Score!!

Sanza · #1 11/10/12, 07:05 PM

Our town hosts the western Canadian pumpkin weighoff every fall and I have volunteered for about 15 years at the threshing demonstration that goes on.

In the previous years we had a family (that does mixed farming about a section) bring their own steam engine and threshing machine, and their own wheat sheaves. Sometimes I would take the wheat for my chickens because the threshing machine was never set properly and the wheat was cracked. From 3 hayracks there would be about 1/3 of an old wagon box.

This year our local museum took over the demonstration and had a local grain farmer, that farms about 8 sections donate 2 hayracks of sheaves. Since he didn't want to be bothered to bring his big grain truck, tractor and grain auger all the way to town for the "little bit of grain" he gave it all to me - for free.

Well was I in for a surprise when I climbed up on the wagon and saw how much wheat was in there! There was twice as much as I expected from the 2 wagon loads of sheaves! What a difference between small farmer yields and big grain farmer yields! LOL
We shovelled and filled the sacks by hand, and I brought home 36 feed sacks of wheat, each weighing about 75-80 lbs.

Thats over 2700 lbs of wheat! And I'm laughing and wondering what I'm going to do with it all, because I'm only keeping a dozen chickens over the winter - silkies and seramas and they don't eat much....

**fordson major** · #2 11/11/12, 06:07 AM

if you can't use it all, pass some along!! bread cast apon the waters and a thank you to the farmer that grew the wheat.

jwal10 · #3 11/11/12, 08:46 AM

Since you know its origin, can you winnow some and make your own flour?

....James

FarmboyBill · #4 11/11/12, 08:56 AM

The first farmers must have not known how to set their thresher. Ive never seen radicially different amounts of wheat in the same area, unless by blowdown, ect.
Good wheat country is good wheat country and in the same locality, GENERALLY, wheat will do as good at one place as another

BUT THEN, If they first ones didnt fertilize, thatll make a BIG difference. They might not have, knowing they were just going to give the wheat away, as the second demonstrators did.

Ive pitched bundles to a thresher before. That can make u work if u let it.

Sanza · #5 11/12/12, 11:27 PM

Believe me, I am passing some along - people are coming for some pullets and I told them to make sure a big strong man comes along because they can take about 600 lbs of the wheat too. And the farmer and his wife will be getting some microwavable wheat bags to snuggle with.

Yes I can make my own flour from this wheat, and I've already set aside four 5 gallon pails.

The difference is the big farmer has an ag degree and knows how and when to use it....monsanto too

, while the small farmer is stuck in the 70's as far as his farming practices and equipment goes. The fields the wheat was taken from are only about 5 miles apart so there's no difference in soil, just a difference in farming technique.

**fordson major** · #6 11/13/12, 04:48 AM

the wheat bags are a great idea sanza!! we get some stale bread and leftover veggies to feed our pigs and some always makes its way to the donors! or a turkey if they have donated lots!

7thswan · #7 11/13/12, 06:20 AM

Save some to sprout for your chickens.

springvalley · #8 11/13/12, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanza

The difference is the big farmer has an ag degree and knows how and when to use it....monsanto too

, while the small farmer is stuck in the 70's as far as his farming practices and equipment goes. The fields the wheat was taken from are only about 5 miles apart so there's no difference in soil, just a difference in farming technique.

An Ag. degree makes no difference, and is very opinionated of you to say this. I know alot of farmers that had NO schooling and have done very well for themselves. You have no idea all the different things that could make the difference in yields in a wheat crop and then seperating it also. I really dislike when people say this about farmers, one thing farmers do have is common sense. > Thanks and Blessings > Marc

Alice In TX/MO · #9 11/13/12, 07:52 AM

Freedom of speech, her personal experience, her in person observations.

It's ok for you to dislike what she said, but to globalize it is unfair. IMO

springvalley · #10 11/13/12, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

Freedom of speech, her personal experience, her in person observations.

It's ok for you to dislike what she said, but to globalize it is unfair. IMO

I just thought it was in bad taste to say these remarks about the first farmer, while getting his grain for free. But gets so much more wheat from the college educated farmer, then bad mouths the first farmer. I know I should just let it go but too many people make assumptions about people before they know ALL the the story. Could be soil conditions, rain, seed, so many different things make a better crop, not a piece of paper hangin on the wall. I like Sanza, she is a wonderful person, I like to read her posts. It just struck me wrong on here this morning, if any of you looked at some of the big farmer bank accounts, you would also see that some small farmers do better than some of the big guys on a per acre basis. I will let this go now, off my soap box. > Thanks and Blessings. > Marc

Sanza · #11 11/14/12, 01:25 AM

Marc you did misunderstand me.... but I think it has to do more with our locations then anything else that makes our view of farming different.
Both of these farmers are friends, and the smaller farmer is my age and has been a personal friend for years. He is a mixed farmer and does concentrate more on his cattle and hay crops then he does on the grain, but he is behind in his machine upgrades and his knowledge of soil conservation, and his farming practices are the same as his fathers' were.....

The university educated farmer is strictly a grain farmer and he is very good friends with my dd and sil, having gone to university with my sil. They put their education to good use for getting maximum yields. BTW my ds has his ag degree too and it helps him with his environment job.

The emphasis on further education is huge among the farmers and ranchers here in this part of Alberta, and it's a rare one under 50 that doesn't have some extra ag schooling. Whether you like the inference or not, it's just the way things are here. You have to realize there are no big corporations farming here - it's all individual farmers working multiple sections of land. (Is that explained better now?)
I do have to admit I was poking fun at the anti-monsanto/anti big farmer people tho, but you didn't pick up on that

Fordson Major, I'll have to do something else for them too to show my appreciation, (not just with eggs and wheat bags) just as I did for the first farmer.
Every week I pick up old produce from a local store run by Asians here. To show my appreciation for that I give her silkie eggs and in the fall some silkie cockerals for eating because it's a delicacy for them. Win/win situation for both of us. I do get quite a bit and almost bought a couple of wiener pigs now in the fall to eat all the excess...then common sense prevailed. LOL

7thswan - I just started to read up on it, and was surprised to read that I could feed my sheep sprouted wheat also.

Thanks Alice, you seemed to understand what I meant, and I think if there's two places that have a lot in common it's Alberta and Texas.

springvalley · #12 11/14/12, 08:46 AM

Sanza, SEE now I know the REST of the story, I knew there had to be more to the story. Down this way a piece of paper from a college is only good for one thing, to wipe your ars. Alot of the big guys will go to college, but most of the time it is business management, or some financial degree or mecanical shop classes. Most of them now how to farm before they ever go to college. So thank you for clearing up the misunderstanding on my part, YOUR so sneaky. hehe > Thanks and Blessings > Marc

Waiting Falcon · #13 11/14/12, 08:59 AM

It does not make any difference how much knowledge a farmer has , it is how he uses.
There are those that go to college but still do things the way their elders did wrong.
Then there is the farmer that gets acquainted with his soil and wants to take care of it to the best of his ability so it will produce its best. Though he had no education he learned from the land.
It is great that your big farmer friend shared with you and the town.

||Downhome|| · #14 11/14/12, 12:39 PM

Sanza Five miles can make a world of difference in soil.

Shoot I can find several diffrent types on my tine plot of land.

Then I think you hit a little on care of, you take you got to give back.

Thats where most folks go wrong.