Almost rain

   The big excitement on the ranch this week was the possibility of rain. Other than being a nuisance rain may not affect your day too much. The excitement for us was that we can use the rain to help fertilize the wheat. Like every crop wheat benefits from some nitrogen fertilizer. We can either apply it when we irrigate, which can take weeks. Or, of we can catch a rain we can get it all applied at once. The way we do it is to fly on dry fertilizer like you might use in your yard and then let the rain take into the soil. The problem is if we don't get at least a quarter inch of rain some of the fertilizer will volatilize off. That costs money and is a lost opportunity.Of course, three hundred acres of wheat is a little larger than your yard.
   Well, the short version of the story is we didn't get enough rain for this to work. Fortunately we didn't apply the fertilizer. So nothing was lost, except some time and energy trying to set things in motion.
   We will start another irrigation in a few weeks. If it hasn't rained by then we will apply fertilizer in the irrigation water. It is not uniform and it doesn't go on all at once, but it does get the job done.

   Other than that we have been busy with various projects in the shop and around the farm. We are getting things squared away for when things warm up.

Here's a recent radio piece-

Confusing Ends and Means

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright December 2012

                You have probably been somewhere and seen the sign, “Safety First!” That’s not really right is it? Don’t get me wrong safety is important, critically important. But, when people say, “Safety First!” they are making a classic philosophical mistake they are confusing the ends and the means.

            Let’s look at my farm. I don’t get paid to produce safety do I? I get paid to produce food and fiber. If I waited until everything was perfectly safe I’d never get anything done, and neither would you. Let’s be honest if we waited until everything was perfectly safe, we wouldn't even get out of bed. And, even staying in bed has its own dangers.

            The goods we produce or the services we provide are the ends- safety is the means to ‘get ‘er done.’

            I bring this up because we are confused on the issue and it is important. I am not saying safety is any less important, but what is important to remember is safety is not an end in itself, safety is the they way we get things done. If you think about it long enough I am sure you can think up other ways we confuse the ends and the means on many things.

I hope Y'all have a great week!