A Change of Plans Can Be Detrimental

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]You can always tell when planting season comes around because everybody and everything on the farm is moving at once. So, today's goal is to maybe stay out in the field long enough to learn how to run the harrow by myself. The wind is blowing like we're in Kansas again and Zach is waiting for me in the harrow.

[00:00:19]So, I don't know how normal this is, but in North Dakota usually we get a lot of rain this time of year and we are not getting any rain. So, therefore all of the fertilizer, the granular fertilizer that is being applied all over this area is not being watered in at the moment.

[00:00:40]So, what they're going to do, the plan is to harrow it in so they can work it into the ground and then immediately plant the corn right after. I'm hoping that my brain can work long enough to be able to learn new things. There he is.

[00:00:57]Waiting for me.

[00:01:00]47 water bottles.

[00:01:10]This week on the farm has been nothing but busy. So, before I get ahead of myself and go on to today's adventure, we need to cover everything that's happened this week. If y'all know anything about farm life, the plans change every other day. Before any of the seeding and planting plans are in action, there's lots of behind-the-scenes prep work to be done.

[00:01:27]Everything needs to be fueled up and checked over one last time because downtime in this short window in North Dakota can be detrimental. Boys got a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time and this year is just really weird for me because usually I'm out chasing all these guys around and filming everything. Right now, honestly, I have my own organized chaos here at the house. I have spent this last week texturing, priming, and painting the bathroom for our DIY bathroom renovation and it's been a lot of work. While Brandon has been out seeding his life away, the rest of the crew, that Kent and Mark, have been hauling fertilizer, loading product, moving things from field to field, making sure everything is ready to go, and spreading fertilizer, of course. Granular fertilizer gets spread ahead of crops up here to help replenish nutrients in the soil and give this crop the best start that it possibly can get. So, stay tuned for later in the vlog for a if I can do it, anyone can do it update on the renovation. But, for now, here's the plan for what we're going to do on the farm the next couple of weeks, some behind-the-scenes maintenance and prep work, and if I'm going to be able to run the harrow by myself or not. Hello.

[00:02:31]Here's your spring update.

[00:02:36]We're seeding.

[00:02:38]We've actually been seeding for a few days, but Brandon's just been rolling solo. I don't come out to the seeder much. We got a lot of other stuff going on.

[00:02:47]We just all kind of have our We all have our things that we do.

[00:02:51]So, Brandon is seeding spring wheat, if you didn't already know. It's usually what we'd start with or barley.

[00:02:58]Barley's still in the air, not sure if we're doing barley or not. It kind of sounds like probably not now. Probably going to just stick with wheat. It's been a really slow start in North Central, North Dakota this year.

[00:03:10]I really feel like things are just now kicking off, and gosh, it's the What is today? The 7th of May? But, anyways, we're going to get fueled up.

[00:03:20]I've got a harrow pile burning over there I'm trying to keep an eye on because, like I said, we're {quote} unquote dry. It still kind of hurts my feelings when people start complaining about it being dry here because they just have no idea what dry is. But, teach their own. It's different everywhere you go.

[00:03:38]This is dry for up here. I mean, I I get what people are saying. The top inch is pretty dry, pretty dusty, but yeah, laughs in Southwest Kansas.

[00:03:56]>> You guys want to take any bets how much fuel this thing's going to take?

[00:04:00]It's a little over half a tank and the fuel trailer is full. It's a thousand gallons. So, we'll see how much we pull out of it to give less than half a tank.

[00:04:09]It's a lot.

[00:04:10]So, just real quick, I'll try and go over the drill another day, but I'll just show you something real fast that we're doing different this year.

[00:04:18]Well, that's fueling up because it's going to take a long time. But, so last year we did things a little different than we are this year.

[00:04:25]Last year we spread all of our fertility through the spreader and then we just let the rain wash it in. And that's pretty normal for here. That's pretty common. That's what a lot of people do.

[00:04:38]But, we ran into one issue.

[00:04:40]Last year was a fairly dry spring as well. We didn't catch a lot of rain.

[00:04:45]We spread a lot of fertilizer after the wheat was already up.

[00:04:50]After the wheat was up, we did not catch a lot of rain. I mean, it was it was fairly dry, not a lot of rain events, and the rain events that did happen were real patchy.

