that you’ve bought, cared
for and fed for 8 or 9 months. It gives me a great sense of pride and
accomplishment on sale day.
Hope and I went on vacation to Pasco, Washington, Dayton, Washington and
Genesee, Idaho. We attended the International Leadership Alumni Conference
and met a lot of great farmers from around the world. We then visited
some friends who farm in that area and had a great time seeing what they
do on their operations.
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