We're Back!

We left Pringle on May 1^st and evidently passed the Jordan’s on the highway as we were sent this picture from their dash cam!

Headed to North Dakota!

We arrived at the Finken Farm in Douglas North Dakota on May 2^nd about noon after spending the night at a quiet little free campsite on Isabel Lake just outside of the town of Iasbel, SD (population 144). We found this campsite on Free Campsites.Net and it served our purpose just right for an overnight stay.

There was still ice on some of the larger bodies of water and pockets of snow in some of the shady spots when we arrived but those did not last long as the temperatures over the next few days reached well into the 70’s and even the 80's!

They were only 2 days into their planting season so there was plenty to do. Planting can take anywhere from 20-30 days depending on weather, soil conditions and mechanical issues but this year they bought me a new toy. With the purchase of a seeder, tractor and seed/fertilizer cart they now have two rigs in the field at a given time usually going 12 – 20 hours a day. Of course they don’t let me drive these rigs so it is a more of a look but don’t touch type of toy. I put together a short video showing it in action. It also give you an idea of what find of terrain is in the area and why the duck hunting is so good in the fall!

Chris and Bob do most if not all the planting as this is the most important part of their livelihood. If you don’t get the seed in the ground right you don’t have a crop. Their two air seeders plant 60 and 72 rows at a time and if one or more of these tubes gets obstructed that means nothing was planted leaving an unsightly field and a loss of income so they have to carefully watch the monitors and seeder to make sure everything is working properly.

So far they have planted chick peas, wheat and field peas. But even within each of these they are planting different varieties of wheat and peas as each may have different yields, growth rates or other characteristics.

Untreated Wheat

Treated Wheat

Untreated Peas

Treated Peas

Chick Peas

With those two seeding that leaves Dylan and me to make sure they have everything they need in the form of fuel, seed and fertilizer to keep them up running. Since they are also seed dealers they are busy prepping and loading seed for other area farmers as well. Prepping seed consists of looking at the days needs for both their customers and their own field work and orchestrating the trucks, carts and seed treater to make sure everyone has need when they need it. This year they added a seed treater to their list of equipment which allows them to treat some of their seed with fungicide saving them money and allowing them to offer this service to their customers.

Their new treater!

To treat the seed you have to set up the grain conveyor which dumps the grain from the bin into the hopper of the treater. The treater has a reservoir which contains the specific fungicide for that grain. Then you set the ratio for that specific seed. 

This seed is dumped into another grain conveyer where it is lifted into a grain cart or directly into a truck for delivery to the field.  Loads can vary greatly from just a few thousand pounds to 30,000 pounds or more depending on what is needed. Then everything is broken down and moved to another grain bin for the next order. Between each order we have to “sanitize” the treater, cart and conveyor making sure not even on grain of seed remains in each piece of equipment

From bin to conveyer to treater to conveyer to cart

Treated peas being dumped into cart

In addition to the seed we have to deliver fertilizer to Chris and Bob as well. So far we have used 3 types of fertilizer; Urea, S-10 and inoculant. Urea contains a ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and is produced naturally in animals and humans.

Loading Urea at the elevator

S-10 is a starter fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur that are fused into one nutritionally balanced granule and helps the plant get a good start to their growing cycle. Inoculants are an interesting product as it is basically alive. It introduces a naturally occurring bacteria making the plant stronger and increases yield.

When all that is done you have to roll the peas in order for them to start growing, This entails going over the pea field with a giant rolling pin to push down the ridges, reducing moisture loss and increase seed to soil contact.

The giant rolling pin

Other farm activities this week included using the rock picker to clean up a few rocks, putting out a fire along a fence line.

The mighty rock picker!

The funniest thing of all....watching Chris get his arm stuck on a trailer. He was wiring the lights and put his arm through an narrow opening to get at the wires and could not get it out. Dylan and I just sat back laughed and took pictures as it took him a minute or two to wiggle it out!

Now that's funny!

In addition to all the farm stuff we have been working/experimenting with Daisy and Dakota on couple of things. Daisy is a finicky eater. Well, that is not true, what I mean is that different foods affect her in different ways. She can’t eat chicken as she breaks out and constantly scratches and chews on her paws. We have tried a variety of different foods trying to find one that she likes and does not make her itch. A week or so ago Barb stopped by a small pet store in Hot Springs trying yet again to find the perfect food. Barb was explaining our dilemma to the owner who prompt gave Barb about 20 different samples and told her to try these and see which one works these works best. So the experiment began!

Barb would open three of the samples placing a small amount of each in three compartments on a tray. It is hilarious to watch her! When Barb would be preparing the tray Daisy would be jumping up and down watching her and when Barb would set down the tray Daisy would run over and systematically go down the row of food smelling each one. Sniff, sniff sniff. She would repeat this “sniff test” no less than three times before deciding which one to eat. Barb would note which one she ate first, which one she ate second and which one she totally snubbed and would not eat at all. Her next feeding Barb would change the order in the tray using her first and second choices and adding a new third choice. 

Every single time she ate Taste of the Wild Prey Trout mix first and Taste of the Wild Roasted Lamb second and totally snubbed the third choice she was given. It did not matter where on the tray each was placed, that is how she ate them. And, she did not scratch or itch at all so we have a winner! Of course it had to be one of the most expensive dog foods but Barb went to the store and purchased a big bag of Trout mix she liked the best.

Daisy doing the sniff test

So how is it going? She won’t eat it! Now she walks up, smells her dish and totally walks away. Barb has to add a tablespoon of gravy before she eats it. Talk about spoiled

We have been working with Dakota (by “we” I mean Barb) on hand signal and whistle training and I am told it is going very well.

Someone is having fun!

Week one is in the books here in North Dakota and it is good to be back!