[00:04:59]This area that I'm standing in right now was one of the areas that after we spread it, I think it might have caught 20 hundredths of rain, maybe a quarter inch, somewhere right in there.

[00:05:11]That was wasn't quite enough to incorporate the fertilizer like we wanted.

[00:05:16]So, we think some of our issue with our wheat here, and there's another big chunk of ground right over here, we think some of that issue was from putting on the fertilizer too late.

[00:05:27]Or not too late, but getting it on later and then it not getting washed in. So, I don't know why I'm walking over here.

[00:05:34]What am I doing?

[00:05:36]So, this year this drill has what's called mid-row banders, which are here.

[00:05:43]So, these two gangs, this row all the way down.

[00:05:48]This row, all the way down.

[00:05:51]That is where the seed is going.

[00:05:54]And he might be putting his phos through there, too. I'm not sure his phosphorus.

[00:05:58]But, I'm pretty sure seed and phosphorus.

[00:06:01]Yeah, actually, now that I say that, I can tell cuz there's urea on the ground right there. So, yeah, seed and phos going through here. So, that is going in the furrow with the seed. The urea, or the nitrogen, is going on through these mid-row banders. And that's all that's going on through here.

[00:06:17]So, it's incorporating the fertilizer straight into the ground.

[00:06:21]You're not giving it the chance to release into the atmosphere, is what I'm trying to say. You're getting it covered up with dirt. The only place it can go is into the dirt. I really hope the wind isn't bugging you guys.

[00:06:43]We're headed back. We're going to go get spreadin' and yeah, start getting ready for corn.

[00:06:54]Well, the one time I tried to drone video loading, and of course I have a problem.

[00:07:00]So, what happened in that, if you noticed, I got pretty full, and then I had to at the end I had to move the tractor and like really load it up full.

[00:07:09]Well, that was the last load off that truck. But, I knew I we were just a touch long, so it was going to be hard to get everything on the truck onto the spreader. It was going to be pretty tight. So, I had to load it pretty full.

[00:07:21]Well, at the end when I got full, I went to shut the gate on the truck cuz I wasn't going to get it all on.

[00:07:26]And that truck has electric trapdoors on it. So, when I went to shut it, it lost connection. It lost power and it wouldn't shut. So, I had to sprint around or I had to shut the conveyor off cuz it would have just kept spilling, and I had to sprint around and go wiggle the plug-in on the truck to get power back to the trapdoor. So, that's why I got overfull, but it worked out. I really didn't spill really didn't spill any, so it all worked out in the end. But, I know there's a little bit left on this truck. We just got done spreading this field. Little bit left on the truck.

[00:07:58]We're going to run and empty it just so that truck's freed up and then we're done spreading for just a little bit.

[00:08:02]I've got Oh, shoot. I don't know. There's probably 1,200 acres of corn I got spread the last 2 days, 3 days, 2 and 1/2 days. And that's all ready to be harrowed. And then hopefully here in a day or two we'll be planting. We're going to get over here, get this truck emptied, and get back to the farm and start getting stuff situated.

[00:08:55]Good morning.

[00:08:57]Had a slight change of plans.

[00:08:59]So, I was going to go out and keep harrowing, getting corn ground ready, but we got a U-joint to replace. So, we're going to work on that here this morning for a little bit.

[00:09:11]Luckily, Mark already got all the bolts broke loose. He's been soaking them the last day or two cuz he saw this was going bad, so what a nice guy. Thanks, Mark. I think it's uh I think it's about time we include trucks in the conversation with uh boats and campers where you pretty much do nothing but work on them. You get to like use them and enjoy them like 10% of the time and then the rest of the time you're just working on them. Or like something's wrong and you know it's wrong, but you're trying to just use it and enjoy it. So, we're going to see if we can get this popped off.

[00:09:46]Oh, yeah. I don't know if you even saw this, but Yeah.

[00:09:50]Should work.

[00:09:56]What are the chances this comes out of here nicely?

[00:10:01]I've got too much pressure on it.

[00:10:10]It's going.

[00:10:14]We are out. Now, the question is going to stay on the jack. Holy cow.

