Noland Farms Inc.Noland Farms Inc.

  The weather over the past week provided an excellent opportunity to work on land improvement projects.  We have been

Tile lines on the Allen farm.

 rebuilding a waterway on the Mitchell farm outside Lovington and repairing tile holes from the large volumes of spring rain.  The tile project on the Allen farm near Farmersville has been completed, and we are still “a few weeks out” on the installation of new tile system on the May farm outside Blue Mound.  The crane arrived yesterday, and the liquid fertilizer tanks were

Grant digging to locate damaged tile.

 moved into the containment.  With the help of a lift provided by Trimble Construction, we assisted the crane operator by attaching/unattaching his hooks to the top of

Blake repairing broken clay tile with new plastic.

each tank.  After the tanks were set, we installed the sight hoses along the outside…. when filled with product, this will allow us to know the amount of fertilizer in each tank. 

Trucks arriving with the tanks.

Dennis raising the lift to attach cables to the tank.

Dennis and Craig installing the exterior sight hose.

Tanks in containment

  In reviewing photos for our upcoming newsletter, I looked back at those taken in May and June.  Although I have mentioned that theweather change (wet to dry) was substantial, the photos truly capture the contrast.

Spring flooding

Soybeans dead over pipeline

Fall cracks in soil

  Corn harvest for Noland Farms concluded yesterday, October 12th!  Although we still have 5 acres of replant soybeans yet to cut, I’m proclaiming that we are done!  Current activities… working ground that will be planted back into corn, ordering fitting and valves to “plumb” the liquid fertilizer containment and hauling lime.  We will begin repairing tile holes and waterways next week.  I’ve attached a recent picture of the containment… the tanks still haven’t arrived, but we’ve been busy!  We hope to have to tanks here within a week.

  I also wanted to include a picture of the recently-painted Macon County 4-H weigh wagon.  Duane is on the board for the 4-H Foundation, and he spent a few days last week pulling the wagon throughout the countryside.  Farmers have the opportunity to dump grain into the wagon, and the local elevator handles the paperwork.  The repsonse from local farmers was great, and although the wagon is traveling throughout northern Macon County now, the money raised thus far has been beyond expectations!

Cindy Ervin & Debbie Berry with the 4-H wagon outside the elevator.

The link below will display a recent article on Noland Farms in the Herald and Review newspaper…

http://www.herald-review.com/lifestyles/family/article_f113bf64-ee06-11e0-8d25-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story

We are currently 85% done harvesting corn & switched to soybeans on October 1st.  Almost all the nongmo soybeans have been harvested, and we anticipate starting on the Asgrow seed beans directly afterwards. 

  The tanks for the liquid fertilizer storage should arrive the first week of October.  The crane is schedule to set the tanks in the containment on the 10th.  We hope to complete the plumbing and take delivery of product soon afterwards. 

  Corn harvest for Noland Farms began on Monday, August 29th!  We are currently harvesting corn that was planted during the first week of April, and yields have been disappointing… although better than we initially anticipated.  Many early reports from farmers in our area have yields ranging from 80-180 bushels per acre. Considering these early reports and that we have only had .3″ of rain over the past 2 months, we are pleasantly surprised thus far.  We are currently drying corn and filling bins at our primary site.  Tomorrow morning dry fertilizer will begin being spread on farms going back to corn, and we anticipate beginning fall tillage mid-morning. 

  Other current projects include meeting with contractors about tiling farms near Blue Mound and Farmersville… and finalizing the details on our liquid fertilizer storage.  The liquid storage tanks should arrive in 3 weeks, and concrete will be poured next week… we hope to have 28% liquid fertilizer in the tanks by mid-September.

Warm weather has been the trend over the past 2 1/2 weeks.  We have experienced temperatures in the mid-90′s, and the rain has been absent… although we did receive a 1/4″ at the beginning of the week.  Current farm operations include mowing roadsides, preparing equipment for Harvest operations, ordering fertilizer for fall, attempting to haul lime, and providing plane rides to partners and landlords.  As I previously mentioned, to reduce the cost of the limestone spread after harvest, we started hauling our own lime this year.  We have experienced minor hiccups thus far… a tire blowout caused significant damage to the front end of one of our semi’s.  Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the truck will be repaired in a couple weeks.  We anticipate resuming hauling lime on Friday.  We took delivery of our new fuel tank today.  The government (EPA) would like farmers storing fuel on-farm to have measures in place to minimize damage inflicted from a product spill.   We elected to purchase a “double-walled,” three compartment fuel tank that will store gasoline, dyed (off-road) diesel and clear diesel (for semi’s).   In the event of the tank leaking, the double-wall will contain the product within the tank.  This 2,500 gallon tank will provide us additional fuel storage and allow us to operate within EPA guidelines.

  Much activity has been occuring acound the farm since my last update.  We completed spraying soybeans… rented a high-clearance machine to finish sidedressing corn… began hauling lime to stockpile for fall… hosted a group of 40 Kentucky cattlemen and women at our Central IL grain farm… participated in market campaign video/photo shoots for Dekalb (100th Anniversary) and ADM… began conducting pre-fall plane rides to business partners… mowed roadsides and washed spring equipment… and my brother Blake got engaged!  Busy last couple weeks!

Dennis and our agronomist, Ken Ferrie, inspecting the roots of a corn plant.

Taken July 4th... The saying "knee high by the 4th of July" looks to be proven wrong! This corn was planted April 7th.

Dennis sidedressing with the rental Hagie.

Reloading at night.

Please enjoy the new photos added into the Spring 11, Wildlife & Scenery folders on our website. 

 Since my last update, we have finished planting corn and soybeans, sprayed all but 80 acres of our corn and are 60% complete sidedressing corn.  We have also washed some of the spring equipment, conducted soil sampling and began preparing for summer operations.  In a few weeks, we plan to begin hauling lime to stockpile at farms… this will be our first year hauling our own lime, and we look forward to this new venture!  

Recent weather conditions have led to plenty of rain.  I’ve included a few recent photos. 

Rain on the horizon

Rain clouds