[00:10:23]Wait until you see this U-joint.

[00:10:25]Just let go of it.

[00:10:27]Thank you.

[00:10:29]There we go.

[00:10:31]Now, how difficult are those caps going to be to get out?

[00:10:35]What do you think?

[00:10:38]Yeah, it'll make it through spring, huh?

[00:10:40]What are the chances we can just smack it and it comes out of here?

[00:10:46]Hit it a little bit.

[00:10:52]Come on, you big unit.

[00:10:58]Oh, yeah, that's pretty stout.

[00:11:17]I almost got it.

[00:11:19]Oh, hi Mark.

[00:11:29]I win.

[00:11:31]Hello. Hello. Hopefully, you can us good. It's very loud in here. It's very whistly in here. Well, what do you think? Do you have confidence in me that I can do it? Yes. Okay. If he says that, then I think I I'd be able to handle it, but Look at this salt. I think the biggest problem is going to be you finding the time to do it will be the hard part.

[00:11:54]I'll just have to just drop everything.

[00:11:55]So, as you guys Oh, well, you don't know probably. I have kind of over the winter accumulated a huge collection of vintage Frye boots and just vintage boots in general. And now I have kind of a full-blown business running in my house.

[00:12:13]So, between that and chores and just being a housewife, I I don't have a whole lot of time to do stuff. But, if I could help him out and kind of help time management on the farm in general during this crazy season like I was telling you guys earlier.

[00:12:32]Uh it's just been nuts the past few days. Zach has been going nuts on a few different projects. Not going to lie, I'm I'm still kind of covered in paint.

[00:12:41]Took some footage to show you guys. I got uh the texturing, priming, and painting done in our DIY home or our DIY bathroom renovation. And um So, the next step is plugging everything in, but that's not what we're talking about today.

[00:13:01]Talking about harrowing.

[00:13:02]>> It's springtime. It is springtime. So, everything's kind of hectic at the moment. Wouldn't be doing harrowing. Did you explain that? We wouldn't be doing harrowing if it was raining?

[00:13:14]Yeah, it's a tough decision. Yeah.

[00:13:16]Because there's parts of this field are pretty rough like the part we're in now and it's getting a lot of benefit from running the harrow across it. It's really smoothing it out.

[00:13:26]There's a lot of it that doesn't need touch, so I don't know. I don't know what the right decision is. We're doing what we think is right, but this is the field I just got done spreading fertilizer on. This is a big big chunk.

[00:13:37]There's 800 acres all right here all touching right here. And there's just no rain in sight. So, we want to get it all covered up, but either way, it's just not a great feeling working up ground right now with how dry it is, but it is what it is. It's what we have to do to to get our nitrogen down and get it in the soil, so it is what it is. But, I'm going to start planting here hopefully tomorrow. And if I can just get here with my row cleaners, I'll end up making furrows and I'll throw some dirt in piles and it'll be fine. I It's not going to blow, I don't think, or nothing like that. It's just It's not the perfect scenario, but we're doing what we can with what we have. So, he's going to start planting corn and it would be kind of cool if I can stay just ahead of him and do the harrowing right before he comes in. Now, does that make a big difference? Like, is there a timing aspect of it? That's what I'm trying to say. It depends on the situation. Oh.

[00:14:30]Right now, the moisture is still so close to the surface. No, it probably doesn't matter too much. I I wouldn't want to get the harrow too far ahead.

[00:14:39]Right.

[00:14:39]>> But, if we get much drier, it would matter because running the harrow across this actually pulls moisture to the surface.

[00:14:47]Like, once you crack open that top little bit, the moisture actually comes up. Yeah. So, like, I don't know. It could be nice and I mean, if you're here planting within a day of harrowing it, it lets that moisture come up. So, I mean, you'll have moisture a little closer to the surface. But, right now, I don't know. There's still It looks really dry and really dusty, but it's like the top inch or inch and a half is pretty powdery. Yep. And I'm going to end up swiping most of that off with the row cleaners anyway. So, I mean, and it's actually unbelievable. Like, it looks so dry and so dusty, but I have a soil probe in here that I've been checking some spots. And when you stick this in the ground to like 2 and 1/2 in and you pull it out, it comes out with a giant mud ball on it. Like it's such a weird year. The top 2 in is just pure powder. Just dry and it's like right at the seed depth is just muck. I mean Weird. And when I say muck, I mean muck. Like you just put it in your hands and it just sticks and you cannot wash it off. It's such weird soil here compared to Kansas.

[00:15:45]>> so dense and heavy or something? It has just like >> soil here. It's that gumbo gumbo black dirt. I don't know. I'm sure there's a name for it, but I don't know it.

[00:15:54]>> for down south. Yeah.

[00:15:56]This is going to plant absolutely amazing. I think this is going to be great planting conditions because last year when we were planting it was totally different scenario.

[00:16:05]But it was too [music] wet.

[00:16:07]But we didn't have a choice. I mean, we were up against the date. We were up against the calendar.

[00:16:12]This year's totally different. We're going to get started early on corn.

[00:16:16]Yeah. So it's kind of different. We're able to at least, you know, try and get the right conditions instead of just get it in cuz we're forced to. So Is that what affected us last year in some of the vlogs last year?

[00:16:28]The stand in some of the The stand in some of the fields was kind of iffy. Was that because of too much moisture? Yeah. Okay. So this year I'll be curious to see what the corn stand will be. It was so sticky and muddy.

[00:16:42]Like we just we couldn't close the seed trench.

[00:16:44]And I just don't know if there was a if there was a closing system out there would have closed it. It was just muck.

[00:16:50]I mean, just pure mud.

[00:16:52]But that's You can't fix it.

[00:16:53]>> That's a part of being here. Yep. That's the thing I'm most nervous about if I get in here by myself. Uh Zach knows the fields pretty good more than I will. Uh so I'd love to be on the phone with him while I'm doing this because yeah, you see all this dust right here, but as you guys know, there's mud holes as well.

[00:17:14]>> here and it's actually really soft right here. It's weird. Doesn't make any sense, but yeah.

[00:17:18]>> the science behind that, but it's it's very true. And I I do not want to get this thing stuck. I I think it'd be pretty hard to get this thing stuck for reasons like that, but >> If you get this stuck with a harrow on it, you [laughter] did something impressive.

[00:17:33]I think everybody would be more impressed, maybe, hopefully, than that.

[00:17:37]I'm I'm kind of excited, too, because I like I don't know. There's something so old-school about this. Oh, I love this tractor. Do you? There needs to be more of these out.

[00:17:47]Just simple. Yeah, simple.

[00:17:48]>> Simple.

[00:17:49]>> only reason I love it.

[00:17:50]>> this, this is the perfect tractor for this. the John Deere auto steer. So, I I'm not going to lie, guys. I kind of miss those sounds.

[00:17:58]Like clicking onto your line and stuff.

[00:18:00]I I miss that. I like that feeling. And the even the button is the same as the tractor that I learned on.

[00:18:07]That old-school auto steer button. So, hopefully I get it down. I I would really like to at least attempt and make it a little easier on the guys, cuz they're doing a whole lot at once.

[00:18:21]Yeah, it's covering up some of it, not very much of it. So, we're testing to see if this is even working as a method.

[00:18:28]Hopefully it does.

[00:18:31]Well, yeah.

[00:18:31]>> a lot of There's not a lot of wheat stubble out here. He just didn't work the spots that are really light ground last year.

[00:18:39]So, I'm not overly worried. It's just I was just curious more than anything.

[00:18:42]It's a good excuse to stretch your legs.

[00:18:44]It is.

[00:18:49]Hey, y'all. So, maybe next week, when you see me next, I will be operating this bad boy. Can I do it? I don't know.

[00:18:57]This is about 70 ft all the way across. So, wish me luck.

[00:19:06]It's going to be fun. I think it's going to be fun. Down in Kansas, I really really like to run the mower, the tractor mower, and I used to mow around the circles two laps so that the weeds didn't get too bad because kochia was really, really bad down there. So, you know, this is this might be a little bit more boring, but trust me, I would much rather it be boring than too much excitement. I think this will be awesome. So, if y'all have any questions, comments, concerns, as always, leave those down below. Thank y'all so much for watching.

[00:19:38]And we will see y'all in the next one.

[00:19:40]Stay lovely, bye.